It is important to understand that the words we read and hear affect our minds and souls, and that ultimately what we believe is what we get. We cannot replace mind and soul but we can replace our understanding of the world around us and our connection to the heavens we believe we deserve.
In learning Heaven on Earth I have sought the standard secular and religious reasons as to why we are living here at all. Studying various histories and sciences I have come across new words, and in the search for definitions I notice that many words presently have different, and sometimes opposite, meanings than they did originally, and that sometimes only 20 years can now make a major difference in a word. The comparisons I make often change my understanding of certain words, and hence, of certain structures and functions of our society at large.
Beyond my personal enjoyment of etymologies, there are several reasons for these definitions. Primarily it is to point out changes in the meaning and use of particular English words. With several dictionaries on hand I take notes of the origins of words as I discover them, and then take the liberty to redefine them from my own point of view. The English language is ripe for it. It is 91 years since The Devil's Dictionary of Ambrose Bierce was published as a collection in 1906.
This material is not intended to offend, yet it may. There are many things I hold sacred that many English speaking persons do not. Conversely, there are some things you hold dear that I do not.
In 1974 a man I worked with complained that he was so poor he couldn't afford to pay attention. It occurred to me that when we are so poor that we can't afford anything else, we had better pay attention! There are some important pieces of information hidden in our language. Just see that you don't confuse the educational stuff with that only intended to amuse.
Roger Henry
1/18/97