Dialogues with Local Quakers
A small group of Quakers has held what they call a “vigil” once a week in the central square of our small town. They hold up placards that demand “Justice for” or “Freedom for” Palestinians. I haven’t...
31 Elo 202212min
Theism, Philosophy and Me
Could I (given the power) do a better job than God, faced with some spectacle that pains me utterly? Or do I agree with God that we human beings have to live with our bad choices, else we can’t learn ...
26 Elo 202213min
It’s Not Enough to be Intelligent
Fran, my therapeutic riding teacher, told me I have “a beautiful physique” on a horse and could qualify for the International competitions in “para-dressage” (dressage for the handicapped). People com...
24 Elo 20229min
Victims
The underdog has flipped the script and become — however briefly or protractedly — top dog. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New ...
19 Elo 202211min
Tenderness
Most of us feel that we can’t allow tenderness to visit us for more than a few moments at a time. After that, we let it translate into diatribe and counter-diatribe, or into that longing for transcend...
17 Elo 202213min
Beyond Recovery
I’ve been reading a book with the rather haunting title, Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust. The author, Yonassan Gershom, is a rabbi who is well versed in the kabbalistic, my...
12 Elo 202211min
Hyper-Idealism and Primitivity
Some will think I am kidding or being sarcastic, but it is a fact that I have the greatest sympathy for anti-Semites. I believe that there is something wrong with them. Even when they look normal, the...
10 Elo 202212min
Dante's Lovers
What is this power – of attraction without an object? Why does it seem almost more powerful than a nourishing reality? As if people are not seduced by a seducer – but by seduction itself, which cannot...
3 Elo 202211min
