Tag Archives: life review
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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The Body Problem
The Body Problem Some years back, a path-breaking feminist book was published bearing the title, Our Bodies/Our Selves. It included black and white photos of stuff that I was not liberated enough to inspect too closely. I would have titled … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, health, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, life and death struggle, love, memoir, memory, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Our Bodies/Our Selves", American Academy of Religion, Art Student’s League of NYC, befriending one’s body, being and doing, bodily ordeal, body problems, Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, Chesed, Chinese aesthetics, distinguished academic panel, double vision, Dr. Mark Bussell, exhausted sleep, exhaustion, experimental treatment, eye muscle surgery, feminist book, getting still, gluten-free, ground-breaking book, human connections, improved mobility, in resources, Jerry L. Martin ed. Theology Without Walls: The Trans-Religious Imperative, Jewish compassion, kneecap fracture, leg immobilizer, life review, Loma Linda Neuropathic Therapy Center, mind/body problem, moving through life, nature’s rhythm, nature’s time table, neuropathy, neuropathy treatments, one’s own best friend, path-breaking book, philosophical papers, primordial wariness, professional activities, quieting down, realism, Reform temple, rehab exercises, retrospection, rhythm of things, San Diego, social occasion, spirit of life, stormy relationships, surgery, tenderness, the body’s self, the walking art, theological history, Theology Without Walls, TWW contributors, Tzedek, walking handicap, wife as consort, women’s health
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Self-Acceptance
Self-Acceptance This is the season of deck-swabbing and deck-clearing, if you are Jewish. I tend to say that, at best, I am “Jewish in the head.” By that I mean: having tried a wide range of belief systems, I came … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, alienation, anthropology, contemplation, contradictions, culture, desire, dialectic, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, memoir, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, peace, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, violence, war, Zeitgeist
Tagged absolution, acculturation, afterlife, anger, anxiety, belief systems, clearing decks, Days of Awe, divine guidance, escapism, excuses, fear of death, forgiveness, getting real, grace, grace under pressure, guilt, inner voice, Jewish New Year, judgment, judgmentalism, life review, moral facts, mortality, NDE, near death experience, pardon, Psalm 27, Psalms of David, purification, rationalizations, Reform Judaism, religious service, repentance, ritual observance, Rosh Ha Shana, Selichot, temple, transcendence and immanence, unconscious fears, validation, Year 5776
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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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“It’s Cancer!”
“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
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