Right. At some level I'm afraid I think to myself: well my existence is a tiny cosmological insignificance, I cannot control that it is going to end at some po

Right. At some level I'm afraid I think to myself: well my existence is a tiny cosmological insignificance, I cannot control that it is going to end at some point, and there's a significant likelihood it'll end in considerable suffering or in a way I can't predict. It's hard to maintain that train of thought in the face of fear and I have little self-assurance that I'd manage it in more severe circumstances, but it is part of the process I use to deal with intrusive dark thoughts. Every day in Ukraine there are people walking out in front of heavy mobile armaments with a single, hand-made incendiary, or just to stand in the way and demand that men with guns leave. And every one of those people is making this rationalisation, at some level. Stoics seek out likeminded friends, as well, I think. In this most recent case, more or less an entire country of them.