Thanks Sam :) I'm a big lover of etymology for that reason. Listening to the original meanings in words is one way of keeping our eyes on that longer view/eternity that you speak of, even while focusing on our past/origins instead of our future. One of our biggest tendencies/dangers today is to keep our eyes fixed only on our present moment (and its often money-focused, dopamine-driven myopia).
In this respect, your question really resonates with me. While agnostic myself, I feel we've lost much of immense importance with the increasing secularization of modern society—community, a common ground of meaning, a clearer source of purpose, a less claustrophobic relationship to time. What to do about that, I don't have any clear and ready answers, but it's a question that preoccupies me often and will definitely be part of my explorations on this publication.
Quite the well written piece, JG. 🙂 I appreciated your exploration of etymology. It really put the words in their proper contexts: outside of the productivity-driven and money-focused definitions society has assigned to them.
Coming at this from a Christian perspective myself, though, I do have to wonder: if we attempt to pursue a purpose to which we are not called and put forth our own ideas of what we are meant to do, how can we be sure that the purpose we follow has a larger purpose within the context of the world and, arguably, of eternity? Just something to think about. 
Thanks Sam :) I'm a big lover of etymology for that reason. Listening to the original meanings in words is one way of keeping our eyes on that longer view/eternity that you speak of, even while focusing on our past/origins instead of our future. One of our biggest tendencies/dangers today is to keep our eyes fixed only on our present moment (and its often money-focused, dopamine-driven myopia).
In this respect, your question really resonates with me. While agnostic myself, I feel we've lost much of immense importance with the increasing secularization of modern society—community, a common ground of meaning, a clearer source of purpose, a less claustrophobic relationship to time. What to do about that, I don't have any clear and ready answers, but it's a question that preoccupies me often and will definitely be part of my explorations on this publication.
Quite the well written piece, JG. 🙂 I appreciated your exploration of etymology. It really put the words in their proper contexts: outside of the productivity-driven and money-focused definitions society has assigned to them.
Coming at this from a Christian perspective myself, though, I do have to wonder: if we attempt to pursue a purpose to which we are not called and put forth our own ideas of what we are meant to do, how can we be sure that the purpose we follow has a larger purpose within the context of the world and, arguably, of eternity? Just something to think about.