Deep Something

The View from Above

August 29, 2025August 29, 2025 B. John 2391 Views 0 Comments Evening Reflection, Dichotomy of Control, View from Above, labyrinth, hospital, Wesleyan, Memento Mori, social holiness, Stoicism, Boone

I walked the hospital garden and followed the path of grace. At the end a bronze plaque carried lines from Psalms nine and ten. Refuge for the oppressed. God hears the afflicted. The metal was warm under my hand. Nothing was fixed. Yet something in me settled enough to breathe.

The Stoics call it the View from Above. Rise in your mind. See the room, the floor, the building, the town, the small blue world. The pain stays real, but it finds its size. From there the next right act appears. Ask a clear question. Hold a hand. Eat. Pray. Sleep if you can. The practice pairs with the dichotomy of control and with evening reflection. It opens the frame, then helps you learn from the day.

Tomorrow I head to Boone while my sister and a caregiver sit with Mom. Those mountains have taught me to climb, look, and return. The Wesleyan way names that rhythm as grace. Action without contemplation is unrooted. Contemplation without action is inconsequential. In a brittle season for our republic, this practice steadies my voice and keeps my heart useful.

A quiet interstate at dawn seen through a lightly wet windshield, soft light on trees and sky.

Culture Featured Stoicism

Expecting Trouble-Premeditatio Malorum

August 20, 2025August 20, 2025 B. John 2270 Views 1 Comment Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Resilience, Seneca, Premeditatio Malorum, Dichotomy of Control, Stoic practices, Gratitude, mental rehearsal, Stoicism

Trouble will come. That is not a threat. It is the world as it is. Premeditatio malorum is simple training for a steady heart. Picture what could go wrong. Picture your first response. Keep it short. Keep it concrete. You cannot script life. You can be ready to meet it. Then even hard days make room for small good things. A call from a friend. Light on the trees at dusk. Thanks for what remains.

Featured Places Kings Mountain Stoicism

Embracing the Unforeseen

August 17, 2025 B. John 1360 Views 0 Comments Marcus Aurelius, Resilience, love, Acceptance, Family, Seneca, Dichotomy of Control, surprises, Stoicism, Epictetus

So I’ll drive north. I’ll carry with me a fortune cookie scrap of paper that turned out wiser than I expected. And I’ll try to remember that philosophy is not about lofty words on a page. It’s about how you hold yourself when the phone rings at 3 a.m., how you respond when plans dissolve, how you see both the bitter and the sweet.

Marcus and Seneca remind us: surprises are not intruders. They are part of the order of things. To embrace them is to live in step with nature itself.

And maybe that is the real fortune. Not that life will protect us from pain, but that it will give us endless chances to practice courage, patience, and love.

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Stoic Practices: The Dichotomy of Control

August 14, 2025August 13, 2025 B. John 1127 Views 0 Comments practical philosophy, Stoicism, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, personal growth, Dichotomy of Control, Stoic practices

The Dichotomy of Control teaches that some things are up to us and some are not. My own health journey and a job loss taught me that lesson in very different ways. Both proved the same point: act fully where you can, and accept what you cannot change.