Tag Archives: escapism
I Stopped Trying to Get Above It
Reading Jeff Kripal’s Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom brought the topic of mysticism to the front of my mind. At earlier junctures of my life journey, mysticism had clearly been a concern. It seemed to offer a way out … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, 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, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, 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, 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, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Uncategorized, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Advaita Vedanta, beautiful guru, beyond good and evil, Blaise Pascal, cancer and life experience, cults and corruption, dangers of a spiritual quest, dilemmas and double binds, Eastern mystics, eros and merging with God, eros and mysticism, escapism, Evelyn Underhill, Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism, experiential impasses, finding one’s life path, getting above it, guru who falls, gurus and exploitation, historians of mysticism, impasses, insoluble experience and cancer, knowing how to think, knowing what to do, knowing what to say, Kripal’s Roads of Excess Palaces of Wisdom, life in history, life journey, life on the timeline, life’s impasses and cancer, merging with the Divine, mind control and brainwashing, mystical journeys, mystical merging, mysticism and authenticity, mysticism and autonomy, mysticism and celibacy, mysticism and conformism, mysticism and human goals, mysticism and seduction, mysticism and sex, mysticism and the erotic, mysticism as academic topic, mysticism as escapism, mysticism studies, mystics in Asia, mystics in Christianity, Pascal as mystic, Realized Master, spiritual exploration and brainwashing, spiritual exploration and mind control, spiritual quest, spiritual quest and risk, theism and pantheism, transcendence, transcendence as escapism, woman guru
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Confessions
Confessions Last night I was trying to cope with a digestive disaster and wondering what on earth could have caused it, since it didn’t seem to have the usual obvious connection with food. Two explanations presented themselves. First, a possible … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, ancient gnosticism, Australian Materialist, changing paradigms, closing off life's promise, complications of race, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, contending worldviews, disrupting cultural norms, double plotlines, empirical and conceptual plotlines, Eric Voegelin. philosophy of history, escapism, escapism in real history, fashionable attitudes, finding one’s footing, flawless world, gnostic belief systems, gnostic calamities, gnostic cults, gnostic hidden world, gnostic mass movements, Hans Jonas’s The Gnostic Religion, intellectual resources, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, Jews’ precarious position, libertine Gnosticism, life lessons, life paradigm, life problems without remedy, literary talent, living one's promise, man/woman seduction, masculine precincts, personal search for truth, philosophic motivations, philosophy as masculine, portrait of a culture, portrait of one’s era, psycho-somatic illness, quick fixes, Richard Landes’s Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of the Millennial Experience, search for truth, secret knowledge, self-portrait, situations without exit, St Augustine’s Confessions, the philosophic life, the promise of a life, the truth of one’s time, thought-worlds, utopian political views, when God doesn’t answer, women philosophers, women pioneers, world of ideas, worldviews
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How Jewish Am I?
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 the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, 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
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I Believed Juanita Back When
I Believed Juanita Back When When I watched Lisa Meyers’ NBC interview with Juanita Broaddrick, back when President Bill Clinton had just survived an impeachment vote in the Senate, I called myself a “Clinton Democrat.” Why then would I bother … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, 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, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, non-violence, oppression, past and future, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged -isms, abuse of political power, abuse of power, accepting imperfection, affronts to honor, Attorney General Bill Clinton, being outed, believing the women, Broaddrick NBC interview, Brooklyn College, Clinton Democrat, collegial relations, credible allegations, criminal rape, date rape, Democratic Party contributors, denial, Dorothy Rabinowitz, due process, due process on campus, elected officials, eros and civilization, escapism, evidence of rape, false accusations, feeling powerless, Feminism, Feminist denial, flawed humanity, good old boys, highest good, honor, hotel room meeting, imaginary innocence, impeachment investigation, innocence, Juanita Broaddrick, K C Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr.'s The Campus Rape Frenzy: The Attack on Due Process at America's Universities, Lisa Meyers, national honor, NBC interview, out of the closet, partisan feelings, personal and political, personal desire and public life, political powerlessness, power inequalities, power relations, President Bill Clinton, print reporter, public feminists, rape accusations, Richard Lovelace's To Lucasta Going to the Wars, romance and culture, search for purity, serving one's civilization, sex and power, sex and violence, sympathy for women, the life of desire, the official story, the press, the romantic matrix, TV interview, violated woman
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