IDENTITY: to be individual and unique, character. All things are the same,
unidentifiable until they are dented, born and given through pain and defacement, life and identity.
lDlOTlC: id + otic. Precisely, to contain the id. Yes, this is a foolish idea. We must have access to the impulses which drive our nature, our id. ldiocy is a suppression as Freud tried to point out, l'm afraid.
ILLOGIC: logic arriving out of sickness, illness. Not having your head on straight. The most illogical thing is love (Love is without logic, Meister Eckhart), so love must be a sickness. The second greatest sick- ness/illogic is madness (Mad love, L'Amour Fou, Andre Breton for example). Yes, in love we lose our heads. But at least in the land of illogic there are no errors, all exists on an equal footing, oranges may be blue. ( William Law gave us the law, “love has no errors, all errors are but the want of love.”.
ILLUSION: something you see when you are ill. Not real, as in “it's all in your head”.
IMMACULATE: perfect, without blemish. The immaculate conception was the “perfect idea”, a woman being able to give birth without a man's help. As we all know, if it ain't broke, don't let a man fix it.
IMPORT: not in the port, so it must be brought in. Things that one does not have are very important.
IMPOSSIBLE : what can't be done. Nothing is impossible, it is just that we don't
have enough time to do it, get it done, see/think it through. lt is all a question of
human endurance. God it is considered, can do anything - only for God is nothing
impossible (so then can God just do nothing, or is he always busy? ). So therefore, can God make a rock so big he can't push it? see PARADOX.
IMPOTENT: not with strength. Not important.
INDECENT: not nice, crude. Something or someone who is in descent, going down to hell in a hand basket (and how does one exactly go to “hell” in a handbasket? Who is the carrier, the virus? Was this where Moses was heading when he was pushed down the Nile as a babe, until miraculously saved?).
INCOME: what comes in, usually meaning money. lf you don't have any income you might then experience a very disastrous outcome. see POOR, BANKRUPT
INFALLIBILITY: can't do wrong, can't fall. The ability during a crisis or a fall, to recover usually by miraculous or divine measures. Super heroes and the
Pope possess this quality in abundance.
INFERIORITY: the strange fear of being laid off despite many years of faithful service and seniority.
INFINITY: the place of the end. What
comes atter what we know. Therefore,
we don't know what infinity is except that it goes on forever, a long time. Can an
infinity exist within another infinity, as in Nietzsche's eternal recurrence? There is
only so much matter, things that matter, that exist and thus, only a finite number of
possible interactions between these things. Thus, all things must happen again, in
the exact same way eventually, given that time is infinite. Sooner or later, the same
chess game has to be played twice. But what if there was an infinity of things within the infinity of time? Would there then be no repetition, all godly, divine and unique? Doesn't this also imply that nothing doesn't exist - there is only everything, all things? Are we then nearer to the answer of " how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"
INFLAMED: hot under the collar, burning with envy, angry as hell, all fired up.
INGENUITY:a good mechanic possesses this trait. Usually not a body man, his mind is always on the job.
INNOCENCE: a state of purity, sacred. "ln no sense", someone who has no sense. Cast out of heaven, angels are said to be innocent. But here on earth their senses don't work so well and they make a mess of things. They can't even give their own two sense worth. Thus, like fallen angels, the innocent stand apart in this world, unable to live because they haven't come to their senses yet. Perhaps not realizing that the earth is a fallen place ever since Eve picked the apple and was cast out of the garden. But then, does innocence imply knowledge, true knowledge?
Adam and Eve were cast out because they picked an apple from the tree of
knowledge, because they wanted to know what God knew. So isn't innocence really
the knowledge of this first knowledge? A knowledge of how paradise works but
which just doesn't quite work "on the ground", so to speak?
INSOLENCE: the condition induced by not taking one's insulin regularly.
INSPIRATION: in the spirit of. The spirit of someone takes us over and so
inspired, we continue their efforts into the unknown. Not to be confused with being
possessed.
INSPIRE: to breathe in, to inhale (hail ! hail !) spirit and life. People who are inspired are breathing well, full of the creative.
INSURANCE: money paid in lieu of future damages. You can be sure these people are in with the devil, receiving more than in the future they'll give. Life insurance is not a form of assuring continual life, it just sounds that way (but you
do sell your soul to the devil, a Faustian bargain for sure), certainly better to sell than death insurance. lt sounds more problematic also. A reductio ad absurdum, a term belonging with many others notably; child poverty ( can a child be poor - only if they are wage earners ), full employment (servility), social democracy (everyone is equal and no one cares about anyone else ) and political correctness (how can politics do anything correct?).
INTERCOM: between communists. A peculiar “newspeak” prevalent in communist propaganda and literature. Examples of which include; the masses, cornrade, proletariat, bourgeoisie, revolution.
INTERCOURSE: communication, dialogue between individuals. Many people have sexual intercourse but in course, in the loneliness of our times, the intercourse got lost. So of course, now we just have sex.
INTONE: to call for. When we say a word in the right manner or in tone, then we believe we will receive what was called for. An example would be the Cabalistic notion that to say the name of God correctly is outside man's capabilities, so we must not intone god and refrain from speaking his name, lest we do so in vain.
INSOMNIA: the inability to sleep. Why is it in somnia, not out somnia, out of sleep?
INVADER: Darth Vader was the original invader (in the time before time which is Hollywood film making). He was first called “Dark lnvader”, then the film makers personalized the name.
IRONIC: a dramatic contradiction in terms. Ex. lsn't it ironic that man has stood on the moon and played golf but yet can't make a wrinkle-free shirt?
YOU ARE READING
The Idiot's Dictionary
Non-Fiction"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Hu...
