Our car has a common safety feature. When the system perceives danger in the driver’s path, it will apply the brakes and flash tiny red lights in the field of vision. This feature is often helpful. It is, also, often wrong. A non-conscious system throws on the brakes to “protect us” from a danger thatContinue reading “Inventing Threats”
Author Archives: Paul Mitchell
The Banality of… Goodness?
In ethics class, we learn of “the banality of evil”… the idea that systemic evil is often perpetrated not by moral monsters, but ordinary, uncritical people. But what happens, though, when we consider the “banality of goodness”… the reality that some of the most important moral habits we might develop are, at first blush, fairlyContinue reading “The Banality of… Goodness?”
Preventative Maintenance
On our daily commute, some humorous Jiffy Lube associates have crafted the following. The statement is witty, obviously supportive of their business model, and easily applicable to the human need to honor priorities and balance. It has never been easier to postpone maintenance on our relationships, bodies, and souls… to overextend ourselves, to give ourselvesContinue reading “Preventative Maintenance”
Blind Spot Buddy (Or: What Am I Missing Here?)
Let’s agree that humans are not good at seeing their blind spots. After all, how am I supposed to see what I don’t see?! Enter the AI “blind spot buddy.” So. Log into Claude (or whichever platform). Choose the issue you are having trouble with. Explain the situation as if to a friend or coach.Continue reading “Blind Spot Buddy (Or: What Am I Missing Here?)”
Resistant to Care
“Resistant to care” is a general clinical term used to describe a patient who opposes or impedes the interventions made on their behalf. (In this scenario, their caretakers must be more creative in their care for this individual.) As it concerns our development as loving persons, on some basic level, we are all “resistant toContinue reading “Resistant to Care”
A Monopoly on Pride
It doesn’t exist. Pride, that vice which convinces us of an outsized sense of our own power and perspective, is equally available to all. No single group has a monopoly on pride. And, for St. Ignatius, pride is the vice from which all our other vices flow. Let’s be vigilant when pride is present andContinue reading “A Monopoly on Pride”
Luxuries
Existence as a person in this world A heart that longs for a loved one A body to care for The ability to reach out to another An imagination that can make things or be generous To see creation’s colors These are some of life’s foundational luxuries. They put “luxuries” (typically conceived) in perspective.
And Let It Begin With…
At home, growing up, we would jokingly sing the refrain to the church hymn “Let there be peace on earth” as follows: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with *you*…” While silly, this is too often how we approach all kinds of conflict. Understanding my role in the system of theContinue reading “And Let It Begin With…”
Conversation during the extra mile
Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. (Matthew 5:41) Walking the extra mile (after that initial distance is completed), what is the conversation like? Does the conversation change? And how? Perhaps one’s inner chatter (about what that person must be like) quiets down, defenses fall, better questions areContinue reading “Conversation during the extra mile”
The Foundational Home
Aristotle explored ethics “[not] in order to know what virtue is, but [that we might] become good.” With what does it begin? The household – our management of it and the formation we internalize while in it. When I am able to see the home not as a not a chore to begrudge, rush through,Continue reading “The Foundational Home”
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