It’s not merely where you are going, but how you get there, that matters. And as we often find ourselves going places in cars, it is worth stopping to consider how we spend our car rides.
In this week’s episode, we welcome back to the podcast Mr. Kyle Blackmer for a discussion of the daily commute. Whether we carpool or ride solo, Mr. Blackmer helps us to reframe how we approach this daily endeavor which can easily become, at best, dead time and, at worst, dreaded time.
Kyle shows us how the car, with the right attitude and a little creativity, can become its own classroom. He encourages us to think about how we can best use this time by praying, engaging in good conversation—at times mere fun, at other times more formative–, listening to good music and books, and celebrating.
Chapters
Recommended Audiobooks for the Road
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Seabiscuit by Charles Rivers Editors
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Treasury for Children by James Herriot
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingallas Wilder
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Complete Father Brown Collection by G.K. Chesterton
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
Also on the Forum
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends with Tom Royals
Friendship for Fathers: John Cuddeback on Living and Teaching the Art with John Cuddeback
Sarah Mackenzi on the Read-Aloud Family with Sarah Mackenzi
In a recent national survey of adults in America, a striking sixty-one percent of young adults (age 18-25) reported feeling serious loneliness. Such feelings of loneliness were also accompanied by anxiety and depression. Although humans are by nature social animals, it would seem that forming deep friendships may not always come so naturally.
How do we form friendships? How do we help our sons form friendships? What even is friendship?
To help us answer these questions, we welcome to HeightsCast John Cuddeback, professor of philosophy at Christendom College and Life Craft writer and speaker. In this episode, Professor Cuddeback helps us understand what friendship is, how to practice the art of friendship, and how friendship goes hand-in-hand with happiness. As he explains, friendships do not merely happen. Rather, they require intentional cultivation and sustained effort. Indeed, like any art, the art of friendship requires discipline and practice. Specifically, Professor Cuddeback focuses our attention on how a husband can form a deep friendship with his wife and a few male friends, as well as how he can help his children to grow in their own friendships. Being a father first, he may one day become a friend of his adult children.
As Professor Cuddeback explains, true friendship is the only way to overcome loneliness in life. And, in the end, it will be in sharing our lives with friends that we come to find the ultimate meaning of our lives.
Chapters
Resources
True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness by John Cuddeback
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx
Treatise on Law by Thomas Aquinas
Also on The Forum
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
On Friendship after Senior Year: Higher Stakes and Beautiful Opportunities with Dave Maxham
Friendship for the 21st Century Boy with Alvaro de Vicente
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends with Tom Royals
With another year having passed—perhaps even sped by—and a new one underfoot, HeightsCast returns with a discussion of time and solitude with Mike Ortiz and Rob Greving. Together, Mike and Rob invite us to slow down as they unpack their two recently published articles on the Forum.
Mr. Ortiz dives into Henry David Thoreau’s cabin life and the importance of intentional times of solitude in our lives, while Mr. Greving considers our often uneasy relationship with time and the good of slowing down, even as the world speeds up.
As we look forward to the new year with hope and anticipation, let us not forget to slow down and, in Mr. Greving’s words, listen for the present moment. After all, you can’t read a poem in a hurry. And if you are always in a hurry, you might miss the poetry of life.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The World of Silence by Max Picard
Living in Liturgical Time by Terence Sweeney
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
"Mossbawn": Two Poems in Dedication by Seamus Heaney
Thoreau’s Cabin Life: Why It's Not Anti-Social to Savor Solitude by Mike Ortiz
Handling Time Gently by Rob Greving
The Freedom to Form Bonds: Kevin Majeres on Mindfulness and Attention with Kevin Majeres
Forming Deep Workers with Cal Newport
What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex