Tag Archives: from the horse’s mouth

The Story that Didn’t End

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Abigail

I hold the view that one’s life is best understood as a True Story with many chapters, the story-line running through one after the other, chronologically and continuously. In the narrative of my life, there was a recent chapter that … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, 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, 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, terrorism, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a true story reopened, abuse of trust, academic support for Hamas, an unfinished story, animal intuition, barrel racing, brute power vs functional power, campus antisemitism, competitive equestrian events, competitive riding events, concern for Israel, conflict of duties, Country riding, Darwinism, English vs Western riding, escapism, expecting a response, facing the truth, fate in novels, female cattiness, female competitiveness, from the horse's mouth, horse intuitions, horse sense, horse whisperer and rider, horse-whisperer, horses' understanding of people, inadmissable truth, Israel and American Jews, living one’s story, made up stories, Maine, mean girls, misaddressed letter, misreported stories, missing information, moral contradictions, moral dilemma, moral holiday, moral rank-pulling, narrative view, novelists who rely on fate, Oct 7 2023 on my mind, open-minded to a fault, open-mindedness, pedagogic responsibilities, people who know horses, power games, professional horse riding, reaching out for closure, repairing a wrong, riding competitions, riding in Maine, riding instructor, rodeo competitions, sexual competition, silence as a response, status competition, story that needs an ending, survival of the fittest, teaching philosophy, Thomas Hardy effect, Thomas Hardy's novels, Thomas Hardy's use of fate, trivial accidents and important consequences, trivial causes with serious consequences, true story, unacknowledged prejudice, unhappy endings, waiting for closure, Western Pleasure, Western riding, what the horse knows | 1 Comment

Overloaded

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Abigail

Within the past three days, here’s what’s been happening: I’ve ridden and absorbed advice from an insightful mare named Star, talked for a long-distance hour to an Israeli cousin in Vermont whose life has required her to make her … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, anti-semitism, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, 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, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, 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 a surfeit of friends, acting on your principles, American women before feminism, being young in Paris, choosing life attitudes, collected tributes, combating anti-semitism, commemorating a lost companion, consequential encounters, consequential life choices, decisive characters, emotional overload, emotionally impactful encounters, enchantment and disenchantment, English philosopher, family fate, food-for-thought, from the horse's mouth, Fulbright friendships, group commemoration, group memories, group remembrance, grownup pathway, healing silence, horse sense, horse-whisperer, insightful horse, introvert and social exhaustion, introverts and social life, lead mare, lifelong friends, lifelong romantic attitude, living one’s story, living your philosophy, long-distance reunions, loss of innocence, meaning what you say, naive expectations vs real-life dangers, navigating life's storms, need for solitude, needing to be alone, novels as keys to real life, over-connectedness, overloaded, philosopher friend, political remedies for women's situation, pre-feminist American women, quiet time, realizing your ideals, recharging social batteries, recorded tributes, refusing cynism, remembering the departed, romantic hopes, significant reunions, Simone de Beauvoir’s Deuxieme Sexe, Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex, social exhaustion, socially overwhelmed, strong character, study companions, surviving tragic loses, taking charge of the herd, taking life seriously, tangled inheritance, the feminine situation, the horse knows, the need to stand down, The Woman Question, thought provoking encounters, too much of a good thing, Torah Study, transatlantic friendship, untangling family connections, Vikings, virtual reunions, women friends, women friends in Paris, women's predicaments, women's problems and political remedies, women's rights, youthful expectations and reality, youthful idealism, youthful innocence, youthful romantic hopes | Leave a comment

Seismic Shifts

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Abigail

While I was getting ready to write this column, several earth-shakings were rattling around me. For instance, I’ve just spoken by phone with a dear friend. She is facing the moment when the medical team has run out of Things … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged accepting the dynamics of life, American-Jewish Vacation from History, anti-Judaism, awareness of God's presence, brooding over broken friendship, changes in life orientation, changes in one's story, changes in self-awareness, changes in self-concept, classless conduct, classlessness, control freak, counteracting the need to control, curing broken friendship, dumping a woman-friend, emotional shifts, end-of-life decisions, extremism normalized, faith in the prospects of life, from the horse's mouth, getting dumped by a friend, hospice care, intensification of perception, Jews not a race, letting go of broken friendship, letting go of control, new American anti-semitism, noticing the beauty of nature, repairing broken friendship, riding with a loose reign, rolling with the punches, sanity of horses, seeing the world as new, self tolerance, self-shielded from God's presence, sense of self, shielding self from God, showing no class, the beauty of nature, tolerance for one's own life rhythm, tolerance for one's own nature, trust in the future, unfriending, victimizers relabeled as victims, windows of perception, women dumping women, women unfriending women, women's friendships ending, women’s friendships | 4 Comments

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