Philosophical Homecoming
There is a small number of writers who's work has had an outsized impact on my own thinking (and therefore on my writing, too). One of them is the modern-day stoic Ryan Holiday. Not only have I read (and re-read and heavily annotated) several of his books, but I have also listened to hundreds of his "Daily Stoic" and "Daily Dad" podcast episodes.
In other words: Over the course of the last few years, I didn't only absorb Holiday's ideas and teachings — they became part of my identity. I became a practicing Ryan Holiday-type stoic.1
I only stopped working my way through his arvchive of thousands of episodes (which I had started to go through, beginning with the very first one) once I reliably recognized all the key messages again and again.
Since then, I haven't opened another of Ryan Holiday's books, although I bought all four of his "Cardnial Virtues" series and very much intend to read them in the near future.2 I also haven't listened to a single of his podcast episodes, and his daily newsletters sit in my mail inbox, waiting for the day I will finally delete them.
But then, a few weeks ago, I discovered the "You made it weird" pocast by comedian Pete Holmes, and I also discovered that he had Ryan Holiday as a guest on his show — not once, but four times.
So I thought: Why not? And just a few minutes later, I was back with Ryan, his voice and ideas and way of expressing them so familiar. It was a little like a surprise meeting with a formerly close friend who you spent a lot of time with over the years, sliding back into your conversational rhythm like no time had passed at all.
I try to expose myself to many different and differing philosophical concepts and ideas, and often times I don't really know which position makes the most sense. I actively try to make up my mind very slowly and thoroughly, and I'm comfortable with not having an opinion on most matters.
But still, it is really comforting and orienting to have a philosophical safe haven. Like your parent's home, where you can always return to if you need a break from the world out there, Holiday's philosophy has become my safe haven that I can always return to, and where I will always feel home.
Do you have a metaphysical place like that? If you'd like to tell me about it:
Footnotes
To be clear: I did not become an uncritical fanboy. For example, I bought Holiday's "Daily Stoic Journal", but soon found it lacking in several ways and put it on the shelf. I also disagree with a few of Holiday's core messages.↩
On my Substack profile, I describe myself as a "Tsundoku black belt". If you don't know the word, just Google it. You'll understand.↩