Don't be an Idiot...

Blogger wont let me use the symbols font so my Greek is going to be transliterated. The Greek word "idios" means one's own. This word should look pretty familiar, being that it is where we get our word for idiot. I don't think I need to define idiot, but oxford english dictionary defines it as a stupid person, or a mentally handicapped person in terms of medicine however this is no longer common. My professor used the example that we used to refer to autistic people as idiots, I don't know too much about autism, but for the most part they are unable to relate to things that are outside of their own realm. However, that I know of idios in the Greek is not a word of degradation. The word ego also comes from a Greek word, transliterated it spells the same but it is pronounced differently, this word in the Greek means "I". It is amusing to see how these words have evolved.

We spend so much time thinking about only our own desires, dreams, only ourselves. If we were going back to the root of the word we would be defined as idiots. I can't help but wonder what we lose in turn for the things that we gain, we look for riches, possessions. What do we really gain for all our selfishness?

This is just something that has been on my mind lately. I have been realizing that if we define idiot slightly differently than we are used to and instead define it to someone who is so self absorbed that they cannot see outside of their own realm, it changes things. At this point, I have begun to realize that how much of an idiot, I myself have been.

What good is it to be so concerned with ourselves and then gain anything?

Now the word idios is not contained in the original text of this passage however, I think it fits with the subject matter.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"
Luke 9:25