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"There is no such way to gain admittance, or give defense to strange and absurd
doctrines, as to guard them round about with legions of obscure, doubtful, and
undefined words; which yet make these retreats more like the dens of robbers, or
holes of foxes, than fortresses of fair warriors." - John Locke
Definitions/Descriptions
Updated:
08/20/2019
There are at least three levels of problems associated with
definitions: 1) they can be shallow or irrelevant, 2) they can be blurry
or indistinct, and 3) they can be misguided or wrong.
There are dozens of dictionaries that are published, and many online, so
why bother to deal with definitions on this site? The answer is that too
many times the definitions given are shallow and little more that lists of
synonyms, and don't get down to the bedrock of the issue. For instance, the
deep definition of "worship" is: To give credit for the sustenance or
enhancement of life, or some combination thereof. But try to find that definition in ANY dictionary out there!
The proffered definitions are all shallow or misguided.
One of the significant problems in human affairs and the intellectual and
spiritual arena of this world is that we are apathetic to good precise word
definitions and usage. Our original words with rather clear and specific meanings have
been blurred and conflated, used interchangeably when not valid. And we let
the meaning of the words change and drift over relatively short periods of
time. This careless drift is part of our messy world, and introduces
systemic obfuscation. One of the best (or worst) examples of conflation or
overlapping general usage is this trio of words: See:
rational, logical, and
reasonable
Dealing with spiritual issues without adequate word definitions is like
fixing watches with blurry vision and shaky hands. The communication is incomplete,
misguided, and/or misunderstood, and the confusion and frustration mount up
until usually people are turned off to further discussion. Word definitions
in usage today have wandered significantly from their
original and more precise meanings. with many of these definitions now "obscure,
doubtful" and vague. The definitions below are an attempt to go back to
the original meaning of the words in their Sanskrit and Indo-European roots. Most dictionaries are ignorant of Sanskrit often
having the deepest roots. English has come to us primarily from
Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, the three
ancient languages from which about 90+% of English originated.
APPREHEND v. to grab hold with the mind, but does
not imply the greater dimensions of understanding or comprehending.
BELIEF n: a conviction or mental acceptance by or through
CHOICE of something or certain things as true and real. Distinguished from
knowledge in that belief is not fully based on sensory input, experience, empirical
evidence or logic dissociated from purpose and reason. It is compelled
by either attraction to goodness or objection to evil.
BELIEF SYSTEM n: that intellectual structure
of learned knowledge, indoctrinated concepts and chosen beliefs that
determines our will, conscience and ultimate behavior. See: paradigm,
religion.
BELIEVE v: This word does not just mean to retain the selected concept
in one's belief system, but means to choose to incorporate a certain conception from an
issue, which is not totally knowable from information, into your belief system because you like
or love the concept; from "be" meaning be and "liev" meaning like or love.
Just holding onto a concept that one did not consciously
choose is not actively believing, like locking yourself behind the door
instead of opening it and looking through it to see if you want to GO
through it. It is always either fear of evil or credit for goodness that
compels belief.
Specifically, in a moral and religious
reference, (believe) is used in the New Testament of the conviction and trust to
which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and
law of his soul (Thayer's GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON of the New Testament,
4th edition). See: belief system, knowledge, choice, conception,
idealism, religion.
BLASPHEMY n The act of insulting or showing
contempt or a deep lack of respect or reverence.
CHARACTER n: The active ethos of a person, and it
is the continuity of purpose and attitude, which comprise the will.
Character lies more directly in the will, which "may" be responsible enough
to set boundaries for thinking and behavior.
COMPREHEND v: Literally to encircle or enclose, to fully
engulf with the mind, and it transcends apprehension and implies
understanding.
CONCEIVE v: The act or ability of becoming pregnant with ideas, of
forming or developing ideas in the consciousness by intellect or
insight; to think, imagine, understand or comprehend. See: mind,
intelligence, intellect, heart.
CONCEPT n: A mental formation or structure that coalesces
from previously learned material that seemingly makes something more
coherent, organized or more meaningful. CONCEPTION implies a package of
closely knit concepts related to a matter.
CONFUSION n: literally "with melting", a state
where reality is blurred so as to not be clear or distinguishable,
ultimately not knowable. See:
superstition, mysticism.
CREDO n: generally same as creed. Latin for I believe, and
thus a personal statement of belief.
CREED n: somewhat brief and specific outline or statements of belief, generally held to be
authoritative by some formal organization.
DEISM n: Belief in a Creator that does not care to provide a
special revelation beyond the natural world. Contrasts with
Theism
DEITY n: Essentially in most cases equivalent to a Creator
or demigod, but does not imply the dimensions of a God worthy of the term..
DEVIL n: the term actually means "divider" (Diabolos
in Greek), and in false
traditional Christian theology stands for the original empowered angel
now turned completely evil when it should stand for the original lie. NOT
the same as Satan.
DIVINE adj: having the nature or virtue of healing. The
common contrast with "human" is an artificial one.
"The word theion
translated 'brimstone' is exactly the same word theion which
means 'divine'. Sulfur was sacred to the deity among the ancient
Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and to
consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their
incense. In Homer's Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as
purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from
theion is theioo, which means to hallow, to make divine, or
to dedicate to a god. (See: Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon,
1897 Edition.)
DOCETISM n: the doctrine, characteristic of the Christian Gnostics, that
Jesus did not really suffer in the flesh, but only appeared to do so.
DOCTRINE n: a theory presented as to have been
carefully considered, a teaching or the set of teachings of a belief system
that is advocated by being carefully worked out from bases and principles
considered to be true. See: belief, dogma, precept,
tenet.
DOGMA n: a decreed belief or set of beliefs that is formally and
authoritatively affirmed, and is considered to be unassailable or
indisputable.
ECCLESIA n: an ancient Greek word which refers to a
group of people who are called or selected because of their wisdom and
insight, and
come together to do something about the ultimate or extreme issues which
they find themselves facing. NOT the same as church, denomination, or any
other multitude of people.
ETHICS n: the philosophical study of proper standards of conduct and value
judgment, specifically as to how they affect other people's right and
wellbeing; and/or any resultant system or code of
behavior of a person or group. NOT to be conflated with Morals. Ethics
primarily applies to how we treat other people, and morals primarily apply
to how protect and enhance our own morale.
ETHICAL adj: not in violation but in harmony with
other human rights or well-being.
EVIL n: That which diminishes, interferes with or
threatens the sustenance and enhancement of life and THEREBY DECREASES
MORALE. See:
Definition of Evil
FAITH n: the personal commitment of volition to choose, in the realm of
belief, the best or personally most positive aspect of issues rather
than the negative. To first trust God that he has given you an innate
ability, and ultimately, to trust that ability to understand and
appreciate him, and trust that he will actively lead you in that
understanding and appreciation. A general stance that the prevailing
ethic in the wider universe is goodness, not evil. See: believe.
FEAR n: the giving of credit for the possibility or intent of
decreasing, detracting from, or eliminating the sustenance and/or enhancement of life. The
opposite of worship. FEAR v: to give such credit.
FORGIVENESS n: The dismissal of, or giving of relief from,
emotional trauma or concern for both the recipient and the giver.
FREEDOM n: Freedom incorporates as much liberty as
reasonable, but focuses on freedom FROM evil results, and liberty focuses on
unrestrained behavior. Freedom should be MORE important and extensive than liberty because
liberty is restricted by ethics. See: Liberty
GNOSIS n: supposedly true or special knowing
GNOSTICISM n: a religion about planet earth and its place in
the universe as an outlying region occupied by the evil force struggling
against the power of good.
GOD n: traditionally defined as a transcendent
supra-human being in terms of power and control, the term should instead be
value-loaded with goodness and refer to a being or entity with ideal character, purpose
and values for us as individuals and as a corpus. The term should be decoupled from the
term Creator because these are not the same, and the relevant issues are different.
GOODNESS n: That which supports and delivers the
sustenance and enhancement of life, and thereby increases morale.
HELL n: wrung from a very strained doctrine based upon a
very few New Testament texts, which are mistranslated or misinterpreted, it is supposed to be a
place of eternal torment where the doomed participants are tortured with
their flesh literally and endlessly burning. The foundation for this construct
ultimately comes from the fire and brimstone raining down from the sky in
many
ancient planetary catastrophes.
HOLY SPIRIT, n.: The all sufficient attitude,
the "God Spirit", truth inspired attitude, or Inspirational Love
Attitude. It is not a ghostly entity nor a being that is alive or is a member
of the trinity.
HOSANNA v. A form of a Hebrew verb, it is an ardent demand.. Hosanna means
"now or with all speed', avenge us,
defend us, deliver us, help us, succor us, preserve us, rescue us, save us,
get victory for us." Christendom confuses this as a term of praise,
HYPOCRISY n: this is a compound word from Greek "Hypo", meaning
below, underneath, or lacking in, and Greek "Krisis", meaning distinction, discrimination, judgment,
decision, critical thinking, and literally means inauthentic behavior, thinking, or
especially belief below or lacking in critical judgment.
IDEALISM n: that inner spiritual sense or
conception from the heart or internal reference point which conceives of how
things should be or as one would ultimately want them to be. See: believe, heart.
INFORMATION n: facts or data that are incorporated into a person's mind
that become useful or significant; different from knowledge or truth.
See: knowledge, logical.
INSPIRATION n: an idea or compendium of information, the
aspects of which appeal to the mind and emotions. raises morale, and motivates a person to act or
behave in a certain way. NOT the same as Revelation.
INSTRUCTION n: something presented to be learned, and can be a teaching,
lesson, precept or direction; but not an order to be obeyed. See: commandment, direction.
KNOWLEDGE n: learned structures of information or logical conclusions
that take on quality, value and meaning for a person; not the same as belief,
which is more volitional. See: information, logical, truth. See:
Knowledge Categories
LANGUAGE n: any extensive system of signal codes.
A complete or mature general language has "words" that can define the
meaning of other words and describe the various aspects of objects,
experience, matters and other facets of reality. Written languages generally
have alphabets and mathematical symbols that can do the same.
LIBERTY n: Liberty is the extent to which behavior
is unrestrained, and ideally it is restrained only be ethics and
responsibility. See: Freedom
LICENTIOUSNESS, n: a legalistic term referring to taking a
license to violate the false, mythical code of fiat law or its
interpretation. The heritage of freedom and liberty IS our license to do anything that
we so desire as long as it is ethical, isn’t dangerous or harmful and
increases morale.
LOGICAL adj: able to interpret and deal with the
facts and information of a matter and come to some sound conclusions and
knowledge. Not the same as rational or reasonable.
LOVE v: Loving involves improving the sustenance and enhancement
of another person's life. When you truly love someone more than just
emotionally, you don't just want or need them but you are
highly motivated to deliver what they need and what they want, and yet may be
precluded from doing so by inability or circumstances. When you love someone
literally, you actually deliver to some extent what they need and what they want.
Genuine love is certainly NOT FEELING OR SENTIMENT. Thus genuine love cannot be decoupled from fulfilling legitimate needs and
desires.
LUCIFER n: the term originally meant "light bearer"
in Latin and
is used in ancient mythology and the Old Testament to refer to either the planet
Mars or Venus, both of which played the role at different times of being the light bearer
having "fallen" from the realm above.
MATTER n: something serious or of some import, a development or
issue that has meaning, i.e., that affects the enhancement or sustenance
of life, something that affects feeling and emotion.
MEANING n: that which potentially or literally
succors and feeds the soul, and satisfies its needs and desires and
increases understanding or morale. See: spirit.
MORALITY n: The study or concern over behavior that
affects our morale and the morale of others. The intrinsic level of morale
enhancement in a given action or situation. NOT the same as ethical, which
involves the rights and wellbeing of others..
MYSTICISM n: That which cannot be understood, but only accepted.
Contrasts with mystery in that a mystery is something which is not
understood at the time but which CAN be understood with more information. Associated with
superstition.
ORTHODOX adj: Original meaning is essentially 'right
belief" but now has little meaning besides "majority" or mainstream,
and the word in common usage no longer implies true or right belief..
PARADIGM n: from the Greek word "paradeigma", which means model or
pattern; it is the under-girding conceptual framework of our conceived
reality that describes boundaries, structures our perceptions, and
limits or determines what conclusions we make out of information and what truths
we come to hold from these conclusions.
PERCEPTION n: the act or ability of taking hold,
or grasping mentally; recognizing, observing or becoming aware through the
five senses or intuition. See: apprehend, mind, consciousness, intelligence, sentience.
PHILOSOPHY n: from the Greek, "friendly to
wisdom" or "love of Wisdom", the systematic study and collection of wisdom
and the pursuit of truth incorporating experience, science and theology.
See: religion, science, theology.
PRECEPT n:: an instruction or directive intended to be a rule of action or conduct.
RATIONAL adj: able to recognize and access the
pertinent facts and information concerning a matter. Not the same as logical
or reasonable.
REACT v: to deal with a situation or
matter in an automatic, thoughtless or merely emotional way. Contrasts with
Respond. which incorporates responsibility.
REASON n: 1) the purpose of a thing or
action, 2) The use of purpose and logic; REASON v, to use logic and purpose
to sort out or arrive at the essence or truth of a matter.
REASONABLE adj: in accordance with
the information, logic and purpose of a matter. NOT the same as but
incorporates and
transcends Rational and Logical.
RELIGION n: this word comes from "re", meaning again or
to do
again, and from Greek roots
meaning to collect or bind with reason, giving 'bind together with
logic'. It has come to mean the personal formal belief system and
practices pertaining to all spiritual and experiential realities, one's
overall logical and reasonable conception of all reality. A religion
that does not bind God and man together with logic is a false religion.
See: logical, philosophy, science, theology.
RESPOND v: to deal with a situation or matter in a considered,
constructive, measured, effective way. Contrasts and/or transcends "react", which is
a more emotional, unconstructed or automatic stimulus to act.
RESPONSIBILITY n: literally the
ability to respond appropriately; should NOT be confused with assigning blame.
REVELATION n: a revealing of actual facts and
information through words or a demonstration that is conveyed and appeals
to, and is accessed by the rational intellect. Contrasts with
Inspiration.
SALVATION n: an actual deliverance or preservation from
pain, suffering, danger,
harm, or death. Contrasts with being taken to heaven or being in a state of merely designated
salvation.
SATAN n: the term in Hebrew means blocker, obstructer or one who opposes;
in the Old Testament an angel that worked for God and now is wrongly associated
or conflated with the New Testament Devil.
SCIENCE n: although the word originally meant knowledge, it now
signifies the systematic observation, study and verification of experiential
information and possession of knowledge of the facts and consistent
logical extensions or conclusions about an object, the material universe
or its aspects and systems. Science deals in the realm of the tangible,
physical, knowable or observable, and pertains to knowledge of how and
what things happen. Science is essentially the study of causality but is excluded from
dealing with why in terms of ultimate
purpose.
A specific science definition would be according to D.E.
Collingwood: "The word 'science', in its original sense, which is still its proper
sense not in the English language alone but in the international
language of European civilization, means a body of systematic or orderly
thinking about a determinate subject-matter." See: philosophy, religion, theology.
SPIRIT n: attitude, sum total of a persons purpose, values, innate
desires, and will held to give life meaning to physical
organisms, a temper or disposition of mind, the activating or essential
principle influencing a person, a special attitude or frame of mind, a
mental disposition characterized by firmness or assertiveness, the
general intent or real meaning of a communication. Contrasts with concepts
of incorporeal beings and entities. Specifically in
ontology, the director of human volition and will.
SPIRITUAL adj: on the opposite end of the spectrum from physical it
primarily means non-material, related to producing morale, meaningful, pertaining
to the realm of theological ideas and beliefs, relating to intellectual, philosophical
and religious matters rather than material matters. Stands in fundament
contrast with Physical or Material.
SUPERSTITION n: an idea or belief that is
unscientific or of unsound logic that sets up a false understanding
that bypassed the truth or proper action, and often sets up a context of
fear. See: fear,
mysticism.
TENET n: a principle or belief that is maintained or
defended rather than being presented as merely doctrinal teaching or
hypothesis. See:
Dogma.
THEISM n: Belief that the Creator has given us a "special
revelation" beyond that which can be inferred from looking at ourselves or
the natural world. Contrasts and transcends Deism.
THEOLOGY n: the systematic study of and reasonable
interpretation of conceptual information, and possession of spiritual
knowledge and consistent logical extensions or conclusions primarily about
the Creator and theism as subject. Theology deals with the intangible or
initially unknowable, spiritual truths which one must choose to believe, and
should always pertain to why as well as how the Creator relates to the
universe and humanity. See:
philosophy,, theism, religion, science.
"The word theion
translated 'brimstone' is exactly the same word theion which
means 'divine'. Sulfur was sacred to the deity among the ancient
Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and to
consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their
incense. In Homer's Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as
purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from
theion is theioo, which means to hallow, to make divine, or
to dedicate to a god." (See: Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon,
1897 Edition.)
TRINITY n: in traditional Christian theology, the holy
trinity stood for the godhead of three gods in one, a mysterious and
confusing construction impossible to understand. The concept derives from
the ancient Trimurti of planet gods.
TRUTH n: the valid, correct and beautiful conception or construct of
knowledge and belief as it relates to literal reality and ultimately to
God and humanity; not the same as knowledge or belief. On a lesser
level, it means the correct distillation from the pertinent knowledge. See: knowledge,
belief,
choice, wisdom.
UNDERSTAND v: The word "understand" is a compound word composed of
"stand" and "under" implying support. In terms of concepts and ideas it
is to know, or intellectually grasp or See: enough of the idea or concept
to properly deal with it. In terms of relationships with other living
beings it means to spiritually and/or psychologically
see enough of the person's makeup, the character, purpose, values,
mindset or attitude, and behavior, to lend at least
some degree of legitimate agreement and support. In the case of a person
worthy to be called God, presumably upon seeing enough, we would
enthusiastically and wholeheartedly endorse and support.
Greater or more expansive than conceive or
apprehend, the word "understand" is not as far-reaching or presumptuous as
to comprehend. And so it is a mistake to confuse the meaning of the words
"comprehend" and "understand". See: comprehend, which
comes from a root meaning to encircle, to encompass, to
totally surround or engulf. Seeing and encompassing are two distinctly
different actions or endeavors, and the words based in their roots
cannot legitimately mean the same thing.
VOLITION n: a three tiered structure of potential in the Homo Sapien,
which like language and other abilities and facets can be awakened to
nurture the spiritual growth of a Human Being. It can be simplified in this way: 1) We can
CHOOSE what to believe, 2) We can WILL how to be, and 3) We can DECIDE how
to act and
what to do. The operation of the latter two depend greatly upon the first.
WISDOM n: a combination of factual knowledge, true belief, humane
values, proper purpose, valid experience and understanding of God and
humanity resulting in a practical ability to sustain and enhance life
and deal with complex or expansive situations. See: believe, knowledge, purpose, understand.
WORSHIP v: to give credit for the origin, yet more
especially the sustenance, and most especially the enhancement of life. The opposite of
fear.
For those definitions related to life see: Life Definitions
For those definitions related to the mind see: Mind Definitions
For those definitions related to the intellect see:
Intellect Definitions |