Sean Stone’s 10 Things to Learn: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Soul

10 Things to Learn: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Soul explores what it means to remain fully human in an age increasingly defined by technology, optimization, and artificial intelligence. While modern civilization has expanded humanity’s power and capability, it has done little to eliminate suffering, grief, fear, or the search for meaning. This book argues that life’s deepest questions cannot be answered through efficiency or control. Instead, genuine growth emerges through a series of essential initiations—moments of collapse, surrender, loss, rest, and devotion that shape the soul. Blending mythology, philosophy, memoir, and poetic reflection, it offers a timeless framework for navigating the emotional and spiritual disorientation of modern life. Structured around ten symbolic “gates,” the book reframes life as a cyclical journey of awakening rather than a linear pursuit of success. These gates—Falling, Surrendering, Crying, Caring, Hating, Creating, Sharing, Loving, Breathing, and Laughing—each represent a threshold of psychological and spiritual transformation. Drawing from Greek mythology, Biblical narratives, Eastern philosophy, and archetypal storytelling, the book presents a unified map of human development. Its voice combines lyrical prose with intellectual rigor, placing it at the intersection of Joseph Campbell’s mythological insight, Alan Watts’s spiritual inquiry, and the literary introspection of Hermann Hesse. At a time of accelerating technological change, rising anxiety, and the erosion of traditional sources of meaning, 10 Things to Learn offers something increasingly rare: not just insight, but initiation. It speaks to readers seeking coherence in a fragmented world and restores a sense of purpose through the defining ordeals of the human experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:33Tucker Carlson?

  AI is suddenly taking over the world. Technology progressing faster than people can metabolize or understand. And yet, the population doesn't seem to be thriving. People don't seem happier. So it's possible that technological progress isn't really progress if the cost is the destruction of our social fabric and an epidemic of unhappiness and loneliness. Maybe that's why we need to return to the truths that bring meaning to our lives. Our friend Sean Stone has just written a book about that. Here it is. It's called 10 Things to Learn: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Soul. It's available now on TuckerCarlsonBooks.com. He joins us now to tell us all about it. So Sean, in some ways, it's kind of a striking claim that you're making. You're saying that the ancient world,

• 1:18Tucker Carlson?

  a world without, I don't know, space travel or even flush toilets, was wiser in some ways than our world, this technologically advanced civilization that we live in. How was it wiser, do you think?

• 1:34Speaker 02

  Because wisdom isn't necessarily a product of technology. As we know, wisdom is something that's earned. It's lived. And so the ancients, I think, understood things about the nature of humanity. And it's not only ancient. I mean, we draw upon, in the book, we draw upon some films that are a little bit closer to us time-wise. But yeah, a lot of the stories that I draw upon are from the East, the Bhagavad Gita, a lot from the Bible, a lot of Bible stories, the Christ story. And then, obviously, ancient Greece. And so, why? Because we've been telling stories for thousands of years. And I think that's essential to the human experience, right?

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Why do we look to stories? When I grew up, it was like, what was the moral of the story? When you watch a movie or when you read a book? You know, that was always the question. And I don't know that people are necessarily thinking along those terms anymore. We get so much streaming at us that it's almost more about the spell of continuation. And especially you see with TV shows and whatnot, where it's just meant to hook you and keep you, almost like the old days with the episodics, where it's like, it's the next commercial, right? So you can say, what happens next? You know, stay on the edge of your seat. But the duty of a story, of a book, or a myth, or a movie even, is always sort of that experience of engaging with something, right? And then, sitting with it, hopefully having

• 3:03Speaker 02

  a cathartic experience through that process, right, of watching a total story or hearing a story and allowing yourself to be moved by it or learn something from it. And so, that's, I think, the heart of what I'm trying to do here is to just sort of boil down some lessons that we can take from these stories from the ancient world and even some from closer to the modern world.

• 3:26Tucker Carlson?

  What an interesting observation. So you're saying that previous civilizations in previous times have focused on what people are like, the nature of humanity, you called it. So that suggests that human nature doesn't change. Technology may change. The outward manifestations of a society may change, but people do not.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, we're still grappling with what it means to be human. I started grappling with it, I guess, when I was young. And I came back to it with a documentary called Meta-Human, where I was interviewing people like Deepak Chopra and others. And we're at the cusp of, as you know, a transhuman agenda, a transhuman age, where people are talking about this idea of modifying the human, transforming the human, modifying us genetically, modifying us by potentially merging us with computers and whatnot. And yet, we don't really understand what it even is to be a human being, right? And we have this body. We have a body that has a certain level of, well, not a certain level, a huge amount of knowledge itself, right? The body is so wise and so intelligent,

• 4:33Speaker 02

  and it connects us, I believe, to the spiritual realm. You know, we feel it with our emotional states, for example. And really, having higher mental intelligence or cognitive ability does not necessarily make you a more empathetic being, more emotionally attuned being, right? So as they say, there's emotional intelligence. And that, having higher IQ, let's say, doesn't necessarily translate to having a greater bandwidth for emotional intelligence.

• 5:02Tucker Carlson?

  That's for sure. This paradoxical thing is happening where, as life becomes physically easier for people, more comfortable, more abundant food, less physical labor, people are not getting happier, but instead are getting more despondent to the point where the suicide rate rises. What is that?

• 5:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean,

• 5:26Speaker 02

  there's a lot of darkness, we know, in our world. And that can't, as you say, you can't just get rid of darkness by expediting things or making things faster, let's say, right? Giving us more information. I think information overload is a very real thing. I certainly, I grapple with it. I'm sure you do in some ways. The access to information is readily there. And yet, we have to still prioritize our own lives. And so, going back to what the book is about, is just recognizing that you can't get rid of the process, let's say, of being human. You can't expedite that.

• 6:11Speaker 02

  You can't get rid of the falling. You can't get rid of the need to surrender, I believe, to a higher power, right? And let things play out. Because we don't have control. And there's an illusion of control. And I think this has been very much what has been sold to us. You could say, going back to the center of the self-concept, right? The marketing campaigns of the first, you know, Bernays was probably one of the first famous ad man, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. And a lot of it's playing upon our urges and our instinctual urges, right? To satisfy things, food, sex, material goods, things like this, right? And yet, just because you have a material reality

• 6:55Speaker 02

  that's satisfying, it doesn't mean that you're emotionally happy or at peace. In fact, oftentimes, we see people that have more are the most fearful. That's oftentimes the one, you know, why? I've thought oftentimes, like, why are these people like Bill Gates and others who have so much, so intent on trying to control humanity, right? Or even control the population or control the individual? Again, transhuman modalities oftentimes go down to this question of trying to mind control the masses, trying to control other people, trying to control behavior, trying to control the environment. We have, that's, I would say, a fear-based way of approaching life, as opposed to a way of surrendering and saying, you know, there's a higher power at work.

• 7:39Speaker 02

  And how do we hopefully show up and be better people, more empathetic people, without trying to control or manipulate others?

• 7:49Tucker Carlson?

  Control is a theme that runs throughout this book and our lack of it and the need to acknowledge that, to identify the things that we cannot change and submit to them. Why do you think that fact is almost never noted in public by anybody? That actually, you can't control most important things? Why don't you just say that?

• 8:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think it's, you know, again, we're coming at it as Americans, right? And so, a certain level of, there is this exceptionalism, I think, in terms of America. And in some ways, rightfully so, because our Constitution is so unique and so beautifully decorated. The promise and the declaration of independence is real. You know, this idea that God is endowing us with these rights, not governments. And yet, we live in a society in America where we do, we are used to sort of trying to control things, especially when we look at global matter, global affairs, right? You know, it's like, the US wants to be in control of the world, it seems, right? Whether it's economic, militarily, things like this. And then, you travel abroad,

• 8:57Speaker 02

  and I think people are, generally speaking, a little bit less demanding when it comes to a desire to control. I don't think that they have that belief, maybe, that we do. That's part of our economic success as a country, right? That we feel like, oh, we've achieved wealth. So then, as I said, the more you achieve materially, oftentimes, it can put you in a state of fear. Like, I've achieved, I've got a large bank account, I've got a house, I've got whatever, I've built a business, and you're afraid of losing it. So I think that the more you have engenders the more fear of loss. And that's why, you know, there's such a, again, this book keeps relating back to those stories about starting with the fall. Like, failure and falling is okay.

• 9:41Speaker 02

  That's a necessary aspect of reality. The story of Job in the Bible is so powerful for that reason, right? A man who loses everything and yet sustains his faith. And then, thankfully, he's rewarded in his faith, and he's able to laugh again after the tragedy of everything taken away from him. So the desire for control, I think, is just an aspect of what you could call success.

• 10:05Tucker Carlson?

  Yes. Yeah, Jesus touches on this at some length in the Gospels.

• 10:10Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 10:11Tucker Carlson?

  Last, and it's so rarely said, and so welcome to hear it. My last question derives from your title, which mentions the human soul, something else that's rarely even alluded to in modern life, but the need to tend to it. It's, of course, the essence of who you are. And if you ignore it, it doesn't thrive. So what is one practice that you observe to tend to your soul and that you would recommend?

• 10:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, thankfully, even though I was, I could say I was born into privilege, right? And I acknowledge that. It's not white privilege, it's the privilege of having, you know, parents that were able to provide for me, having a certain amount of wealth available, access to things, being able to travel the world, see things. And from a young age, my parents introduced me to spiritual teachings and practices. You know, my dad, more with meditation, trying to just start the day by checking into yourself, just sitting with yourself, right? And my mother, more with a mixed Christian, like, a Christian tradition, but also open to, like, reading the religious texts of other cultures to understand

• 11:27Speaker 02

  that there is a higher power at work. And so, I would say that there's a chapter on breathing for this reason, right? Through our breath, we are connecting to the divine. And we come back, whether it's with meditation or prayer, right? We come back to the power of breath, speech, right? In all the religious traditions, it's always right speech. Because this is the beginning of everything. Breathing, speaking, right? Trying to put intention into the world and how we show up, how we reflect ourselves. And so, I would say that just by acknowledging the breath, we are connecting to spirit. And that's the magic of our reality, that, you know, the scientists can't figure out,

• 12:10Speaker 02

  no matter how much they try, like, what is the source of life, right? What is the source of life in the universe? What is the source of humans, right? And I would say that if we tune in with the breath and we start to connect to our spirit, to our intuition, our inner knowing, we can work with the power that's working through us.

• 12:36Tucker Carlson?

  Sean Stone, thank you very much.

• 12:39Speaker 02

  It's a pleasure.

• 12:44Tucker Carlson?

  Thanks for watching. You can get your copy of Sean Stone's book, 10 Things to Learn: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Soul, TuckerCarlsonBooks.com, and we hope you will.