Category Archives: status
Reality and Its Enemies
Lately, I’ve been reading Hitler and the Germans, the 1964 lectures that political philosopher Eric Voegelin gave in Germany on the question of how to come to terms with Hitler and the history he had dominated between 1933 and … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, 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, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mortality vs immortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Trauma, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anti-semite and denial of divine Witness, anti-semite as hater of God, anti-semite as hiding from God, anti-semite vs his brother’s keeper, anti-semitic speeches, anti-semitic speeches in academe, anti-semitism as anti-social behavior, anti-social courtship behavior, anti-social psychology and manipulation tactics, asking God what an anti-semite is?, asking God what is a Jew?, Athens and Jerusalem, blame and responsibility, character change and anti-semitism, collegial friendship, cult behavior, dedivinization becomes dehumanization, demonic attack, disallowing rationality, disallowing spiritual constraints, Eric Voegelin, German prewar demoralization, Germany 1933-1945, God cares about us, God distinct from man, God our Witness, God sees us, God shares our self-concern, Hellenic and Israelite societies, Hitler and dedivinizing of man, Hitler and loss of dignity, Hitler’s defeat, Hitler’s denial of human participation in the divine, Hunter College of The City University of New York, inverting the norms, Israelite experience of the divine, Israelite participation in the divine, Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, man and God not merged, man as open to God’s word, man as pneumatic being, man as the rational animal, mountaintop experience in the subway, Nazi Germany, Nazi regime and moral choice, Nazi regime and responsibility, personal choice under dictatorship, perversion of reality, philosopher father, philosophic colleague, philosophic man and divine experience, philosophic man and the divine, pneumatic experience of the divine, pneumopathology, political normality, radical left and radical right, reason and spirit as constituting man, reason and spirit vs second reality, refusal of spiritual experience, regression to anti-Jewish attitudes, religious vision in the subway, revolt against the spirit, second reality and dishonesty, second reality as altering the landscape, second reality as competing reality, second reality as competing with reason and spirit, second reality as dark force, second reality changing past and future, second reality making a person unrecognizable, social breakdown, spiritual experience in the subway, spiritual father-figure, spiritual-fatherhood and the fifth commandment, the center cannot hold, theism, throwing off spiritual constraints, tyranny left and right, Voegelin and second reality, Voegelin’s Hitler and the Germans, Wokesters vs Trumpians
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Wickedness
When I talk about “wickedness,” I have in view the sustained intent to do as much damage – physical, material, emotional, social, work-related and spiritual – as can safely be done by the person who acts wickedly. Oddly enough, … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, 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, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mortality vs immortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Trauma, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s A Good Look at Evil, appearing deceptively harmless, appearing deceptively innocent, bad actors as misunderstood, causing a driving accident, causing dangerous distress, concealing experiences with evil, crime contemplated with coverup, divorcing a dangerous husband, doing deliberate damage, evil and denial, evil discounted as displacement, experiences of evil, God not a lofty abstraction, God not above the battle, God with realistic advice, harmful intent, harmful intent disguised, intentionally upsetting a driver, intimidated G.I. bride, malice disguised as sincerity, nonfiction life story, personal God vs Spinozistic God, philosophers on evil, premeditated coverup, researching evil, social suppression of evil as topic, spoiling one’s story, taking personal life seriously, taking philosophy seriously, the feel of wickedness, the look of wickedness, the smell of wickedness, wickedness, wickedness and denial, wickedness and therapy, wickedness as intelligent harmdoing, wickedness as spoiling the victim’s story, wickedness discounted as compensatory, wickedness not a displacement, wickedness psychologized away, wickedness targeting personal life, wickedness treated as displacement, wickedness treated therapeutically, witnesses to evil
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A Subtle Earthquake
In yesterday morning’s meditation, the message that came through was unprecedented. It was a large image of me, lying flat on my back, neither going anywhere nor trying to. Usually, when I get an image, I try to discern … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, 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, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mortality vs immortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Trauma, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a reason for reasoning, absence of sincere motivation, absent basis for reasoning, advocating for oneself with medical care, alogon or inexpressibility, alogon or without reason, avoiding escapism, being in the doldrums, birth and rebirth pangs, breaking an unwritten law, broken institutional trust, cauterizing spiritual wounds, choice between good and evil, circling the promised land, costly choice for the right principle, damaging therapeutic relationship, directionlessness, emotional earthquake, facing problems to move on, facing the present, failure of basis for reasoning, failure of leadership, failure of religious leadership, fake rising above it, fake transcendence, finding personal motivation, inner springs of motivation, institutional trust, Israel modern and ancient, leadership breakdown, moral choice in family relations, morally consequential choice, motivational void as personal crisis, motivation’s absence, multi-generation trauma, ousting a predator, Personal crisis, predator in religious institution, reasonable speech, rebirth pangs of Israel, refusing transcendence, religious leadership that is sacrilegious, repairing soul damage, shooting the albatross, soul damage, spiritual directive to stop, spiritual earthquake, spiritual impasse, spiritual wounds, springboard for reasoning, taking care of business, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the spiritual dimension, therapeutic relationship that is counter therapeutic, void in personal motivation, when reason is powerless, whistleblower
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Revisited: Abigail’s Brilliant Career
Early this afternoon – just when I was about to take that rueful look in the rearview mirror promised in the title of this column – Jerry called my attention to something on the Internet that surprised me a … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, 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, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mortality vs immortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Trauma, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a woman’s real career, a woman’s unseen career, Abigail’s marriage gets in the papers, academic politics, academic tenure, anonymity as urban skill, antisemitism and denial, antisemitism at Brooklyn College, believing a damaging lie, blaming the whistleblower, brilliant career, Brooklyn College, brothers who are bullies, defamatory fictions, defamatory fictions believed, defending the Brooklyn College core, defending the core curriculum, digital footprint, editorial in The New York Post, failing to defeat defamation, failing to fight the new antisemitism, female self image, fighting defamation, fighting for academic standards, fighting slander, fighting the new antisemitism, fired for voting wrong, former allies turning their backs, former colleagues’ indifference to antisemitism, heaven protects the working girl, historical assignment of the Jews, improbable victories in academe, internet reviews, invisibility as a skill, Jerry L. Martin defending excellence in higher ed, Jewish memory, Jews and preserving the record, life in the rear view mirror, life revisited, Manhattan as hometown, Muslim girls, Muslim women’s unseen tragedies, online reputation, ousting a predator, personal integrity, philosophic frontiers, philosophic frontiers and familiar streets, preserving personal integrity, Reform temple, reputation in multiple fields, scandal waiting to happen, self image of woman intellectual, self image of woman philosopher, slandering the resister to unfair control, the old neighborhood, the old neighborhood and life-memories, the past revisited, uncured social wounds, uncured wounds for the whistleblower, unseen in a crowd, winning reinstatement, woman’s self-image, women’s unseen tragedies, wounds to reputation, write up in The Chronicle of Higher Education, write up in The Jewish Daily Forward, write up in The New York Post
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Authenticity Adios
To get to the point about authenticity: it’s only reached when our very fleetingness is faced square on, along with awareness that we’re headed toward the end of ourselves (Being-Toward-Death). So what’s inauthentic, for Heidegger? It would be any assumption … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, 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, 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, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, 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 antihero, Authenticity, before the fall, being-toward-death, bourgeois morality, choice of evils, conformism, conventional opinion, counterculture, counterculture and creative artists, Dasein, death as news, epater le bourgeois, era of authenticity, fashionable nonconformity, fashionable outlaws, female powerlessness, finding one’s calling, finding one’s own path, getting real, girls and French intellectuals, go along to get along, gossip, Heidegger and Edmund Husserl, Heidegger and existentialism, Heidegger and Hannah Arendt, Heidegger and Nazism, Heidegger Rector of University of Freiburg, Heidegger's authenticity, Heidegger's Jewish students, Hell is other people, hippies, hippy communes, inauthentic, inauthentic depth, infant dependency, integrity and conformism, integrity in society, Jean-Paul Sartre's Authenticity, judgment and judgmentalism, judgmentalism, Lionel Trilling's Sincerity and Authenticity, Martin Heidegger, middle class values, nonconformity à la mode, obituaries and condolences, other-directedness, outlaw chic, pony tails turning grey, prelapsarian innocence, put out or I'll put you in my book, Sartre and the waiter, Sartre on courtship, Sartre's advice to young women, Sartre's bad faith, Sartre's Huis Clos, Sartre's mauvaise foi, Sartre's No Exit, Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, talent as an excuse, the counterculture and women, uncanniness in Heidegger, Walter Newell's Tyranny and Revolution: Rousseau to Heidegger
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