We have reached the end of our journey. We have learned how to govern our desires, how to fight our anger, how to endure grief, and how to conquer the fear of men. But all of these disciplines are merely training for the final battle. Every philosophy, every religion, and every worldview is ultimately tested… Continue reading Memento Mori and the Final Victory
Category: Christian Living
On Fear, Awe Before God, Courage Before Men
Before we cross the final threshold to face the ultimate test of the Christian Stoic—the meditation on death (Memento Mori)—we must address the emotion that makes death so terrifying in the first place. We must examine fear. For the ancient Stoics, fear was a disease of the mind. It was an irrational anticipation of a future… Continue reading On Fear, Awe Before God, Courage Before Men
On Grief, Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing
We have spoken of how a man must govern his desires and tame his anger. But now we arrive at the most devastating test of the human heart. Before we turn our eyes to the reality of our own death in the practice of Memento Mori, we must reckon with the death of those we love.… Continue reading On Grief, Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing
On Anger, Righteous and Unrighteous
Before we face the ultimate test of the Christian Stoic, the meditation on our own mortality (Memento Mori), we must address the most volatile and destructive of all human passions. We must talk about anger. If you read the ancient Stoics, you will quickly discover that they viewed anger not just as a flaw, but… Continue reading On Anger, Righteous and Unrighteous
The Inner Critic and the Advocate: Redeeming the Voice in Your Head
Every man has a voice in his head. It is the running commentary of your life, the invisible narrator that evaluates your actions, judges your motives, and reacts to your circumstances. For the Stoic, this internal voice was meant to be the voice of Reason (Logos). The philosopher trained his mind to act as a… Continue reading The Inner Critic and the Advocate: Redeeming the Voice in Your Head
The Morning and Evening Review: Bookending the Day with Grace
A day without structure is a day surrendered to chaos. If you wake up and immediately let the demands of the world—your email, the news, the urgent crises of others—dictate your attention, you will spend the next sixteen hours playing defense. You will be reactive, driven by your passions and the whims of circumstance. The… Continue reading The Morning and Evening Review: Bookending the Day with Grace
The Philosophical Diary as a Spiritual Journal
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates spoke these words at his trial, and the Stoics took them as a fundamental command. To live well, a man must pay attention to how he lives. He cannot drift. He must audit his own soul. The primary tool the Stoics used for this audit was the… Continue reading The Philosophical Diary as a Spiritual Journal
The Enchiridion and the Pilgrim’s Handbook: Epictetus’s Rules for Life, Refined by Grace
We have spent the last few articles wrestling with giants—rejecting the cold theology of the Stoics, grappling with the tragedy of Seneca, and staring down the temptation of self-sufficiency. But Stoicism was never meant to remain in the ivory tower. It was designed for the street fight of daily life. To end our practical exploration,… Continue reading The Enchiridion and the Pilgrim’s Handbook: Epictetus’s Rules for Life, Refined by Grace
An Iron Faith for an Age of Anxiety
We are living in a brittle age. I have observed, as I am sure you have, that our cultural moment is defined by a pervasive and paralyzing anxiety. It is an age of therapy-speak and trigger warnings, of safe spaces and emotional support animals, where the language of fragility has supplanted the language of fortitude.… Continue reading An Iron Faith for an Age of Anxiety