Tag Archives: filial piety
Father and Daughter
Having recently read the memoir of Hannah Tillich, largely concerned with her marriage to Paul Tillich, renowned theologian – with close-up views of how he pursued his own erotic opportunities at the cost of their marital romance – one upshot was … Continue reading →
Grief, Martha Nussbaum, and Me
Recently, I’ve been reading a highly-regarded woman philosopher whose name is Martha C. Nussbaum. MCN is, along with other fields of her expertise, a scholar of ancient philosophers. She likes the Greek and Roman Epicureans and Stoics who wrote and … Continue reading →
Witness
How important is it to be witnessed? I think we’re built to view it as pretty important. It’s close to the heart of motivation. We don’t want “no one to know.” “As God is my witness,” we say, to underscore … Continue reading →
How I Grew Up, Eventually
Abbie at 10 on Prince. I never wanted to grow up. In fact, one of my childhood heroes was Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. For one thing, I thought grownups were ugly. They were too big, which … Continue reading →
No Place Like Home
No Place Like Home My name Abigail means in Hebrew “father’s joy.” Which tells us that, at birth, I’d already received my assignment. Since my father was considered, by a number of his classmates in Columbia University’s stellar class of … Continue reading →
Closure
Closure Whatever the world understands by “closure” – peace of mind after mental storms, acceptance after bitter loss, resetting of purposes after frustration, a body to bring home for burial after a shattering search – I mean something different and … Continue reading →
How Did I Get To Be This Happy?
How Did I Get To Be This Happy? If I put this question to an existentialist, the answer would be: “Because you’re inauthentic. You walk around in bad faith.” The human situation can be deemed absurd (if you’re feeling French) … Continue reading →
Getting Airier
Getting Airier A funny thing happened while I was riding California, the horse that’s smarter than I am. I’d been telling my trainer the various things I’d managed to get done while the pandemic had placed us all under house … Continue reading →
New Year Retrospective
New Year Retrospective I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. If they had any force for me, I might. First, you gotta believe in those things. But I do find living force in going back over the path recently trodden, to … Continue reading →
Read it Here First! My Obit!
Read it Here First! My Obit! All this week, Jerry and I have been attending to what I call “Last Arrangements.” Though we’re not expecting to kick off any time soon, you never know, and one of the chores I’ve … Continue reading →
