The End of Time by David Horowitz (PDF)

Description

Three days after terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, David Horowitz discovered that he had prostate cancer. As America was rebuilding, he emerged from months of treatment with a “reprieve” from his disease. He emerged as well with this remarkable book of hard won insights about how we get to our end and what we learn along the way. A stunning departure from the polemics and social criticism that have made Horowitz one of our most controversial public intellectuals, The End of Time is a wide ranging, unflinching and lyrical meditation on subjects ranging from what parents inadvertently teach us in their deaths, to the forbidding reality of the cancer ward and the way in which figures like Mohammed Atta use death to become gods of their own mad creation. Hovering protectively over these ruminations and Horowitz’s personal crisis is his wife April, whose stubborn love reached into the heart of his medical darkness and led him back toward the light of this work. The End of Time is also about the redemptive power of language and literature. One of the writers appearing in its text is the Catholic philosopher and scientist Blaise Pascal, whose Pensees functions as Horowitz’s model and guide. Citing Pascal’s famous observation that “the heart has its reasons of which reason does not know,” Horowitz writes: “I do not have the faith of Pascal, but I know its feeling. While reason tells me the pictures will stop, I will be unafraid when death comes. I will feel my way toward the horizon in front of me, and my heart will take me home.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Two elements are always found in any work by David Horowitz: marvelous writing and unshakeable passion. The End of Time does not disappoint as it is a unique and valuable addition to his oeuvre. As is to be expected, erudition is intrinsic to his efforts. He cannot compose without educating as, despite its brevity, within can be found brilliant quotations and granules of wisdom from the finest minds in the western world. Of these, one by Dr. Johnson is perhaps my favorite, “When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.”Horowitz first got the idea for this reflective essay addressing life, death, and the totality of existence during air travel. He correctly points out that thoughts of death cross the mind of most every passenger as we ride and jerk above the clouds. A combination of 9/11 and being diagnosed with prostate cancer created a need for him to make sense of an indecipherable future. Impending death, if not due to cancer then to old age, conceptually has put him in the position we physically find him in upon the book’s jacket cover. He wades alone at sea with no land or person to secure him. The figure we see is a shadowy composite who, like all the rest of us, ultimately stands alone.The End of Time is not tightly structured which allows its narration to flow along many lines of inquiry. Horowitz discusses a variety of topics and subtopics. Religion, of course, is one of them. He is an agnostic who scrutinizes the Pensees of Pascal, but, ultimately, cannot agree with the philosopher’s conclusions. Although it is to our benefit that he so fully elucidates the Frenchman’s final observations.His scholar’s eye then fixes itself on cancer and the way in which it is treated today. Horowitz’s experience with hospitalization and recovery illustrate just how non-exacting the science of medicine actually is. Different surgeons tell him different things, and before the prostrate operation commences there is cause to believe that his survival may come with the dear price of lost potency and continence. One is left, as far as health is concerned, with the same impression Somerset Maugham had about life, that the only thing with which to be certain is that there is precious little with which to be certain.It’s been said by several commentators that The End of Time is not a political work, but I disagree. It is not as overtly political as the rest of his publications, and certainly it is, for the most part, a book about human existence. However, even a reader who was not familiar with the author’s opinions and positions, would have no question as to where his political allegiances lie. His arguments are unquestionably (and fortunately) conservative. Indeed, one could argue that a devoted attempt to ascertain what the future will bring is by definition a conservative trait; just as is the sentence, “Therefore recognition of consequences is the beginning of wisdom.” Such a statement would be affirmed by nearly everyone on the right.Horowitz equates Marxism with Islamofacism due to their both resulting from a distaste for life as it actually is. They are utopian fantasies which bear no relation to what is actually possible. Such an equivocation between Marx and our nation’s most vile enemies is not something that the majority of leftists would readily accept. They often, even if they do not believe in communism, regard it as being a “lost cause” in pursuit of worthy and noble goals like “social justice,” but millions met their deaths in a desire to contort humanity into a shape where theoretical doctrines could be met. The gulags created by communists were a logical outcome of ideas initially presented by Marx.What is produced by radical belief is a permanent war of faith upon society and everybody else who might opposes their plans. There cannot be any middle ground. In the name of the dream, any slaughter or destruction can be justified. This is true regardless of from where the radicalism derives. As the author points out, the Marxism of his father and the fundamentalism of Mohammed Atta do not differ in their attitude toward non-believers.His short character study of Atta is prescient and, after examining his history, we can better see how he could so easily have committed the evil acts he did. Atta’s “morbid seriousness” is what qualified him to lead, and one cannot help but think of Maximilien Robespierre in such a context. Morbid seriousness is precisely what is characterologically essential to revolutionaries. Horowitz’s observation that martyrs hate life more than they love death is quite astute.Perhaps my favorite argument concerns the absurdity of utopian thinking as radicals believe that the world can be completely changed while most of us are not able to lose ten pounds. Such a comparison is admittedly mundane, but it is still an effective way to illustrate a profound truth as human beings are not infinitely malleable and never will be. Life is not an eternal May Day Parade. We spend our days severely challenged by the banal which, upon reflection, is not such a bad way to live.

⭐David Horowitz, agnostic, reformed radical son and full-time bête noire of the progressive movement, has written a book, which isn’t just an example of his protean powers as a thinker and writer but it’s a beautiful exposition of his spiritual insights into some of the most profound yet ultimately unanswerable questions about human existence.And this work indeed feels more like an exposition than an orderly narrative. Much like the great mathematician Blaise Pascal’s Pensées, a collection of his thoughts about God and existence that were literally sewn together, Horowitz examines Pascal’s reflections and adopts the same patchwork style, which works well.When it comes to trying to comprehend the meaning of life and death within the context of an infinitesimal reality, Horowitz’s brilliance, personal experiences and humility provides a wealth of valuable lessons that teaches us that the weight of consciousness doesn’t need to be a burden, but it’s an opportunity to discover meaning in a life that can only be meaningful when truncated by death.This is certainly a book worth reading by both believers and unbelievers in a higher power and the afterlife.

⭐I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I read the entire book in one evening, just simply couldn’t put it down. Horowitz makes you stop and think about the concept of life and your own existence. He examines life from the viewpoint of believers of different religions and non-believers alike. I will admit his personal battle with cancer in the middle of the book did push the envelope on becoming a bit tedious at times. Regardless though you are left with a new appreciation for life, and realize that life is constantly moving and the hours and minutes of your life are ticking by, never to be recovered. It does make you stop and think , appreciate and cherish, the things in life with real importance to you, that are often taken for granted in the daily struggle of life. I would recommend this book to believers and non-believers alike. Horowitz makes you stop time if not but momentarily to take stock of who you are and where you are going, reminding you that the journey is your life, not the destination. Very inspiring!

⭐I gave my husband this book, and he didn’t read it for months — not until he had to spend a day or two in the hospital. Well, he read it then, and absolutely loved it. Really took his mind off his physical maladies. The book is a treat for the soul and heart, and reveals a side to David Horowitz that not enough of his fans — or detractors – know is there.

⭐As perfect a statement of the human condition as you will ever read. Horowitz is the embodiment of Tikkun Olam. Read this book, repair yourself…this is the only revolution with a statistical success rate.

⭐Maybe I really liked this book because I have met David Horowitz personally, I’m not sure. Regardless, it is emotionally charged and a good read. A departure from his normal genre of writing, but a deep insight into the man. A worthwhile endeavor if you are a Horowitz fan.

⭐David Horowitz, justly applauded for his early memoir “Radical Son” has followed a path of narcissism and personal destruction ever since, culminating in this sickly sweet, sentimental diatribe of useless meandering without redeeming merit. We regret, of course, the illness the author has suffered (although it is hardly rare among men of his age), but to use this as literary device of self-aggrandizement is unbearably self-centered and without value. It may be that Horowitz new-found cult of fans on the hard right will find it merits the reduced price of roughly a movie ticket, but in retrospect, I wish I’d used the money for some more illuminating – lightbulbs, perhaps.

⭐I love David Horowitz. If only he could be cloned a few million times!!!!

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