About Me

Zeno of Citium — Stoicism

Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism in early 3rd-century BCE Athens, taught that the highest good is virtue and that a flourishing life comes from aligning our choices with reason and the rational order of the cosmos, the Logos. At the heart of this outlook is the conviction that the only things truly "up to us" are our own judgments, intentions, and actions, while everything else (health, wealth, reputation, and external events) lies beyond our direct control. In embracing this dichotomy of control, I stand firmly in a Stoic lineage that seeks freedom not in managing outcomes, but in mastering my own conduct and responses to whatever fate presents.

Niccolò Machiavelli — Realism

Where Zeno anchors me in inner virtue, Niccolò Machiavelli confronts me with a stark picture of human nature in which people are fundamentally self-interested, fickle, and quick to abandon others when their own safety or advantage is at stake. In this light, his famous reflections on fear and love can be read less as a license for cruelty and more as a warning that relying on others' goodwill or affection is precarious, and that each person must cultivate emotional toughness and self-reliance to withstand betrayal, instability, and shifting loyalties. Machiavelli thus becomes, in my amalgam, not merely a theorist of ruthless rulers but a hard mentor who insists that, in a world of fragile bonds, I am ultimately alone with my decisions and best protected by clear eyes, guarded expectations, and resilient inner defenses.

Aristippus of Cyrene — Hedonism

As Machiavelli pushes me to see worldly affairs without illusion, Aristippus of Cyrene stands in my lineup as the explicit champion of hedonism, arguing that pleasure, especially the vivid pleasures of the present moment, is the natural and only genuine good. A student of Socrates who diverged sharply from his master, Aristippus founded the Cyrenaic school and taught that bodily and mental pleasures are the sole intrinsic goods, but that one must "possess, not be possessed" by them, maintaining mastery over both adversity and prosperity. His hedonism is strikingly present-focused, emphasizing the intelligent savoring of each experience as it arises rather than a life of anxious calculation about future gains, thereby adding a deliberate art of enjoyment to the severity of Stoic discipline and the toughness of Machiavellian statecraft.

Kelsang Gyatso — Buddhism

Balancing these classical currents, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a 20th- and 21st-century Tibetan Buddhist monk and scholar, offers a contemplative dimension rooted in compassion, mental training, and the systematic cultivation of inner peace. Through the New Kadampa Tradition, his students present Buddhism in a modern, accessible way that welcomes people from any background; the monks and teachers model their faith by example rather than pressure, inviting rather than insisting, with the shared aim of helping everyone, Buddhist or not, develop a stable experience of inner peace, compassion, and wisdom in daily life. In my narrative, Kelsang Gyatso adds this strand of gentle, non-coercive inner transformation: not only endurance, realism, and pleasure, but a structured path for reducing mental afflictions and fostering a peaceful mind that aspires to the happiness and freedom of all beings.

Diagoras of Melos — Skepticism

Finally, Diagoras of Melos, a 5th-century BCE poet and sophist often remembered as "the Atheist," injects a radical skepticism that challenges religious convention and the unexamined authority of tradition. Known in antiquity for exposing secret rites and questioning the gods, which led to charges of impiety and his exile from Athens, Diagoras embodies the courage to strip away comforting myths in favor of clear, rational scrutiny. As the last voice in my amalgam, he ensures that even my commitments to virtue, strategy, pleasure, and compassion remain under continual examination, tying my personal brand together as a disciplined yet questioning disciple of both wisdom and doubt.