skip this post if you’re tired of hearing, or rather reading, about words.

M

y words. But isn’t that what this blog is all* about.
Read this morning, for the umpteenth time:

He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.

CSL
The Problem of Pain
and had to look up the definition of inexorable again. Do I forget the definition because I don’t use the word? Could be.

inexorable

in· ex· o· ra· ble | i-ˈnek-sə-rə-bəl

: not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped: relentless
Just as the following always takes away my breath, and even though I get it, I have to look up the words again.

to experience it in the opposite way is … a solecism against the grammar of being

also from
The Problem of Pain

solecism

so· le· cism | sä-lə-ˌsi-zəm

2: something deviating from the proper, normal, or accepted order
3: a breach of etiquette or decorum

grammar

gram·​ mar | gra-mər 

4: the principles or rules of an art, science, or technique

synonyms—principles, essentials, fundamentals

there are so many

words and phrases in CLS writings that arrest me, yet I love to read them because they give me so much. Another one in particular, mercenary, I also have trouble digesting, yet ❣️

heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire

the problem of pain

our fear lest it should be a mercenary desire will die away and finally be recognized as an absurdity

the weight of glory

mercenary

mer·ce· nary | mər-sə-ˌner-ē 

1: serving merely for pay or sordid advantage

synonyms—coveting, greedy

this is not so much “about me,” is it?

* In my notes, I often, if not always (necessary here =), call out quantifying words because they are not necessary to complete most sentences, and do highlight them. Funny: there’s a bit of quantifying in this one sentence.