Category Archives: Memoir

So Long As You’re Healthy

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Abigail

So Long As You’re Healthy Of course I’m not referring to the pandemic. We’re all suffering from that. I’m looking at the larger question of health — starting with my own, since I know its story best. How did … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, books, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a “Me too” case, a fight with your name on it, along the alimentary canal, animals and humans, animals lives, “the hard problem”, blaming the accuser, blaming the victim, cataract surgery, consulting a psychic, curing PTSD, digestion, divine guidance, dualism, emotional sensitivity, emotional/perceptual system, ethology, forensic medicine, G.I. specialists, gallantry, good guys and bad guys, healthy insides, high colonics, holding emotion in the body, hydrotherapy, learning how to live in your body, male protectiveness, malpractice, mind/body problem, mindset, moral victory, moral victory and defeat, neuropathy, ousting a predator, pandemic, personal health, Peter A. Levine’s In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness, physicalism, post-traumatic stress disorder, prayer, psychic advice, PTSD, PTSD effects on the body, responsibility to one’s body, savoir faire, so long as you’re healthy, sociopath, somatizing, surviving narrow escapes, to catch predator, trauma, unhelpful thinking, unwelcome advances, what animals know, women's vulnerability | Leave a comment

“What Are We Really Arguing About Now?”

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Abigail

“What Are We Really Arguing About Now?” My recent columns were about “argument” in the philosopher’s sense of reasoning. Thinking they might find them of special interest, I’ve sent the columns to philosopher friends. And was pleased, but not surprised, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, 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, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Albert Camus, arguing to win, argument, argument from authority, argument from design, argument from observation, bad arguments, Bloomsbury group, Cheryl Misak’s Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, conscious assumptions, conscious reasons, de Beauvoir’s Paris, drama of argument, famous philosophers, folk theology, forcing the argument, Frank Ramsey, Freud, Freud’s Vienna, global citizens, global culture, globalization, Gnosticism, human imperfection, human incompleteness, imperfect people, inspiration, intuitions, life purposes, life-defining argument, life-shaping argument, manipulative argument, necessary imperfections, opinion shapers, philosopher friends, philosophic argument, philosophic life world, realm of argument, reason, reasoning, rejecting the world, resisting the human condition, rhetorical tricks, Socrates in Athens, Stephen Toulmin’s and Allan Janick’s Wittgenstein’s Vienna, tales of argument, teleological argument, Tennessee farmers, the human condition, the perfect is the enemy of the good, unconscious assumptions, unstated subtexts, utopian ideals, verbal victories, Wittgenstein, world citizens, world city, world culture, world of ideas | Leave a comment

For Love of the Argument

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Abigail

For Love of the Argument I first met Bryan Magee when he was visiting Sidney University’s Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy. My then husband was teaching there and I had been granted a nice little niche as “Research Affiliate.” … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Journalism, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, secular, self-deception, 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, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Where Theory Meets Chalk Dust Flies", Analytic philosophy, Anglo-American philosophers, Anthony Quinton, Aussie hospitality, Australian Materialist, B. F. Skinner, bad arguments, BBC television series, blackboard of Mitchell Faulk, blackboards of mathematicians, Bryan Magee, Bryan Magee’s Men of Ideas: Some Creators of Contemporary Philosophy, bushwalk, civil status of a contradiction, conceptual contests, David M. Armstrong, Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy, Down Under, early and late Wittgenstein, fish or fowl, fly out of fly bottle, forms of life, good arguments, hatred of human beings, hatred of reason, hospitality blues, innate syntax, inner space, Iris Murdoch, Jessica Wynne, language games, life of argument, life of reason, Linguistic Behaviorism, Mathematician Mitchell Faulk, meaningful sentence, Member of Parliament, metaphysical claims, misology and misanthropy, Noam Chomsky, novelist and philosopher, philosophical dialogues, philosophical fashions, Philosophical Investigations by Wittgenstein, Philosophical Materialism, philosophical naturalism, philosophical views, photo survey, picture theory of meaning, Plato, Plato's Phaedo, realm of reason, research affiliate, rush to judgement, Sidney University, Socrates, stimulus-response model, talents in collision, Trinity College Oxford, Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, woman novelist, woman philosopher, worldly man | Leave a comment

The Old Account Was Settled

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Abigail

The Old Account Was Settled There’s a country gospel song about our debt of sin. It goes: The old account was settled long ago. I’ve been reckoning up accounts that ordinarily get settled in young adulthood, when you figure out … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, 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, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a daughter’s duty, accounts left open, American culture mid-20th-century, American intellectual life, arbitration hearing, archives, Archiving, balanced assessment, balanced life, balancing accounts, closure, Columbia University philosophers, country gospel, CUNY “Corporation Counsel”, CUNY lawyer, debt to parents, essays, father fixation, fiction, filial piety, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal's The Consolations of Philosophy, Holocaust rescue, Horace L. Friess, intellectual correspondence, international law, journals, keeping accounts, lawyer friend, letter of appreciation, literary property, manuscripts, master list, nonfiction, papers of Henry M. Rosenthal, personal presence, private man, public man, Rafael Lemkin, recommendation letter, record of a life, record of achievement, remarkable father, reviews, settling accounts, success and unsuccess, testimony under oath, The Genocide Convention, the Jewish spirit, union lawyer, work realized, work unrealized, young adulthood | 2 Comments

My Father’s Continuing Funerary Cortege

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Abigail

My Father’s Continuing Funerary Cortege A country song comes to mind as I try to picture what reading the complete extant papers of my father has been like for me during these past weeks. There’s a long line of mourners … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, 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, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 10 commandments, 1920s-1970s, accepting Sinaitic law, accepting The Covenant, admirers, appreciative letters, Bobby Bare’s “Long Black Limousine”, challenge of being human, charisma, Columbia class of 1925, country song, deep levels of nature, depth of tradition, detachment, executrix, father-daughter relation, fear of God, funeral cortege, generous love, Henry M. Rosenthal, highbrow America, humble parishioners, imagination, incorruptibility, Israel at Sinai, knowing my father, letters from notables, literary estate, living culture, Louisville Kentucky, Moses, mourners, national opinion shapers, nearness to God, papers of Henry M. Rosenthal, personal magnetism, philosophy students, primeval chaos, risks of The Covenant, sermon, sermon on Mount Sinai, Shevuoth sermon 1941, still small voice, talking to God, tapping sources of being, the burden of being human, the fight to be human, the secret of a life, the secret of a man, thunder at Sinai, trained skill, voice at Sinai, voice of God, words of Sinaitic law, worldly success | Leave a comment

Loyalty to Origins

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Abigail

Loyalty to Origins* What you and I would like to achieve in our identity politics is purity. We don’t want to be double — or a double-crosser. We want to be single-minded. As Leo Bronstein, whom I’ve cited before in … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Anne Fadiman’s The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Barbara Fisher, battle of words, British acculturation, character challenge, Clifton Fadiman, college friendships, Columbia archives, Columbia class of 1925, establishing authenticity, friends and rivals, getting each other’s number, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s “Inventions”, identity ambivalence, identity loyalty, identity politics, identity purity, ignoble victories, Jewish authenticity, Jewish intensity, Jewish Theological Seminary, John Vaughan, Leo Bronstein, Lionel Trilling, Lionel Trilling/Henry Rosenthal correspondence, literary powers, living as a Jew, loyalty to origins, male friendship, male rivalry, male status, non-Jewish surnames, obsessively Jewish, one-upmanship, passionately Jewish, Sidney Hook, spiritual adventure, stylish imperturbability, talented classmates, the false and the genuine, The Menorah Journal, the name Trilling, Trilling/Rosenthal friendship, unflappable snobbishness, verbal sparring, who is more authentic, writers fictionalizing writers, writers on writers, youthful genius | Leave a comment

Touching Up Roots

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Abigail

Touching Up Roots Today, for the first time in my life, I’ve tried – with the help of the kit I sent for – to color my own hair. What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll come out looking like … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, 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, 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, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abraham and Sarah, Abraham’s bluff, ancestral roots, being a single woman, biblical couples, biblical eros, biblical ungallantry, Book of Numbers, coloring one’s hair, competing with God, cultural roots, demanding your rights, divine man/woman partnership, divine-human partnership, face-to-face lovemaking, father-daughter relation, feminism and Judaism, feminist protest, fight with my name on it, fighting human nature, fighting nature, fighting till I lose, fighting till I win, filial piety, God and romantic life, gray hair, Hebrew Bible, Henry M. Rosenthal, home hair color, Jacob and Rachel, Jewish roots, Judaism and women, letting nature take its course, Lot’s daughters, Lot’s guests, men rescuing women, monogamous passion, not my fight, passion for God, personal God, problematic biblical sources, Song of Songs, the Bible and women, the Bible's woman problem, the Pentateuch, the Torah, Thomas Cahill’s The Gift of the Jews, Torah Study, touching up roots, trial by ordeal, virtual bible study, woman’s coping strategies, women in peril, women of the Bible, women rescuing men | Leave a comment

My Latest Teaching Anxiety Dream

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Abigail

My Latest Teaching Anxiety Dream Last night I had a variant of the dream that visits many teachers in the pre-dawn hours. Short of taking a survey, I have yet to meet a teacher who’s never had this dream in … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, self-deception, 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, Utopia, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", afterlife judgment, bad dream, Brooklyn Bridge, Catalan identity, Columbia University in the 1920s, conversational magic, cultural identities, cultural layers, demoralization, divorce stress, facing real world, fascinating parents, fear of public speaking, forgiver and forgiven, forgiving yourself, German-Jewish identity, God as life partner, high-stress situations, how I overcame forgiving myself, identity, insoluble dilemma, Jewish lineage, Jewish Theological Seminary, lack of armor, last judgment, Leo Bronstein, life review, life story, long story, Louisville Male High, loving parents, McGuffy’s Reader, medical stress, meeting one’s contradictions, narrative view, NDE, near death experience, New York at its heyday, New Yorker magazine, normal stress, overwhelming experiences, Oxford professors, parent-child relation, parenting, personal armageddon, personal collapse, philosophy dissertation, philosophy Ph.D., Rav Tsair, reproacher and reproached, Russian identity, self-undoing, sheltered childhood, Spanish identity, talking straight to children, teaching anxiety, teaching anxiety dream, teaching preparation, therapeutic jargon, vulnerability, Where was God?, Yankee identity | Leave a comment

If Our Time Could Speak

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Abigail

If Our Time Could Speak In recent columns, I’ve mentioned that for me The Plague has opened the time to read through the journals, correspondence and manuscripts, published and unpublished, of my late father, Henry M. Rosenthal, who was considered, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th-century seriousness, 19th-century styles, A.E. Housman’s “With Rue My Heart is Laden”, addressing the future, ancient Rome, Archimedes, Authenticity, authenticity in the future, authenticity today, Being oneself, character-defining opinions, class genius, Columbia class of 1925, common peril, Covid-19 preventives, Covid-19 treatments, cultural boundary conditions, cultural limits, cultural parameters, deconstructionism, destabiliizing concepts, dissolving ethnic boundaries, dissolving historic boundaries, ethnic identity, father-daughter relation, filial piety, global cooperation, global research, group solidarity, group think, habit makes the monk, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal's "Time Speaking" 1945, imitating a statue, imitating an emperor, imperial pose, inherited differences, international antiviral research, lever principle, liberating lightness, lighten up, lightfoot lads and lasses, lightness of today, literary legacy, men in the 1940s, mental roller coaster, mores of the era, normality, pagan science, paganism, pan-human research, people of the future, place to stand, portraying one’s era, pre-feminist women, professed lightness, re-valuating values, religious identity, Roman emperor, Roman statue, saying what you mean, social construct, socially bestowed credentials, speaking from the future, speaking from the past, spirit of the time, standing one’s ground, statuesque pose, striking a pose, style of lightness, styles of normality, styles of the 1940s, styles of today, The Plague, unprecedented common effort, unpublished manuscript, vanished landmarks, women in the 1940s | Leave a comment

How Jewish Am I?

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Abigail

How Jewish Am I? If being Jewish by birth is what counts, I suppose I’m Jewish enough. But it’s not a necessary condition for securing that identity. A few years ago, a young Christian woman – a friend and participant … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", ancestral religion, ashram, asking God, becoming a cult, coherent narrative, conversion misgivings, conversion to Judaism, cult leader, cults, defining anti-semite, defining Jews, demoralization, disconnected episodes, disparaging Jews, dissolving ego, Divine aura, escapism, ethnic identity, Freud, Freudian interpretation, God as Witness, God’s answer, grass is greener, guru, Guru Gita, hating God, Hegel, Hegelian interpretation, Hindu classics, Indian worship, inherited values, Jewish by birth, Jewish convert, Jewish identity, Jewish observance, Jewish spirit, Lakshmi pujas, language game, learning meditation, legitimizing the person, looking marvelous, meaningful story, memorial gathering, merging with the Divine, mikvah immersion, observance v belief, passion for God, personal identity, philosopher friend, prayer in the IRT, reaching samadhi, religious identity, Sanscrit, sense-making, signing the covenant, story and person, the Jewish troubles, total immersion, unearthly grace, we will do and we will hear, what is a Jew?, Wittgenstein, woman guru, yentas, yoga asanas, yogic breathing | Leave a comment

	Abigail on The Intelligent Woman’s Guide…
	Judy Dornstreich on The Intelligent Woman’s Guide…
	Abigail on Book Matters
	Francesca on Léo
	Brian Hennessy on Book Matters

Category Archives: Memoir

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