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Contributing Writer Classical Philosophy & the Long View

Dominic Aurelius

Dominic Aurelius is a writer and classicist whose lifelong conversation with ancient philosophy — the Stoics above all — has given him an unusual lens for contemporary experience. He has contributed to Light & Composition since 2018. For Dominic, every photograph confirms something Marcus Aurelius already said, which is less about the ancients being right and more about how little the essential human situation has changed in twenty centuries.

206 Published Reflections

Reflections by Dominic Aurelius

Showing 12 of 206 essays
The Weight of Quiet Dignity Photo of the Day
January 27, 2019

The Weight of Quiet Dignity

Seneca once observed that we are often more frightened than hurt, and that we suffer more in imagination than in reality. He spoke of the necessity of anchoring oneself in the present, for the mind is a restless traveler that prefers the anxieties of the future or the regrets of the past to the simple, […]
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The Grace of Decay Photo of the Day
January 16, 2019

The Grace of Decay

Seneca once remarked that everything which is destined to grow must first be prepared to wither. We are often obsessed with the bloom, the vibrant green of the beginning, yet we avert our eyes from the inevitable return to the earth. There is a profound, quiet dignity in the weathered state, a reminder that the […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
January 12, 2019

The Weight of Stillness

Seneca once remarked that it is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor. We spend our lives in a state of frantic accumulation, gathering experiences, possessions, and anxieties as if they were armor against the inevitable passage of time. We treat the present as a mere […]
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The Weight of Memory Photo of the Day
January 11, 2019

The Weight of Memory

Seneca once remarked that we are like travelers who, having forgotten the purpose of our journey, become obsessed with the luggage we carry. We polish the leather, we check the latches, and we marvel at the craftsmanship of the vessel, all while the road ahead remains untraveled. It is a curious human tendency to anchor […]
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The Weight of Small Things Photo of the Day
December 26, 2018

The Weight of Small Things

Epictetus once remarked that it is not things themselves that disturb us, but our judgments about them. We are prone to assigning grand narratives to the world, seeking out the monumental and the dramatic, while often overlooking the quiet, repetitive patterns that make up the fabric of our days. We look for meaning in the […]
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The Weight of the Daily Photo of the Day
December 26, 2018

The Weight of the Daily

Seneca once reminded his friend Lucilius that we are all, in a sense, travelers who have forgotten our destination, distracted by the mere mechanics of the journey. We spend our days caught in the friction of necessity—the exchange of goods, the labor of the hands, the persistent demand of the stomach. It is easy to […]
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The Weight of the Earth Photo of the Day
December 16, 2018

The Weight of the Earth

Seneca once remarked that we are like travelers who, in our haste to reach the end of the road, forget to notice the soil beneath our feet. We live in an age that prizes the swift and the automated, viewing the slow, rhythmic labor of the hands as a relic to be discarded. Yet, there […]
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The Dignity of the Unseen Photo of the Day
December 10, 2018

The Dignity of the Unseen

Epictetus reminded his students that we are like actors in a play, and it is not our business to choose the role, but to play the assigned part well. Whether one is cast as a king or a beggar, the quality of the performance remains the same: a commitment to the present duty. We often […]
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The Weight of Character Photo of the Day
December 8, 2018

The Weight of Character

Seneca once remarked that a man’s character is his fate, a sentiment that suggests we are not merely the sum of our circumstances, but the architects of our own endurance. We often look at the faces of others and search for the story of their lives, hoping to find a map of their struggles or […]
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The Grace of the Bend Photo of the Day
December 5, 2018

The Grace of the Bend

Seneca once remarked that the man who is prepared for the changes of fortune is the only one who remains unshaken. We often mistake rigidity for strength, believing that to stand tall and unyielding is the highest virtue. Yet, nature teaches a different lesson entirely. The branch that resists the gale snaps, while the one […]
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The Quietude of Being Photo of the Day
December 3, 2018

The Quietude of Being

Seneca once remarked that nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. We live in an age that mistakes motion for progress and noise for importance, forgetting that the most profound shifts in the natural order occur in absolute silence. A seed does not announce its intention to sprout, nor does the morning dew debate […]
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The Weight of Unseen Strings Photo of the Day
December 2, 2018

The Weight of Unseen Strings

Epictetus reminded his students that we are like actors in a play, and it is not our business to choose the role, but to play it well. We often mistake the props of our lives—the toys, the status, the rules imposed by the city—for the substance of our character. Yet, the child who runs against […]
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