Invictus, by William Ernest Henley →

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

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Thoughts on the poem Invictus

The words of this poem are inspiring and suggest the strength of the individual but even with that positive conclusion it does raise questions? Are we really the master of our souls? Is survival a adequate measure of success?

Invictus means unconquerable and the poem inspires that feeling about ourselves.

My book, Embrace Life’s Randomness: Breathe in the Amazing, compares this point of view labeling it stoic with a more free will view at life that it is random. Stoic because in-spite of what happens you have strength because you suck it up and get past adversity even accepting that you are giving the adversity to make you stronger compared to the idea that randomness is a way of freeing yourself from predestination and enabling true free will to kick in. More on these ideas in my book.