Monthly Archives: December 2018

Read Any More Good Books?

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Abigail

Read Any More Good Books? As we share the current holidays, in whatever way and spirit seems best, I’ll share some of my recent reading experiences with you. Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird. Here is a royal gossip … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books, novels | Leave a comment

At a Loss

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Abigail

At a Loss Friends and readers of this column, I am really at a loss. I don’t know what to say as a woman, and I don’t know what to do as a woman. Let me at least tell … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, 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, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a good life, a woman’s honor, a woman’s options, a woman’s voice, Abraham and Sarah, abusing a woman, atonement, being guilty, Bible study, blaming the victim, brazen response, Bullying, chronological living, counter-accusation, covenantal lineage, Day of Atonement, defeating a woman, defending men, defending women, discounting evidence, distance healing, dominating, email harassment, energy healing, evading the present, facing one’s time, facing the day, fake psychic, false accusations, false piety, feeling guilty, feminine being, feminine presence, femininity defeated, finding community, finding one’s footing, fraudulent spirituality, friendship, grounding one’s life, harassment, human dramas, inverting victimizer/victim relation, knee injury, liberated woman, life’s timeline, lived time, male gallantry, male projects, manipulative claims, men defending women, moral combat, no means no, nostalgia, not as advertised, one’s natural place, online friends, Paper trail, perfectionism, phony healers, prayer healing, predator, pretended atonement, preying on the vulnerable, promise breaking, pseudo-spirituality, purported healer, Rachel and Leah, Rebecca and Isaac, religious charlatans, religious community, religious fraud, respect for women, seduction, self-defense, sexual abuse, spiritual healing, spiritual integrity, stabilities of place, taking advantage, targeting the vulnerable, temporality rejected, the birthright, the Jewish assignment, Torah Study, trouble maker, truth in advertising, truthful witness, unwanted advances, valid complaint, victimizer, virtual spaces, vulnerability, women defending men, women’s biblical assignment, Yom Kippur | 6 Comments

My Defense of My Parents

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Abigail

My Defense of My Parents Recently I read the collected letters of Lionel Trilling. Afterward, curiosity prompted me to look in the file folder I had under that name. Trilling had been, possibly, the most influential opinion-shaper in mid-twentieth-century America. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged adult children and parent friendship, anti-semitic phenomena, Clifton Fadiman, college friends, compassion, courageous love, Diana Trilling, Diana Trilling’s The Beginning of the Journey, elegy, filial piety, funeral address, Henry M. Rosenthal, historical memory, Holocaust rescue, Jewish practices, lessons from the past, Lionel Trilling, literary memoir, literary widow, male friendship, maternal devotion, moral fearlessness, moral realism, moral vision, natural coquetrie, opinion shaper, parent-child relations, parent/child obligations, Public Intellectual, recovering lost time, sense of humor, sense of self, spiritual openness, state department barriers, the rabbinate, the transcendent, tragic reality, true love, unanswered letter, wifely devotion | 4 Comments

The Devil in the Details

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Abigail

The Devil in the Details Depression is not an attractive word, but it describes my mood in recent days. Two explanations (or causes?) spring to mind. First: I have this neuropathy handicap. My walking lacks its former, rhythmic life-of-its-own, becoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", beat the devil, Bible study, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, corrupt influence, counterproductive remedy, decentered feeling, dentists, depression, expensive cavities, experimental treatments, fair fights, firm footing, Halakah, hard-bought wisdom, holistic treatments, hollow self, ideal life story, impersonal wisdom, incurable, Jewish observance, life rhythms, life story, limping, Loma Linda Hospital, malevolent spirit, medical treatments, midrashim, mood changes, narrative view, neuropathy, New Age, New Age-niks, patient no better, Pentateuch, personal identity, personal wisdom, philosophy of religion, physical footing, physical therapy, place to stand, placeholder self, Reform temple, reversals of fortune, shell of oneself, solitary walker, speculative theology, spiritual footing, stratagems of evil, taking a walk, talking it out, textual study, the devil, thought experiment, Torah Study, treatment failure, treatment success, walking handicap | Leave a comment

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Monthly Archives: December 2018

Read Any More Good Books?

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