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Memento Mori: A Practice for the Living

August 16, 2025August 14, 2025 B. John 2863 Views 0 Comments mortality salience, Gratitude, Memento Mori, Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, mortality reflection, life purpose, reconnecting with friends

We don’t know how much gas is left in the tank. That truth, far from morbid, can be a guide to living with gratitude, courage, and clarity.

Memento Mori is the Stoic reminder that life is finite. For me, it has meant fewer grudges, more calls to friends, and a better sense of when to set work aside. It has reminded me that my “last great days” may already have happened, or they may still be ahead—but I will only recognize them if I am paying attention.

This is not about fearing death. It is about remembering life. When we keep the end in view, even quietly, the days we have become more precious and more alive.

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Stoic Practices: The Dichotomy of Control

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

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.

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Rising from the Defeat That Wasn’t

July 28, 2025August 1, 2025 B. John 2357 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.

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Boone, Facebook, and Marcus Aurelius…Oh My

July 23, 2025July 24, 2025 B. John 1229 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Boone, Marcus Aurelius, Inspiration, Seneca, NC, Modern Wisdom, Healing Places, Reflection, Appalachian State

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

July 20, 2025 B. John 2441 Views 1 Comment 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, Stoicism

“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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Amor Fati: Love What Happens

July 13, 2025August 5, 2025 B. John 2104 Views 2 Comments Moral Clarit, Stoicism, Fate, Marcus Aurelius, justice, Resilience, Courage, Amor Fati, Hope, Serenity Prayer, Reinhold Niebuhr, Acceptance

In a time of political unrest, personal uncertainty, and social fracture, the ancient Stoic idea of Amor Fati — to love one’s fate — offers a powerful challenge. Not to surrender to injustice, but to meet it with clarity, courage, and compassion. This essay reflects on the tension between acceptance and action, drawing on Marcus Aurelius, the Serenity Prayer, and a timely conversation with Rev. Justin LaRosa to explore how we can live fully and faithfully in the world we have, not just the one we wish for.

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The Silence Between Us

July 7, 2025July 14, 2025 B. John 1058 Views 0 Comments Aurelius, Jung, Communications, Loss, Stoicism

This piece began with a line from Carl Jung I read, which surfaced something I hadn’t yet put into words: “Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.” Based on my reading in Stoicism, it seemed to fit with the thoughts of some of the Stoics. I’ve been thinking about what it means to remain engaged, to keep doing meaningful work, and still feel a growing distance from close friendships. This is a quiet reflection on that kind of loneliness, not isolation exactly, but a thinning of connection. A longing for the kind of relationships where nothing important has to be explained.

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Willing or Dragged: Cleanthes, Fate, and the Way of Alignment

July 1, 2025July 2, 2025 B. John 931 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Pigliucci, Cleanthes, Judaism, Merton, Christianity, deVega, Islam

What if freedom isn’t about control, but about cooperation with the deeper order of things? Inspired by Cleanthes’ timeless Stoic insight, this essay explores how fate doesn’t force us—it invites us. Whether guided or dragged, the choice is ours.

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Why We Turn to the Stoics: Wisdom for Troubled Times

June 20, 2025June 25, 2025 B. John 985 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Aurelius, Epicetus, Pigliucci, Lasso, Mr. Rogers, Holiday

We often imagine philosophy as a distant, academic pursuit that can seem abstract and untethered. But Stoicism has never been like that. From its earliest roots in ancient Greece, Stoicism was always meant to be lived, not just studied. It was forged not in ivory towers but in marketplaces, battlefields, and courtrooms. Its great teachers, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca, weren’t cloistered scholars. They were slaves, emperors, and advisors. They lived in the thick of things, often in perilous times, as do we. In our current world, shaped by uncertainty, political upheaval, global conflict, and the erosion of trust in institutions, many of us are looking for something steady. Not false reassurance. Not a distraction. But clarity. A framework that doesn’t promise control over the chaos but a way to remain centered within it.

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The Quiet Success of Inner Peace

June 17, 2025 B. John 1036 Views 1 Comment Stoicism, Inner Peace, Fortune Cookie, Success

Discover how a simple fortune cookie led to a deeper understanding of Stoic wisdom. Explore the idea that true success lies not in status or wealth but in mastering inner calm. A quiet moment over dinner revealed a profound truth: inner peace, not external achievement, may be the ultimate form of success. This reflection explores the connection between Stoic philosophy and the serenity that comes from within.

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“You Belong Every Place” — Stoic Wisdom and the Freedom of Self-Acceptance

June 13, 2025June 13, 2025 B. John 1772 Views 0 Comments Stoics, Stoicism, Belonging, Comsomopolitanism

Every human being craves belonging. It’s why we form communities, join movements, wear team colors, and fly flags. We long for connection. But that longing can also become a trap, especially when our sense of worth is tied to others’ approval. In a time of personal upheaval, when you’ve lost a job or face uncertainty in your role or identity, the question of “Where do I belong?” can feel especially heavy. The layoffs, the narrowed opportunities, and the shifting terrain of social and political support can leave one feeling untethered and drifting. But Stoicism offers a grounding perspective. The Stoic does not belong to a company, a title, or even a particular season of life. The Stoic belongs to reason, to virtue, to nature. And those, as Marcus Aurelius wrote, are always with us, always within reach.