Tag Archives: cults

How Jewish Am I?

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Abigail

How Jewish Am I? If being Jewish by birth is what counts, I suppose I’m Jewish enough. But it’s not a necessary condition for securing that identity. A few years ago, a young Christian woman – a friend and participant … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, 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, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", ancestral religion, ashram, asking God, becoming a cult, coherent narrative, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conversion misgivings, conversion to Judaism, cult leader, cults, defining anti-semite, defining Jews, demoralization, disconnected episodes, disparaging Jews, dissolving ego, Divine aura, escapism, ethnic identity, Freud, Freudian interpretation, God as Witness, God’s answer, grass is greener, guru, Guru Gita, hating God, Hegel, Hegelian interpretation, Hindu classics, Indian worship, inherited values, Jewish by birth, Jewish convert, Jewish identity, Jewish observance, Jewish spirit, Lakshmi pujas, language game, learning meditation, legitimizing the person, looking marvelous, meaningful story, memorial gathering, merging with the Divine, mikvah immersion, observance v belief, passion for God, personal identity, philosopher friend, prayer in the IRT, reaching samadhi, religious identity, Sanscrit, sense-making, signing the covenant, story and person, the Jewish troubles, total immersion, unearthly grace, we will do and we will hear, what is a Jew?, Wittgenstein, woman guru, yentas, yoga asanas, yogic breathing | Leave a comment

The Case of Patricia Hearst

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Abigail

The Case of Patricia Hearst Usually, when I write the weekly column for “Dear Abbie,” I’m in a reasonably upbeat state of mind, but I’m moved to write this one by anger and indignation. My outrage is prompted by Dana … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, 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, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged activism, activists, assaults on self, bank robbery, Berkeley CA, betrayal, betrayal of comrades, blaming the victim, brainwashing, breaking the spirit, can't make an omelete, Citizen Kane, class enemy, class hatred, class privilege, coerced confession, coercive persuasion, commuted sentence, courtroom testimony, cults, Dana Spiotta, dignity, empathy, enemy of the people, envy, feminist writers group, feminists, Field Marshall Cinque, guerrilla group, hating the rich, hostage, human freedom, humiliation, identity, Jeffrey Toobin's American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst, kidnapping, life's lottery, limits of freedom, loss of identity, Loyalty, Marcus Foster, Mind Control, Native Americans, newspaper baron, nom de guerre, omelette, Orson Wells, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst syndrome, pride, prison sentence, privilege, ransom, rape, rape as political, revolutionaries, revolutionary law breaking, revolutionary solidarity, ridicule, robberies, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China, ruling class, sado-masochistic fantasies, self as social construct, self-respect, Shana Alexander, Shana Alexander's Anyone's Daughter: The Times and Trials of Patricia Hearst, Sigmund Freud, SLA, socialization, Spanish Inquisition, Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will, Symbionese Liberation Army, testimony, testimony under oath, The New York Times Book Review, Times Op Ed, torture, urban guerrillas, vulnerability, W. H. Auden, W.H. Auden's In Memory of W B Yeats, What does woman want?, William Randolph Hearst, witness, womanly sympathy | Leave a comment

Mystical Merging

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Abigail

Mystical Merging In my teen years, I used often to thumb through a book my parents owned — a collection of one-page essays about holy persons, East and West, who had managed to attain oneness with God. I forget the … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, master, Mind Control, motherhood, Mysticism, Ontology, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time, Zeitgeist | Tagged Advaita Vedanta, brainwashing, cads, chakras, chanting, clinging, close friends, cults, de-programming, divine Love, Don Juan, Eastern religions, energy centers, erotic desperation, fidelity, Gnosis, Gnosticism, guru, healthy relationships, holy persons, human relations, identity, Indian civilization, infidelity, insecurity syndromes, kundalini, lives of saints, Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", Maya, meditation, metaphysical monism, metaphysical unreality, mystical union, neediness, paradigms, parent-child love, personhood, piety, rapture, romantic yearning, saints, Sehnsucht, The Absolute, true lovers, unhealthy relationships, unreality, world views, yentas, yoga | 2 Comments

“Women and Yoga”

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Abigail

“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 | 2 Comments

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