Brian Johnson walks through the Virtue Compass and introduces a Stoic idea: obstacles like disease, insults, or punishment aren't roadblocks. They're fuel. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius both saw them as material for growth, a way to build the virtues that matter.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another optimize +1. In our last +1, we had some fun making our Optimize Virtue Compass. Recall, the four cardinal points correspond with our four cardinal virtues. @ the top, pointing north, we have wisdom. At the bottom, pointing south, we have self mastery. At the left, pointing west, we have courage. And to the right we have pointing east, we have Love. Then we blended the adjacent cardinal virtues to get our sub virtue compass points. Wisdom plus courage equals hope, Wisdom plus love equals gratitude, Self mastery plus love equals curiosity, and self mastery plus courage equals zest. Note. We're actually working on creating an actual compass we can share. I want one in my pocket and and on my desk at all times. So that's our compass. In our module on Hero Ology, we also chatted about how to create other supplies for our heroic quests, including a healing balm, hero pills, a secret weapon, a hope map, and Hero bars, which are much more nutritious than Idiot Bars. Today we're going to talk about that secret weapon. It's a magic wand. You know what it can do? Well, let's invite Epictetus to the party. He tells us, and I quote, this is Hermes magic wand. Touch it to anything you like, they say, and the wand will turn it to gold. Not so, bring anything you like, rather, and I'll make it something good. Bring disease, bring death, bring poverty, bring insults, bring punishment for high crimes. All these things will be made beneficial by Hermes Magic wand. Imagine having a magic wand with those powers. Ward Farnsworth actually shares that passage in his great book, the Practicing Stoic, Right after he shares that gem from Epictetus, he shares this one from Marcus Aurelius, the same passage that Ryan Holiday used as the inspiration for his book the Obstacle is the Way. I quote Aurelius. The mind turns around every hindrance to its activity and converts it to further its purpose. The impediment to action becomes part of the action. The obstacle in our way becomes the way forward. That's today's plus one. Here's your magic wand. Use it to turn everything into fuel for your growth.
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