Tag Archives: hero

“Grace Under Pressure”

“Grace Under Pressure”  About one of her heroines, novelist George Eliot writes: “Her full nature … spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably … Continue reading

Posted in Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Chivalry, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, History, Idealism, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, memory, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Political, Power, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, Utopia, Work, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“What the Fortune Cookie Said”

“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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“The Delicacy of Women”

The Delicacy of Women There is a scene in Sartre’s magnum opus, Being and Nothingness, the book by which he influenced several generations of young people who wanted to be numbered among the existentialists. A man and a woman are … Continue reading

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, motherhood, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Time, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Encore Marie Antoinette”

“Encore Marie Antoinette” Last night, I read to its sad finale Stefan Zweig’s can’t-be-more-definitive biography of Marie Antoinette, the unluckiest Queen of France. She got a passing mention in “My Inner French Girl,” not a very respectful notice, but now … Continue reading

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Class, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Spirituality, Suffering, The Problematic of Woman, War, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Courage”

“Courage” Courage, Plato said, is knowing what ought to scare you, and what ought not to. What Plato said reminds me of the time I was driving home from the JFK airport in a rainstorm so ferocious that one passed … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, life and death struggle, Psychology, Social Conventions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment