The Lot of Fortune

The lot of fortune. It is symbolised by a circle with an X in the middle. It whispers, “Here, you shall find your fortune.” The voice is barely audible, but you will hear it whisper from time to time. You will hear it calling out to you at certain cross junctions in your life.

It’s a place. An industry, maybe. A way of life, a tradition, a belief system. Here, you shall find your fortune.

The first time I discovered my lot of fortune, I read about it and I thought, “This doesn’t make any sense.”

The reason was simple: I hadn’t found my fortune.

That’s why when someone said to me, “This is the fortune that has been allotted to you, I thought, well, that can’t be true because I don’t have it and I haven’t found it yet.”

It was then that I started to think deeply about the whole notion of being a fortune-seeker.

It refers to someone who is seeking their fortune. He or she doesn’t actually have it in their possession. But he is seeking it. In that same way, the idea of being a fortune-seeker means that you’re essentially on a bit of a treasure hunt.

For different people, what they see as fortune–or even misfortune–is very different.

A caveat.

A lot of the times, when we’re trying to meet a scarcity or a lack that we have in our lives–we do it because we have an unmet need. It could be because we don’t have enough. Or it could be that we have a compulsion or an addiction and that’s why we keep reaching for it. But once that need is met, we often don’t need it anymore.

But when someone says, “I am seeking my fortune,” it’s usually not something you were blessed with at birth. Things that you are born with–if you already have it–then you wouldn’t be seeking it. If you’re seeking or are in search of something; it would naturally be something you don’t have or have never ever had.

When we talk about fortune-seekers, there’s always the story of the immigrant. Specifically, the immigrant ship that you get on. I’m going to get on a ship, go there and I’m going to find my fortune there.

Much like the EIC, which ended up being one of the largest corporations in economic history. Interestingly, the EIC’s first voyage was to Indonesia. But they didn’t find fortune. Not immediately, anyway. First, they found Fortuna’s sister misfortune.

But they kept going, and eventually they found India, and they found their fortune. For the Brits, the relationship with India turned out to be a profitable one. It was a relationship which lasted a few hundred years. It wasn’t a short-term fling. It lasted centuries.

Is it still ongoing? Well, that’s another story. But they did find their fortune. Yes, you can safely conclude that they found what they were seeking. For the EIC, it started with a group of guys who called themselves The Adventurers. On the journey, they found both adventure and misadventure. Similarly, when we think of a lot of fortune, it’s something that we have to find or we have to let it find us.

You have to encounter the misfortune before the fortune actually comes.

I have been thinking about my lot of fortune. When it was first brought to my attention that this was my lot of fortune, I thought, “Nah… This is not the fortune I am seeking. Why would I want this?” You can’t even picture it.

Sometime after the event passed, the prediction or something else returns to you, and out of the blue, you remember and you recall. And the only reason you remember or recall–is not because someone has had an argument with you or tried to prove themselves right.

But for some unexplainable reason, at a particular cross junction in your life–you see that X–that spot and that cross junction which possesses a great destiny and a destination that was created specifically for you.

The desire, vision and opportunity rises within you. And somehow you realise that that is the path for you. Something clicks.

Think about that for a moment.

Fortuna awaits…