[Stephen Gerringer]

Robert and James,

Sorry for being awol of late. It’s been a brutal week, with life throwing up lots of roadblocks – including a possible coronavirus exposure following an outbreak in the department across the hall in the building where my wife works, and now one of her coworkers in her office is sick with Covid; we’re on Day 4 awaiting results from our tests, which does a bit of a number on your head (back in March and April spring allergies regularly had me convinced I had Covid on an almost daily basis; waiting for notification, that dynamic is intensified many times over – given the expanded list of symptoms we know of today, at some point in the course of every day my imagination gets the better of me). I find myself wondering if I should be putting my affairs in order, or counting on a last minute reprieve from the governor . . .

which brings home the quote you cite from Power of Myth, Robert:

Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called ‘the love of your fate.’ Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, ‘This is what I need.’ It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment-not discouragement-you will find the strength is there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.”

I have to admit this is easier said than done when facing one’s own mortality – but I do take comfort in these words. Well or ill, live or die, “this is what I need” . . .