Tag Archives: brainwashing
The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight
“The owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk.” So wrote G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth century’s major philosopher of history. By that he meant that any given phase of history can be understood only in retrospect – after … Continue reading
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Tagged ancient skepticism, anthropic principle, Antony Flew’s There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, brainwashing, cancel culture and desire, cancel culture and social power, chance and life’s origin, coerced confessions, culture and the absolute, culture and ultimate truth, Darwin and chance, Darwinian evolution, decoding present history, desire and erotic skepticism, erotic manipulation, foreseeing the future, Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, Fukuyama and liberal democracy, G.W.F. Hegel, George Orwell's 1984, guilt and social power, Hegel and history, historical eros, ideology and tyranny, intelligibility of history, laws of probability and evolution, liberal democratic values, Mind Control, Modernity, my story and humanity’s story, natural purposes, ostracism and social power, owl of Minerva, personal story and world history, philosophy and teleology, postmodern skepticism, postmodernism and denial, psychoanalysis, purposiveness in nature, reading the Zeitgeist, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China, skepticism, skepticism and biological nature, skepticism in history, Sy Garte’s The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith, teleology, the big picture, the bird’s eye view of history, The Owl of Minerva and history, theology and teleology, Ukraine and Western nations, Ukraine as a test of values, understanding the present, world history and liberal democracy
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“Writing”
“Writing” I grew up among people whose most-oft-voiced concern was whether they would get their book, or next book, written. Without the book, the life-worth dwindled down to a small pile of ash, as my child’s mind pictured it. It … Continue reading
Posted in Academe, Culture, Evil, history of ideas, Literature, Memoir, Philosophy, Power, Psychology, relationships, Spirituality, The Examined Life, Theism, Work, Writing
Tagged "A Good Look At Evil", "Conversions: A Philosophic Memoir", academe, alienation, American woman, Augustine, Authenticity, author, becoming a writer, Bildungsroman, books, brainwashing, childhood, coming-of-age books, confessions, conversion, critics, despair, double-binds, editors, explanatory hypotheses, Henry M. Rosenthal, intellectuals, Jane Cullen, Jewish Theistic essence, Leo Bronstein, literary ambition, literary criticism, narrative, philosophical articles, publishing, real life, referee, rejection letters, reviewers, Rousseau, Russians, secrets, university press, writers, writing
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“Conversions”
“Conversions” What we believe influences our taste, our most consequential choices, our self-esteem and sense of our own weight in the world. When we are viewed from outside and classified, what’s typically picked out are the inherited features (“nature”) and … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Faith, Feminism, history of ideas, Memoir, Philosophy, Political, Psychology, relationships, Social Conventions, Spirituality, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman
Tagged Ariadne's Thread, Aristotle, atheist, behavior therapy, belief, believer in free will, brainwashing, Caravaggio, coercion, confessions, conservative, conversion, determinist, duress, feminist, Fidelista, friendship, gnostic, Hank Williams, I Saw the Light, Jew, labyrinth, nature and nurture, paradigm change, personal identity, self-concept, sincerity, stimulus response conditioning, The Road to Damascus, theist, traditional woman, transformation, truth
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“Guilt”
“Guilt” If anyone wants to control us, whether we’re women or men, short of violence the quickest way to get hold of us is by the guilt we carry. If we don’t want to fall prey to the controllers, we … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Femininity, Feminism, Gender Balance, relationships, Social Conventions, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman
Tagged accusations, brainwashing, conscience, control, Feminism, gender roles, guilt, guilt trip, Hercules, manipulation, morality, sociobiology, The Scarlett Letter, vulnerability
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“Women and Yoga”
“Women and Yoga” From about the age of twelve or thirteen, I have wanted to be the kind of saint who could merge her own consciousness with God’s. It was never clear to me whether this longing was really for … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Erotic Life, Psychology, Social Conventions
Tagged animal telepathy, ashrams, brainwashing, chakras, chanting, cults, darshan, despair, divine Love, Eastern masters, guru, hatha yoga, karma yoga, meditation, Patanjali, Sanskrit, Vedanta, Women, yoga, yoga sutras, yogic practices
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