Tag Archives: rolling with the punches
Battle Wounds
The post-October 8th, 2023 outbreak of Jew-hatred in academe continues to open psychic wounds. As a battle-tested veteran of many combats (for example the one pictured above), this phenomenon of psychic wounds is itself startling to me. Let me give … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, 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, institutional power, Jesus, 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, mysticism, Nihilism, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, 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, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s A Good Look at Evil, academic antisemitism, academic combat veteran, academic expediency, academic honor, academic politics, academic power struggle, academic reprisal, academic resentment, academic survival, anti-Israel cartoon, anti-Israel vigil holders, anti-whistleblower reprisal, Athens and Israel, Athens vs Israel, emotional survival, exhibit with anti-Israel cartoon, fashionable antisemitism, God as Witness, God in history, God on the timeline, impartial truth in academe, it’s not personal, Jewish assignment in history, Jewish identity, Jewish identity battles, Jewish psychic wounds, Jewish role in history, new antisemitism, Oct 8 2023, ousting a predator, Phyllis Chesler, Plato’s academy, predator in a religion, predator in a safe space, predator in the temple, Presbyterians against Israel, Presbyterians and the rabbi, psychic wounds, psychological survival, Reform Judaism, Reform temple, restoring one’s honor, rolling with the punches, scaring Jewish shopkeepers, search for truth, survival with no hard feelings, truth in academe, union-backed grievance, universities and Oct 7, universities vs Jews, whistleblower
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Seismic Shifts
While I was getting ready to write this column, several earth-shakings were rattling around me. For instance, I’ve just spoken by phone with a dear friend. She is facing the moment when the medical team has run out of Things … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, 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, 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, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, repairing the culture, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged accepting the dynamics of life, American-Jewish Vacation from History, anti-Judaism, awareness of God's presence, brooding over broken friendship, changes in life orientation, changes in one's story, changes in self-awareness, changes in self-concept, classless conduct, classlessness, control freak, counteracting the need to control, curing broken friendship, dumping a woman-friend, emotional shifts, end-of-life decisions, extremism normalized, faith in the prospects of life, from the horse's mouth, getting dumped by a friend, hospice care, intensification of perception, Jews not a race, letting go of broken friendship, letting go of control, new American anti-semitism, noticing the beauty of nature, repairing broken friendship, riding with a loose reign, rolling with the punches, sanity of horses, seeing the world as new, self tolerance, self-shielded from God's presence, sense of self, shielding self from God, showing no class, the beauty of nature, tolerance for one's own life rhythm, tolerance for one's own nature, trust in the future, unfriending, victimizers relabeled as victims, windows of perception, women dumping women, women unfriending women, women's friendships ending, women’s friendships
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Call No Woman Happy
In his Histories, Herodotus tells the tale of a certain King Croesus of Lydia (reigned 585-547 BCE) who boasted of his happiness to a guest, the wise Solon. The guest warned him that – given life’s uncertainties – no one … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, 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, 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 admitting that one is happy, anachronistic judgements, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle’s view that the dead suffer from the living, beyond our control, call no man happy, call no man happy until he is dead, cancel culture, Charles Van Doren, Charles Van Doren’s congressional testimony, classical proverbs, Columbia College Class of 1925, congruence with one’s self, Cyrus and Croesus, dangers of success, death as refuge, destroyed reputation, don’t speak ill of the dead, dumb and happy, family honor, family in the public eye, family politcs, family prestige, fascism and antifacisim, father son relation, fear of success, feeling another’s sorrows, fortune is fickle, Founding Fathers, friendship and empathy, good breeding, good taste and bad form, happiness and envy, happiness in the real world, happiness mistaken for stupidity, Henry M Rosenthal, Herodotus’ Histories, heroes unmasked, highbrow reputation, hubris, ignorance is bliss, inward joy, joy and misfortune, joy vs happiness, judging the past by current standards, King Croesus, learning life's lessons, life’s contingencies, lifelong regrets, literary celebrity, loss of standing, luck and merit, mob mentality, moralism, nobody’s perfect, personal downfall, posthumous disgrace, posthumous loss of reputation, pride goeth before a fall, public approval, pulling moral rank, realistic happiness, repercussions, reputation reversal, retroactive moralistic denunciations, rich as Creosus, rolling with the punches, self integration, showbiz or dishonesty, showbiz vs integrity, social hierarchy, Solon and Croesus, students of Mark Van Doren, success and happiness, tempting fate, that’s showbiz, the ancients were right, The Autobiography of Mark Van Doren 1958, the etiquette of happiness, the hazards of joy, the integrated self, the past is present, the risks of happiness, TV celebrity, uncertainties of fate, uncovering secrets
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