Category Archives: Mysticism

Character Witnesses

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Abigail

Last week’s column reported on work being done by archeologists and historians, Christian and Jewish, in Israel and surrounding lands, to uncover the real state of Jewry at the time of Jesus. My hope, in describing some of these findings, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, science, 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, 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 | Tagged animal intuitions, anti-semitic incuriosity, archeology in Israel, Biblical true life dramas, character witness, Christian and Jewish historians, Christian Jewish reconciliation, Christianity’s story of the Jews, Christians Jews and ancient history, culture and the absolute, culture and values, culture’s defining story, culture’s justifying story, curing anti-semitism, dog intuitions, equine therapy, forgiveness, Freudian repression, Hegel and culture, horse riding and neuropathy, horse sense, interfaith reconciliation, internalizing accusations, Jesus and his Jewish contemporaries, Jesus missionaries in antiquity, Jews at the time of Jesus, keep off the grass, oldest hatred, personal and cultural values, philosophic therapy, status of Jesus, strenuous incuriosity, synagogues in the Roman Empire, the dog knows, the horse knows, theology and atheism, theology and culture, theology and personal self definition, theology and secularism, theology and the absolute, travelers from Israel, what animals know | Leave a comment

Theological Rivalry

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Abigail

The other day, Jerry said to me over brunch, “Why don’t Jews move to claim Jesus as their own?” I thought about that a minute, then answered, “The evangelicals are the most significant American voting bloc that still supports Israel. … 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, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, 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, 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, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, 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, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romantic Love, science, 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, 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 | Tagged ancient Jewish miracle workers, anti Judaism and the erotic factor, anti-Judaism and Christianity, archaeology and Roman Judea, archeology and ancient synagogues, archeology and Jesus, Bible movies, Christ of faith, Christian Jewish friendship, Christian missionaries in the ancient world, crucifixion expiating Original Sin, David Flusser’s Jesus, early Christians, evangelicals and Israel, fate of Judas, God incarnate, historical Jesus, Israeli and Christian scholarship, Israelis and Israelites, Jesus and contemporary followers, Jesus and his Jewish contemporaries, Jesus and loving your enemies, Jesus and miracles, Jesus movement in classical times, Jesus the Israelite, Jesus the miracle worker, Jews and Jesus, Jews and loving your enemies, Jews outside Judea, Judaisim in Roman occupied Judea, Judaism and miracles, Judaism and Paul, Luke’s Gospel, mind power, miracle workers as God’s intimates, miracles and laws of nature, miracles and physicalism, non Jewish friends of God, original sin, Paula Fredriksen’s When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation, Pauline doctrines, politics of persecution, Pontius Pilate, Rabbi Irving Greenberg and Jesus, religious competition, Resurrection of Jesus, righteous Gentiles, Roman occupied Judea, Sadducean doctrines, Sadducees, synagogues in the Roman Empire, The Passion of Christ, theological rivalry, theology of contempt | Leave a comment

Where Is the Happy Ending?

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Abigail

Stories, as I see them, are supposed to come out right. And here’s what I mean by “right.” It’s nothing deep, mysterious or esoteric. Our romantic couple rides off into the Western sunset. They have the time for their trip, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, 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, 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, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, 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, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 36 righteous, academic politics, academic romance, academic victory, adult ed, anti-Jewish cartoons, campus anti-semites, Chronicle of Higher Education, conflict and congregations, core curriculum, cowboy gets the girl, cowboys, criterion for righteous deeds, defending Jewish students, Evangelicals and Zionism, facing justice, fashionable victims, former terrorist, good guys and bad guys, good story with bad ending, grace under anti-semitic pressure, grace under persecution, grace under pressure, happy ending, holier than thou, how things ought to be, inappropriate with women, Israel Consul vs Quakers, Kasim Hafeez's Never Again?, Lamed Vavnik, liberal arts program, love and marriage, metric for righteous deeds, miraculous cure, miraculous cure for anti-semitism, mitzvah, moral high ground, moral holiday, ousting a predator, philosophy department at Brooklyn College, philosophy professor, Phyllis Chesler, Phyllis Chesler's The New Anti-Semitism, politics in the real world, prayer and miracle, Presbyterians and BDS, public debate, pulling moral rank, rabbinical search committee, Reformed Temple, remembering the story, reprisals vs whistleblower, righteous deeds, righteous deeds vs chaos, righteous warrior, safeguarding the story, sanctimony, saving the core curriculum, search committee, StandWithUs, Stephen Spector, Stephen Spector's Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism, stories ending wrongly, suffering of Jewish students, synagogue congregants, targeting Jewish students, trauma and recovery, unequal power relations, Western movies, whistleblower's trauma | Leave a comment

The Divine Name

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Abigail

I’ve been reading Martin Buber’s book Moses, with the result that the encounter Moses has with God at the burning bush – the one that burns but is not consumed – comes frequently to my mind. I don’t know if … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Christianity, 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, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, 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, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, science, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing | Tagged Bible study, challenged faith, controlling chaos, cost of untruths, creation ex nihilo, creation out of chaos, faith and pretense, feeling outnumbered, fight against chaos, fight for intelligibility, God as providential, hard reality of life, health and balance, Heaven as compensatory, hope and faith, hope and realism, I am that I am, ineffable beings, intelligent hope, Israeli mother, manipulating the divine, Martin Buber, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber's Moses, memory suppression, Moses' sandals, necessary and contingent beings, Necessary Being, nonbeing, nothingness, one step ahead of chaos, prayer vs magic, providence as unpredictable, pulling one's self together, realism and faith, reconciling faith and reality, righteous combat, speculative theology, staying one step ahead, struggle for clarity, tautology, tetragrammaton, the burning bush, the Divine Name, the problem of evil, theodicy, theologians and providence, tohu va bohu, truthfulness, void and unformed | 2 Comments

Can Sibling Rivalry Be Ontological?

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Abigail

In the top-floor, high-ceiling, six-room New York apartment where my parents once lived, next to the dining room table and in front of the window, there stood a tall potted plant. It grew and grew, though I don’t recall our giving … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, 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, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, 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, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, 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, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romanticism, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged apocalyptic hopes, Arch of Titus, Bar Kokhba, Church Fathers and Jews, civilizational problems, cultural fault line, earlier New York, early Christian views, end of history, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, first century expectations, Greeks and Socrates, inappropriately mystical, intuitive people, Isaiah's peaceable kingdom, Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence, Jewish Christian ontology, Jewish messianism, Jewish/Christian competition, Jews Christians and God, last Jewish rebellion, lions and lambs, messianic hopes, Michael Wyschogrod, mystical views, mysticism and superstition, old rent apartments, ontological problem, predictions falsified, Presbyterian Church and BDS, Presbyterian Church and Deicide, Rabbi Mitchell Delcau, Rabbi Q&A with Presbyterian congregation, Roman rule in Palestine, sibling rivalry, supersessionism, supersessionism repudiated, Voegelin and Jewish history, Voegelin's Order and History | Leave a comment

Secrets of the Kingdom

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Abigail

Years ago, I was in the audience to hear a lecture by Columbia Professor of Ancient History Morton A. Smith who was discussing a verse he claimed to have discovered, anciently deleted from the gospel of Mark. In this new-found verse, Jesus … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, 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, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, 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, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 613 Commandments, a life in balance, a personal God, academic gravitas, academic obscurity, aesthetic force, behind the curtain, Benedict de Spinoza, books on the Holocaust, chance or providence, Columbia University, defense of Jewish Orthodoxy, historical encounters with God, Holocaust and philosophy, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust testimony, ideal witness, intellectual dexterity, Jewish experience, Jewish historical continuity, Jewish Orthodox worldview, Jewish Orthodoxy and philosophy, Jewish Orthodoxy and physics, Jewish Orthodoxy debating skill, Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss and Benedict de Spinoza, life-scape, malicious actors, Modern Orthodoxy, moral intelligence, Morton A. Smith, Moshe Koppel, nazism and malice, normality, personal worship, racism, reasons to be a Jew, relativism, secret gospel, secrets of the kingdom, Shoah, Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise, Strauss Spinoza and Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith ed. Jeffrey Bloom Alec Goldstein and Gil Student, stylish academics, subjective and objective, Talmudic conversation, Talmudic debate, The Risk of Sorrow: Conversations with Holocaust Survivor Helen Handler by Valerie Foster, the survival of Jewish culture, thought experiment, truth and psychological distortions, undistorted view | Leave a comment

Incredulity

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Abigail

The incredulity I’m talking about doesn’t concern entities like the Loch Ness monster. If that creature could be caught, dragged ashore, and the body sent to an appropriate laboratory that later issued a report detailing the evidence for its reality, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the boys in the back room", Abigail Rosenthal's A Good Look At Evil, authenticating prayer, authenticating spiritual claims, authenticating the Divine, belief and unbelief, better to lose the argument than lose the truth, blame presupposes moral freedom, break through limiting beliefs, causal explanation, childhood faith, consciousness and language, consciousness as language-dependent, consciousness in animals, cosmic trust, debater's victory, dialectic about God's existence, dialectic as intellectual therapy, dialectical eros, divine authenticity, divine consciousness, divine guidance, evidence of God's existence, evidence of the Divine, God's judgment, Hegel’s humanism, helping Hand, incredulity, intelligibility and causality, inward theological debate, Jewish inheritance, Loch Ness controversy, Loch Ness monster, loving parents, moral freedom and ordinary language, moral law, openness to the transcendent, philosophical argument, philosophical atheism, philosophical determinism, philosophical eros, philosophical marriage, praise and blame, prayer guidance, proving God's existence, religious debate, Socratic ideal, Socratic questioning, Socratic therapy, Spinozism, the debate goes on, the Jewish covenant, The New Atheism, winning a debate, winning a debate versus finding truth, you are what you think, youthful trust | Leave a comment

Rachel at the Well

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Abigail

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 | 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 | Leave a comment

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

The Kiss of God

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Abigail

The Kiss of God Nowadays, on Wednesday evenings, I drive to the local Chabad, when I can manage it, to study the Parshah (section from the Pentateuch being read during that week by Jews worldwide). Their building is still under … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, memory, Messianic Age, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, Religion, Roles, secular, 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 | Tagged "the merit of Job", "the merit of Miriam", 10 righteous persons, 36 righteous, Abraham's plea for Sodom and Gomorrah, advanced soul, Chabad, Chabad outreach, Chabad's cosmopolitan followers, condescending higher criticism, conquest of the Canaanites, covenantal calling, death of biblical Aaron, death of biblical Miriam, death of the righteous, elevated soul, elevated standards, father's death, freedom from popularity, God in history, God-centered, Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic sect, Hasidism, Israelites in the Wilderness, Jewish devotion, Jewish essence, Jewish non-observance, Jewish observance, Jewish purity, Jewish study, Job, King Oedipus, King of Thebes, kiss of God, Lamed Vavniks, meritorious Canaanite, Miriam's rock, Moses striking the rock, partnering with God, Pentateuch, plague in Thebes, saving one's homeland, secular modernity, self-judgment, Torah, unconcern with appearances, unconcern with popularity, weekly Parshah | 5 Comments

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Category Archives: Mysticism

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