Tag Archives: identity
My Latest Teaching Anxiety Dream
My Latest Teaching Anxiety Dream Last night I had a variant of the dream that visits many teachers in the pre-dawn hours. Short of taking a survey, I have yet to meet a teacher who’s never had this dream in … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, books, childhood, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, social conventions, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", afterlife judgment, bad dream, Brooklyn Bridge, Catalan identity, Columbia University in the 1920s, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conversational magic, cultural identities, cultural layers, demoralization, divorce stress, facing real world, fascinating parents, fear of public speaking, forgiver and forgiven, forgiving yourself, German-Jewish identity, God as life partner, high-stress situations, how I overcame forgiving myself, identity, insoluble dilemma, Jewish lineage, Jewish Theological Seminary, lack of armor, last judgment, Leo Bronstein, life review, life story, long story, Louisville Male High, loving parents, McGuffy’s Reader, medical stress, meeting one’s contradictions, narrative view, NDE, near death experience, New York at its heyday, New Yorker magazine, normal stress, overwhelming experiences, Oxford professors, parent-child relation, parenting, personal armageddon, personal collapse, philosophy dissertation, philosophy Ph.D., Rav Tsair, reproacher and reproached, Russian identity, self-undoing, sheltered childhood, Spanish identity, talking straight to children, teaching anxiety, teaching anxiety dream, teaching preparation, therapeutic jargon, vulnerability, Where was God?, Yankee identity
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About Confessions of a Young Philosopher
About Confessions of a Young Philosopher A few months have gone by since I actually put the concluding punctuation marks on Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Since then, it has been making its way through the strange maelstrom of the publishing … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immorality, institutional power, Jews, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, novels, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a life problematic, a writer’s quest, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", biographies, book agents, book reviewers, books assigned in courses, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, cultural breakthrough, Culture, exhibitionism, extra-sensitivity, fashionable taboos, good and evil, great editors, identity, invisibility, life secrets, literary quality, memoirs, Mind Control, moral rank-pulling, novels, Oppression, originality, paradigm shift, periodicals, philosophers, psychological rank-pulling, public jeering, public leering, publishing world, race, recognized niches, religion, search for identity, self-acceptance, self-definition, self-righteousness, self-understanding, sex, Socrates, spiritual seeker, spirituality, subjective amplifications, the book business, The Examined Life, the philosophic life, the reading public, trade presses, university presses, Zeitgeist
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“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 586 B.C.E., 70 C.E., accounting, Bible class, bitterness, blame, bookkeeping, call to preach, career choice, careerism, commitment, congregants, consolation, conversion, covenant, default, defeat, Dorothea Brooke, Exodus, fame, fame and obscurity, First Temple's destruction, George Eliot's Middlemarch, gossip, gossips, group solidarity, group therapy, Haggadah, hero, heroine, hidden lives, identity, identity change, insolvency, inspiration, institutional solvency, job search, life blow, life commitment, obscurity, Passover, presence, rabbi as teacher, rabbinate, rabbinic career, rabbinic job search, rabbinical Call, rabbinical rulings, rabbis, reassurance, resolve, saving remnant, Second Temple's destruction, seder, servitude in Egypt, shepherd of souls, solvency, Success, sustenance, teacher, Torah Study, unhistoric acts, unleavened bread
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Final Proofs
Final Proofs This week, amid a flurry of barely-caught typos, fonts of the wrong shade and misplaced style cues, Jerry, I, and his priceless crew of teammates finished going over the final set of proofs that go to the printer. … Continue reading
Posted in action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, faith, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, mortality, non-violence, ontology, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, Alexandria VA, answered prayer, answering the call, author, belief, Bible movies, couples, creation, Creator, Divine communication, Divine messenger, Divine Presence, Divine summons, doubt, ego needs, empirical evidence, evidence, Faith, Francis Thompson's The Hound of Heaven, getting married, getting to yes, God's audible voice, God's audible words, God's voice, God's words, higher ed organizations, human responsiveness, humility, identity, imagination, individuality, Jerry L. Martin's "God: an Autobiography as Told to a Philosopher", level-headedness, love, maintaining identity, marriage proposals, married life, newlyweds, ordinary life, ordinary world, philosopher, prayer, proofreading, proofs, prophet, protocol, publication, publication process, publishing, Q&A, quest, real life, reality check, receptivity, relationships, religion, Romantic Love, sacred, secularism, skepticism, spiritual growth, spiritual seekers, theism, Washington life, writers
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“Ain’t I a Person?”
“Ain’t I a Person?” What’s a person? Am I a person? All the time? Is God? What’s going on when people say yes or no to questions like that? Jerry and I were in D.C. this week to celebrate the … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, autonomy, chivalry, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, mind control, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the fix", academe, addiction, adulthood, alcoholism, anti-semitism, argument, autonomy, Brooklyn, Brooklyn College, collegiality, communication, corruption, D.C., dangers, defensiveness, dialogue, dignity, dumbstruck, empathy, fear, feminine identity, Feminism, fractional self, friendship, girlhood, God as Person, gothic, graft, grifters, happy child, healing, hidden self, higher ed, identity, inner core, innocence, interpretive frame, Jewish self-respect, Jewish students, life stages, loss, missing persons, opinions, orthodox Jews, person, personal God, personhood, philosophy, photo documentary, presence, reason, religious sincerity, righteous combats, self-respect, shock, teenage, toxic, trust, verbal hate, wholeness, womanhood, words, young-girl-in-flower
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“Happiness”
“Happiness” “Call no man happy until he is dead,” said Solon, the ancient sage, to Croesus. Croesus was “rich as Croesus,” as the saying goes, and king of Lydia. So he was nonplussed at Solon’s reluctance to admit that he … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, autonomy, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, philosophy, poetry, political, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, twentieth century, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Quiz Show", "the pursuit of happiness", academic fight, acupuncture, Advice, Ancient Lydia, Ancient Persia, anguish, Aristotle, bird baths, bird watching, birds, birthright, Brooklyn College, Carl Mangione PT, celebrity, Charles Van Doren, cheating, college curriculum, Columbia class of 1925, confession, Croesus, Cyrus the Great, Declaration of Independence, despair, divine gifts, family honor, grace, gratitude, hairdresser, handicap, Henry M. Rosenthal, human rights, identity, ingratitude, insincerity, Jennifer Kelly hairstylist, Kinetic syndrome, Mark Van Doren, memoir, misery, mortification, Mr. Right, national scandal, Nicomachean Ethics, non-advice, normality, physical therapy, problem of evil, reputation, resignation, Richard Firnhaber acupuncture, right to happiness, sell out, selling one's birthright, sincerity, Solon, suffering, the emotional norm, The History of Herodotus, the human norm, the mental norm, the physical norm, the psychical norm, TV idol, TV Quiz Show, unhappiness, walking handicap, wickedness
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Political Correctness and Sex Appeal
Political Correctness and Sex Appeal These would seem to be unrelated topics. But not in my world. First, about this Political Correctness mania. It is starting to act like a cumulonimbus cloud, soaked in its own heavy humidity, making us … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, Hegel, history, history of ideas, id, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, modernism, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "A Tale of Two Cities", "Absolute Freedom and Terror", appeasement, argument, bullies, Charles Dickens, city kids, city life, dating game, dialogue, enemy of the people, erotic strategies, Estates General 1789, feminine strategy, French Revolution, G.W.F. Hegel, guillotine, guilt trips, identity, influence, Jean Jacques Rousseau, losers, Manhattan, manipulation, monologue, national action committee, National Assembly, PC, political correctness, political policy, politics of ideas, radicalism, radicals, religious identity, Rousseau's "The Social Contract", sex appeal, sexual losers, status, temple membership, the "general will", The Left, The Phenomenology of Mind, thought control, thought police, wallflowers, winning arguments
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