Passing Through Blue– At West End Gallery
“I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (1882)
Amor fati. The love of fate and everything it brings– good and bad.
It is an idea, as proposed by Nietzsche, of having to accept, along with the highs of one’s life, all the lows that tag along with the inevitable suffering that comes with being a human. Loss, grief, sadness, illness, aging– all these things can never be fully avoided. They come to us all in time.
Amor fati stresses that such unavoidable suffering is simply part of who and what we are. It is therefore necessary for our experience as humans to embrace this suffering, to take comfort in knowing that our suffering is not limited to ourselves alone. That it is universal and that there is beauty and grace to be found within it.
Of course, nobody wants to hear that. we all want a life free of suffering of any sort. That desire, too, is only human. My belief is that by knowing we are always susceptible to the inherent suffering of this life, we begin to understand that we have the ability to control our reaction to our suffering, that we do not have to be overwhelmed by it.
I have carried this idea with me for quite some time, long before I heard of amor fati, that recognizing that we have a choice in how we react allows us to persevere through our down times. That comes in handy this time of the year for me when I always feel a little more glum or stressed. I know I have a choice in how I cope to what I have come to see as a natural cycle, that I don’t have to react rashly or impulsively.
As I have said before, knowing that the black birds of sadness can come to my trees at any time makes them tolerable. They are just part of the deal in being human. Not too high a price to pay in my opinion.
Amor fati.
Here’s a longtime favorite song, How Blue Can You Get?, from the late great B.B. King. This is from his classic 1964 album Live at the Regal. I first came across it when I was going through the used bin at a local record shop in the late 1970’s and found a beat-up copy of the recording of the fabled show from the Chicago theater. The album was well worn as though whoever had owned it before had played the hell out of it.
From the second the needle on my turntable snapped into the groove, I understood why that was so. Pure electric, a perfect storm of time, place and people made every moment of that record crackle. One listen and you knew it was about as good as it gets. I still get shivers when I hear it.
Gets me through my own blues.
Redtree Times 
We have enough nay-sayers in the world. The thought of a yes-sayer is appealing (as is that music). Your post reminded me again of one of my favorite lines from the venerable Martin Luther: “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”
Never heard that line but like it very much. Thanks, Linda!