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ability of changing the way we of our agency will be activated
relate to something. Accord- and we’ll be able to influence
ingly, if we were to criticize the given set of circumstances,
Marx and his notion of alien- but some other parts will deny
ated labor, we would need to us the access. Many things are
say that the worker should rec- outside our control and appro-
ognize her alienated condition priating them is sometimes sim-
as an impairment of her will, ply (although it is a difficult task)
and as a result, she will need accepting them, moving on and
to activate her agency to finding different projects. Ac-
‘change things’ concerning her cepting the unchangeable, sur-
relation to work. To appropriate rendering to it in Kierkegaard’s
something in this sense turns sense,1 is liberating and a way
into ‘dealing with’ (in an active of creating meaning within my
way while using the activity own life. More than that, I would
one possesses) what one even argue that acceptance is
knows. What I know stands at the half of appropriation. We
my disposal as knowledge, but cannot control everything, but
not in a passive way: I really we still need to make sense of
and practically have command blurry circumstances, in order
over it and I can identify with it. to create meaning. And this
Moreover, I deal with some- process starts not with denying
thing by ‘giving into’ unchange- anything, but rather with leaving
able external realities and things ‘as they are’, with surren-
surrendering to them, while ac- der and radical acceptance. We
cepting them as pre-deter- can see now that in the ques-
mined By saying ‘acceptance’ tion of free will and human
and ‘surrender’, I want to out- agency, there are always two
line that we do possess the poles conquering each other:
option of choice and we can the changeable stands against
decide how to react to life- the unchangeable, and we are
events which are outside our the ones who need to balance
control. We are able to step the equilibrium. In other words:
back and to analyse the situa- This ability to change some
tion, we can use agency. In a conditions of our lives marks us
given life situation, some parts out as persons. We can expres