I am not a “poetry person.” I tend to think, “just say what you mean and cut the faff.” I accept this is ironic given my love of language and my past as an actress, but trust me, you won’t catch me reading poems under the moonlight. Yet, here I am, diving headfirst into a faous poem.
Discovering the Poem
I hadn’t realised Invictus, by William Ernest Henley, was such a well-known poem until I decided to write about it. What drew me in were two lines that caught my eye - which turned out to be the last two lines:
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
“I Am the Master of My Fate”
The more I read and research, the more I believe that being the master of your own fate could be the conclusion of many studies. How you live your life today and the choices you make will inevitably affect your tomorrow.
Want to smoke, drink, eat badly today? Go ahead! But don’t be surprised when tomorrow’s hangover arrives with a side of regret. Admittedly, there are some variables beyond our control - like genetics, other people, or the random possibility of being hit by a bus, but to a large extent, you decide. Even an apparent non-decision is still a decision. We can’t escape our fate by burying our heads in the sand; we still reap the rewards (or consequences) of our actions. I am the master of my fate, and I must take ownership of that.
“I Am the Captain of My Soul”
I find “I am the captain of my soul” a little trickier. For me, “soul” is a word tied in with religion; Irish nuns telling me “Our Lady, the Mother of Christ, is crying because you’re climbing trees in your knickers.” (I didn’t want to get my skirt dirty, surely that would make her happy?) But if I stop to ponder, “What is the soul?” I start to see it as the true essence of who I am - the pure, unchanging truth. The part of me that remains unaffected by life’s external chaos. It’s the ego that is ever-changing, reacting to the world, but the soul stays constant.
A captain is someone in command, steering a ship through unpredictable waters. Just as we navigate life’s challenges, no matter the storms, no one else can take on that role for us. We are the ones guiding our inner life, whether we are aware of the direction or not.
The Yoga Side of Things
In some yoga traditions, the soul is seen as individual consciousness, known as Atman, which remains unchanged by external influences. Atman is a part of a bigger picture - part of the universal consciousness, Brahman. In Advaita Vedanta, this connection goes further: Atman and Brahman are understood as one - each of us a drop of water, inseparable from the vast ocean.
We spend time captaining our bodies - getting the right amount of sleep, eating good food, and moving in different ways. But what about our souls? How often do we reflect on what we truly are beyond the body, the mind, and the ego? Through svadhyaya (self-study), yoga encourages us to dig deeper and reflect on who we are at our core, beyond the surface.
Captaining Your Own Soul
How can you "captain" your soul with the same care you give your body? What decisions can you make today to truly be the master of your fate?
Read the full poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley here.
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Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
