Monthly Archives: September 2022
Book Matters
Book Matters The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma By Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. This is an important book, not only for the problem it identifies and the experimental therapies it recommends … Continue reading →
As If We Were Free
As If We Were Free We are just back from the pleasant French city of Montreal in Canada, where Jerry and I gave papers and attended the presentations of others at the meetings of the Eric Voegelin Society, a group … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, bureaucracy, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romantic Love, 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, 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 horror stories, American Political Science Association, anonymous denunciation, apocalyptic fantasies, behaving as if free, Canada, coerced confessions, Czech dissidents, denounced anonymously, denouncer and denouncee, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin Society, escaping the human condition, escaping the Nazis, existential questions, hard to be human, ideological path, ideology-driven regimes, imprisonments, life assignment, loyalty to the party, mass executions and gulags, materialist cynicism, materialist reductionism, mock trials, Montreal, moral defeat, Nazism and communism, no one is safe, no-longer-sayable, one-man rule, ostracism, penumbra of fear, pointless sacrifice, police state, political philosophers, political theorists, professional risks, social defeat, social eviction, social risks, soul-destroying ideologies, struggles for freedom, the fellowship of truth tellers, totalizing programs, utopian delusions, Václav Havel, Venezuela and Cuba, where to draw the line
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Putting Order Into History
Putting Order Into History Aviva Zornberg has written another of her inspired books about the Bible, this one suggestively titled, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis. Why read the Bible? Isn’t it a just collection of stories that … Continue reading →
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Adam's sin, aesthetic attitude, Aristole's "rout in battle", Aviva Zornberg's The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, Bible stories, biblical truth, book of Genesis, choice in history, Churchill v Hitler, clarifying the before and after, confidence in democracy, confronting reality, democracy v demagoguery, democratic civilization, facing chaos, faith in the ballot, faith in the courts, holding off chaos, human incompleteness, January 6th Hearings, January 6th mob, joining the rout, knowing what to do, Liz Cheney, making order, making sense, making situations intelligible, meaning of history, mob rule, moral chaos, moral choice, Noah's flood, Noah's generation, observing v acting, Odessa, only human, order in history, order out of chaos, providing evidence, resisting God, Russian aristocrats, Russian invasion of Ukraine, seeing the pattern, standing with Ukraine, the order of battle, Tsarist Russia, Ukraine and historic Russia, Ukrainian defenders, Western leaders and Ukraine, what really happened?, who did what?, who said what?, world historical hero, Zelensky
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Rachel at the Well
Rachel at the Well Some years ago, Jerry and I had dinner in Washington D.C. with a learned and accomplished professorial couple who’d been married and deeply in love for their whole blessed lifetime. The conversation turned to a topic … Continue reading →
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a mother's care, advice to students, bashert, becoming Jewish, becoming Jewish orthodox, Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", courtship conditions, covenant, covenant as absolute, dream messages, duped into marriage, eligible suitor, fleeing temptation, forceful persuasiveness, good on paper, inside the covenant, Israelite, Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban, Jacob and Rachel, laboring 7 years for Rachel, lifetime love, mad woman in the attic, making time one's friend, Marriage, married in all but name, maternal protection, meet the right woman, meeting one's true love, missionary calling, philosophy student, professional couples, Rachel at the well, Reader I married him, romantic love as absolute, romantic love as myth, Self-betrayal, the first Mrs. Rochester, the right track, the truth of self, time and true love, untarnished love, voice from the beyond, wedding impediment, womanly fulfilment
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