Hallow (verb; noun), to make holy, to sanctify; a holy person, a saint. From old English haliga, halga — Middle English halwe, related to hælþ (being whole) — the origin of the modern English “health”. Obsolete word except in two important instances: Halloween (All-Hallows-eve), and in the Lord’s Prayer: 9 After this manner therefore pray […]
Author: timwarnock
Fungible
Fungible (adj); capable of being replaced, exchangeable, interchangeable. From Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungi “to perform” (e.g., fungor “I perform”) + ible “able to”. In other words, able to be performed, substituting one thing for another. In finance, money is fungible (e.g., a $20 bill is exchangeable for twenty $1 bills, and both are […]
Vagaries
Vagaries (n); uncertain and unexpected events, mental wandering. From the Latin vagari (to wander) from vagus (roving, wandering). In other words, to travel or wander in an eccentric and unexpected way. Also see, Peregrination.
Book I: Soma
The cosmos has been colonized, civilizations have risen and fallen, and humankind struggles amidst a multiverse of gods, demons, and precursor technology that is indistinguishable from magic. [ Buy now on Kindle ] Explore this mythic world of demons and monsters, of humanity in crisis, and emerge wiser, confronting the infinite void, and bringing the […]
Reading List
I love to read, and I’ve often struggled with multiple “to read” lists: handwritten in a journal, or on social media (back when I used social media), or books lying around waiting to be read. I’ve realized there are more books I want to read than I’ll ever have time for. This page is to […]
Orienting to the Unknown
Has anyone ever told you to get out of your comfort zone? We intuitively grasp the meaning of such advice, but what actually is a comfort zone? And where should you go when outside of said comfort zone? Comfort Zone To be fair, and despite conventional wisdom, a psychological comfort zone is not a bad […]
Prisoner’s Dilemma
The Prisoner’s Dilemma, from game theory, originally stated as: Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge, but they have enough to convict both on a […]
Writing as Thinking
Writing is a method of thinking. An essay, for example, is a trial of an idea. It literally means “to test the mettle of”. Yet even in poetry, writing is an exercise in thinking. In all manner of writing, ideas can be rearranged and refined. This allows weak ideas to be discarded, and strong ideas […]
The Fool
From Medieval Latin follus, from Vulgar Latin follis (foolish) meaning “windbag, empty-headed person.” The Fool is an archetypal character common in art and storytelling, often with religions connotations (be it Christian, Buddhist, or Islamic). In the esoteric interpretations of Tarot, the fool is a naive protagonist traversing the mysteries of life. The “Fool’s Journey” is […]
Peregrination
Peregrination (v: peregrinate); a journey or pilgrimage with mystic connotations, e.g., travel for the love of God; voluntarily explore beyond the known, beyond known danger and into the infinite unknown. As Carl Jung described it, the aim of the mystical peregrination is to understand all parts of the world, to achieve the greatest possible extension […]