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  • In /Ecce/ /Homo/, Nietzsche wrote, “[my] formula for greatness in a human being is

  • /amor fati/: that one wants nothing to be other than it is, not in the future, not in

  • the past, not in all eternity.

  • Not merely to endure that which happens of necessity, still less to dissemble itall

  • idealism is untruthfulness in the face of necessitybut to /love/ it.”

  • So according to Nietzsche, the way you become great is by loving your fate.

  • And what does it mean to become great?

  • For Nietzsche, I think greatness means becoming nothing other than what you are.

  • Greatness is the fulfilment of your destiny.

  • It's growing into your highest potential.

  • It's the acorn becoming the oak tree.

  • See, the acorn contains the potential to become the mighty oak tree within it, but unless

  • it learns to overcome itself, it will not achieve that greatness.

  • And Nietzsche says the way to this greatness is /amor fati/.

  • But what's the meaning of /amor fati/?

  • In English, it translates tolove of fate”, and there are two key words we have to understand:

  • love and fate.

  • Let's start by analyzing the word fate.

  • What does it mean?

  • Fate is the necessary effect that follows from every cause.

  • It's the outcome of every action.

  • It's the way things must be.

  • It's the reason why things are the way they are.

  • Now let's move on to the second term: love.

  • What does it mean to love?

  • Love begins with acceptance.

  • When you accept something as it is, you can give it your total attention.

  • And when you give something your total attention, you see it as it is, not through the distorting

  • lens of what you think it should be.

  • And when you see something as it is, you understand it.

  • And when you understand something, you can help it remain as it is, or better yet, to

  • become fully what it is, which is to help it achieve its /own/ greatness.

  • So now let's combine both of the terms.

  • What does it mean to love your fate?

  • It means accepting everything that happens to you as necessary.

  • And when you accept everything that happens to you as necessary, you can begin to learn

  • why, or how, it was necessary.

  • You can learn how the actions you did, or didn't, take led to that outcome.

  • You can learn what causes led to that effect.

  • And when you learn the relationships between causes and their effects, you can allow or

  • prevent those effects from happening again.

  • And you might be wondering: how do I love my fate?

  • How do I learn to accept everything that happens as necessary?

  • But that's the wrong question.

  • The question isn't /how/ do you love your fate, but /why/ you don't already.

  • And the reason you don't love your fate is because you don't accept it.

  • My life shouldn't be as it is,” you say, and you have an imagean idealin

  • your mind of how it should be.

  • And you measure your life against this ideal, and so you look at your past with regret,

  • shame, guilt, anger, and sorrow.

  • You look towards the future with fear.

  • You measure others against this ideal too, and the closer they are to it, the more you

  • look at them with envy and resentment.

  • You believe that the world is fundamentally flawed and shouldn't be as it is.

  • It should be constructed in a way that suits you better.

  • Maybe you believe you should be stronger, richer, more beautiful, or happier than you

  • are.

  • Maybe you believe you should have more than you currently have and others should have

  • less than they do now.

  • And so you mistrust Fate: the one who gives you what you have rather than what you believe

  • you deservethe one who gives you suffering.

  • And what happens when you mistrust Fate?

  • You stop seeing the necessity of things.

  • And when you stop seeing the necessity of things, you stop learning the relationship

  • between causes and their effects.

  • And when you stop seeing the relationship between causes and their effects, you become

  • delusional.

  • Your rejection of Fate is also a rejection of Truth, and so when you reject Fate, you

  • yourself become false.

  • You become something you aren't, and so you lose your greatness.

  • That concludes my exploration of Nietzsche's teaching in /Ecce Homo/.

  • As always, this is just my opinion and understanding of Nietzsche's teaching, not advice.

  • Feel free to use this information however you like, and if you have a different take

  • on the his words, I'd love to hear your perspective in the comments.

  • If you liked the video, please consider liking the video.

  • And if you're looking for another video to watch after this one, I recommend watching

  • my videoNietzsche - Don't Let Your Darkness Consume You”.

  • I'll put a link to it in the description below and in the top right

  • of the screen right now.

In /Ecce/ /Homo/, Nietzsche wrote, “[my] formula for greatness in a human being is

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