Tag Archives: suicide

The Meanings of Our Lives

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Abigail

The Meanings of Our Lives People commit suicide when their lives seem to them meaningless. At least, that’s been my experience, which I’ll share with you. I’ve talked two women friends out of killing themselves, which they seemed quite serious … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, books, bureaucracy, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, slave, social climbing, 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, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 12-step program, 13-step, a culture's sense of meaning, AA, absolutist solutions, abstract universal, accepting imperfections, Al-Anon, art of compromise, Bolshevik revolution, book contract, book proposals, Communist ideology, Communists and state power, concrete universal, courts and justice, democracy and patriotism, don't fake it, eternal feminine, facing life's challenges, faith and force, fall of Constantinople, Feminine pride, friend in crisis, future of Russia, Greek Orthodox Church, healing despair, human imperfections, ideal self-image, Igor Kliamkin's Demilitarization as a Historical and Cultural Issue, insulting a woman, just be there, learning to compromise, living through the Holocaust, looking for meaning, losing a book contract, meaning in culture, meaning of life, meaninglessness, Modern attitudes, Mother Russia, Nazi death camps, occult lore, pay attention, political compromises, publisher rejections, publisher's priorities, readership, reincarnation, reincarnation and suicide, representative government, respecting the law, Russia and the rule of law, Russian Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century: An Anthology eds. Mikhail Sergeev Alexander Chumakov Mary Theis, Russian politics, seducer's manipulation tactics, slave labor, suicide, suicide watch, suicide's contagion, talking it out, talking out of suicide, the human condition, the people's allegiance, the Russian people, tragedy of Russia, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, wholesome American girl, will to live, women's malice | Leave a comment

What’s Your Evidence?

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Abigail

What’s Your Evidence? In the claims and counter-claims of real life, what is to count as evidence? Recently, I had occasion to try to defend myself to a third party, against the damaging claims of a person who had been … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, 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, 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, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, 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 a way out, accusations, admissible evidence, Arbitration, argument, artistic film, available options, being believed, believing victims, closing argument, confirming witness, counter-accusations, counter-argument, counter-claims, court case, court papers, credibility, credulity, cross examination, damaging claims, documentary evidence, emotional case, England, escapism, evidence, favorable ruling, finding an opening, friendship, frustration, Gnosticism, grossed out, guidance, hanging in, imperfect world, impossibilities, judge, just and unjust, justice, lawyer friend, lawyers, legal action, legal defense, legal merit, legal proceedings, Maya, no exit, options, Paper trail, probative evidence, real life, reliable witness, repairing the world, scales of justice, self-defense, sense of justice, settlement out of court, showing up, social cut, social establishment, social insignificance, social life, social snub, social weight, staying real, suicide, testimony, testimony under oath, The Bookshop, topdog, underdog, union counsel, unreal world, unreliable witness, utopian, utopian ideology, victimizing, witness, witnessing | 2 Comments

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

Should the Dead Know Their Place?

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Abigail

Should the Dead Know Their Place? What are the dead up to? Are they just nonexistent? Many philosophers believe that and most would rather be annihilated than wrong. Are they sleeping? After the great bloodbath of the American Civil War, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, slave, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Hamilton" the musical, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "What Ayer Saw When He Was Dead", afterlife communication, American Civil War, Applied Ethics, Authenticity, Bertrand Russell, citing philosophers, college jocks, counterproductive therapy, death as sleep, defamation, duties to the dead, Existential Analysis, Founding Fathers, Francis Miles Finch's "The Blue and the Gray”, ghost stories, ghosts, good writing, gossip, Hamilton Awareness Society, Henry James, Jane Robert's The After Death Journal of an American Philosopher: the World View of William James, lean prose, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, Ludwig Binswanger, mediums, mediumship, naturalism, no way out, novelists, philosophical stylists, political rivals, posterity, power of rumor, pragmatism, psychologial conventions, purple prose, reductionist explanation, reputation, restoring reputation, ruined reputation, scholarly citation, scholarly protocol, silencing, skepticism, spiritual good manners, spiritualism, Stephen F. Knott's Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth, stereotyping, suicide, the afterlife, the dead, the last word, the paranormal, therapy, Thomas Jefferson, unacademic methods, William James | 2 Comments

“Broken Pieces”

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Abigail

“Broken Pieces” I’ve never read Kafka and don’t want to, because I prefer happy endings. Elizabeth Bennett should marry Mr. Darcy, Peter Pan should never have to grow up, and … you get the idea. The whole notion that real … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, master, memory, Mind Control, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged airline security, background check, brokenness, bureaucracy, chosen people, clues in a narrative, covenantal history, dehumanization, despair, Dierdre McCloskey's Bourgeois Equality, dignity, Divine warnings, double-binds, economic theory, Elizabeth Bennett, emancipation of the Jews, feeling suicidal, fingerprints, Franz Kafka, God's promises, happy endings, harmful radiation, humiliation, ideal wholeness, inventions, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Jewish historiography, Jewish history, Kafkaesque, liberty, liberty and dignity, Mr. Darcy, optimism, persistence, pessimism, Post-Modern bricolage, predicaments, preventing terrorism, problem-solving, prosperity, radiation and safety, radiation treatment, rushing to judgement, secularism, sexual molestation, suicide, suicide prevention, terrorism, The Covenant, tragic-comedy, TSA, TSA precheck, Woody Allen | Leave a comment

“Personality”

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Abigail

“Personality” More than once in these columns, I’ve mentioned my long-standing view that people live and die by ideas. Still, as I’ve come to recognize, that’s not entirely true. It has to be qualified. For example, it’s very hard to … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, Power, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 1907-1914, abdication, adultery, authoritarians, Aztecs, belief system, bluff, Carnival, Catholic authoritarians, Catholic mystics, childish taunting, Classical culture, conquest, conquest of Mexico, conquest of the Western hemisphere, consorts of powerful men, corrigibility, cultural conquest, cultural consensus, death wish, debates, descent, Donald Trump, European conquest of New World, female vulnerability, Feminism, Freud, gamesmanship, God-to-people partnership, Greco-Roman civilization, group consensus, Hebrew Scripture, ID, imprinting, infidelity, inherited belief, intellectual rivalry, intellectual self-correction, Jesuits, let-downs, libido, Life Force, male force, malice, man to man, marital cheating, morbid imprint, natural force, Nietzsche, night of passion, nineteenth century Europe, nineteenth century European women, one wild night, paganism, passion, personal imprint, personal magnetism, personal weak spots, personality, Political Campaign 2016, political debates, political games, political malice, power games, power of argument, power of ideas, power politics, powerful men, powerlessness of argument, pre-Columbian Mexico, Presidential Candidates 2016, Presidential debates, Presidential politics, primal force, primitive force, primitivity, refutation, rivals, Schopenhauer, secular humanism, seduction, social acceptance, suicide, TB, TB sanatorium, teasing, Terror, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, trophy wives, truth-seeking, United States of America, universal rights, untamed paganism, untamed personality, Walpurgis-Night, widowhood, winning debates, woman's autonomy, woman's freedom, womanhood, world progress, World War I | Leave a comment

“Healing”

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Abigail

“Healing” In my seemingly endless quest to heal my right foot, one of the angles I look at is the mind/body relation. For this reason, I’m now reading a book called The Healing Journey by Matthew Manning. The author is … Continue reading →

Posted in Alienation, Culture, Desire, Faith, Friendship, Health, Memoir, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Social Conventions, Spirituality, The Examined Life | Tagged "The Healing Journey", addictions, alternative medicine, belief system, coping strategies, Dr. Peter Nixon, emotions, God as Witness, healing, holistic healing, Human Function Check List, In God's hands, journal keeping, Matthew Manning, medical cure, mental power, mind/body relation, neurologists, personal defenses, positive thinking, psychic abilities, psychic phenomena, psychosomatic, Second Law of Themodynamics, self-monitoring, self-talk, stress, suicide, therapy, Western medicine and holistic medicine | Leave a comment

“Country Gospel”

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Abigail

“Country Gospel” Being born and raised a Jewish girl from Manhattan’s old-rent, upper east side, the last thing I’m expected to like is country gospel. Or so I’m often told. People shake their heads. Here comes the dog walking on … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, life and death struggle, Philosophy, Social Conventions, Spirituality, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman | Tagged Atheism, belief, conviction, country gospel, Donald J. Shockey, Dr. Johnson, Faith, feminine intelligence, Frances Ryals, God, heartbreak, hymns, Jewish girls, lady preachers, lyrics, music, Nashville, philosophy, records, Red Foley, simplicity, suicide, The Ryman Auditorium | 2 Comments

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