![]() ![]() In Latin (Vulgate) translations of the Bible, Adam also uses it to describe Eve as a woman of valor. We can trace this evolution (or devolution, as Nietzsche would have it) even in the female application of vir. The Roman word virago described a woman warrior of man-like courage. In one stroke, he marks the genealogy of the word, contrasts two cultures (ancient Roman, modern Europe), and also marshals evidence for his own view that Western culture has become increasingly feminized and thus has declined and become effete. ![]() “Virtue, which originally meant virility in a man, came to mean chastity in a woman.” ![]() By the 18th century, virtue evolves to serve almost exclusively as a euphemism for a woman’s ability to preserve her virginity before marriage. The Latin word virga preserve this root: it means rod. There is the fundamental root equation: stick is a phallus or vice versa, and thus the concepts of man and other manly virtues like virility carry genital freight. So strip away yet another layer and you discover vir comes from an even earlier root, probably Hindo-Sanskrit or Greek, for stick, twig, or rod. In other words, the Hebrew word compresses the story of Creation into the three root letter ( a-d-m): God creates man from the earth, a being of flesh and blood. Where did that word come from? Why do those three letters come to mean so elemental a word as man? In Hebrew, the word for “man” – adam – is not only the name of the first man, but also embraces meanings or is related to words for “earth” (Adam was formed from the earth), “blood,” “red,” and more. You want to dig deeper beneath the Roman ruins to find the original image or metaphor that is imbedded in the ancient root of the word. But if you’re a Derrida-inspired etymologist like me, you’re not content with a mere 2000-year-old source. We shouldn’t be surprised that, when we dig deeper, we find its even more ancient root, vir, means man. Rely more on valor than on artifice and stratagem. Julius Caesar in Book I of The Gallic Wars, his macho historical narrative, advises that we should In ancient Rome, virtus meant “valor” or “courage” on the field of battle. Virtual has an interesting history as far as etymologies go. I think we can do that by looking at the curious history of the word virtual itself. ![]() Since we’ve made a trillion-dollar bet on it, wouldn’t it b e valuable to know what we mean when we use it? What deep human urge does it promise to fulfill? What itch is it scratching? Perhaps, armed with that deeper understanding, we may even be able to predict where it’s going. We’re saying it is “almost really” real, or virtually real – a beautiful oxymoron, and more or less accurate, depending on how cool your hookup gear and the simulations inside are. “It’s just about almost perfectly completely and for all intents and purposes as effectively true as truth … but not essentially, really true.”Īnd when we call it virtual reality, we mean a technology meant to fool you into thinking you’re experiencing something you’re not. #Virtual meaning registration#REGISTRATION is required.Chasing virtual reality, what we used to call cyberspace, has spawned a multi-trillion dollar worldwide industry, which makes it a pretty sexy phrase, right? But do we really know what we mean when we use it? In normal conversation today, when we say something is virtually true we’re saying something like, #Virtual meaning series#Please sign up for the series only if you’re able to attend all 4 sessions. #Virtual meaning free#What is meaning making? According to Roger Kegan’s theory of meaning-making development, meaning making “is a conceptualization of how human beings make meaning of themselves, of others, and of their experiences throughout their life-span.” In this 4-week series, you’ll have the opportunity for personal self-reflection through free writing and small group discussion that will be supported by short articles and readings on meaning-making and purpose of life.Īll sessions will be held virtually on Zoom from 12-1:30pm on 4 consecutive Thursdays. ![]()
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