Welcome to the Eric Metaxus show with your host, Eric Metaxus.

Folks, it's the Eric Metaxus show. I'm Eric Metaxis. What can I tell you? Do I need to show you ID?

No one else would claim to be me. It's that bad. But I'm talking to a fun guest named Ethan Nicole, who's tough to sum up. And I love my favorite people are the ones you can't sum up. Ethan Nicole, you have a position at the Babylon B. What is your title at the Babylon B? My current title is the creative director, which they just asked me when I was the second employee ever at Kyle's editor-in-chief. They said, what do you want your title to be? So I just like went to like a magazine or I think I went to the onion actually. And I was like, who's just editor chief and it was creative director so I was like yeah whatever that is so so you are making

the Babylon B happen so if people don't understand how impressive that is they they should look into it

but you write books you You have many interests.

And again, I think it's one of the reasons I like you is you make me feel a little bit more normal because I usually I feel like a freak.

And I wear a potato sack over my head and I walk around, you know, a lot like the elephant man.

If you've seen that film, that's who I am. And so you make me feel a little bit, you know, a lot like the elephant man. If you've seen that film, that's who I am.

And so you make me feel a little bit, you know, more, less freaky.

You've written a book about G.K. Chesterton.

And his chapter, The Ethics of Elfland, the ethics of Elf Land in the book Orthodoxy.

I want to read a quote because kind of what

you're talking about in the book is how Chesterton is so dense that to really try to figure him out.

Sometimes people will just use a quote from him because that's enough. The quote is like says it all.

Yeah. But then he writes these essays and he writes books. But here's a quote. The book is orthodoxy, which I recommend. If you're going to start on Chesterton, I would say muscle through that book. But there's a chapter in there that's my favorite. It's called the Ethics of Elfland. You have it in your book. And there's a quote at the beginning of this chapter. And I want to read this because this kind of sums some things up.

It says, this is Chesterton, because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit, fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.

They always say, do it again. And the grownup person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exalt in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.

It is possible that God says every morning, do it again to the sun and every evening.

Do it again to the moon.

That sort of sums up Chesterton in a way, doesn't it?

This childlike delight, energy, brilliance.

...