Fate, in other words, what happens to us, can certainly be shaped, in one way or another. ‘There is no predicament which cannot be ennobled either by an achievement or by endurance’, said Goethe.fn3 Either we change our fate, if possible, or we willingly accept it, if necessary. In either case we can experience nothing but inner growth through such misfortune. And now we also understand what Hölderlinfn4 means when he writes: ‘If I step onto my misfortune, I stand higher.’ How misguided it now seems to us when people simply complain about their misfortune or rail against their fate. What would
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