Between Vapor and Virtue

In my search for meaning, I turned from self-help to philosophy, from restless motion to quiet reflection. Ecclesiastes taught me that life is vapor: fleeting, elusive, and beyond full understanding. Yet peace without purpose left me hollow. Then I found Marcus Aurelius. His words reminded me that life’s value is not in understanding its mystery, but in living it with reason, passion, and calm. To accept the vapor is wisdom, to act with virtue within it is strength.