Category Archives: Sexuality

Womanly Arts

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Abigail

Womanly Arts At the Eric Voegelin Society conference we attended this week in D.C., Jerry and I were on a panel entitled “Life as a Spiritual Journey.” They went awfully well — both of our (totally different) presentations. For the … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", acculturated behavior, adaptive behavior, advising daughters, advising sons, Americans in Paris, arbitrary values, autonomic functions, conference panelists, contingency of values, cultural denial, economic substructure, Eric Voegelin Society, ethology, feminine reality, feminine virtues, feminist movement, Fullbright Grantees, gender acculturation, German Occupation of Paris, high-sounding words, life as a spiritual journey, Marxist remedies, masculine virtues, memoir, modeling manhood, modeling virtue, modeling womanhood, nature and nurture, painting in oils, parental guidance, Parisian impressions, personal bungling, pre-feminist, professed ideals, professional bungling, professional success, public feminist, selling the Brooklyn Bridge, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, speaker’s anxiety, strategic mistakes, subsurface fears, surface idealism, the absurd, the feminine art, the masculine art, traditional virtues, tragic circumstances, Washington D.C., womanization, womanly fulfillment, women friends, you can’t say it, young American women | Leave a comment

Post-Traumatic Stress

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Abigail

Post-Traumatic Stress There’s a book I’m reading now titled In An Unspoken Voice by Peter A. Levine, a man who’s done research on the causes of trauma when it lasts well beyond the end of the stressful incident and currently … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, Childhood, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, TV, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged anaesthetized, animal behavior, animal hunting, animal killing, animal life, anti-semitism and culture, anti-semitism and history, anxiety, biofeedback, biological life, body awareness, body psychotherapy, cat and mouse, childhood trauma, circle of life, competitive hunters, curing PTSD, cycle of life, Darwin, Darwinian, Darwinian struggle, dynamic equilibrium, eat or be eaten, ecology, effective daily life, escape modes, ethology, fight or flight, fighting for justice, Freeze response, healing trauma, Holocaust rescues, Holocaust survivors, humanity and stress, hunting animals, immobilizing trap, incurable injustice, making the kill, medical biophysics, medical psychology, mind/body connection, Nat-Geo Wild, natural life, nature’s rough mercies, no exit, Peter A. Levine’s In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness, post-traumatic stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, predator animals, predators, prey animals, PTSD, remedies for PTSD, rescue work, righteous combat, Somatic Experiencing, stealing your story, stress, stress response, stressful memories, stressful situations, survivors, targeted persons, trauma | 2 Comments

Overheard at the Café

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Abigail

Overheard at the Café Among the rewards of my composing this column at the café where I’m what the French call an habituée, is that I get to overhear scenes from other people’s real lives. The café meets my need to … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, Biblical God, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, 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, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, 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, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged advice to a stranger, bad company, behind her back, café life, café seclusion, Carl Sandburg’s Cool Tombs, covering one’s tracks, divorce, divorce and status, eavesdropping, feminism and biology, feminism and culture, feminism and history, fidelity, French cafes, gossip, habituée, happy endings, male protector, marital complaints, my wife doesn’t understand me, painful truths, personal dignity, personal happiness, personal love, private conversation, rabbinic dictum, romantic story, scenes from life, scenes overheard, seducers approach, seduction, single woman, social costs, social disadvantage, social outranking, social ranking, social safety, solitary woman, the library of life, the lottery of life, the official story, tragic romance, woman without a man, women's liberation, worldly honors, writers in cafés, writing a column | Leave a comment

Acting the Part

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Abigail

Acting the Part When I was newly arrived in Paris as a young Fulbright Scholar, I was invited to have lunch at the home of the Israeli ambassador to France. He was my mother’s first cousin. Hence the invitation. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Gender Balance, glitterati, hegemony, hierarchy, history of ideas, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral psychology, novels, Ontology, 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, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, 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, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ambassadorial residence, annals of contempt, bad faith, beaux quartiers, cheap meals, comme il faut, cousins, exchange of courtesies, feeling flustered, France, French waiter, Fulbright Scholar, Israeli ambassador, Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, kiss on both cheeks, Latin Quarter, Les Deux Magots, long red carpet, luncheon guest, mauvaise foi, Mme. Ambassador, Paris, philosophers’ cafe, pitiless gaze, role playing, Saint Germain des Pres, servants’ esteem, servants’ gaze, social zero, Stendahl’s The Red and The Black, student restaurant card, student restaurants, the gaze | 2 Comments

Love Stories

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Abigail

Love Stories Just now I am reading a book Jerry got me, titled, Love in the Western World. Translated from the French, it’s by a guy named Denis de Rougement. With a name like that, and a title like that, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, 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, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Anti-social behavior, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bad lovers, Betrayals, Between the world wars, chemical imbalance, childhood reading, chivalry, Coup de foudre, death wish, Deprivation experiments, Eros in the Bible, Erotic force, ethology, Fatal passion, Fealty, Feudal obligations, Film-making genius, France and Germany, Francois Orzon’s Franz, French soldiers, Freudian theory, Friedrich Nietzsche, German soldiers, Hard-wired behavior, Hidden love, Innate behavior, Jean-Paul Sartre, King Mark of Cornwall, la carte de tendre, map of love, Marie-Henri Beyle, Medieval knights, Medieval legends, Modern attitudes, Natural instincts, Nazi era, Nietzsche’s influence, Personal advice, Personal loyalty, personal relations, Post-modern attitudes, Primal urges, psychoanalysis, Romantic Love, romantic yearning, Sigmund Freud, Social obligations, Song of Songs, Stendahl, Sublimation, Tragic love, Tristan and Iseult, Troubadors, Unconscious desires, Unspoken romance, Vanished worlds, Western romantic tradition, world history, World War I, Year 1919 | 1 Comment

Nibbles from the Tree of Knowledge

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Abigail

Nibbles from the Tree of Knowledge On my night table for last read of the evening is a book with the title, Forbidden Knowledge. It concerns a topic that I’d never considered as such: whether there are, or ought … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Bible, Biblical God, books, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, 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, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Martyrdom, Masculinity, 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, Propaganda, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the moderns", absurdist philosophies, Adam and Eve, Aristotle, Aristotle's Metaphysics, bedtime reading, book of Genesis, broken places, classical civilization, cognitive powers, corrupt intelligence, curiosity, curiosity and its dangers, cynicism, dialectic and its dangers, divine prohibition, fundamental values, getting help in life, greatness of philosophy, Greco-Roman source, Hegel, hollowness of soul, Judeo-Christian Civilization, knowing too much, logos of the cosmos, moral dangers, noble truth, original sin, philosophic journey, philosophic rationalism, philosophy and culture, philosophy and zeitgeist, philosophy's goal, philosophy’s influence, Prometheus, Prometheus punished, rational animal, Roger Shattuck’s Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography, scientism, secular science, Socrates, Socratic ignorance, Spinoza, stealing fire, the ancients, The Enlightenment, The Garden of Eden, the great rationalists, the great systems, the hard problems, the meaning of life, the medievals, theology of The Fall, theory of everything, tree of knowledge, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Western Civilization, world historical hero | 4 Comments

Men on the Timeline

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Abigail

Men on the Timeline The other night I was at the Franco-Tunisian café where I go to get some of my writing done. A sizeable group had taken one side of the section where I found a round table. They … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bigotry, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged #metoo, a false life, artists under communism, award-winning films, believing in nothing, believing propaganda, black and white film, breaking faith, cafe eavesdropping, chivalry, classy cafe, communism v capitalism, communist-ruled Poland, condescension, deflecting advances, enabling sexism, escape to Paris, feminist preoccupations, foreign films, France, Franco-Tunisian cafe, grotesque sexism, heaven protect the working girl, high-end customers, human interconnectedness, ideality in men, ideology, inauthenticity, Iron Curtain, le coup de foudre, local diner, loss of faith, loss of trust, love without history, male protectiveness, male pushback, male revenge, manipulativeness, men who can cry, men’s new roles, night on the town, nihilism, out of line remarks, outmoded sexism, Paris, Parisian memories, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, permission to protest, Poland, Polish films, positive male role models, power advantage, pre-feminist days, pretended feminists, psychic interconnectedness, put downs, realistic men, redefining women, redefining women’s lives, reliable men, restaurant eavesdropping, romantic films, sensitivity training, sexist backlash, shared world, the French erotic model, the law of the brute, the party line, Tristan and Isolde, tunnel vision, uncalled for remarks, Upper Bohemia, what women want, women sharing a secret, women’s assertiveness, women’s self-definition, writers at cafes | Leave a comment

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Category Archives: Sexuality

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