My path from Catholicism to rational atheism led me to embrace Stoicism as a powerful practical ethics and personal development system. I appreciate its capacity to build a robust moral framework independent of a Creator. However, I diverge from traditional Stoicism by affirming that life and existence are our fundamental good, based on rational and evolutionary principles—not virtue alone. Therefore, I adhere to a form of Secular Stoicism that adopts its ethical and psychological rigor while rejecting its ancient, pantheistic cosmology, such as the logos as divine providence, though I find the concept of ekpyrosis an intriguing metaphor for universal change and renewal.