Ryan Holiday

And it sits on my desk.

And so I've always loved that.

And you know what I think struck me about it, you know, reading other Cormac McCarthy books later,

is there's a level of hopefulness and positivity and goodness there that is not so much a theme in many of his other books, which are so dark and so scathing of sort of human nature and human society.

There's something much sweeter about The Road than anything else he writes.

I guess I was.

I mean, that's what I think drew me to literature and philosophy, especially at that time in my life, was that very genuine interest in meaning and purpose and morality.

I think I was drawn to that in fiction and in nonfiction because, I don't know, I just wanted my fix, which I do think the best...

the best art does is it gives us, not to put it too corny, like it helps us carry the fire.

Like we see in these stories and statues and paintings and mosaics and myths, like something about that higher calling or higher capacity and it inspires in us maybe fleeting examples of that in our own behavior.

Yeah, I marked that passage also.

I have my book right here, by the way.

I was very struck by that.

Yeah, there is a purity and a holiness in a young child that I do think we're obligated to protect and shepherd into its existence.

And that's kind of what I thought he meant by carrying the fire.

Like, this is this thing that you've been given.

Don't let it go out.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think there's two things.

So one, I kind of have this pet theory that there are certain authors or books where everything they've done up until that point was leading them to this sort of perfect moment.