WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

A wise woman once said: excellent people discuss ideas, mediocore people discuss events, inferior people discuss other people. This blog will be devoted mostly to ideas that I teach and write about. Ocassionally I will throw in some travel, recipes, movie reviews or other quirky indulgences. Since the state of our world and efforts to mend it are never far from my consciousness, you will also find some "current events" features under "tikkun olam." Please feel free to add your comments. Definitions: Midlife--Too late to do anything really new; too late not to. Mussar- A traditional Jewish practice to cultivate ethical insomnia(thanks to Rabbi Stone) If you want to know more about the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where I teach, check out www.rrc.edu

Monday, March 5, 2007

The healthy-minded and the sick soul




In class tomorrow we will discuss William James' famous distinction between two types of religious personalities--the healthy-minded and the sick soul. James uses Walt Whitman as an example of the first and Leo Tolstoy as an example of the second. Each requires his own type of religion, the once born or the twice born. Of course, these are ideal abstractions and most people fall somewhere on a spectrum between them. This is one of the most memorable themes of the Varieties and one that should give rise to an interesting discussion. Is the twice born a strictly Christian idea, and if not, what is the analogue in Judaism?
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