Tag Archives: intelligent hope

The Divine Name

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Abigail

I’ve been reading Martin Buber’s book Moses, with the result that the encounter Moses has with God at the burning bush – the one that burns but is not consumed – comes frequently to my mind. I don’t know if … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing | Tagged Bible study, challenged faith, controlling chaos, cost of untruths, creation ex nihilo, creation out of chaos, faith and pretense, feeling outnumbered, fight against chaos, fight for intelligibility, God as providential, hard reality of life, health and balance, Heaven as compensatory, hope and faith, hope and realism, I am that I am, ineffable beings, intelligent hope, Israeli mother, manipulating the divine, Martin Buber, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber's Moses, memory suppression, Moses' sandals, necessary and contingent beings, Necessary Being, nonbeing, nothingness, one step ahead of chaos, prayer vs magic, providence as unpredictable, pulling one's self together, realism and faith, reconciling faith and reality, righteous combat, speculative theology, staying one step ahead, struggle for clarity, tautology, tetragrammaton, the burning bush, the Divine Name, the problem of evil, theodicy, theologians and providence, tohu va bohu, truthfulness, void and unformed | 2 Comments

Wingeing, Death and Debility

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Abigail

Wingeing, Death and Debility Years ago, I was in the Australian Blue Mountains, climbing the rockiest, thorniest, steepest wilderness trail that I could ever hope never to find. We were a troop of philosophers from Sydney University’s Department of General … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, 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, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged afterlife evidence, Australia, Blue Mountains of Australia, bush walk, Christian salvation, conversion, conversion to Judaism, death as the end, death of friends, departed friends, evidence of things unseen, fashionable doubt, fashionable opinion, fashionable skepticism, heaven, how to die, how to live, intelligent hope, kvetching, mikvah, mortality, outdoorsmen, philosophic friendship, Philosophy Department, preparation for death, remembering the departed, rock climbing, self-knowledge, Socrates, soul and body, Spinoza, stiff upper lip, stoicism, surviving death, Sydney University, the afterlife, The New York Book Review, The New York Review of Books, the next life, vale of tears, wilderness trail, wingeing, women friends | 2 Comments

Treachery and Transcendence

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Abigail

Treachery and Transcendence In a recent column, I told of a problem that arose during a new treatment for my walking handicap. One of the administering nurses routinely used an expression — always accompanied by a little laugh — that … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Political, politics, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Time, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "do no harm", a patient's trust, accusation, acting up, anger, blaming the victim, confrontations, consolation from prayer, cover story, curing injustice, demeaning words, detachment, disrespect, effective treatment, effects of prayer, errant employee, fury, gaslighting, guilt, handicap, in-house politics, incredible, insight from prayer, intelligent hope, keeping it brief, lost trust, lying, manipulation, medical protocol, meta-level, micro-aggression, mind/body connection, minimalist explanation, mischievous employee, neuropathy, nuns, nurse, office politics, outrage, patient's dignity, patient's rights, petitionary prayer, plausible, prayer, promise breaking, promise keeping, reprisal, responsible administration, righteous indignation, self-defense, self-exculpation, self-exoneration, self-protection, sense of dignity, significant dreams, signs of guilt, sympathy, tactlessness, the Hippocratic Oath, transparency, treatment room, trespass, troubleshooter, trust, under the radar, walking handicap, witness consciousness | 2 Comments

“Peace in the Eye of the Storm”

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Abigail

“Peace in the Eye of the Storm” Today in morning meditation I noticed a sense of large-scale peacefulness in me. (Don’t worry, friends. It’ll pass, it’ll pass! I’ll still be me.) I must say it took me quite by surprise, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Cool, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Mortality, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Public Intellectual, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time | Tagged adventure of life, Alexander the Great, Alexandrian empire, American Academy of Religion, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Aristotle, Asia Society, bullies, burnout, cafes, cafes and philosophers, Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, classical civilization, college administrators, conceptual accuracy, cultural heritage, denouncers denounced, denunciation, Diogenes, down time, Emmanuel Levinas, Epicurus, foresight, foretelling the future, freedom of conscience, French Revolution, futurology, G.W.F. Hegel, Greek amphitheaters, groundless denunciation, guillotine, Hellenistic civilization, hindsight, Hitler, hope, Human Resources, hunters and hunted, ideological bullies, inner peace, intelligent hope, McCarthyism, meditation, Metropolitan Museum, micro-aggression, miracles, moral directness, museum exhibits, museum going, overloaded, owl of Minerva, pedagogic vocation, Pergamon, peripatetics, personnel file, philosophers, philosophic talent, Prometheus, punishment of Prometheus, Roman temples, safe space, Salem witch trials, search for truth, Stoics, Sydney Carton, tainted personnel files, Title IX effects, transmission of culture, wave of the future, witch hunts | 4 Comments

“God and Biography”

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Abigail

“God and Biography” When my journal entry doesn’t give me answers to the questions of my day, I sometimes ask myself: What would it have been like for me to live the same events recorded here, if there were no … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Christianity, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, Power, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Atheism, Bible, biographical subjects, biography, boarding school, British prep school, British public school, bullies, cancer, Christopher Hitchens, classical historians, clerical opinion, corrupted intellect, covenant, covenantal task, crony capitalist, cutting words, Daniel Dennett, deathbed conversion, debating skill, depravity, deserved tributes, evangelical Christians, fame, fashionable dodge, fashionable opinion, friendship, God, God and Israel, God's existence, gossip, grace of spirit, History, homophobe, horizontal explanation, intellectual fashions, intelligent hope, irresponsible gossip, Islamophobe, King James version, Larry Alex Taunton, Larry Taunton's The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, literary celebrities, literary talent, love of words, Loyalty, medicine for the soul, memoir, moral analysis, moral description, moral interpretation, off the record, Ontology, political correctness, psychoanalytic explanation, public atheism, public debate, public opinion, rabbis, racist, received opinion, religious authorities, Richard Dawkins, Roman empire, Sam Harris, secular history, secular humanism, self-understanding, sexist, sinners, social taboos, spiritual implications, spirituality, spritual interpretation, Tacitus, temple newsletter, the Establishment clause, The Four Horsemen of New Atheism, The New Atheism, theism, theologians, tools of a biographer, truth, uncorrupted intellect, unmentionable questions, vertical explanation, women friends, words as weapons | 2 Comments

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