Spiritual Blindness, Busyness, and Becoming Better Men

This episode starts with an apology and an update. It’s been a wild stretch—hospital visits, birthday mishaps, broken teeth, truck trouble, cows and pigs headed to the processor—but also a lot of grace and gratitude.

Adam shares about Lady Haylee's recent medical scare during pregnancy, the prayers from patrons, and what it’s like to walk through real uncertainty as a husband and father. The guys reflect on how quickly life can tilt from “normal” to “barely holding it together,” and yet how God can still anchor everything in hope and gratitude.

Over whiskey (a Pseudo Sue malt from Iowa), Adam and David shift into the main topic: spiritual blindness—how easy it is for men to be convinced we’re right, standing for the truth, and yet be totally off the mark.

Drawing from Scripture, the lives of the apostles, St. John of the Cross, Aquinas, and even Dante, they explore:

In This Episode:

• Real-life trials and gratitude
• Haley’s hospitalization and recovery
• Kids’ birthdays, chipped teeth, and car trouble
• How chaos at home can either crush us or deepen our trust in God
• Miracles, doubt, and the desire for “proof”
• “If God would just give us a miracle, evangelization would be easy”
• The everyday miracles we ignore: the Eucharist, confession, conversions
• Why even those who saw Jesus’ miracles still doubted and fled
• Spiritual blindness in the apostles and in us
• Peter’s “I’ll never deny you” moment—and the fall that followed
• The apostles missing who Jesus really is, even after years of walking with Him
• Looking back on friendships and seasons of life and realizing, “I was blind to how unhealthy that really was”
• How our culture and attachments distort our judgment
• Bringing politics into our faith and letting ideology outrank the Gospel
• The overworking dad: when “providing” becomes an excuse to avoid the harder work of fatherhood
• Attachment to success, busyness, and being “the guy” who makes everything happen
• The “theology guy” who knows tons about the faith but never actually prays or serves
• St. John of the Cross and Aquinas on blindness of mind
• Disordered attachments as a cause of spiritual blindness
• Misapplying first principles and deforming prudence
• Why ignorance isn’t always innocent—especially when it’s chosen
• Dante, betrayal, and why some wounds cut so deep
• Why Dante places traitors and betrayers at the bottom of hell
• The pain of realizing someone you trusted was not who you thought
• How misplaced trust in people can tempt us to distrust God
• Practical ways to grow in spiritual clarity
• Daily (or even twice-daily) examination of conscience
• Honest fraternal correction and asking your friends to tell you the truth
• Living a real ascetical life: fasting, temperance, and taming appetites
• Submitting your judgment to the Church instead of making yourself the standard
• Turning to the sacraments—especially confession and the Eucharist—for renewed vision

Along the way, you’ll also hear:

• A story about accidentally using cardamom instead of cinnamon on a first date
• The strangely satisfying joy of a perfectly vacuumed game room
• The quiet fulfillment of husbandry—raising animals, caring for land, and stewarding what God has given

This episode is an invitation to ask hard questions:

• Where am I convinced I’m right, but might be deeply wrong?
• What am I attached to that clouds my judgment?
• Who do I trust enough to tell me what I don’t see about myself?

If you’ve ever looked back on a season of life and thought, “How did I not see that?”—this conversation is for you.