The Girl Who Would Be Free A Fable About Epictetus

Well we refer to it in the girl who would be free as the empire between your ears.

This is obviously the idea in the girl who would be free which is about epictetus. Epictetus having so much taken from him, having so little control in some cases even over his physical body that the greatest empire, the empire between his ears is really all that's left and that's what that book is about.

It's a it's a fable, supposed to teach this idea to young kids I wrote it for my boys but it's for boys and girls and all of us who need a reminder of this sort of basic premise of Stoic philosophy.

You can grab the girl who would be free at store.dailystoic.com and I think if you get a sign copy I'll link to this in today's show. If you get it there's a thing you click you get a sign copy you can get the boy who would be king for like 75% off or vice versa.

In the girl who would be free are fable based on the life of epic Titus epic Titus his father says that to be great we have to first focus on the empire between our ears he's referring to our thoughts our emotions our urges our desires our fears our own choices.

I'm actually just so proud of that book the girl who would be free I did the boy who would be king early in the pandemic I did the girl who would be free later in the pandemic.

I did a boy a book called The Boy Who Would Be King which is about the story of Marcus Realis and then I did a book called The Girl Who Would Be Free which is about epictetus to serve a boy and a girl one.

Actually my fable about epictetus is life. The girl who would be free celebrates its first anniversary this month.

The girl who would be free if follows my other book The Boy Who Would Be King, that Marcus Aurelius and the idea is that I wanted to illustrate the incredible lives and the journeys of these two philosophers on their way to their own unique and inspiring greatness.

in the girl who would be free which is my sort of fictional kids book about epictetus but I actually render as a girl for a bunch of whatever reasons but I have epictetus's father say that we have to worry about controlling the empire between our ears right so there's all this stuff that epictetus doesn't control other people do what other people say what he's allowed to do and say but no one can control his thoughts right that's what he controls or she controls so it's a book about controlling what actually the stokes called the greatest empire which is the self the interior self or thoughts or opinions all of that so the girl who would be free is really about that finding freedom within captivity finding freedom within inside constraint finding freedom inside misfortune and adversity that's what the book is about usually when I sign this one all right a more faulty because sort of a theme in the book it's about sort of finding what you love about your situation what you can do inside your situation who you can be inside your situation so that's what the girl who would be free is about and I think ultimately that's what stoicism itself is about and I wanted to write a kid's book to help kids with that very idea like I also did in the boy who would be king

She left with a copy of the girl who would be free for her young daughter,

this is in my Kinks book The Girl Who Would Be Free. He said that it's not what you read or he says it's not that you read, it's what we read and how we read right?

the fact that it's not out in the world or it's not out in the world in March when I wanted struck me as a sort of stoic reality which is you have all your plans you have how you want to do things and then sort of life gets in the way in this case a global printing shortage which is repeatedly delayed the book.

the theme behind this book is much more nuanced much more layered than the boy would be king the boy would be king is essentially your classic hero's journey yes you know he doesn't you know he runs away from his challenge finally accepts the challenge overcomes it brings back something to his community um this one starts off right away heavy yeah she's she's a slave she's a slave uh the first couple of pages were talking about how uh you're talking about and I'm drawing the the lives of slaves in Rome uh and and so we have that and then we have just the philosophy itself as opposed to the boy would be king

how do you make a picture of that idea that's not a i don't know a symbol or so you know and you ended up coming up with something cool about with like hands and a bird appearing from epictetus's father's hands but i imagine illustrating abstract ideas is much harder than the narration of it actual events

I'm not against anyone and don't have any phobias but you could have written a story for females for the females without trying to turn epictetus one of the greatest philosophers ever into a female I quit I'm flabbergasted shaking my head

I wanted to write about a female stoic because I thought it would be interesting I thought it would be different I thought it's important that it reach all genders and so I was originally going to do a story about Porcia Cato this would be Cato's daughter but from what even from what we know of her historically she is although really interesting and really inspiring and I write about her in lives of the stoics there's it's just the arc of her story is not that great it she's like a wife widow and then she commit suicide she's a very strong and brave woman but there's not that much of an arc there and so I was like you know what I just want to tell a great story and what do I care like what does it matter the least important thing about epictetus in real life is that she happened to be a man do you know what I mean so to me it was an easy decision artistically creatively but also ethically

In the girl who would be free, Epic Titus' father advises his young child to stop trying to control the whole world and instead conquer the empire between our ears.

That is, get a hold of our mind, our desires, our versions, our fears, our passions, our emotions.

It's like my book, The Boy Who Would Be King, its stoicism in fable form based on a true story but of course it takes some liberties because what I want to do is make this accessible and memorable for our kids, for ourselves, for someone who might be on the fence about these stoic ideas.

Today is the day, this awesome book produced here by Daily Stoke. Printed here in the US is officially available everywhere, books are sold but you can get some awesome bonuses including the ebook and audiobook for free.

I've been working on this fable about epictetus I'm calling it the girl who would be free I know epictetus historically is male I decided to make it female because I wanted I wanted it particularly for young girls to be able to have something in the stout can and to relate to but all of that is secondary to this story this idea of how epictetus went from being a slave to one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived to achieving a kind of internal freedom conquering the empire between his or her years.

I've been talking a lot about the book on the podcast I hope you check it out it's just like my first book The Boy Who Would Be King which thousands of people all over the world have loved if you are a parent you've got nieces or nephews are thinking about becoming a parent maybe you're a teacher you want to teach the ideas of stoicism to someone who's not a big reader I think this book is for you I can't wait for you to check it out

if you pre-order the girl who would be free it's out next week you can get the ebook an audio book for free if you buy a sign copy you can get the boy who would be king for free if you order an unsigned copy I'll even give you the boy who would be king for 50% off so we got a bunch of awesome bonuses check that out go over to daily stoward.com slash girl

I'm really proud of this book I hope you enjoy your fourth of July but I hope you're after that real freedom which has nothing to do with government nothing to do with politics nothing to do with where you live as epictetus shows us in his life and in his struggle through real slavery finding an internal freedom that's what this book is about and I can't wait for you to read it the girl who would be free it's out next week but you can pre-order it now and get a bunch of awesome bonuses at daily stoward.com slash girl

Last year I put out this book, The Boy Who Would Be King about the boyhood of Marcus Aurelius.

And so epictetus's story from a slave to a symbol of the human ability to find freedom in the darkest circumstances is incredible.

So this book which I've been working on now for the thought over a year, it was significantly delayed by a global printer shortage.

This 148 page book is written by me in The Vane of The Boy Who Would Be King. It's illustrated also by Victor Ujas who did the great book The Boy Who Would Be King with me.

I'm really excited for you to check out this book. I'm so proud of it.