4. The Nature of the Sky Cabin
In these first posts, I’m trying to give the blog direction.
As I do so, I keep discovering the real nature of The Sky Cabin.
Marcus Aurelius’s idea of “retreating within” to examine one’s life seems spot on. That is exactly what happens here.
Yes, you can go to the cabin to relax or play. But you could do that anywhere.
What makes the cabin unique is its purpose: to recover from the noise of everyday life. Once you’ve found yourself again, you use that time to examine your life. That means reflecting on the events of the day, the week, or the month—and reviewing your own thoughts about how you’re living.
This ties back to the Stoics. In 2019, I enrolled in the College of Stoic Philosophers—a decision that changed everything for me. In 2021, I joined their faculty, and since then I’ve mentored more than 50 students in both introductory and advanced courses. Stoicism has been my path for over six years, with Marcus guiding the way throughout.
One Stoic idea that continues to fascinate me is anachoresis—Latin for “the inner retreat.” The Stoics described it as a turning inward to the hegemonikon (the ruling principle), where one studies life through reason. The Sky Cabin is, in many ways, born from this very idea.
So what belongs in the Sky Cabin? To me, it is a place to heal, to reflect, to study lightly, and to create. It becomes a kind of cycle:
Enter from the noisy world.
Recover — or play, meditate, or listen to music.
Reflect — examine life, ideas, and choices.
Create — writing, drawing, or something new.
The order doesn’t matter. You can do one activity, or all of them.
Perfect Music also belongs here. It should be undistracting, more like ambience: slow, low-volume, sometimes absent, to create variation. Music should help with recovery and centering without pulling you away. For me, it’s ideal for writing and examining ideas.
The cabin also needs a few rules. The first one is simple: don’t enter the portal unless you have at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted time. Entry should feel special. Only by respecting this rule can the cabin give you its full benefits.
And one last element: a journal. In the spirit of Marcus Aurelius, it is a crucial item of the cabin—something to capture reflections, doodles, readings, or even new creations. Electronics may enter as tools for writing, listening, or creating—but only consciously. They carry a high risk of disturbing the atmosphere, so they must be used with care.
This, so far, is how I see the Sky Cabin: a retreat into the ruling principle, a place for recovery, reflection, study, and sometimes… creation.
Ritual
From the Shelf: The Book of Ichigo Ichie — Héctor García & Francesc Miralles.
Grain of Wisdom from the Sandglass: “Free will is doing gladly what we have to do” — Carl Jung
What the Candle Said: “Turn it on. Yeah, the fire. Let it burn”
Cabin Cup: No tea today
Perfect Music (private playlist): Email me at skycabin@posteo.net if you want in — it’s my excuse to talk to you :)