Dictionary "F"

FAITH HEALER (from) faith + healer. The 1969 American Heritage Dictionary definition, "One who attempts to effect faith cures." In almost 20 years of observation of persons who stay well, as opposed to persons who seem to be needing some kind of treatments periodically, I find that faith in good health is paramount to having it. We get what we believe in! A faith healer is not someone who can effect a cure, s/he is someone who can remind the person who is not well to believe in good health, and have faith that well-being is a natural condition for us humans.

"The curative power of medicines often consists not so much in the spirit that is hidden in them, as in the spirit in which they are taken." -- Paracelsus (16th Century)

FAITHISM (from) Latin, trust. Found all over the planet in small groups that believe in, and trust, the Great Spirit (great mystery) that connects all life. Faithists are non-violent and practice peace, just as the legendary Jesus of Nazareth is said to have lived, holding all things in common with all beings. Included is the belief that the god of the planet is our older brother (or sister!), and that we have never needed saviors to petition the Creator for us since we are to commune with the Great Spirit ourselves, and have faith that the Creator is sufficient to the work created.

"Assuredly he alone is happy and possessed of greatness who, to be something, needs neither to rule nor to obey." -- Goethe

FAMILY (from) Latin familia, family, household, servants of a household, from famulus, servant. The idea of family is not complete without an understanding of service to others. The beginning of love, trust, truth, community, democracy, freedom, faith, etc. that makes this planet habitable.

FAR OUT (from) 60s slang. The condition of being distant, often used as a psychological profile. A balancing act of Nature for having fallen too "far in."

FARM (from) Middle English ferme, lease, rent, from Old French, (from) Medieval Latin firma, fixed payment, (from) Latin firmare, to fortify, fix, confirm, (from) firmus, firm. An infirm agreement to trade renewable resources for diminishing currency to multinational corporations who care not that America's topsoil is washing into the sea. Would it surprise you to know that the major owner of farmland in Arkansas is a very large insurance company? It should be a firm with a firm footing, since they are based on some kind of large overseas rock.

FASCINATE (from) Latin fascinus, a bewitching; amulet in the shape of a phallus. The next time you are "fascinated" with something, remember where the word came from.

FASCISM (from) Latin fascis, bundle. A system of government by the extreme right through the merging of state and business leadership that exhibits belligerent nationalism. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Except that now we call it deregulation. The amount of money such a government takes from the people whom it "governs" is a bundle.

FAST FOOD (from) food-like substances purchased by cosmopolitan psuedo-gourmets that want the same stuff with the same taste regardless of their location on the planet. It will soon be available off the planet, judging by the speed at which such franchises travel. Remember, as long as it's hot it's fresh.

"Lowered expectations means a happier life for me." -- Tuck Boys

FAT (from) Middle English, plump. A part of the human diet that is not bad for humans, but because of the way it is prepared, and consumed, becomes bad for humans. Humans have long consumed fat, so it is not that we eat it that is bad, it is how we eat it (fast), the amounts we eat (large), and the source (animal rather than vegetable). The major ingredient in FAST FOOD is animal fat.

FEDERAL RESERVE (from) Federal Reserve Act of 1914. A privately owned 'bankers' bank'. An oxymoron, since the Federal Reserve is neither.

FEMINIST (from) Latin femina, female. One (femoid) who advocates for womoids the same rights granted oids. Unfortunately, this noun/adjective has been given a lousy image by womoids who look, dress and act like the oids they wish to replace. Compare MASCULIST.

FIELD (from) Old English feld, open field, < Germanic felthuz, flat land, (from) Greek planasthai, to wander < "to spread out." One of the requirements of politicians is to "field" questions and then "to spread out" the answer so that no one remembers the question.

"If a politician says yes, he means maybe. If he says maybe, he means no. If he says no, he's not a politician."-- Seen in the Arkansas Gazette, 1986

FINGER An active symbol of reverence and irreverence when pointed at the heavens.

FIRETRUCK (from) Fire station. Another antietymopathism, since a firetruck carries water, not fire, to a fire.

FLASH FLOOD WATCH (from) Yup Consumerism. An alarm goes off when the watch is under water.

FOLK (from) Old English, people, nation, tribe. Now used to separate urban dwellers from their "primitive" rural ancestors. The group in any nation that contains the progenitors of future culture.

FOOL (from) Latin follis, "bellows," windbag. One endowed with questions that no one wants to answer. One who has answers to questions no one wants to ask.

FOOTBALL (from) Questionable behavior characterized by drug use, violence and aggressive expression (foot in the balls) on a rectangular outdoor field or before a rectangular indoor picture tube. The outdoor behavior is generally accompanied by the use of pain killers and stimulants, and the indoor behavior is accompanied by the use of stimulants and pain killers. Such barbarous activity continues to exist due to monumental support by commercial interests, gamblers and alumni. Return to ACADEMY

FOREIGN AID (from) Tax payers. Billions of dollars sent to other countries to assuage the pain of having sent alcohol laden missionaries, diesel powered agriculture and barbaric nuclear militarism that destroy their native religion, ecosystems and cooperation with their neighboring nations. Another name for deposits into secret Swiss and Bahamian bank accounts. Fortunately for us, some of the nations we assist send the money back to buy U.S. Treasury Notes.

FORGET (from) Old English forgietan (from) IndoEuropean ghend-, to seize, take. The IE prefix fer- denotes rejection, so forget is literally "to lose one's hold." There is no early reference to grasping with the mind, it was grasping with the hands. In Latin the IE root (prai-heda) became praeda, booty, "something seized before." These days we are given so much questionable stuff by the boys on Wall Street and Madison and Pennsylvania Avenues that it is easy to lose one's hold on reality. Hence, any kind of real knowledge of what is going on in the world is worth hanging on to, or, not worth forgetting.

"Sometimes I forget to remember, yet more often remember to forget." -- Roger Henry

FREEDOM (from) Old English freo, from IndoEuropean pri-, to love. Here we get to the heart of freedom. Who doesn't love to be free? When we are free we may more fully love ourselves, everyone else, God, Nature and the Universe. I believe that freedom is valued above all other rights, and that we only enjoy it when we allow others the same.

FRIGG (from) Norse Goddess of Love! Is it any wonder that the word has been used to indicate the reproductive act?

FUND DEMENTIALISM (from) Latin fundus, bottom. The bottom line is money madness.

FUTURE (from) Latin futurus. A source of anxiety. Most of us are hung up about the past and worrying about the future. (See the Interview with Lang Sine.) The obvious cure is to live for today, but as soon as we give up worrying about the future, we are labeled as fools, and it is blamed on our past. No doubt even the legendary Jesus of Nazareth would have a hard time in Republican USA.