Tag Archives: fulfillment

Mystical Merger and Me

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Abigail

Once childhood’s unproblematic days were gone forever, I had to face the question of how to orient myself as a young girl. For some, as I gathered from pamphlets with titles like “Growing Up and Liking It” — that particular … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, 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, 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, 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, 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 adolescence, American adolescence, anti-romantic views, authenticity and self-responsibility, bodies and souls, childhood days, convergence of souls, Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness, erotic peak experiences, European adolescence, European vs American teenage, false hopes, famous saint, fulfillment, Gandhi, Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi’s work in English, good faith, great lover, growing up, growing up and liking it, Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, hope and hopelessness, human desire, idealism and cynicism, ideals and delusions, ideals on the cheap, ideals that cost nothing, impending womanhood, life ambitions, life ambitions frustrated, life goals, life ideals, life illusions, life purposes, merging with the Absolute, modern ideals, modern illusions, mystical fulfillment, mystical fulfillment and social poise, mystical merger, mystical vs sexual merger, nonviolence, novels vs real life, overcoming separateness, politician trying to be a saint, religion and social know-how, romantic ideal, sainthood, sainthood as life ambition, saints and celibacy, saints and their God, secular ideals, secular illusions, seduction and modernism, sex when the earth moves, sexual self-realization, spiritual autobiographies, teenage miseries, teenage social success, teenage wallflowers, the Catholic Worker movement, true love, twentieth-century ideals, youthful life ideals | Leave a comment

“Marriage”

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Abigail

“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 | 2 Comments

“What the Fortune Cookie Said”

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Abigail

“What the Fortune Cookie Said” In the last few weeks, whenever we’ve brought home supper from the Chinese take-out place, and opened the fortune cookie, mine has been deplorable. Things like, “When climbing the hill of difficulty, don’t slip and … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, mind control, modernism, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged A.P.A., Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", academic audience, academic journals, academic publication, achievement, aftermath, American Philosophical Association, Amy Reuther PT, anonymity, Ariadne's Thread, blog, blogging, broken bones, burka, c.v., celebrity, China, Chinese take-out, classified information, colleagues, collegiality, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, destiny, Dewey Lecture, dream warnings, Eastern and Western medicine, elusiveness, Epilogue, fame, fashion, fate, felicity, final chapter, fortune, fortune cookie, fulfillment, government secrets, Greek mythology, healing, hero, heroine, hiding, ill-fortune, ill-luck, injury, introverts, invisibility, invited lecture, labryrinth, life goal, life quest, luck, mending, Minotaur, modesty, New York City, night life, obscurity, peer-reviewed, performance, philosophical journals, preface, primary care doctor, privacy, Prologue, public figures, public intellectuals, public persona, publicity, readership, recovery, recuperation, rehabilitation, revealing clothes, Richard J. Firnhaber acupuncturist, self-concealment, short skirts, significant coincidences, social media, social networks, Success, synchronicities, Theseus, university press, writers, writing | 2 Comments

“Dante’s Lovers”

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Abigail

“Dante’s Lovers” There is a circle of hell, not very far down but definitely under the white line of redemption, where Dante places a certain species of doomed lover. There the enchanted couples pursue each other and, it seems, are … Continue reading →

Posted in alienation, chivalry, courtship, culture, desire, erotic life, evil, faith, femininity, gender balance, guilt and innocence, identity, idolatry, literature, love, male power, memoir, poetry, power, psychology, relationships, roles, seduction, sex appeal, slave, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, Zeitgeist | Tagged "getting religion", "Lydia", "Now Voyager", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", addiction, attraction, Bette Davis, blind devotion, courtship, cynicism, Dante, doomed lovers, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, fulfillment, hell, hope, idyll, infatuation, John Keats, longing, lust, Merle Oberon, projection, romantic fantasy, sacrificial love, scorned lovers, second circle, seduction, self-deception, tease, unrequited love | Leave a comment

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“Dante’s Lovers”

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