Tag Archives: piety

Baleful

Baleful (adj): threatening harm; menacingDictionary B

Happiness is not an expression. It is actually a way of expressing how much we are unwilling to give up on believing.

I often sit on a bench and watch people go by. I love people. There are certain things I don’t like about people, though–and primary among those distasteful portions are the facial gyrations they create to communicate their sense of maturity.

It often is a baleful etching across the features, to let me know that I’d better be careful, because they are tough and dangerous.

Matter of fact, we seem to be going through a political season where the candidate with the most crunched-up, contorted features, exhibiting great piety, becomes the rallying frown for the angry mob.

One day I was sitting in my van and a young man walked by, stomping along. When he came into my view I flashed him a smile, and he glared at me.

I couldn’t help myself. I laughed.

It was so silly, so contrived and so obviously unmotivated that a giggle just popped out of me. My window was rolled down so he asked me, “What’s so funny?”

“Everything, young man. Everything.”

He squinted and shook his head like he had encountered his latest crazy man and plodded away.

When no one’s looking, what does your countenance say to the world around you?

Because we have to realize–there’s always someone looking.

 

Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

*******************

NEW BOOK RELEASE BY JONATHAN RICHARD CRING

WITHIN

A meeting place for folks who know they’re human

 $3.99 plus $2.00 S&H

$3.99 plus $2.00 Shipping & Handling

$3.99 plus $2.00 Shipping & Handling

Buy Now Button

 

Arise

dictionary with letter A

Arise: (v) to get or stand up.

Laying in my bed on Christmas night, I was caught between the world of fatigue and the itch of possibility. I wasn’t sure whether to surrender or scratch.

The reason I was fatigued is because a mixture of aging, obesity and over-activity had left me nearly defunct.

Yet deep within my soul, the little boy who totes my dreams was anxious to see better. So as I have often done, rather than giving into the old man, I allowed my spirit to hobble to its feet, to chase the nymph of possibility.

When I finally caught up with him, I asked him, “What is it you want?”

He uttered one word alone.

“Arise.”

I realized what a poetic word it truly is. Its meaning has commanded armies and raised a Savior from the dead.

I looked at the little messenger with bewilderment. Finally I asked, “How shall I arise?”

He said:

“Arise from being satisfied, walk out of your contentment and be willing to be a bit confused for a season, so at the end you might be illuminated.

Arise from your fear of insufficiency and dare to empty yourself of what you have, and challenge the storehouse of God to refill.

Arise and see the world before you as an opportunity instead of a problem

Arise and look at your brothers and sisters as family instead of aliens.

And by the way, arise from the table before you eat too much.”

He giggled and ran away and I tried to follow to the best of my ability, lagging behind. I thought to myself:

Lagging behind hope was much better than dwelling in piety.

 

 

Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Apple-pie order

dictionary with letter A

Ap·ple-pie or·der (n): perfect order or neatness.

When I read today’s definition, I realized I had no recollection or information on this terminology, and since I am a writer on the Internet, I am fully qualified to expound on it in great detail.

For I will tell you–I like the phrase “apple-pie order,” and I realize that it is never used in our generation simply because we find that a certain amount of disarray is necessary to convey our individuality.

If you want to lose friends and not influence people, just suggest they initiate organization. It is the classic definition of “buzz kill.”

Because even though people cannot argue with your assertion that a certain amount of prioritizing is essential, they feel very American and freedom-minded by continuing their chaos in bliss.

What is the apple-pie order of life? Does it vary from one situation to another? Or has the evolution of the human experience shown us exactly how we work best?

I think that we, as human beings, are heart, soul, mind and body creatures.

When we make our decisions based on our bodies, we normally end up in some derivation of excess or hedonism.

If we decide our life goal based on what we think, we borrow too much from our training and parents’ philosophy and never gain our own sense of purpose.

Even those who feel they’re very spiritual by promoting prayer and God-seeking in the forefront tend to sprout too much piety and not enough practicality.

So we must begin with the heart. If we don’t deal with our feelings and rectify them with reality, they will hang around and kick us in the butt if we turn our backs.

So I think the apple-pie order when attempting to place things in a realistic framework is to start out with:

  1. What do I feel about this?
  2. Is there abiding knowledge or wisdom on the issue?
  3. Can I think of a way to take what I’ve just discovered about my feelings and universal truth and come up with a great idea?
  4. Can I motivate this old bod that I’ve carried around and encourage it to perform the functions that make me appear adept instead of inept?

So it turns out that the apple-pie order is so much like the dessert itself: it works better if you take some time to seek out an a la mode.

 Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Alleviate

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Alleviate: (v) to make suffering, deficiency or a problem less severe: e.g. he took measures to alleviate unemployment

You usually can tap a tear or draw a cheer by speaking against the evils of pain, poverty and suffering. And certainly, these nasty villains have crushing results on the weakest members of our society.

But I think you are often trying to treat the rash on your skin caused by the tumor in your heart. What we need to alleviate in order to improve the status and quality of life are:

  • Piety
  • Politics
  • Prejudice

They are the spawners of all pond scum, and therefore should be attacked for their vicious planning of the destruction of mankind.

In one stroke, piety makes us feel better than others and worse than God. It leaves us uncertain of our value, falling into a pit of pomposity to try to prove our worthiness for salvation.

Politics is the band-aid for the gaping wound which pretends to repair the breach, only to welcome deeper and deeper levels of infection.

And of course, prejudice targets an enemy who has done nothing to us other than being different, so that we might promote our own singularity as superior. It is the nastiest form of insecurity available in the arsenal of human weaponry.

Would we have war without politics, religion and prejudice?

Would there be hungry people if politicians, religionists and bigots weren’t restricting the flow of charity?

Would there be suffering if politicians were actually addressing the needs of society, churches were spreading the blanket of Jesus’ love to “the least of these,” and prejudice was dissolved and a liquidity of acceptance was poured forth?

Alleviate. Yes, I believe my job as a human being in the twenty-first century is to lessen the effect of piety, politics and prejudice, on the mind and heart of the common man.

In so doing, I will find that less pain, poverty and suffering will afflict the strangers–now acquaintances–around me.

 

Ad nauseum

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Ad nauseum: (adv.) referring to something that has been done or repeated so often that it has become annoying or tiresome.

Perhaps it is overstated to say there are things which cause me to want to throw up. It IS a bit dramatic. But still, everyone reading this is aware of the sensation of feeling nauseous, and actually desiring to regurgitate to get it over with. There is a point when you’re sick, when getting the illness OUT of your being seems rather pleasant.

I, for one, have found several facets of our everyday life and social structure to be worthy of such expulsion. Might I give you a list?

1. Religion that is more concerned about religion than it is people. (Urp.)

2. Politicians who tout the importance of debate and never pass legislation to help anyone. (See me quickly run to the bathroom.)

3. Those people who preach the beauty of capitalism only because they’re getting richer and salting it away in a Cayman Island bank account. (Pepto-Bismol will not help.)

4. Individuals who insist they are no longer prejudiced as they perpetuate the bigotry of their parents into their everyday lives, only masking it slightly, as a subtle choice. (Where’s my bowl?)

5. Movies that are chock-full of fantasy or remakes of subjects that have been done so many times that the plots are threadbare. (Please shoot me and put me out of my misery.)

6. Piety in all of its forms–be it Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Scientology, Amish or Republican and Democrat. (Please just bring me some cold 7-Up and soda crackers)

I could make a longer list, but I think you get my point. What creates ad nauseum is when we continue to espouse ideas, beliefs or even platforms that offer no proof whatsoever as to their viability in human life. For some reason, we’re just supposed to bow our heads and mumble some words of consecration in honor of what is really a dead, stinky idea.

When you smell something rotten, it makes you sick. If you decide to hang around until the smell either becomes acceptable or you get used to it, it doesn’t mean that it stinks any less or that you’re not just as sick.

The best way to handle anything that upsets your stomach … is to stay away from it.