Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column
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"I would like to open this site for conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. I can be wrong as often as right, so specific advice will be avoided. What will be sought is light on how best to frame the situation of women, considered as a highly interesting problematic. What kind of hand have we been dealt, as women, and how can we best play it?
Comments are warmly encouraged on any post at any point."
We’re Social.
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Monthly Archives: January 2018
Therapy from the Jews
Therapy from the Jews Have the Jews anything to offer the world today in their capacity as Jews? The remarkable plasticity and resilience of anti-semitism doesn’t answer my question about being a Jew: what the hell good is it? Let’s … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gnosticism, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, public facade, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Alber Camus, anti-semitism, assimilation, authorship by committee, being modern. modernity, Bibical record, Bible, Bible as metaphor, Brooklyn College, chronological experience, conventional conduct, covenant, cultural baggage, dialectical life, documentary hypothesis, dogmatism, erasing personhood, escapism, ethnic identity, false transcendence, God as energy, God as Person, God of history, higher criticism, History, human wholeness, human/divine relations, intersectionality, Jewish mind-set, Jewish orthodoxy, Jewish practices, linear thinking, literary reading of Bible, living one’s time, mechanical conformity, merger with the Absolute, Mysticism, observant Jews, Oral Law, Orthodox students, personal God, personhood, pragmatism, pretentiousness, principle of charity miracles, problem-solving, providential interventions, realm of action, religious identity, religious pretense, role of chronology, saintliness, scientism, self-correction, signing on to the covenant, Sinaitic covenant, supersessionism, Talmud, the Biblical record, The Examined Life, The Jewish Review of Books, Thomas Cahill’s The Gift of the Jews & How the Irish Saved Civilization, thought experiment, universality, Utopianism, world without Jews
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The Deep and the Shallow
The Deep and the Shallow A medley of book review weeklies and monthlies arrive here in a more or less continuous stream. I look through them, both to get an idea of what’s new – what is getting the attention … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Institutional Power, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged avant garde writers, book review journals, book review weekly, calendar time, clock time, cultural fault lines, cutting edge trends, deep, depth, effects of marriage, emotional depth, escapism, established professionals, French dinner, Futurism, German Romantics, getting ahead of the story, getting out of the story, happy endings, in quest of lost time, intellectual depth, Les feuilles mortes, literary critics, literature of the absurd, living in the now, living one’s story, lost identity, lost time, Marriage, meaninglessness, meditation, modern day Buddhists, moral depth, new books, nihilism, nonfiction, nostalgia, opinion shapers, opinions of critics, philosophers, pointlessness, power in the world, praised books, Presentism, recommended books, search for identity, search for meaning, Sehnsucht, self-help gurus, shallow, significance, staying in the story, temporality, the butterfly, the center cannot hold, the flow of time, the specious present, threatened identity, time travel, time-bound life, TV gurus, vanishing instant, wedding anniversary, wounded souls, yearning, young couples
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The Feminine Force
The Feminine Force Some years ago, I met a young woman artist, a painter of very large canvasses, who had married a young Moroccan in order to give him a way to live and work in New York City. I … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged #metoo, 19th century philosophy, 19th-century literature, a woman's interest, anti-feminist, Arab youth, asymmetry of sexes, biological imperatives, Bullying, Cleopatra, co-education, conflicts in feminism, conformism, danger of rape, deceptive charm, dissent, equal representation, erotic ideal, ethical duty, expressing one's charm, fear of dissent, Feminine Force, Femininity, Feminism, free spirit, frustration, future of Russia, gallantry, gallantry in men, getting pregnant, handsome hero, Henry James's The Bostonians, ideal situation, imprinted by intimacy, Julius Caesar, lifting morale, Lionel Trilling, love worthiness, manipulativeness, Mark Antony, marriage for green card, masculine force, mastering the space, meaning of life, meeting mother, men's protectiveness, Michael Artzibashev's Sanine, Moroccan youth, mutual love, mysteries of eros, New York City, nihilist, obligation to be happy, original work, ostracism, peer pressure, personal fulfillment, post-Civil War, power of volition, protection of women, reading one's mind, reading the best, reciprocal commitment, relaxing resistance, resisting pressure, revising the canon, Richard Lovelace's To Lucasta Going to the Wars, rule breaker, Russian novels, self-actualization, self-surrender, sisterhood, social safety, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life, Submission, surrendering one's will, Tel Aviv, the canon, the erotic, theoretical discussions, undocumented immigrant, what counts as consent, will power, women and STD, women in Islam, women students, women's charm, women's first intimacy, women's impregnability, women's liberation, women's seducibility, women's self-protection, women's vulnerabilities, yin and yang
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New Year Resolutions?
New Year Resolutions? It’s 2018, the firecrackers have ceased their explosive booming sounds, the subzero temperatures are keeping everyone indoors who can manage to stay there – except for the people like the ones on crews working to repair downed … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 1099 forms, 2018 calendar, address book, affirmation, afterlife, calendar app, cheerfulness, clutter, contemplation, crews on powerlines, curing worry, death and dying, deathbed busybodies, discarding books, emotional baggage, endangered species, file cabinets, file folders, final preparations, finding books, firecrackers, go fight city hall, going into the light, Henry David Thoreau, human survival, inherited baggage, keeping accounts, last arrangements, Leo Bronstein, letting go, life's surprises, loyalty to origins, making one's peace with God, mantra, Mrs. Emerson, New Year's resolution, nothin' I can do about it, oversimplification, past and future, peace of mind, personal inventory, personal worry, planetary worry, political worry, project completed, projects abandoned, purging files, purity, quarreling with God, quiet desperation, Ralph Waldo Emerson, simplify simplify, sloganeering, sorting books, staying indoors, sub-zero temperatures, survivor's tasks, tax data, the New Year, the next world, the old year, the unexpected, Thoreau dying, Thoreau's laundry, Thoreau's Walden, world-wide worry, worry, worrying less
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Recognition
Recognition There is a battle scene in Homer’s Iliad where a deep, obscuring fog comes down suddenly over the field of combat. The soldiers have endured danger, hard blows and mortal injuries, but this they cannot stand. “Please,” they cry … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged academic bureaucracy, academic combats, academic hearings, academic termination, accusing the victim, action theory, Adolf Hitler, angelic message, angels, appeasement, aspiration, being seen, being witnessed, brainwashing, casing the situation, consolation, counter arguments, defeatists, Dunkirk, feeling alone, feeling outnumbered, field of combat, film dramatizations, general rules, great men, great women, heroes of resistance, high principles, History, history's vindication, homecoming, Homer's Iliad, Homeric gods, Joe Wright's "Darkest Hour", keeping one's bearings, knowing the particulars, knowing the precedents, links with nature, links with wild creatures, losing one's bearings, memory links, Mind Control, nazis, Nazism, ostracism, other worldly messengers, particular cases, personnel actions, Phyllis Chesler's Islamic Gender Apartheid: Exposing A Veiled War Against Women, pilgrimage, psychological damage, psychological torture, recognition, reunion, rights of women, rules of conduct, sacred journey, Screenwriter Anthony McCarten, self-knowledge, shunning, social force, solitary confinement, their finest hour, thought police, thought reform, totalism, university administration, verified prediction, Winston Churchill, World War II, WWII
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