You Should Be In The Thick of It | How Oprah Discovered Stoicism
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Why should Stoics get involved in public life and make their impact felt?
Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. You should be in the thick of it. It was the center of the world. Rome was the caput mundi, the head of the world, and the forum was the center of Rome. It is there in the forum that you found the Stoics. Cato was there giving speeches, so was Cicero. Helvidius challenged Vespasian to his face there. More than two centuries later, Marcus Aurelius stood on the Rasta and delivered a funeral oration for Antoninus Pius there. The Stoics were not at home with their books. In the early days they had been in Athens, when Athens was the center of the world, but they came to Rome from there, literally in a famous diplomatic mission led by Diogenes.
Tell the story in lives of the Stoics. Marcus Aurelis, it was said, refused to allow Rusticus and Arian to remain as pen and ink philosophers. He got them to participate. He wanted them involved in things. It's a shame today that philosophers are so removed from society. You might see them on a university campus, but probably not on Capitol Hill. What issues of our time are they speaking to? What relevance does their work have? Are they starting businesses or leading social movements? Uh why not? More to the point, what are you a philosophically inclined person, or you wouldn't be listening to this? What are you doing? How are you getting involved? How are you making your impact felt? How are you bringing your beliefs and your virtues into the world?
How did Ryan Holiday get invited to Oprah’s podcast in Maui?
Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. So back in January, feels like an eternity ago. I got this Instagram message and then I think a thing came into the bookstore customer service or whatever. And and honestly, I thought it was phishing. There's this kind of scam going around these days. There's actually just a an article I was reading about it where people impersonate a famous person and then they invite you on a podcast or to like a FaceTime or whatever. And then they're like, oh, it's not working. And then they send you a link. You click that link and it that's where they they get you, right? They get you like you're almost on, you're almost connected with them, and then they
Oh, here's this troubleshooting thing. And then boom, that's where they get you. So just a FYI, if you see or hear anyone talking about this, like if you suddenly get a an Instagram DM from Joe Rogan or or somebody, that's probably what it is. Actually, I I got one from uh Aaron Andrews, and we almost fell for it. So I got this message from someone who claimed to work for Oprah, you know, Oprah's production company is Harpo, Oprah Backwards. And uh they asked if if I could connect with them. They're like, I know it's a weekend, but can you connect with us? I sent them a message that got right back to me. Well, it turns out it was real. And they asked if I wanted to do Oprah's podcast. They said, There's only one downside.
You're gonna have to come out to Maui to do it. I said, Oh no, would I really have to go to Hawaii in the middle of the winter? Um, but we did. I flew out. to Hawaii. My grandparents used to live in Maui, so I have a lot of memories there. So I ended up taking my kids. We stay right down the street from where my my one building over from where my grandparents lived. It was this wonderful, nostalgic, beautiful thing, got some long runs in. I was just then starting to train for the the ultra marathon I was gonna do. And um I took my in-laws with us too. It was just a like a lovely, lovely family trip, family time together. And I'm gonna cherish that forever. But the cherry on top of it was at the end. I got to sit down and talk.
With Oprah. Now you might be asking, why did Oprah have you on?
How did Maria Semple’s Stoicism-inspired novel reach Oprah?
And how did she hear about Stoicism? Well, if you've read Maria Semple's new book, Go Gentle, it's this novel inspired by Stoicism, that's the answer. Maria Semple wrote this amazing novel about where the main character is a stoic philosopher, and uh that made its way to Oprah.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why should Stoics get involved in public life and make their impact felt?
0:00–1:59
2
How did Ryan Holiday get invited to Oprah’s podcast in Maui?
1:59–4:12
3
How did Maria Semple’s Stoicism-inspired novel reach Oprah?
4:12–5:33
4
How does Go Gentle teach Stoicism through everyday wants and attachments?
5:33–8:01
5
How did Oprah discover Stoicism and become interested in its teachings?
8:01–9:52
6
How can Stoicism help people navigate modern life and personal challenges?
9:52–12:05
7
How can Oprah’s platform introduce Stoicism to a wider audience?
12:05–15:27
8
How can you turn obstacles into opportunities with Stoic philosophy?
15:27–17:59
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Daily Stoic
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