Posts Tagged: Anu Garg
“Agathism”
“A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
The English language has hundreds of thousands of words. These words have work to do. They take their places in the dictionary, ready to serve, wherever and whenever you need them. Some are deployed often. Others only stand and wait.
This week we’ve summoned some of the words who have been patiently waiting for their turn in the dusty pages of the dictionary. Say hello to them. Put them to work. They are handy. They are happy to serve. They will do whatever you ask them to do, but please use them only for the good.
agathism
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: The doctrine that, in the end, all things tend toward good.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek agathos (good), which also gave us agathokakological and the name Agatha. Earliest documented use: 1830.
NOTES:
An optimist would say that everything is for the best. An agathist, on the other hand, would say that what’s happening right now may be unfortunate or evil, but, ultimately, it will all end well. For optimists (and pessimists) from fiction who became words, see here and here.
USAGE:
“His stubbornness and agathism have been an inspiration to me. I don’t naturally have his persistence. So I often ask my mother to put him on the phone when I am struggling with something. It doesn’t matter what the issue is or that he can’t possibly know the future. I just want to hear his standard line, the only setting he has: Everything will be OK in the end.”
Mieke Eerkens; All Ships Follow Me; Picador; 2019.” (From the website, https://mail.google.com/mail/u/2/#inbox/FMfcgzGmtDxFfZMbTTpplrbbLqfDBfDr, accessed 12-27-2021.)
I love Anu Garg! Never met the man, but I still love him! Why? Because, like me, he is a lover and cherisher of words.
Take the word for today, for example: “agathism”. What a wonderful word! Believing that things will turn out for the good in the end.
In a time of a deadly pandemic, widespread political vitriol and oppression, racism, greed, climate change and various other deadly goings-on, it may or may not be true that all things will ultimately work out for the good. But even if it’s just a myth, it might be a good one to believe. If we simply give in and marinate in the sludge of our current real and serious problems, we will simply become part of the problems.
I’ve been struggling here of late with depression that borders on despair. No more! I will practice agathism.
Agathism is biblical, too. The Bible does not sugarcoat the human situation. One of the things I really hate about the Bible is its in-your-face realism about human nature.
Yet the Bible also has this crazy—and seemingly contradictory—idea that everything is going to turn out well after all.
No, not for everyone. That’s true. But there is some good news even with regard to that. In the second letter of Peter, he writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9, English Standard Version)
What?! God wants everybody to be saved?!
Yep. If we choose not to be saved, that is our decision. And God will respect our decision. He won’t like it, but he will respect it.
The last of the book of the Christian Bible is called Revelation. In it, there is a lot of evil and violence, most of it caused by human beings. Yes, some of the violence is attributed to God, but God’s violence is a response to human violence.
But the book ends with a vision of a heavenly city that is full of peace, beauty, and joy. This is because the city is full of God’s presence. And it is full of many people, too.
The story goes that Billy Graham was once asked by a gaggle of reporters if he was an optimist or a pessimist. “I am an optimist,” Graham replied. There were lots of bad things going on the world right then. Imagine that! So, one of the reporters asked a follow-up question: “How can you be an optimist, considering all the horrible things that are going on right now.”
Graham’s answer is a classic. “I’ve read the last page of the Bible, and I know how it all turns out.”
How about closing out this horrible year and beginning the next with an agathistic attitude? I think I’ll make a stab at it. Who knows? Perhaps my attempts will turn out well in the end?
“Warning! Cautionpassenger Approaching!”
I receive a wonderful word-of-the-day each weekday from the site https://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html. (You can and should sign up for this free daily e mail as well.)
This week’s words are “tosspot words”. Tosspot words, according to Anu Garg, are compound words made up of a verb (which occurs first) and a noun. The noun must be the object of the verb. (There are other definitions of the word “tosspot.” These include a person who drinks too much, or anyone who does anything objectionable. It is one of those wonderful British all-purpose insults.)
Today’s word was “cutpurse,” which in an old word which means the same thing as “pickpocket.”
Anu told a wonderful story of going home to India as a university student. He was on a train. Several men gone on the train at a station. One of them warned young Anu that he needed to be very careful. There were a lot of pickpockets around. Anu patted his billfold, which was still there. When he got off the train, it wasn’t. Apparently, the man who had warned him about pickpockets was the pickpocket—or cutpurse, if you will.
Anu came up with a wonderful tosspot word for the man who had warned him and lightened his load: “Mr. Cautionpassenger.”
This set me to thinking, not so much about words, as about reality. It may be that the people who are warning us are the real danger. Often people who are wanting to warn us about things may be the very perpetrators of the thing about which they are warning us. (The Apostle Paul warned us of the same thing. You may read Romans 2:1ff. for further details.)
Watch out for those who warn you to be careful about your investments. They may be about to sell you fraudulent stocks.
Watch out for those who warn you about liars. They are probably lying to you.
Watch out for those who warn you about sexual misconduct. They are probably on the make.
Be ware of people who warn you about people who warn you about people.
Be ware of all “cautionpassengers.”
We seem to live in a time when everyone is warning everyone about everyone. The liberals warn us of the conservatives, and conservatives warn us of the liberals. The Republicans warn us about the Democrats, and the Democrats do the same concerning the Republicans. Those who like to think of themselves as “independents” may be the biggest cautionpassengers of all, since they warn us of everyone.
I think that the real issue underneath the issues is fear of our own fear. However, those who encourage us to fear others, no matter who the “others” are, may be the real danger.
This danger is two-fold. On the one hand, we ourselves are easily manipulated by fear. On the other hand, we try to manipulate others with fear. We are all, at least in some measure, “cautionpassengers.” And, of course, this blog is a warning against all who warn you of things. Thus, my posting of this both illustrates and violates the very thing I am warning you about.
If we cultivated within our own selves deep integrity, we would not be as prone to manipulate others by their own fears. We might also be less prone to allow cautionpassengers to manipulate us with our own fears.
“ON THE IMPORTANCE OF NAMES”
I have discovered a wonderful website called A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg. In addition to my Scripture reading, prayers, and addiction recovery activities, it is a very important part of how I begin my day. (Anu Garg would probably be amazed to find that a Christian finds his writings to be extremely helpful, but at this Christian does! Hey! Truth is truth wherever you find it.)
As an introduction to today’s word (and, indeed as an introduction to this week’s words), Garg tells a wonderful story about a flight attendant he encountered. Her name was “Frankly.” No story behind the name; her father just wanted to name her that.
Names are important. If we have children, it is important what we name them. In the Bible—particularly in the Old Testament—the names given to children often foreshadow their characters. However, sometimes Old Testament characters are given really crappy names. For example, the name “Caleb” apparently means “dog.” The name “Jabez” seems to be related to the Hebrew word for pain.
Now, I got teased on the playground a lot anyway. I’m so grateful that my mom and dad didn’t name me “Dog” or “Pain.”
However, Caleb was a bold, risk-taker, and Pain wasn’t. I mean he wasn’t pain. Some people live up to or down to their names, while others live way beyond their names.
What we call ourselves and one another matters. I have a tendency to call myself very unflattering names. Sometimes, I extend the same courtesy to others. Such name-calling is not helpful. In fact, it is harmful.
A good friend of mine doesn’t like it when I call myself an addict. He would like me to say instead, “I have an addiction.” He may well have a point.
Perhaps I could experiment with calling myself and others some good names, some hopeful names. I am not fond of some politicians, but what if I stopped calling them nasty names? They may or may not change, but I would change, and change for the better. The names we give other people don’t just affect them. They also help to form us.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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