Bryan Doerries On the Power of Greek Tragedy and Seneca’s Plays
On today’s episode, Ryan speaks to writer Bryan Doerries about his work in familiarizing service members and veterans with ancient Greek plays, the military history of Greek playwrights, how the perfo...
3 Feb 20211h 2min
Things Are Not That Different
“We live in the glorious future. Yet somehow it is exactly the same as the past. The scourge of the ancient world: Pirates. Pompey fought them in Cato’s time. Bandits and highwaymen. Countless Romans ...
2 Feb 20212min
This Is How a Wise Man Responds to Triggers | Focus On the Present Moment
“There’s a story in the Talmud about a man betting his friend four hundred zuzim that he couldn’t provoke the famous rabbi Hillel into anger. The friend accepted the wager and settled on an ingenious ...
1 Feb 20219min
Seneca On the Shortness of Life
Today’s episode features a section from James Romm’s How to Die: An Ancient Guide to the End of Life. How To Die is a modern translation and collection of Seneca’s musings on the shortness of life. Ja...
31 Jan 202129min
James Frey on Turning Chaos Into Success
Ryan Speaks to writer and businessman James Frey about the challenges of being isolated during the pandemic, the philosophy behind his sobriety, the painful discovery of human flaws in your heroes, an...
30 Jan 20211h 18min
Practice Makes You Prepared
“In 2017, the New England Patriots were down 28-3 to the Atlanta Falcons in the third quarter of the Super Bowl. It had not been a good game. Fans had already begun to write the Patriots off. Announce...
29 Jan 20213min
Can You Forgive Them? | Watching the Wise
“They hurt you, your parents. Everyone’s did. Some in big ways, some in small ways. It’s just a fact. As the poet Philip Larkin wrote, ‘They f**k you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but th...
28 Jan 20215min
It’s A Series Of High Water Marks
“There’s a beautiful scene in Hunter S. Thompson’s dark memoir, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He talks about how just outside Las Vegas, in the shadow of the lights of the strip and the noise of the...
27 Jan 20212min
