Category Archives: Romantic Love

Sacrificial Acts

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Abigail

Sacrificial Acts A review of mine, written in support of an author I greatly admire, was just accepted for publication. It was written at the sacrifice of long-postponed time and energy that, right now, I really needed to expend … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Art of Living, Autonomy, books, bureaucracy, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, 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, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way" by Henry M. Rosenthal; ed. Abigail L. Rosenthal, 17th Century Philosophers, academia, altruism, “Brooklyn Connections”, Benedict Spinoza, Brooklyn College, career advancement, career sacrifice, college curriculum, deathbed promise, expecting pay off, expecting rewards, faculty fight, father fixation, father/daughter relationships, finding balance, getting published, happy endings, higher education, honoring commitments, impromptu speech, invited speaker, Jerry L. Martin, job struggle, knowing what is due, Life Force, love at first sight, love sight unseen, modern philosophy, online editors, online publications, overcoming the ego, personal life, posthumous work, professional advancement, professional reputation, professional standing, providence, publication, self-sacrifice, setting priorities, strategic acumen, tea with friends, teaching obligations, Thomas Hobbes, unexpected rewards, unjust firing, unpublished manuscript, unselfishness | 2 Comments

My Identity Crisis

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Abigail

My Identity Crisis Our week in California, never an easy one — because much has always required attention there — was difficult in various ways but notably hard for me this time. First, the neuropathy treatments I get at Loma … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Gender Balance, glitterati, Health, Heroes, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social construction, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", adolescence, anthropology, Ashley Wilkes, blood circulation, cause of neuropathy, difficult vacation, Dr. Mark Bussell, empirical outlook, evil defined, experimental treatment, good and evil, Hannah Arendt, Holocaust controversies, identity crisis, identity formation, Margaret Michell's "Gone With The Wind", moral illustrations, moral reflection, neuro-vascular system, neurologists, neuropathy, neuropathy diagnosis, Neuropathy Institute at Loma Linda, philosophic arguments, philosophic originality, political philosopher, reading romances, research hospital, Rhett and Scarlet, side effects, the good life, the Holocaust, The Jews | Leave a comment

What’s With the Nothing?

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Abigail

What’s With the Nothing? In the mornings, when I sit for meditation, I ask for input from On High and generally aspire to learn what the day should hold for me if I orient rightly. Normally, the answers I get … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, beauty, Biblical God, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Masculinity, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", absurdity, bigotry, blaming Israel, class hatred, conflict resolution, Continental philosophy, deep thinking, divine guidance, emptiness, evil doers, existentialists, global consensus, God in the world, happy every after, ideological conflict, intuitive insight, Israel, Jews, Martin Heidegger, meditation, nihilism, philosophers in cafes, Plato's Republic, pointlessness, political differences, Poussin’s Et in Arcadia ego, prayer input, psychical differences, purpose of life, race prejudice, received opinion, receptivity, root canal surgery, saving the planet, self-assurance, self-discovery, self-knowledge, self-realization, self-trust, skepticism, stereotyping, the big picture, The Nothing, trusting intuition, unforced agreement, who am I? | Leave a comment

Battered, Bruised … but Unbowed?

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Abigail

Battered, Bruised … but Unbowed? Last week, reflecting on my deep reluctance to do anything that would promote my newly-released book, A Good Look at Evil, second edition, I determined that the real barrier isn’t that I believe I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, 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, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, 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, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, 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, 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 A. G. Eric Scheniderman, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", abusive men, abusive relationships, Amazon’s “Look Inside”, amazon’s books, assertiveness training, bad guys winning, being outnumbered, betrayal of trust, Bible study, Bill Clinton, book endorsements, book promotion, chariots of fire, cheering the sick, combatting adversity, compliance with abuser, coping with setbacks, decent manhood, defending one’s work, demands of nature, distance healing, electronic preview, embezzler, evil diagnosed, evil portrayed, female receptivity, female vulnerability, feminine pliancy, feminine sensitivity, femininity as social construct, feminism’s counsels, fictional stories, getting evil’s number, giving up the fight, hype, II Kings 6:15-17, internalizing real problems, jacket blurbs, Juanita Broaddrick, king of Syria, life as story, lifemanship, mirror of evil, modern cynicism, modernity’s worldview, mug shot, nameless adversary, narrative view, nature v nurture, neuropathy treatment, nineteenth century novels, nonfiction narrative, not giving up, Pentateuch, persistence as key, persistence as victory, prayer guidance, prayer-based healing, predator in disguise, projection, protecting one’s book, publication date, puffery, rabbinic duties, satanic attack, sexual predator, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, sting operation, stress fracture, string of accidents, taking oneself seriously, the sleeping dogs, thwarted story, Torah Study, true stories, unexpected guest, Victorian novels, woman's nature, women’s disguising armor, yin and yang | 2 Comments

Before Feminism – and After!

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Abigail

Before Feminism – and After! Lately, I’ve been reading When Men Were the Only Models We Had, by Carolyn Heilbrun. It’s a memoir on coming of age as an intellectual woman before feminism. As a graduate student in Columbia … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, 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, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, 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, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", anti-women jokes, bloodless social revolution, brilliant women, careerist, Carolyn Heilbrun’s When Men were the Only Models We Had, castrating females, Clifton Fadiman, Columbia class of 1925, Columbia University, Columbia University English Department, coming of age memoir, control of women, coquetry, delightful women, divorced women, doctoral candidacy, documentary histories of feminism, economic dependence on men, electro-shock therapy, end of communism, exclusivist maleness, father-daughter relation, feminism and women’s health, feminism as humanism, filial piety, flight into convent, flight into religiosity, Frenchwomen, friends and lovers, good writing, graduate student, hemophilia of the future Tsar, Henry and Rachelle Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal, intellectual friendships, intellectual originality, intellectually alive, intelligence not enough, involuntary confinement, Jacques Barzun, jargon-free writing, killing motivation, Leo Bronstein, life of the mind, Lionel Trilling, Lionel Trilling correspondence, literary criticism, literary friendships, lobotomies, male academic dominance, male career models, male friendships, male intellectual models, male professional dominance, marital trouble, memoir, men in academe, mister right, negative vs. positive liberation, No Girls Allowed, over-sensitive, Phyllis Chesler’s The Politically Incorrect Feminist, pretentious writing, professional sovietologists, psychiatric abuse of dissenters, psychiatric abuse of women, punishment of dissenters, Reading Dostoevsky, reading Proust, reading Thomas Mann, Russian-accented English, sex discrimination, sexism, Sigmund Freud, the feminine mind, the feminist revolution, the masculine mind, the Pope in Warsaw, the Woman-principle, theoretical disparagement of women, understanding people, unpretentious writing, woman’s social power, womanly arts, womanly authority, womanly models, women as colleagues, women as friends, women graduate students, women’s dependence on men, women’s health, women’s need for men, women’s social dependence on men | Leave a comment

Sex, Honor and Philosophy

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Abigail

Plato wrote a dialogue, The Symposium, on this very topic. The setting is a drinking party held to celebrate the victory of one of the guests in a poetry contest. They go round the circle, each guest standing up to give a speech on the Great Question of the evening: What is love? Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Candid Camera", Alcibiades, ancient drinking party, ancient Greeks, austerity, blacklisting, breaking eggs, Camelot, celibacy, Diotima, disproportionate punishment, eros, eros and biology, eros and health, eros and memory, eros and politics, eros and the beautiful, eros and the good, eros of ambition, eros of social life, erotic disempowerment, erotic empowerment, erotic motives, erotic sin, holier-than-thou, injured pride, love object, love of wisdom, man/woman love, musicals, Parisian café, philosophic friendship, Plato, Plato's dialogues, Plato’s Symposium, pleasure, poetry contest, preserving femininity, preserving masculinity, professional death, professional honor, reparations, romantic speeches, Russian soul, safe space, same-sex love, seclusion, seduction, self-protection, sex and dominance, sex and revenge, sexual harassment, social change, soulmate, The Academy, the man/woman ratio, the mating game, the secret of love, The Symposium, transcendent perfection, virtue signaling, What is love? | Leave a comment

Woman’s Search for Meaning

Posted on April 3, 2018 by Abigail

Woman’s Search for Meaning I’ve talked two friends out of committing suicide. Don’t recall exactly what I said, but I do know what went into my general approach. First, I ignored their existential/metaphysical pronouncements, eloquent as they were. Life, they … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, 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, 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, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, 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, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", absurdity, alternative healing, betrayal of trust, canceled engagements, canceled speech, chance happenings, charlatan healers, clues to the plot, Coincidences, contemplating suicide, correct diagnosis, crisis of meaning, desecration, desecration of woman, despair, dislocation, distance healing, Divine interventions, divine/human partnership, existential anxiety, expectations frustrated, focused mind, friendship, God as Co-Author, hopeful signals, indifferent world, invisible crisis, invisible suffering, life crisis, living one’s story, loss of grip, loss of meaning, meaningful life, meaningless world, mental healing, mental labyrinth, metaphysical materialism, metaphysics, mind and body, mind and matter, Mind Control, MRI's, negative energy, neuropathy treatment, Nor'easter, novelistic lives, ordinary miracles, personal defeat, power outage, precognition, preserving self image, Providential happenings, public speaking, quieted mind, Raiki healing, reorientation, rescheduling, saving the story, search for meaning, self image, sense of self, senselessness, small defeats, speaking events, spiritual malpractice, spiritual seduction, spiritual temptation, suicidal thoughts, suicide, suicide prevention, the right name, Thomas Hardy's Tess of The d'Urbervilles, travel plans, true north, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, world out of joint | 4 Comments

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Category Archives: Romantic Love

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