Category Archives: Memoir

No Place Like Home

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Abigail

No Place Like Home My name Abigail means in Hebrew “father’s joy.” Which tells us that, at birth, I’d already received my assignment. Since my father was considered, by a number of his classmates in Columbia University’s stellar class of … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, Childhood, 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, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "father's joy", Abigail, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Augustine’s Confessions, birthright, chip off the old block, class genius, Clifton Fadiman, Columbia University’s class of 1925, daughter's chivalry to father, deracinated, earning one's name, father fixation, filial piety, fitting in with the crowd, following one's calling, freedom from parental pressure, Freudian views, girls in fathers' shadow, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way, honoring one's desires, illustrated books, intellectual girls, Jacques Barzun, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish virgins, life assignment, Lionel Trilling, loving philosophy, mainstream Jewish life, maternal expectations, Meyer Schapiro, name meanings, outward religious observance, owning one's name, philosophic conversation, philosophy and the feminine, quitting the rabbinate, religious detachment, romantic fulfillment, romantic happy ending, romantic self-respect, The American Jewish Historical Society, the rabbinate, Whittaker Chambers, women philosophers | 1 Comment

What’s Unconscious?

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Abigail

What’s Unconscious? In recent columns, I’ve written about the mysterious effects of mind on body and their unpredictable intertwinings. One reader has left Comments on these columns, twice urging me to read John E. Sarno’s book, The Divided Mind: … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, 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, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, science, 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, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the past isn't past", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Philosophic Foundations of Feminism", amoral id, analysand, anger internalized, appetitive spirited and rational, Aristotle's psychology, cure for neuropathy, cynicism, dangerous emotions, ego repressing the id, failure of chivalry, female powerlessness, Freud's Dora: An Analysis of A Case of Hysteria, Freudian explanations, gaslighting mechanism, gaucherie, higher psychic levels, iatrogenic, id ego and superego, John Sarno's The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, mainstream medical practice, man to woman disrepect, mind/body connection, moral lobotomy, prudent repression, psychogenic, psychological repression, psychosomatic, reductive explanation, seeing and seeing through, self-mistrust, somatic distractions from unacceptable feelings, somatic refusal, spiritual lobotomy, Sublimation, suffering somatized, the Freudian years, the gap in modern medicine, the symptom imperative, transcending negative experience, tripartite psyche, unconscious rage, undiscovered treatments for psychogenic illnesses, unwelcome advances, vulgarity, women misdiagnosed as hysterical | 2 Comments

Does God Play Favorites?

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Abigail

Does God Play Favorites? I don’t enjoy competition. By that, I’m not intending to reject anyone’s marketplace of skills or services. It’s just my sincere personal confession. For example, I was a natural athlete as a child. But later, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, 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, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, 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, Uncategorized, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 70 C.E., accepting The Covenant, accommodating to Roman occupation, anti-semitism's historical roots, Chabad center, chess as war, choosing a bride, chosen land, Christian quietism, chronology of the Gospels, competition, cosmic comeback, curing anti-semitism, demonization of Jews, Divine favoritism, doing first then hearing The Covenant, Elaine Pagel's The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagel's The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews Pagans and Heretics, Essenes, fair competition, fall of Second Temple, Gentile redemption, God's election, God's romance, Israel as God's treasure, Jacob Taubes, Jewish rebellion, Jewish uprising against Rome, Jewish/Christian competition, Krister Stendahl, marketplace, natural athlete, non-competitive fun, Pharisees and Rome, playing favorites, politics of religion, Providential misunderstandings, psychic card playing, render unto Caesar, rodeo competition, Roman repression, romancing God, Rome and Jewish opinions, second coming, The Covenant and the nations, thumb on the scales, why the Jews, winners v losers, winning and losing, world historical mistake | 3 Comments

Disaggregation

Posted on July 5, 2022 by Abigail

Disaggregation Disaggregation! What a title! Masses of people will be pushing in to hear what I have to say about that one! It’s the polysyllabic term for what I need to do: separate out and deal with the present pileup … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, 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, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", answering questions, author interviews, avoiding platitudes, baring one's soul, being overwhelmed, Biblical covenant, chronological order, counting on friends, crowd-pleasing, cultural way stations, disaggregation, essentially Jewish, existentialist, fashions in self-knowledge, first discovered last explained, first things first, forthcoming book, Freudian, friend as fellow trapeze artist, friend of my time, friend of this place, frontier of life, genre of confession, gnostic, God and Israel, having a lot to say, helping women today, hour of retreat, I can't do this, intellectual fashions, knowing what you're talking about, landing safely, large canvas, life challenges, life crises, losing privacy, Marxist, memory pathway, nihilist, no rest for the weary, normal life, philosophic rationalism, physicalist-reductionist, polysyllabic words, proofreading, saying something new, sharing life's perils, sheltered thought, spiritual pilgrimage, truthful atmosphere, woman as pilgrim, woman interviewer | 1 Comment

Academic Gossip

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Abigail

Academic Gossip One of the seldom-mentioned pleasures of life in the academy – the House that Plato Built – is academic gossip. It juxtaposes the life of ideas against real-life — whetting one’s appetite for both! I’m about two-thirds of … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, 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, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, 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, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AAR presidency, above the battle, academic gossip, academic politics, academic religionists, ambivalent relations, anarchist, antinomian, authority on Levinas, biographer's indiscretion, biographer's license, Columbia Seminar on Hermeneutics, Columbia University Religion Department, East Coast academia, Edith Wyschogrod, fatal gossip, Free University in Berlin, gender favoritism, Gnostic Libertine, Hillary Clinton, Jacob Neusner, Jacob Taubes, Jerry Z. Muller's Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes, Jewish Studies, lashon hara, life of ideas, life of ideas v real life, malicious rumors, Michael Wyschogrod, Morton Smith, mutual back scratching, mutual witnessing, New York Jewish intellectuals, nihilist, not getting involved, philosophico-theological terrain, roman à clef, rumor mongering, sexist accusations, sharing life stories, social assassination, social complexity, social death, social interactions, social sanctimony, Taubes anecdotes, the evil tongue, the House that Plato Built, therapeutic guru, visiting professorship | 2 Comments

Dragon Hunting

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Abigail

Dragon Hunting Dragon hunting has never, to my knowledge, been deemed the sport of kings since the requisite skills are not confined to any class of people, royal or other. Rather, the know-how is reserved for gifted souls. They know … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, Films, 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, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", antinomian, argument's power, argument's weakness, Épater les bourgeois, being turned to stone, brainwashing, brainwashing in Korean War, breaking a spell, capturing minds, coerced confessions, combatting dragons, concealed intentions, controlling others, cunning manipulator, deliberate incivility, dragons, Electoral College results, gifted souls, Greek mythology, having what it takes, Jacob Taubes, January 6th Hearings, January 6th historic precedence, January 6th Insurrection, January 6th legal evidence, January 6th mob, justice as the interest of the stronger, Me Too Movement, mental coercion, methods of manipulation, occult knowledge, ousting a predator, Pence's citizenship, Plato's Republic, pointless erudition, pointless wit, power relations, rule-breaking, Secret Service Agents, seeing the wolf first, sexual predator, slaying dragons, society's rules, Socrates, spellbinder, sport of kings, subverting minds, swallowed by a dragon, theological pied piper, Thrasymachus, Trump and Pence, Trump and The Insurrection, Trump and The Secret Service, uncanny power, under a spell, unfair means, unholy attraction, uninvited intrusion, Vice President Pence | 1 Comment

Colliding with the Book I Wrote

Posted on June 14, 2022 by Abigail

Colliding with the Book I Wrote Yesterday I started proofreading Confessions of a Young Philosopher, getting through the first of its three Parts, which bears the title, “Beginningwise.“ From this first go at it, I felt clobbered – just knocked … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, 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, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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 | Tagged "Beginningwise", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", American innocence, Americans in Paris, authors, being Jewish defined, beshert, beyond innocence, City of Lights, classic confessions, classic victim, Coup de foudre, crafting a seduction, female defenses, finding one's path, Fulbright scholars in Paris, girls and their ruin, ideal beings, Jewish boundaries, Jewish obligations, Jewish tradition, loss of innocence, lovers don't last, Parisian eros, partnering with God, passagère, people of the Covenant, politics of religion, pre-feminist America, pre-feminist world, proofreading, reading your own memoir, religious authority, romantic attraction, self-discovery, self-motivation, shotgun marriage, situated in history, soulmate, stooping to folly, telling one's story, the confession genre, the feminist movement, time’s wingéd chariot, understanding Paris, woman with a past, women's precariousness, youthful despair, youthful precariousness | Leave a comment

The Transgressions of Jacob Taubes

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Abigail

The Transgressions of Jacob Taubes Prominently featured in a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review is a biography titled Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes by Jerry Z. Muller. The reviewer is Mark Lilla, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, book reviews, books, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, 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, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic seducer, being a man, betrayals and suicides, brilliant philosophy students, careerism, Carl Schmitt, Columbia University, Columbia University Religion Department, Columbia University seminar on Hermeneutics, disappointing one's hopes, eros of thought, Faustian bargain, fighting for one's honor, flower of evil, foreseeing the Holocaust, Free University in Berlin, Gershom Scholem, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Herbert Marcuse, Horace Friess, intellectual desert, Jacob Taubes, Jerry Z. Muller's Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes, John Herman Randall, libertine Gnosticism, lives of philosophers, Maoist teach-ins, Mark Lilla, mesmeric personality, moral evil, New York Times Book Review, nihilism, Paul Kristeller, philosophical biography, Rodin's The Thinker, ruining lives, seducer, seductive ploy, self-distrust, sexual escapades, social choreography, social subversion, Susan Sontag, trail of shattered lives | Leave a comment

The Right to Think

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Abigail

The Right to Think In the dusty arena of public life, we see a contest between the Right to Life and the Right to Choose. There is, however, a third right that gets little or no play in that … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", abortion and hypocrisy, abortion and self-defense, academic politics, anatomy is destiny, Applied Ethics, asymmetry of the sexes, childbearing age, choice of evils, facing controversy, forced option, freedom to think, Hannah Arendt, live option, marital protection, marital safety, men dominating women, moral tests, obligatory freedom, professional politics, public arena, public space, right to choose, right to life, right to think, Roe v Wade, sex biological and cultural, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, social politics, social safety, status of the unborn, stigmatizing women, Supreme Court abortion case, Talmudic view of abortion, test of character, truth-seeking, unavoidable sins, unhappily pregnant, up against the wall, utopian delusions, vetoed opinions, women's defenses, women's tragic choices, women's vulnerability | Leave a comment

How Can We Know If It’s God?

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Abigail

How Can We Know If It’s God? Are we making a big mistake? Couldn’t it be Tom, Dick, or Susie instead? Well, no. Those three friends are all palpable, visible, leave imprints when they sit on the couch, chat about … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, 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, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, 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, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic evaluation, academic grievance, academic politics, academic tenure, accessing circumstances, arbitration hearing, astral bodies, atheists, coincidence, communication overload, conceptual rigidity, confronting one's culture, confronting one's situation, contemporary communication, divine authority, divine ecstasy, divine signs, divine vision, divine visitation, Divine witness, divine/human interactions, escapist fantasies, escapist flight, faculty union, getting fired, ideal world, Jewish angels, Jewish calendar, Jewish essence v Jewish existence, Jewish relation to God, Jewish time, linear time, openness to God's direction, personal relationship with God, prayer guidance, prayer-guided life, problematic of history, prophetic claims, providential messaging, reasons for atheism, recognizing God, religious acculturation, retroactive confirmation, risk and certainty, the God question, theological mistakes, unconscious projection, Ur of the Chaldees., Willie Nelson | 4 Comments

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