Tag Archives: world history

World-Historical Lives: Winston Churchill and Hannah Senesh

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Abigail

Today I’ve read to the end of two books, both about lives honed on the cutting edge of history. So what is “history” and what does it mean to live on its edge? Let’s stipulate that history is the tale … 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, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, 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 abandoning one’s purpose, Abbie’s family and Allied war efforts, action and motive, action and purpose, ambiguity of treason under enemy occupation, ambiguity of treason under pro-nazi regime, Arabs’ rejection of UN vote for partition, bad luck in history, Balfour Weizmann victory in World War I, beliefs changing history, beliefs in history, betrayal in history, betraying one’s story, Bible and history, books as house presents, British mandate in Palestine, brother-sister love, chance in history, Churchill and Allied victory, Churchill and the Jews by Martin Gilbert, Churchill and Weizmann in World War I, Churchill as Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill as wartime leader, Churchill in World War II, Churchill Weizmann and naval victory, Churchill’s liking for Jews, Churchill’s opinion of Jews, Churchill’s resistance to the Nazis, Crash of the Heavens by Douglas Century, cultural change, cultural ideals, cultural transformation, cutting edge of history, David M. Armstrong as friend, David M. Armstrong Australian philosopher, family member and smuggling arms to the Haganah, family members in Jewish Brigade, family members in World War II Jewish Brigade, forgetting one’s purpose, freedom in history, God freedom and chance, Hannah Senesh, Hannah Senesh and British rescue mission, Hannah Senesh and farewell letter, Hannah Senesh and Hungarian antisemitism, Hannah Senesh as heroine in Israel, Hannah Senesh as poet and writer, Hannah Senesh as prisoner, Hannah Senesh in Palestine, Hannah Senesh’s mission, heroes, heroes and heroines, heroines, history’s cutting edge, history’s unpredictability, honor in history, honoring one’s purpose, honoring one’s story, Josef Avidar and bullet factory, last days of Hannah Senesh, life-changing beliefs, life-changing events, luck in history, macro-history, meaning of life, national hero, national heroine, personal history, personal history and macro-history, persons and their stories, prisoner of war, Providence and freedom in history, providence and history, purpose in history, saving allied pilots in World War II, saving Jews in World War II, smuggling arms to the Haganah, story-line of history, summary justice in wartime, the Balfour Declaration, The Jewish Brigade Group, UN 1948 vote for Palestine partition, wartime hero, wartime heroine, why men fight, Winston Churchill, world history, world-historical people | Leave a comment

Reluctant Inferences

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Abigail

This is the evening when I usually pen the weekly essay for “Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column.” Till I take pen in hand, I never know exactly what I’m going to write. Often, I don’t even know the topic! So … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, fashion, female power, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic presentations, Adolf Eichmann, American common sense, American intellectual openness, American Political Science Association, anti-Jewish insults, anti-semitism, APSA, Argentina, Bettina Stangneth's Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer, bigoted words, collegial friendships, contemporary nihilism, contemporary reductionism, contemporary skepticism and cynicism, contrived writing, covert subtext, creative inspiration, creative thinkers, creatively inspired writing, deliberate ambiguity, denouncing while justifying, denying a people's value, disguised insults, divine message, duty vs convenience, Eichmann's Argentine transcripts, erasing a people, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin and Jews, Eric Voegelin Society, Eric Voegelin's Order and History, Eric Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, European intellectual systems, EVS, fashionable opinions, genocide, good neighbors, good vs evil, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, hidden message, Holocaust survivor, intellectual refinement, Jewish farmers, Jews and Judaism, know it all, losing friends, nazis in Roumania, philosophy of history, playing with evil, political science, pre-exilic post-exilic and post-Biblical Judaism, prejudicial language, pro-nazi informers, rationales for genocide, religion of Israel, Roumania, saying it and taking it back, significant coincidences, spirituality and history, strategically elusive, strategy of now you see it now you don't, stream of consciousness, theology of contempt, truthful writing, Voegelin escaping Gestapo, Voegelin targeted by nazis, Voegelin's anti-nazism, Voegelin's Vienna circle, words with consequences, world history, writing ambiguously, Yom ha Shoah | 3 Comments

Love Stories

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Abigail

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, postmodernism, 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 | 2 Comments

Getting a Grip

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Abigail

Getting a Grip Our temple had the guest visit of a kabbalist over the weekend. It was very creative on the part of our leadership to invite him, so I hate to say this but – everybody liked it but … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, 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, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, 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, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, seduction, self-deception, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged American Philosophical Association, Analytic philosophy, anti-semitism, anti-war, anti-Zionism, APA, approved views, Biblical literalism, Biblical narrative, Biblical prophecy, commitment, contagious thought, elite opinion, encounters with God, esoteric interpretation, experience of God, fashionable causes, Feminism, genocidaires, genocide, genocide’s rationale, hatred, hatred of Jews, Holocaust dismissal, informal fallacies, Jewish survival, Kabbala, meditation, meta-narrative, moral pretense, moral seriousness, morphic fields, Moses, Mt Sinai, paradox, political courage, prestigious lectures, principle of charity, racism, Rubert Sheldrake, Sinaitic revelation, spiritual universalism, spirituality, the Holocaust, The Longest Hatred, the new anti-Semitism, the prophets, union with the divine, world history, world of action | 4 Comments

“Meta-Narratives”

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Abigail

“Meta-Narratives” There is a French post-modern philosopher who writes, “I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” By that is meant, there is no large story – no history of humanity as such – into which our private stories, the novellas … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, autonomy, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, mind control, modernism, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "all the world's a stage", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Getting Past Marx and Freud", abstractions, Adolf Hitler, Albert Camus, alienation, analytic geometry, Cartesian Method, Charles Darwin, civilization, class warfare, communism, counter-narrative, fanaticism, fiction, historiography, Holocaust, humanism, ideality, imagination, Jean-Francios Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition, Jewish influence, Karl Marx, laws of nature, laws of physics, macro-history, man-made meta-narratives, Marxism, meta-narrative, Modernity, narrative, Newton, nonfiction, novelists, novels, Old World charm, plot, Providential history, Rene Descartes' Rules for the Direction of the Mind, science, self evidence, seventeenth century, skepticism, story, survival of the fittest, theory of evolution, Timothy Snyder's Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, urban planning, urban renewal, utopia, W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming", wage slaves, Western history, world history, writers | Leave a comment

“Chronology”

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Abigail

“Chronology” From precognitive dreams, where the future is recognizably predicted before it happens, we can infer that time is other than what ordinarily we think it is. From the way philosophers have sometimes talked, mathematicians and physicists too on occasion, … Continue reading →

Posted in alienation, culture, eternity, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, legal responsibility, literature, memoir, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, psychology, relationships, time, work | Tagged "To His Coy Mistress", accuracy, agression and self-defense, Andrew Marvell, anomie, cause and effect, chronology, Classical, clock time, Copernicus, despair, dimensions, disorientation, Enlightenment, factory workers, George Washington, Hellenistic, history of civilization, injustice, justice, mathematics, memory, metaphysical poetry, Modernity, narrative, Newton, past and future, personal power, philosophy, physics, precognitive dreams, reality, Romanticism, Rome, seduction, Socrates, students, synchronization, Taylorism, temporality, theology, time and eternity, time and place, time zones, trans -continental railroads, world history | Leave a comment

“Seizing the Narrative”

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Abigail

“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 | Leave a comment