Adversity: A Base Metal in Stoic Alchemy
Challenge Accepted
It is natural to activate our “fight or flight” senses when we come across undesirable situations. Too often do we have expectations for how they ought to play out because we plan a situation so impeccably that nothing can go wrong, only to meet a cumbersome obstacle standing between us and our prize.
A blemish to our perfect plan? God forbid!
We often forget that Life is exactly as it ought to be: balanced. There is no favorable side to it. If anything, favor is a matter of perspective to the individual. Fortune, however, is something else entirely.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” –Seneca
Life is not at all difficult to figure out. In fact, we need the challenges it brings to build our character. Ever wonder why we stress out when circumstances seem to pile on top of each other? That’s Fortune testing our mettle, and we tend to concede too easily for want of not having it tested.
Opportunities are always present. It’s just a matter of an appropriate one to manifest before you. Oftentimes we grieve missed opportunities, but it is well within our capacity to accept that we were likely not as prepared to receive it.
Perhaps Fortune could not favor us in that instant. However, what goes around comes around. It may not have been the right time, so we get in gear and feed that which drives us to prepare for when opportunity does revisit. And even then, we may miss it again because it assumed a new disguise and we didn’t see it coming! How frustrating!
Or is it? Remember that Life is balanced and that favor is subjective to the individual experiencing life. That said, could we not agree that strife is also a matter of perspective? Another person may not find a challenge where you see one.
“In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases. Whatever you have been expecting for some time comes as less of a shock.” — Seneca
If you’re new to Stoicism and can’t quite wrap your head around accepting challenges as they come, perhaps it would help to view adversity from the perspective of an artist. It is the stone, you the sculptor, and wisdom is the muse that resides within. You carve your way in to set the muse free. Life does the same with us, only it supplies the stone.
For those of us who are continuing practitioners, here is an analogy to alchemy: adversity as the base metal and wisdom the gold. We as alchemists are tasked with the honor of transmuting strife into something nobler than basic. Gold is considered to be a “noble metal”, and I believe that to be quite appropriate.
How Did I Get Here?
Perhaps you can relate to this. Sometimes I find it difficult to secure a job. I send out many applications and cheese up my cover letters. For every 25–30 applications, I get 1–2 interviews if I am lucky. My background in social services prepares me for the roles I express interest in, however many of those positions demand very specific experiences of which I may have close to none. I question how such nonprofits can live truly to their mission when they advertise a need for someone with my exact background and can very quickly reject them because they lack that one requirement. As I ponder the rationale behind this, my friends (the majority of which do not work in their field of study) are boasting same-day job offers. Meanwhile, I am being turned down left and right just for lacking that one thing that I can learn on the job! How unfair!
Ah, but Life is not meant to be fair to me nor to any one individual. Life is fair and just to all as one whole entity. What appears fair to person (A) may not seem so to person (B). My experience is an example of how Nature is fair in her balance. And she manifested a new question for me: what is it that I am meant to do then?
The Outcome of My Transmutation
I believe I am doing it right now with my writing, and even it is not without its challenges. The idea to write and make a name for myself didn’t manifest until I entered an existential black hole from juggling grad school and a full-time job with a bad schedule. A wiser person might look at me and say that what I am currently doing is preparation for something even greater. Perhaps I have created an opportunity that will lead to another. I can certainly plan out the blueprint. Such is my growth as an amateur alchemist: I thought to transmute adversity into a job opportunity (pyrite, at this point), and created something I didn’t plan nor intend (may not be gold, but it’s still a treasure).
Adversity is natural. It occurs indiscriminately, and the only way to cope is to accept it. Welcome it. Embrace it. It is your greatest teacher, if no one else is worthy. It builds, shapes, and polishes us. Without it, we do not improve.
“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” –Chinese proverb
