Tag Archives: life and death

In the Hall of Mourning, There are Many Mansions

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Abigail

In the Hall of Mourning, There are Many Mansions Elmer Sprague passed away in his sleep, April 19th, 11:20 a.m. On July 17th, 2018, a friend got in touch to tell me he’d been scheduled for the gravest kind of … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, 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, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged argument with God, beauty of youth, Biblical characters, brain surgery, collegial friendship, collegiality, death, death and spirituality, death of Moses, doing what one says, End-of-Life, faithfulness, field of action, ghost in the machine, grownup life, heroic treatment, innocence, integrating thought and action, life aims, life and death, life lessons, meaning of death, meaning of life, medical experts, medical verdicts, midrash, mind and body, mind/body harmony, mind/body problem, original sin, philosophy as learning how to die, post-surgical report, put together life, relative innocence, reliability, Sarah as a bride, Socrates, the rough and the smooth, theological doctrines, through thick and thin, timely death, truth seeker, untimely death, wrongly accused, young David, young Joseph | Leave a comment

Looking Out for Number One

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Abigail

Looking Out for Number One Quoted in full, Rabbi Hillel’s famous saying goes like this: If I am not for myself, who will be? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? Though … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Autonomy, Christianity, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Health, Identity, Idolatry, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, life and death struggle, Love, Memoir, Modernism, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Peace, Power, Psychology, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time, Uncategorized, Zeitgeist | Tagged alternative treatments, baptism, bereavement, Bucks County, cancer standard of care, charity, Christianity, conversion ceremony, conversions, cynicism, death, distractions, Downeast Maine, egoism, farewells, friendship, funerals, grief, horseback riding, indifference, intimacy, Jewish sages, Judaism, life and death, memorials, mikvah, mitzvot, mortal illness, mourning, number one, obsequies, opportunism, personal presence, personal relations, purity, Rabbi Hillel, rabbinic wisdom, religious affiliation, religious conversion, religious obligation, sages of antiquity, selfishness, Shekinah, sickness and health, social defenses, social facade, social static, solipsism, temple congregation, Valery Rybakow, Weltanschauug, worldview | 7 Comments

“It’s Cancer!”

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Abigail

“It’s Cancer!” Years ago, Esquire magazine ran an article on the state of cancer research and treatment. It included this line: “When you’re playing against the Big Casino, the odds are with the House.” I don’t know whether I thought … Continue reading →

Posted in life and death struggle, Philosophy, Psychology, relationships, The Examined Life | Tagged anxiety, cancer, chemotherapy, cure, death, doctors, fear, illness, Leo Bronstein, life and death, life review, love, meditation, Michael and Edith Wyschogrod, problem of evil, psycho-somatic illness, radiation treatment, reductionism, suffering, theology | 2 Comments

Tag Archives: life and death

“It’s Cancer!”

Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column

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