Tag Archives: inspiration
“What Are We Really Arguing About Now?”
“What Are We Really Arguing About Now?” My recent columns were about “argument” in the philosopher’s sense of reasoning. Thinking they might find them of special interest, I’ve sent the columns to philosopher friends. And was pleased, but not surprised, … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, secular, seduction, self-deception, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Albert Camus, arguing to win, argument, argument from authority, argument from design, argument from observation, bad arguments, Bloomsbury group, Cheryl Misak’s Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, conscious assumptions, conscious reasons, de Beauvoir’s Paris, drama of argument, famous philosophers, folk theology, forcing the argument, Frank Ramsey, Freud, Freud’s Vienna, global citizens, global culture, globalization, Gnosticism, human imperfection, human incompleteness, imperfect people, inspiration, intuitions, life purposes, life-defining argument, life-shaping argument, manipulative argument, necessary imperfections, opinion shapers, philosopher friends, philosophic argument, philosophic life world, realm of argument, reason, reasoning, rejecting the world, resisting the human condition, rhetorical tricks, Socrates in Athens, Stephen Toulmin’s and Allan Janick’s Wittgenstein’s Vienna, tales of argument, teleological argument, Tennessee farmers, the human condition, the perfect is the enemy of the good, unconscious assumptions, unstated subtexts, utopian ideals, verbal victories, Wittgenstein, world citizens, world city, world culture, world of ideas
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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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Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual Warfare I have been reading a book called The Art of Spiritual Warfare by Grant Schnarr. It’s a pretty good book. For one thing, it tells us that evil has objective reality. Evil is not a social construct. For … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, action, alienation, autonomy, chivalry, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, non-violence, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, 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 "The Art of Spiritual Warfare", "The Art of Spiritual Warfare: A Guide to Lasting Inner Peace Based on Sun Tzu's The Art of War", "The Art of War", argument, Biblical encounters, Biblical God, censorship, Christian Zionists, combat, communication, confession, conscience, dialogue, dilemma, divine encounter, encounter with God, epiphany, Evil, facts and values, fight, God of Israel, good neighbors, Grant Schnarr, incommunicative, inspiration, Israel, judgementalism, loving Israel, loving Jews, martial arts, mission, paradigm shift, placards, political demonstrations, propaganda, protest, right to exist, self-righteousness, silencing, social construct, social construction of reality, spiritual homeland, strategy, Sun Tzu, un-neighborly acts, war game, war propaganda, warfare, writing topics
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“Agent”
“Agent” I may have a literary agent. At least, it’s suddenly a possibility. What happened was this. Every Friday I repair to a genuinely French café in a nearby town where I review the last six days and pull it … Continue reading
Posted in action, alienation, art, autonomy, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, institutional power, literature, love, memoir, philosophy, poetry, power, psychology, relationships, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of woman, theism, time, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", allusiveness, artists and writers, author, blurbs, book, coincidence, confession, contacts, control, editors, elevator pitch, endorsements, French cafe, God's world, Hank Williams, inspiration, larger reality, life review, literary agent, Literature, manuscript, memoir, networking, New Yorkers, non-fiction, non-fiction novel, Pan American, personal narrative, plain style, plotline, private and public, public realm, publishers, publishing, readership, serendipity, Success, woodshedding, writer's garret, writers
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