Let's go.

Welcome to Citizen.

We've got a special show today called The Obstacle is the Way.

This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently. There's a lot of platitudes

about choosing the difficult path and whatnot, but I want to really get into this. Some of the

underlying thought, and especially from the underlying thought from the ancients.

They're usually pretty good at solving problems that we like to unsolve for some reason,

but we'll get into all that too.

There is a sentence from Marcus Aurelius that has survived almost 2,000 years because it says something permanent

about reality itself. And because most men need to hear it, most when they least want to hear it.

He wrote, the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

Now, it's not a slogan for soft people.

It's not a motivational poster.

It's not one of those quotes that you slap over the black background and post it online before going right back to living like comfort is your highest good.

It's a hard saying.

It's a clean saying.

It's a sentence that cuts right across one of your, one of the central illusions of modern life, which is that belief, the belief rather that the good life is the smooth life, the easy life. Most people, when difficulty appears, interpret it as some kind of verdict. though things have gone wrong the delay means stop

the rejection means no the hardship means you've been singled out the burden means something is wrong and

the closed door means you're off course it gives you this idea that resistance means your path has been blocked

but in reality most of the time resistance means your path has been blocked. But in reality, most of the time, resistance means that you're on the right track.

Marcus Aurelia says exactly that, that the opposite is true, or at least maybe.

The obstacle may not be interrupting the path.

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