Tag Archives: fear
September 11, A Week Later
This post, written the week after September 11, 2001, is dedicated to Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz. Starting at the 88th floor on the North Tower, they went from floor to floor calling out to people who crouched in … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, action, alienation, art, cities, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, ethics, evil, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, non-violence, peace, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twenty-first century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 9/11, art protection, attack, Byzantine crucifix, city walkers, cops, crisis, crisis center, cultural crisis, defining event, emergency vehicles, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Faith, fear, fearfulness, FEMA, fire station, first responders, God Bless America, gratitude, Ground Zero, heroes, immanence, Jihad, Job, Kali, Lower Manhattan, Metropolitan Museum, National Guard, New York City, New York Subway, New Yorkers, realism, sorrow, spirit, sprit of the City, street smarts, terrorism, Todd Stone, transcendence, TV history, urban neighborhood, voyeurism, walking intelligently, Wall Street, war zone
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Days of Awe
Days of Awe On the anniversary of September 11, I often rerun the column that I posted here in September 2001, after my visit to the City, a week later. Like many people, I’d felt shattered by the attack on … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art, art of living, beauty, Biblical God, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, martyrdom, masculinity, medieval, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, relationships, religion, roles, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, suffering, terror, terrorism, 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, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 9/11, American crisis, art protection, Book of Job, Byzantine crucifix, city walking, cultural crisis, defining event, desire to live, divine immanence, Faith, fear, fearfulness, FEMA, first responders, gratitude, grief, Ground Zero, Henry M. Rosenthal's "Prayer and Its Power", heroes, Kali, loss, Lower Manhattan, mental concentration, mental focus, Metropolitan Museum, National Guard, New York City, New York cops, New York firemen, New York resilience, New Yorkers, power of prayer, prayer, psychological fragmentation, Rabbi, realism, self-integration, sermon, sincerity, sorrow, spirit, spiritual focus, street smarts, terrorism, Todd Stone, transcendence, urban attack, walking intelligently, war zone
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September 11, A Week Later
This post, written the week after September 11, 2001, is dedicated to Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz. Starting at the 88th floor on the North Tower, they went from floor to floor calling out to people who crouched in … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art, cities, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, ethics, evil, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, history, history of ideas, ideality, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, non-violence, peace, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 9/11, art protection, attack, Byzantine crucifix, city walkers, cops, crisis, crisis center, cultural crisis, defining event, emergency vehicles, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Faith, fear, fearfulness, FEMA, fire station, first responders, God Bless America, gratitude, Ground Zero, heroes, immanence, Jihad, Job, Kali, Lower Manhattan, Metropolitan Museum, National Guard, New York City, New York Subway, New Yorkers, realism, sorrow, spirit, sprit of the City, street smarts, terrorism, Todd Stone, transcendence, TV history, urban neighborhood, voyeurism, walking intelligently, Wall Street, war zone
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September 11, A Week Later –
This post, written the week after September 11, 2001, is dedicated to Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz. Starting at the 88th floor on the North Tower, they went from floor to floor calling out to people who crouched in … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, action, alienation, art, cities, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, ethics, evil, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, non-violence, peace, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twenty-first century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 9/11, art protection, attack, Byzantine crucifix, city walkers, cops, crisis, crisis center, cultural crisis, defining event, emergency vehicles, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Faith, fear, fearfulness, FEMA, fire station, first responders, God Bless America, gratitude, Ground Zero, heroes, immanence, Jihad, Job, Kali, Lower Manhattan, Metropolitan Museum, National Guard, New York City, New York Subway, New Yorkers, realism, sorrow, spirit, sprit of the City, street smarts, terrorism, Todd Stone, transcendence, TV history, urban neighborhood, voyeurism, walking intelligently, Wall Street, war zone
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“Marriage”
“Marriage” Marriage has always seemed to me a great mystery. Clearly it has a political aspect. To most people, this is at least somewhat apparent. In an earlier American era, the negative politics of single womanhood was quite obvious. Take … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, Biblical God, chivalry, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, nineteenth-century, ontology, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a positive mystery, actualized potential, aging virgins, Authenticity, “It’s a Wonderful Life, ” Jimmy Stewart the actor, bashert, biochemical criteria for romance, brides-to-be, busted, change in being, Christmas movies, compatibility criteria, compatibility of philosophers, courage, effort in marriage, falling in love, fear, female friendship, Films, friendship, fulfillment, God & marriage, great wives, happily-married wives, human status, imprudent confidences, intimacy, life capital, loss of friendship, loss of rank, loss of status, marital adventures, marital prestige, Marriage, marriage and status, marriage as destined, mystery, mystery of marriage, narrative, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, necessary pains, necessary secrets, negative politics, ontological change, outranking, paranoia, philosophic friendship, philosophic papers, philosophic prestige, politics of marriage, positive power, rabbinic view of marriage, realistic fear, risks in marriage, romantic eligibility, Salem witch trials, secret of marriage, self-integration, single womanhood, social prestige, social status, spinsters, status of women in Muslim world, suppressed possibilities, talking it out, Texas panhandle, the feminine condition, threatening candor, unearned status, unmarried women, Upper East Side, virgins, wedding rings, white nights, women friends, Yoga centers
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“Ain’t I a Person?”
“Ain’t I a Person?” What’s a person? Am I a person? All the time? Is God? What’s going on when people say yes or no to questions like that? Jerry and I were in D.C. this week to celebrate the … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, autonomy, chivalry, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, mind control, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the fix", academe, addiction, adulthood, alcoholism, anti-semitism, argument, autonomy, Brooklyn, Brooklyn College, collegiality, communication, corruption, D.C., dangers, defensiveness, dialogue, dignity, dumbstruck, empathy, fear, feminine identity, Feminism, fractional self, friendship, girlhood, God as Person, gothic, graft, grifters, happy child, healing, hidden self, higher ed, identity, inner core, innocence, interpretive frame, Jewish self-respect, Jewish students, life stages, loss, missing persons, opinions, orthodox Jews, person, personal God, personhood, philosophy, photo documentary, presence, reason, religious sincerity, righteous combats, self-respect, shock, teenage, toxic, trust, verbal hate, wholeness, womanhood, words, young-girl-in-flower
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“Cynicism”
“Cynicism” The other day a young woman I know, an artist and philosopher who picks up a dollar working at the cafe I frequent, said to me that some of the people she meets act so deplorably that she’s getting … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, time, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "don't sweat the small stuff", absurdity, anomie, anxiety, apathy, arbitrariness, bad arguments, bad people, civilizational purposes, creativity, crisis, cynicism, disappointment, displacement, ennui, expectations, fairy tales, Faith, fear, Femininity, globalism, hatred, heartbreak, humankind, identity, insulation, introspection, meaninglessness, memoir, misanthropy, misology, motivation, normality, official story, personal narrative, philosophic crisis, projection, pseudo-profundities, purpose, reason, repression, self review, sensitivity, social construction, Socrates, stipulative meanings, tenderness, The Phaedo, The Princess and the Pea, tough-minded, toughness, truth, women's liberation, youth
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Dream Lessons
“Dream Lessons” When I was a small child, I had a recurrent nightmare in which someone was attacking me. I needed to scream for help but couldn’t, because no sound came out. I would try and try to scream, but … Continue reading
Posted in culture, evil, fashion, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, ideology, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, memoir, philosophy, political, psychology, relationships, social conventions, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman
Tagged Achille Lauro, aesthetic values, being silenced, Choreographer: Mark Morris, Composer: John Adams, conformity, decency, demonstrators, Director: Peter Sellars, dream, Edouard Manet, fear, firing squad, group execution, History, human norms, Leon Klinghoffer, Librettist: Alice Goodman, Metropolitan Opera House, nightmare, normality, normative, oddball, official story, opera, ostracism, outlaw chic, personal narrative, protestors, social pressure, speechlessness, suppression, terrorists, The Death of Klinghoffer, The New York Times, The New Yorker, threat, trangressive, understanding, voice
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“Is ‘Right and Wrong’…Wrong?”
“Is ‘Right and Wrong’ … Wrong?” One time I had registration duty at the opening of fall term. Along with other faculty representing their departments, I sat on one side of a long table. Students would approach from the other … Continue reading
Posted in cool, culture, philosophy, political, psychology, the examined life
Tagged authority, fantasy, fear, good and evil, heroes, inner voice, intuition, judgment, moral, moral high ground, non-judgmental, Right and Wrong, sexy, Torah, Vietnam, villains
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“It’s Cancer!”
“It’s Cancer!” Years ago, Esquire magazine ran an article on the state of cancer research and treatment. It included this line: “When you’re playing against the Big Casino, the odds are with the House.” I don’t know whether I thought … Continue reading
Posted in life and death struggle, philosophy, psychology, relationships, the examined life
Tagged anxiety, cancer, chemotherapy, cure, death, doctors, fear, illness, Leo Bronstein, life and death, life review, love, meditation, Michael and Edith Wyschogrod, problem of evil, psycho-somatic illness, radiation treatment, reductionism, suffering, theology
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