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Ritual
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gyrus
gyrus
41 posts

Re: Ritual
Jan 13, 2006, 21:46
> We are worlds apart and I repeat that the word "sacred" has no meaning for me. Many things in my perception of the world are special, valuable, vital, mysterious, beautiful, precious etc etc, but I call none sacred.

I posted in response to something else you wrote saying I think it's a historical accident that the word sacred has been tied to the idea of "beyond criticism", which seems to be its key meaning for you. But hey, if you had the power to nuke the word out of existence I probably wouldn't miss it, the experience remains.

> I think that I do understand what you and Paulus mean by "sacred", but that doesn't mean that I share it.

All is well! I think there was an impression that "it has no meaning for me" meant you were struggling with what we were implying with the word.

> Have you found a dictionary that lists "numinosity" or have you invented it?

It brings back 13,000 results on Google, so I probably can't claim to have invented it. But I was genuinely fascinated to realise that it's not actually in the dictionary, not least because most of the people I know (and I suspect most people here) will know exactly what is implied when it's used - at least in general terms, even it things can't be pinned down to a pedant's satisfaction.
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