Enthusiasm (ancient Greek: enthousiasmos) originally meant inspiration or possession by the presence of a god. In current vernacular the word simply means enjoyment, interest, or approval. Isn't that an unfortunate and even sad sign of the times?
The addictive Wikipedia tells us: "Enthusiasm: root - en-theos = in God. An enthusiast is a person inspired by god. Theopneustos = literally God breathed. When the early Christians would see someone convert to Christianity there was this overwhelming joy that followed the gift of Salvation but they had a problem: There was no word to describe this feeling. So they combined the two words (in God) creating the word (entheos) from which we get the English word Enthusiasm."
Is this the perfect example of the stripping of religion and Christ from our everyday lives? Yeah, sure, we all know to be outraged or at least incredulous over "Xmas" and "Winter Break," but the bastardization of powerful words like "enthusiasm" is more subtle and much more damaging.
How much have Christians contributed to the world? If you didn't immediately shout "Immeasurably!" then you don't know Christian history. But today I'm just talking about this one word. A word that I can't let go of lately.
The journey started with a feeling. All the best journeys do. I wanted to describe to someone far away what I felt in my heart. I cannot *stand* using platitudes and clichés and I'm annoyed when they leap to my mind. It's like my aversion to "overplayed" music; Yeah, I might *love* a song but if I hear it seven times a day every time I turn on the radio, I will hate it by the end of day three.
So how did I feel? "Inspired"? Well, yeah. But still, kind of weak. "Amazed"? So banal. "Fervor"? Hmm. That was getting closer. And that word, smacked into Google, my other constant companion like Wikipedia, brought me to the definition of "enthusiasm" as "Its uses are confined to a belief in religious inspiration, or to intense religious fervor or emotion."
!!!
"Really?!" I said aloud. "Geesh, that's not the 'enthusiasm' I've ever used before." But, omgosh, that is the enthusiasm I'm feeling today. Let me try to use this incredible, *Christian* word in a sentence... or attached to twelve sentences.
"When I see you, a great enthusiasm races through my body, stops my heart and I cannot breathe. I am frozen in heat, a warmth like tropical ocean tides, coursing over me. My eyes tear. I am moved from where I am to a place where you are. Where we are together. When I see you again, I know I'll be lost and found in your gaze. I am confounded by the power of your touch, memories of your hands on my face. Across thousands of miles, it is your words, white on black, blinking back at me across this digital age, that paint us together. A landscape of my amazement. Of you tearing down walls of false assumptions about what is possible and what is real. I knew at once that you were strong. I did not know until now that I was in love with you."
Yeah, enthusiasm is a very Terrapyre word.
E.J.
