Author Archives: Paul Mitchell

The Hero Chooses Mortality

In the Odyssey, the first time we meet Odysseus, he has been offered by Calypso a life of ease and pleasure without urgency or end.

He rejects this offer, choosing instead a life of mortality and reality.  He chooses the trial that will lead him home to his wife and son, to his real life.

This hero’s journey starts by choosing to be mortal.

Like Odysseus, when we recognize and embrace our own mortality, the adventure of our life deepens.  This recognition of our limitedness helps us to live well and urgently.  

Yes, mortality has been chosen for us, as it were.  Our bodies are not built to last forever and none of us will ever be offered what Calypso offered Odysseus.  But we do have the choice to either embrace our mortality or uselessly resent (or ignore) it.  This is an illusory path that short-circuits the hero’s journey.  

Instead, we have the choice to live generously within the constraints we have been given.  

A Joyful Announcement (And a Humble Request)

I am delighted to announce that Sorin Starts a School has been officially adopted by Ave Maria Press.  It is now available on their website and on Amazon.

We are thrilled to partner with a ministry of the Congregation of Holy Cross on a book that foregrounds their charism.

And might I hazard a request of your time today?  In the world of Amazon, a lot hinges on the number of reviews for a given book.  Might you click through and write up a short review today?

(If you don’t have your copy handy, I’ll take a minute to read it to ya. :D)

What’s the Problem Here?

Over the past months, I’ve been trying to learn how to interact productively with ChatGPT 4 on a programming project. I am only at the beginning of my understanding, and, while it is certainly not perfect, it is shocking useful at many tasks. 

(Aside: Haven’t thought about using one of the new AI models or not sure where to start or not sure what to make of it all? Co-Intelligence is an outstanding read.)

And there is something AI can’t do, insofar as I can tell: It can’t tell me if I am focusing on the right problem.  

It cannot tell me if I am focusing on the real issue or a sideshow that will waste time and energy.

This is a hugely important skill, and one that we do well to focus on cultivating more intently, even apart from the expanding capability of our tools.

So, before engaging any tools at our disposal, it is good to ask: What is the problem I am trying to solve? What is all of this effort for?

The Immense Call of the Particular

This child.

This spouse.

This project.

This tree or bird or blossom.

This interaction.

This prayer.

This moment.

Today, we have been given some things – not all those other hypothetically “better” (as whipped up by an anxious mind) things – but these things that are here, now.

These things, in their particularity, call to us.

Let’s attend to and answer the immense call of the particular.  Grace lies within.

Less Than God Desires

It is possible to do more than God requires and less than God desires.

In fact, this may be the default way of living in our culture, even inside of the church.

What, then, does God desire?  

Well, undoubtedly more than we might ever comprehend, but perhaps primarily to know how profoundly we are loved.  To accept the gift of the wonder of being alive, of this world.

Knowing oneself as infinitely loved by God changes everything, and enables clearer vision of what might, then, be required.

Remote Control

Our boys enjoy the occasional “what if” game. The other day our older son asked, “what if you could *only* move when someone told you to move?!”

His brother then began to “control” his movements with his speech.  And if his brother didn’t tell him to move, then he was stuck.

If we are attached to the approval of others, our actions are bound in a similar way.  We are subject to either manipulation or paralysis.

Far better to root in something real.

Majoring in the Minor

It is possible to not realize that we spend a disproportionate amount of our energy on things of little consequence. When we do, we major in the minor.

We do this with our health when we obsess about a dietary detail, but don’t exercise much or give ourselves the chance to sleep well.

At work this can happen when we clamp down on a problem the resolution of which will not actually move us forward.

And then, with limited time left, we minor in the major.

The tricky part is that majoring in the minor feels like we are doing something productive. We are not.

Let’s major in the major.

The Path

This is the walkway from the street to our house.  

A few weeks ago, four workers took up about a third of the bricks (the part that is darker on the left side), dug a trench, laid some wiring, filled in the trench, and placed each brick evenly back in place.

Brick by brick is the only way to do this job.

Many valuable tasks in life are like this.  Showing up consistently to a routine of prayer.  Working an hour a day on a generous project.  Attending to the individuals in our life with active love.

Each daily instance of these virtues may feel inconsequential and, if we overanalyze it, it is possible to become disheartened.

But, if we don’t stop, it is remarkable what we can build and where we can arrive.

Attention Intention

Every day, our children notice what captures our attention. They take outstanding inventory of our focus and so come to know what we value.

Realizing just how much they understand helps me become better than I might otherwise be. Principally, this entails decreasing the number of things that I try to pay attention to.