Tag Archives: psychoanalysis
The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight
“The owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk.” So wrote G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth century’s major philosopher of history. By that he meant that any given phase of history can be understood only in retrospect – after … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Racism, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romanticism, science, scientism, secular, 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, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged ancient skepticism, anthropic principle, Antony Flew’s There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, brainwashing, cancel culture and desire, cancel culture and social power, chance and life’s origin, coerced confessions, culture and the absolute, culture and ultimate truth, Darwin and chance, Darwinian evolution, decoding present history, desire and erotic skepticism, erotic manipulation, foreseeing the future, Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, Fukuyama and liberal democracy, G.W.F. Hegel, George Orwell's 1984, guilt and social power, Hegel and history, historical eros, ideology and tyranny, intelligibility of history, laws of probability and evolution, liberal democratic values, Mind Control, Modernity, my story and humanity’s story, natural purposes, ostracism and social power, owl of Minerva, personal story and world history, philosophy and teleology, postmodern skepticism, postmodernism and denial, psychoanalysis, purposiveness in nature, reading the Zeitgeist, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China, skepticism, skepticism and biological nature, skepticism in history, Sy Garte’s The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith, teleology, the big picture, the bird’s eye view of history, The Owl of Minerva and history, theology and teleology, Ukraine and Western nations, Ukraine as a test of values, understanding the present, world history and liberal democracy
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In Quest of Healing
We are just back from one of our weeks in California, in quest of healing for my neuropathy. As I’ve said here before, the experimental treatment on offer at Loma Linda’s neuropathy clinic sees the illness as the result of … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Autonomy, books, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, science, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anti-semitism, body shaming, consulting psychics, curable hurts, diagnostic mistakes, Director Mark Busssell, experimental treatment, finding meaning, harmful psychics, harmful shrinks, hypocrisy, incurable hurts, inflamation blockage, insider wounds, life review, life strategies, living honestly, lost innocence, medical frontier, mind/body, NDE, near death experiences, neuropathy, neuropathy treatment, placebo effect, processing suffering, psychoanalysis, psychosomatic, self-blame, somatizing painful experience, spontanious remissions, Thomas Nagel's subjective and objective in Mortal Questions, walking handicap, women friends
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It’s August and My Shrink is in the Hamptons!
It’s August and My Shrink is in the Hamptons! There was a time in Manhattan when virtually everyone I knew was in Freud-based therapy. So people would have trouble getting through August, because that was when their shrinks were vacationing … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, bureaucracy, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Philosophic Foundations of Feminism", August in Manhattan, bad arguments, counterculture, do your own thing, Dora and Freud, Edward Erwin, Freud and women, Freud-based therapy, Freud’s “Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria”, Freud’s case studies, Freud’s life, Freudian diagnosis, hysteria, life validation, Manhattan, nonjudgmental, Norman Lebrecht’s “Genius and Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World 1847-1947”, philosophical assumptions, philosophy at Stony Brook, poetic verdict, psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic cures, quack cures, quackery, SUNY at Stony Brook, the “Wolf Man”, the Hamptons
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Love Stories
Love Stories Just now I am reading a book Jerry got me, titled, Love in the Western World. Translated from the French, it’s by a guy named Denis de Rougement. With a name like that, and a title like that, … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, 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, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Anti-social behavior, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bad lovers, Betrayals, Between the world wars, chemical imbalance, childhood reading, chivalry, Coup de foudre, death wish, Deprivation experiments, Eros in the Bible, Erotic force, ethology, Fatal passion, Fealty, Feudal obligations, Film-making genius, France and Germany, Francois Orzon’s Franz, French soldiers, Freudian theory, Friedrich Nietzsche, German soldiers, Hard-wired behavior, Hidden love, Innate behavior, Jean-Paul Sartre, King Mark of Cornwall, la carte de tendre, map of love, Marie-Henri Beyle, Medieval knights, Medieval legends, Modern attitudes, Natural instincts, Nazi era, Nietzsche’s influence, Personal advice, Personal loyalty, personal relations, Post-modern attitudes, Primal urges, psychoanalysis, Romantic Love, romantic yearning, Sigmund Freud, Social obligations, Song of Songs, Stendahl, Sublimation, Tragic love, Tristan and Iseult, Troubadors, Unconscious desires, Unspoken romance, Vanished worlds, Western romantic tradition, world history, World War I, Year 1919
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I Dreamed I Saw Grandpa
I Dreamed I Saw Grandpa Let me make this clear: my family did not go in for paranormal visitations. They lived in the same world of hard knocks and occasional fun we all share. And, though I was close to … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Eternity, Ethics, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Ideality, Identity, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, Love, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, Power, presence, Psychology, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, 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, afterlife reunion, aimless people, ancestry, anomie, Atheism, bible as historical, co-religionists, doctorate in Judaica, dream visitations, dreams, grandfather, groundedness, Halacha, hard knocks, Hebrew, indissoluble reality, Jerusalem, Jerusalem street, Jewish law, Judaica, Marxism, Modernity, Oral Law, paranormal, paranormal visitations, partriarchal God, patriarch, personal vibrancy, philosophic lineage, Plato, proof-text, psychoanalysis, rabbinic disputation, Rav Tsair, Rechov Rav Tsair, religion shopping, resurrection, sad Jewish eyes, sense of direction, street names, Talmudists, The Covenant, validation
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The Unconscious
The Unconscious It’s Da King. Not Elvis. The Unconscious is the biggest thing around. Everything – everything you can mention – is under its iron heel. What sorts of things can you “mention”? Well, patriarchy, sexism, ageism – you know … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Childhood, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, 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, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", appreciation of music, Arcady, car accidents, castration fear, classical music, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, consciousness, country gospel, Da King, defeats and victories, disempower, disempowerment, dramatic lives, driving, Electra, Elvis, empowerment, freeloading, grief's defenses, hegemonic, hegemony, human motivation, ID, incorrigibility, libido, life purposes, life story, machine painting, macro-history, masks, Oedipus complex, pagan revels, penis envy, pleasure principle, Power, psychoanalysis, psychological defenses, psychotherapy, rationales, sangfroid, self-deception, self-knowledge, superconscious, therapeutic cures, therapy, traffic, will-to-power, women friends
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“Seizing the Narrative”
“Seizing the Narrative” Long ago, I waited in New York City for a promised letter from Paris that never came. My first love, not a good correspondent, nor a good keeper of promises, was a communist. Not a party member, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Femininity, history of ideas, Ideology, life and death struggle, Male Power, Memoir, Philosophy, Political, Psychology, Race, Sexuality, Social Conventions, The Problematic of Woman
Tagged Abul Ala Mawdudi, Andre Philip, bourgeois, British Pakistanis, communism, Critique de la raison dialectique, Deborah Baker, delusions, Fidelista, humiliation, In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom, Maajid Nawaz, Margaret Marcus, martyrdom, Maryam Jameelah, middle-class milieu, Muslim, narrative, New Left, psyche, psychoanalysis, racism, radical, Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism, Sartre, sexual self-respect, skinheads, social gauntlets, The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism, theory of history, therapy, utopian, virginity, world history
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