John Masters, Author at Deep Something

The Art of Un-Becoming

August 11, 2025August 9, 2025 B. John 2158 Views 1 Comment Paulo Coelho, self-concealment, minority stress

Paulo Coelho once wrote, “Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you…”
For many of us, especially LGBTQ+ people, “un-becoming” means peeling away the armor we’ve worn for survival — the masks, the guarded conversations, the careful performances that kept us safe but kept us distant. In my own life, that armor helped me get through a small-town childhood, but it also kept me from living fully. Moving to Greensboro changed that. Coming out brought freedom, but it also brought loss — including a best friend I’ve never seen again. This is what I learned about the cost and the reward of un-becoming.

Deep Thoughts Featured Stoicism

When the Other Shoe Drops: Practicing Premeditatio Malorum

August 10, 2025August 9, 2025 B. John 1177 Views 0 Comments Premeditatio Malorum, Massimo Pigliucci

When I lost my job, I wasn’t surprised, but I wasn’t ready. In this essay, I explore the Stoic practice of Premeditatio Malorum, the art of imagining setbacks before they happen, and how it can help us meet life’s blows with steadiness instead of panic.

Featured Stoicism

Stoicism Journey: Evening Reflection

August 7, 2025August 6, 2025 B. John 3055 Views 1 Comment Epictetus, Aurelius, Seneca, Journaling, Evening Reflection, Meditations

We’ve all had days we wish we could do over — moments of frustration, things said too quickly, or chances missed. At night, the mind often replays them with no resolution. The Stoics gave us another way. The practice of Evening Reflection invites us to examine the day with honesty, take note of our missteps and our better moments, and prepare to live more intentionally tomorrow. It’s simple, quiet, and backed by modern science. You don’t need special tools — just a few minutes and a willingness to learn from your own life.

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Do We Define Our Stories, or Do They Define Us?

August 4, 2025 B. John 2960 Views 1 Comment Epictetus, Aurelius, Hidden Brain, Donald Robertson, Jonathon Adler, Journaling, CBT

On an early morning walk, I queued up a podcast to pass the miles. By the time I’d finished mowing the lawn a few hours later, I was hearing my own life in a new way. Psychologist Jonathan Adler was explaining how the stories we tell about ourselves can either close our world or open it. Redemption stories, he said, often lead to hope and growth. Contamination stories do the opposite.

It sounded strikingly familiar. The Stoics taught that we cannot control what happens, but we can control the meaning we give it. Their nightly reflections were, in a way, acts of storytelling—choosing which moments to carry forward and how to frame them. Modern psychology and ancient philosophy were meeting in the same place, and I realized I’d been practicing this without knowing it.

We may not get to choose every plot twist, but we can decide how to tell the tale. And that choice might just shape the life we live next.

Stoicism Featured

The Stoic Path I Didn’t Mean to Take

August 1, 2025October 5, 2025 B. John 2775 Views 0 Comments John Lewis, James Stockdale, Memeto Nori

I didn’t go looking for Stoicism. It showed up in fortune cookies, old sermons, Facebook posts, and a quiet reply from my pastor. This essay reflects on the strange, almost fated path that led me to Stoic thought, even before I had a name for it. From “My Creed” to Admiral Stockdale to John Lewis, these moments formed a pattern I couldn’t ignore. Maybe it’s true what Public TV personality Bob Ross said about “happy little accidents.” This was one of them.

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Bi-Vocational Martyrdom and the Pronoun Police: Crying Wolf in a Library

July 28, 2025August 5, 2025 B. John 1283 Views 0 Comments Tony Perkins, Pronouns, Family Research Council, Luke 6:31, FRC, Bi-Vocational

Tony Perkins is mad again. This time, it’s because his “bi-vocational” pastor buddy got fired from a public library job for refusing to call a coworker by their chosen pronouns. Perkins calls it persecution. I call it what happens when someone mistakes rudeness for righteousness. This essay cuts through the drama, mocks the martyr complex, and reminds Pastor Luke that if you want respect, you might try giving some. Being a public employee means treating the public like people — all of them.

Deep Thoughts Featured Stoicism

Rising from the Defeat That Wasn’t

July 28, 2025August 1, 2025 B. John 2377 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Amor Fati, Seneca, Maya Angelou, Grace

Sometimes the worst defeats are the ones you didn’t cause but still feel responsible for. A job ends. A friendship slips away. You tell yourself it wasn’t your fault, but that doesn’t stop the questions. Maya Angelou once wrote that defeat might be necessary—not because we deserve it, but because it reveals who we really are. This essay reflects on regret and unexpected renewal through the lens of Stoic thought and lived experience. What you rise from, it turns out, may be the truest part of you.

Boone Culture NC Deep Thoughts Featured Places Stoicism

Boone, Facebook, and Marcus Aurelius…Oh My

July 23, 2025July 24, 2025 B. John 1243 Views 0 Comments Marcus Aurelius, Inspiration, Seneca, NC, Modern Wisdom, Healing Places, Reflection, Appalachian State, Stoicism, Boone

I came across a meme that read, “There are two places you need to go often: The place that heals you. The place that inspires you.” It struck me deeply, because for me, one of those places is Boone, North Carolina, where I went to college. But as I reflected on that idea through the lens of Stoic philosophy, I realized the Stoics might offer a very different kind of guidance: to go inward. This essay explores the contrast, and surprising harmony, between modern healing and ancient inner retreat.

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Crazy … or Just Early?

July 21, 2025July 24, 2025 B. John 1009 Views 0 Comments Ideas, Change, Steve Jobs

They called you odd. Paranoid. “That guy with the charts.” But maybe you weren’t wrong—just early. Turns out, history has a soft spot for the weirdos who saw it coming. Being early often looks a lot like being weird. People smile politely. They call you intense. Or ask if you’ve “been getting enough sleep lately.” But then ten years pass, and suddenly everyone’s quoting the person they once thought needed a nap and a hobby.

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A Way Out of No Way: John Lewis and the Moral Will

July 20, 2025 B. John 2459 Views 1 Comment Stoicism, nonviolence, Selma, justice, Epictetus, Heather Cox Richardson, Civil Rights, Marcus Aurelius, moral courage, good trouble, Buddhist, Jewish justice, Abrahamic traditions, John Lewis, tikkun olam, Bodhisattva

“Lewis did not need a theory of justice. He lived one.”
Five years after the death of Congressman John Lewis, his words and witness still call us to the hard, necessary work of moral courage. Drawing from Christian theology, the Black church, and the discipline of nonviolence, Lewis embodied a philosophy of action that mirrors the core of Stoic thought—and resonates just as deeply with the teachings of Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. He did not merely protest injustice. He met it with clarity, hope, and a soul unshaken by cruelty. His legacy extends beyond American history. It is human wisdom.

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When Facts Fail: Political Psychology Meets Trump’s Epstein Files Debacle

July 19, 2025July 20, 2025 B. John 999 Views 0 Comments Epstein File, conspiracy, Trump, Hidden Brain, QAnon, Cognitive Bias

Ever wonder why some people refuse to change their minds even when presented with clear evidence? Scientists have discovered that our brains are wired to protect our beliefs, not seek truth.We see it in Donald Trump’s spectacular mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein files controversy proves just how dangerous this psychological quirk can be, even for master manipulators.

For years, Trump expertly exploited this mental bias, convincing his supporters to dismiss investigations as “hoaxes” regardless of the evidence. But his attempt to brand concerns about the Epstein files as just another Democratic conspiracy has backfired spectacularly. Unlike previous scandals, this one taps into his base’s deepest fears about secret cabals and hidden power. Beliefs so central to their identity that when Trump dismissed their concerns, they turned on him instead. The result? The worst internal revolt of his political career, with major allies like Mike Pence and Elon Musk publicly breaking ranks.

This isn’t just political drama, it’s a real-time case study in how the psychology of conspiracy theories can eventually consume even those who try to control them. When belief becomes currency, losing trust costs more than any scandal ever could.