amor fati

snow pile at Boundless Way Temple

Many months ago, when I was posting on this blog more frequently, and when the winter was still a dream of the future, friend and Zen student Mike Herzog pointed me to this quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, in Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is, section 10:  "My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.  Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it -- all idealism is mendaciousness in the face of what is necessary -- but love it."

Today, on the last Saturday in March, it is snowing again.  Worcester briefly held the record for the most snow in US cities of a certain size, but other snowier places have pushed us to third place or lower.  Still, today promises 1 to 3 more inches in a season of endless snow.  Do I truly love my fate?  Don't I want things to be different?  Honestly, the answer is, "yes, often."  And yet, there is something in the feeling of hope for spring itself.  I love my hopefulness, even if I no longer am in love with the snow.