Ep. 21: Philosophy Professor, Author, and Boxing Coach, Gordon Marino

Gordon Marino taught philosophy for 27 years at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he also served as Director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library.

Unlike most (all?) other philosophy professors, Gordon also had a parallel career in boxing: as a fighter, a trainer, a boxing correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, and a boxing coach to young men and women.

He has edited a number of philosophy texts including The Quotable Kierkegaard, Ethics: The Essential Writings, and Basic Writings of Existentialism.

He is also the author of Kierkegaard in the Present Age and the popular The Existentialist’s Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age, published by HarperOne in 2018.

Gordon Marino Links:
Website: https://www.existentialistscorner.com/
Author Page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B079H6ZBW3
Contact Info: https://wp.stolaf.edu/philosophy/gordon-marino/

About Your Host, Eric Teplitz:
Website: http://ericteplitz.com/
Schedule a FREE coaching consultation: http://ericteplitz.com/work-with-me/
Access a FREE preview of Eric's online course "Opening to Greater Possibilities": https://ericteplitz.thinkific.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 The Person You Want to Be intro
• 0:37 Introducing Gordon Marino
• 2:20 What it means to be authentic
• 5:03 "I modeled myself on my elder brother"
• 7:05 "Identify up" (Philip Rieff)
• 8:49 What Gordon admired about his brother
• 12:43 Childhood environment: "a mixture of love and violence"
• 15:24 A "borderline criminal adolescent"
• 20:43 Aspirations to play pro football
• 28:57 Experiences in the ring as a boxing trainer
• 33:45 Surviving disappointment
• 38:55 The healing power of relationships
• 48:56 Becoming a good writer
• 56:07 The support of Gordon's wife, Susan
• 58:05 Boxing: the good, the bad, and the ugly
• 1:06:52 The influence of Kierkegaard
• 1:19:05 Overcoming selfishness
• 1:23:15 Gordon's invitation to listeners