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Stoicism is the discipline of living in accordance with Stoic logos, the virtuous alignment of your nature with the nature of the Universe, through the four principles; courage, temperance, wisdom, justice. The Stoic holds virtue to be the highest ideal; the consistent and unwavering alignment of reason with action, and the perfection of the self through the exercise of right judgment, disciplined will, and alignment with nature’s rational order—regardless of outcome, pleasure, or praise.

Strategic Stoicism, an extension of the practical Stoicism of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, aligns the warrior, the person of action with Stoic virtues, and gives rise to the warrior-philosopher approach to life; a balance of equal parts mental and physical discipline. The warrior-philosopher is not defined by mere conquest, or physical strength, but by disciplined reason in motion, shaped by hardship, and governed by ethics and virtue. The warrior-philosopher trains the body to obey, the mind to command, and the spirit to remain unshaken by fortune.

This is not “Stoicism lite.” This is not “feel good” Stoicism. This not the soft Stoicism of self-help gurus. This is Stoicism sharpened to field discipline, for one who wakes up to train, forges body to support mind, and demands not peace, but containment, clarity, and battle-readiness. This is the Stoicism of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war.

Subscribe to explore and walk this path with others on the same journey—to discuss, to learn, and to share in the principles and logos governing the warrior-philosopher philosophy and life.

Author

At the earliest age, I remember having trouble physically, mentally, and emotionally. My physical coordination was poor, making participation in even the simplest of sports and athletics near impossible. Academically, I could not progress. Emotionally, I could not contain. Eventually, repeated failures physically, academically, and emotionally led to a sort of apathy—what’s the point of even trying? By age fourteen, being physically weak, overweight, and directionless combined with being academically inferior to the point I was labeled, “retarded,” and developmentally disabled, I was told repeatedly, “this is it, you’ll never progress past this point, learn to live with it.”

I did learn to live with it, but not as intended by those, whose real message was “give up” and “be realistic.” While most saw the results of dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, and OCPD and pronounced me “dead on arrival,” a few others saw me differently. They saw potential. With personal pride combined with inspiration from those few, a new journey began—first conquering the physical, later the academic, and forever locked in an existential battle to contain and conquer the emotional. From being unable to hit or catch a baseball, to being able to slice one out of the air with a katana from a cold draw. From unable to do a single push-up or pull-up, to multiple black belts in multiple martial arts. From flunking out of high school, to multiple degrees, including a PhD in STEM. From being unable to read or write past a 5th grade level at age 18, to being a published author and researcher in artificial intelligence. From being barely able to communicate in English, to being bilingual and fluent in English and Greek. From chaos to control.

The foundation of this change was assuredly personal pride, I refuse to be labeled or told who I am, or what I can and can’t do. However, just saying those words and feeling that emotion is not enough—we must act and accomplish with focus and discipline to enact change. I found my first answers in martial arts, and Eastern philosophy, particularly the philosophy of Taoism and the writings of Lao Tzu and Sun Tzu. For years, these philosophies and martial training drove me to improve, adapt, and overcome.

I went far on that foundation, but it wasn’t enough. I knew I could do better, but the roadblocks on my path were emotional chaos, an inability to control emotional reactions, and an inability to disconnect from external expectations. Enter Stoicism. Not the hyper-focused Stoicism of Zeno, and not the theory-made-manifest Stoicism of Epictetus. Instead, grounded in the hard-edged Stoicism of Seneca, and the practical Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius, combining with the martial way of Sun Tzu, I follow, learn, and teach what I term Strategic Stoicism.

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