Tag Archives: meaningful life

Wedding Anniversary

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Abigail

Wedding Anniversary Thursday, January 20th, was the 23rd anniversary of the day Jerry and I got married. In rabbinic tradition, God makes marriages. In fact, that would be the chief thing He does. I certainly wasn’t looking for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged acting on one's beliefs, alice in wonderland, beshert, beshert marriages, bracketing personal life, bracketing the natural attitude, Brooklyn College, contemplative technique, curriculum reform, curriculum revision, defining intuition, discerning one's priorities, Divine mission, Edmund Husserl, falling in love, falling up, finding the right partner, God as marriage broker, joining lives, liberal arts curriculum, long-distance relationship, looking for a husband, love's seriousness, marital relation, marriage as personal political and erotic, marriage broker, meaning what one says, meaningful life, observing one's life, personal life, phenomenological reduction, philosophic intuition, providential coincidences, rabbinic tradition, rabbis on marriage, reductionism and romance, romantic love as delirium, romantic love as madness, romantic marriage, romantic view, saving the college, serious romantic, taking oneself seriously, telephone courtship, the 3 biblical patriarchs, The Covenant in history, trained philosopher, true love, wedding anniversary | 6 Comments

The Meaning of My Life?

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Abigail

The Meaning of My Life? Viktor Frankl wrote a book reflecting on the meaning of his experiences when he was incarcerated in a Nazi death camp. He found that people needed their lives to be meaningful – more than they … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hidden God, history of ideas, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged accidents are accidental, anxiety dream, catch 22, catch 22 situation, crisis of meaning, despairing life view, diminished sensory input, elephant in the room, emotional landscape, experimental neuropathy treatment, experimental treatment, false meanings, fate v chance, forcing meanings, Hardy-esque landscape, Jones fracture, life dilemma, logic v empathy, Loma Linda Neuropathic Therapy Center, losing the big picture, meaning of life, meaningful life, meaningless happening, neuro-vascular system, neuropathy, not God's plan, random incident, rush to judgment, searching for meaning in the wrong place, sensory input, Socratic dialectic, Socratic test for truth, sound argument, syllogism, the big picture, the sake of the argument, Thomas Hardy worldview, toe fracture, trivial incident, valid argument, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning | Leave a comment

The Moral Markers

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Abigail

The Moral Markers From time to time, I pause to picture how the recent phases of my life would look to me if there were no God in the pictures. It’s a sort of thought experiment. Philosophers are given to … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, 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 Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged abstraction, absurdity, agnostic, Atheism, atheistic world view, Authenticity, beyond good and evil, brute forces, complementarity in friendship, concrete experience, consequential decisions, constructive orientation, controlled experiment, cynicism, deleted datum, erasing evidence, experimental confirmation, experimental disconfirmation, false consciousness, fashionable abstractions, fashionable views, feigned belief, fork in the road, Friedrich Nietzsche, integrating experience, limited palette, loyalty v betrayal, Martin Heidegger, meaning of life, meaningful life, models of the ultimate, modern life, Modernity, moral choice, moral fork in the road, moral indices, moral markers, moral neutrality, no rhyme or reason, novelistic plotline, objectivity claims, opinion shapers, opposites attract, pointlessness, power relations, projection, random energy, reality as absurd, relationship dynamics, Social Darwinism, social pretense, survival of the fittest, Swedish descent, the Modern world, the Post-Modern world, theism, theistic world view, thought experiment, Valhalla, Vedantist, Viking worldview | Leave a comment

Woman’s Search for Meaning

Posted on April 3, 2018 by Abigail

Woman’s Search for Meaning I’ve talked two friends out of committing suicide. Don’t recall exactly what I said, but I do know what went into my general approach. First, I ignored their existential/metaphysical pronouncements, eloquent as they were. Life, they … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, 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, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", absurdity, alternative healing, betrayal of trust, canceled engagements, canceled speech, chance happenings, charlatan healers, clues to the plot, Coincidences, contemplating suicide, correct diagnosis, crisis of meaning, desecration, desecration of woman, despair, dislocation, distance healing, Divine interventions, divine/human partnership, existential anxiety, expectations frustrated, focused mind, friendship, God as Co-Author, hopeful signals, indifferent world, invisible crisis, invisible suffering, life crisis, living one’s story, loss of grip, loss of meaning, meaningful life, meaningless world, mental healing, mental labyrinth, metaphysical materialism, metaphysics, mind and body, mind and matter, Mind Control, MRI's, negative energy, neuropathy treatment, Nor'easter, novelistic lives, ordinary miracles, personal defeat, power outage, precognition, preserving self image, Providential happenings, public speaking, quieted mind, Raiki healing, reorientation, rescheduling, saving the story, search for meaning, self image, sense of self, senselessness, small defeats, speaking events, spiritual malpractice, spiritual seduction, spiritual temptation, suicidal thoughts, suicide, suicide prevention, the right name, Thomas Hardy's Tess of The d'Urbervilles, travel plans, true north, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, world out of joint | 4 Comments

“Combat”

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Abigail

“Combat” I will not cease from Mental Fight Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant Land. I’ve been in a number of fights in my life – to keep … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Chivalry, Class, Cool, Desire, dialectic, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Femininity, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Social Conventions, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time, War, Work | Tagged "And did those feet in ancient time", academic life, allies, battle, battlefield, bystanders, career success, combat, fight, filial piety, Fred Roe, identity, integrity, Jerusalem, Joan of Arc, justice, kibitzing, litigation, luck, meaningful life, mental fight, opportunism, prudence, selling out, strategy, tactics, tenure, the intolerable, trial, unacceptable, William Blake, winning and losing | 2 Comments

“Philosophy”

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Abigail

“Philosophy” As a little girl, I would set the lunch table extra slowly so that I could overhear the philosophic conversations between my father, Henry M. Rosenthal, and Léo Bronstein, his closest friend. Understanding not a word, I still liked … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Art, Culture, dialectic, Femininity, history of ideas, Philosophy, Political, relationships, Social Conventions, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman | Tagged Analytic philosophy, Australian materialism, élan vital, Bergson, Camus, communism, Continental philosophy, dialectic, Enlightenment, fascism, Femininity, Freud, George Weigel, Henry M. Rosenthal, human conversation, laws of history, Leo Bronstein, meaningful life, Newtonian science, Nietzsche, philosophy, progress, reality, Social Darwinism, technology, The Great War, Utopianism, WWI | 2 Comments

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