Tag Archives: Gandhi

What’s Missing?

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Abigail

The adults among whom I grew up were somewhat mysterious to me. They weren’t like other kids’ parents. But they were hyper-intelligent, at home in a world of emigrés – including the women who served as my European role models … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, 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, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, 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 artistic torment, atypical parents, being as good as your word, being who you say, character transparency, clarified character, classy Americans, credible role models, Dostoevsky’s heroes, emigrés role models, European role models, finding bedrock, finding one’s footing, flawed role models, funding Gandhi, Gandhi, Gandhi and truth-force, Gandhi’s celibacy, Gandhi’s habits, Gandhi’s personal unfairness, Gandhi’s satyagraha, Gandhi’s sleeping arrangements, Henry David Thoreau, humanity at highest level, humanity at top-level, hyper-intelligent adults, imperfect role models, living derivatively, living imitatively, living independently, living originally, Mrs. Emerson and Thoreau’s laundry, mysterious adults, paying for Gandhi, quiet desperation, real life and pretense, role models, simplify simplify, Socrates and Xantippe, Socrates dismisses Xantippe, Socrates in The Phaedo, Socrates sends the women away, Socrates’ death scene, Socrates’ final dialogue, Socratic dialogues, The Examined Life, The Life Worth Living, Thoreau simplifies his story, Thoreau’s Walden Pond, unpretentious role models, what you say and what you are, women and high-level adventures, women and originality, women role models, word matching deed | 2 Comments

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

Truth and truths

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Abigail

Truth and truths It was early in my philosophy major at Barnard College when a professor returned a paper of mine, to which he had given a less than stellar grade, with the comment, “By now you should know better … Continue reading →

Posted in academe, action, afterlife, art of living, autonomy, books, contemplation, contradictions, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, freedom, friendship, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, Jews, life and death struggle, love, male power, martyrdom, memoir, memory, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, time, twentieth century, victimhood, victims, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Anglophone philosophers, atomic facts, atomic propositions, Cheryl Misak’s Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, clarification, concentration camp, concentration camp survivor, Divine Truth, early Wittgenstein, Epistemology, Gandhi, Gandhi’s Experiments with Truth, God is Truth, Holocaust, Holocaust survivor testimonies, honesty, ideal certainties, integrity, kinds of truth, language and reality, lying, Nazi official, ordinary experience, personal integrity, philosopher’s biography, philosophic dialogue, philosophic friendship, philosophy major, postulated entities, pragmatism, protestant pastor v Nazi, Ray Monk’s Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, realm of ideas, refuting instance, reliabilism, scientific truth, self-trust, the test of experience, the what and the who, truth, truth as cash-value, truth as what works, truths, Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, world of truth, Young India | 1 Comment

Saints, Lovers and Writers

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Abigail

Saints, Lovers and Writers Girls and women tend to think that their work is an addendum, an add-on, to the main event: life. I have published books and articles, given papers internationally, fought for the right to teach philosophy without … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, action, afterlife, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, childhood, Christianity, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, twenty-first century, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", academic press, beautiful movie stars, biblical couples, biblical women, book contract, braving ridicule, canonization, Catholic saints, Catholicism, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterly's Lover", divine-human partnership, editors, Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", eros, fight for truth, Gandhi, great lover, greatness in women, heroes of the spirit, heroic wives, Hindu, Hinduism, holiness, human and divine eros, inauthenticity, Ingrid Bergman's Joan of Arc, intellectual courage, intercession, intimacy, Jennifer Jones's Song of Bernadette, lapsed Catholics, Lord Byron's "Don Juan", man behind the curtain, marginalization, mental fight, miracle cure, miracles at Lourdes, peasant girls, phoniness, pilgrimage, pilgrims, prayer, purity, Rachel in Genesis, religion of Israel, reprinting, ridicule, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, sainthood, saints, Sarah in Genesis, seeing a vision, self-sacrifice, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, the lame the halt and the blind, The Wizard of Oz, truthfulness, young girls | Leave a comment

“The Suffering of the Situation”

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Abigail

“The Suffering of the Situation” While the record snowfall piled up, higher than my shoulders where it touched the house in some corners, I was not thinking how beautiful it all was. I was not breaking out the marshmallows to … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, ontology, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 586 B.C., 70 A.D., Abigail L. Rosenthal's "God and the Care for One's Story", abuse, abuser, angels and demons, azuv, Benjamin Disraeli, Bible, blizzard, chess masters, Christian love, colonialism, commentators, Conor Cruise O'Brien's "The Seige: The Saga of Israel and Zionism", conquerers and conquered, conquest, cultural influence, E.U., empire, enabling, Europe's future, European Union, exile of the Jews, expulsion of the Jews, family history, First Temple, game plan, Gandhi, genealogy, genius, George Soros, hegemonic cultures, Henry Kissinger, Herbert Ausubel's "Flower of God: A Jewish Family's 3000-year Journey from Spice to Medicine", hubris, hyssop plant, idealism, ideology, imperialism, informers, Ladino, lamed vovnik, master plan, Middle East strategy, Moorish, moral rank, philosophy, political power, political theory, post-biblical, Power, pride, problem of evil, prophecy, realpolitik, satyagraha, scapegoats, Second Temple, self love, self-respect, suffering, suffering of innocents, Suffering Servant, survival, Talmudic study, Talmudics, The 36 righteous, The New York Review of Books, the prophetic spirit, the Shekinah, theology, Thomas Sowell, Thomas Sowell's "Conquests and Cultures: An International History", tolerance, Truth Force, victim, wandering Jew, Western culture, Yiddish | 1 Comment

“Peace”

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Abigail

“Peace” Peace! Who doesn’t want it? (Well, lots of people, apparently.) More to the present point: in what ways have I shown a preference for peace, and what’s the peace story for me now? When I was sixteen, I spent … Continue reading →

Posted in action, culture, desire, ethics, evil, femininity, freedom, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, life and death struggle, love, memoir, peace, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, sexuality, social conventions, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of woman, war, work | Tagged action, adolescence, adulthood, ashram, celibacy, celibate, Cherokee reservation, compassion, conflict, cruelty, Dorothy Day, dreams, end times, farm work, Fulbright, Gandhi, gangboys, History, impure thoughts, justice, kindness, meditation, mercy, North Carolina, outhouses, pacifism, pacifist, Paris, Peace, peace love and light, Picasso, poverty, promiscuity, purity, Quakers, rabbinic midrash, Smoky Mountains, social construction of reality, summer camp, The Catholic Worker, thought creates reality, vegetarian, violence, youth | Leave a comment

“Imperfections”

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Abigail

“Imperfections” I always wanted to grow up to be a great lover, a famous saint or – if it could be arranged – both. There were obstacles, the memory of which still visits me from time to time. For example, … Continue reading →

Posted in alienation, art, culture, ethics, evil, faith, guilt and innocence, literature, memoir, motherhood, power, psychology, relationships, roles, social conventions, spirituality, the examined life, the problematic of woman, theism, time | Tagged Ambiguity, anti-semitism, Bambi, childhood, choices of evils, compensations, concealments, displacements, double messages, fantasy, Felix Salten, Gandhi, gray area, honesty, Jews, Lazarus and The Rich Man, liars, Luke 16:26, Marcel Proust, memory, mental illness, moral education, narrative, New Testament, oath, ouija board, Protestant speech, Protestantism, subjective experience, tale-spinning, the bright red line, the light of truth, the Pale of Settlement, The Shtetl, the strap, truth-tellers, Tsarist regime, victims | 5 Comments

“Sex Appeal”

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Abigail

“Sex Appeal” Is it a good thing? A subversive thing? A morally neutral thing? Some years ago, I felt the need of fresh light on my situation. Since modern life’s more approved diagnostic tools and remedies seemed to me shopworn … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, desire, erotic life, femininity, feminism, philosophy, relationships, sexuality, social conventions, spirituality, the problematic of woman | Tagged astrology, being desired, charm, desire, erotic influences, erotic wisdom., European women, fair play, Frenchmen, G. W. F. Hegel's Reason in History, Gandhi, manipulativeness, Mata Hari, Paris, passion, reciprocity, sex appeal, sex energy, sexy, subterfuge, tattoos, the Evil Impulse, the rabbis, therapy | 1 Comment

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