13 April 2014

metanoia

[met-uh-noi-uh]

noun

1. a profound, usually spiritual, transformation; conversion. Example: ‘After years of persecuting Christians, Saul of Tarsus experienced a metanoia, becoming one of the most influential forces in Christendom where he is now better known as the Apostle Paul’.
2. a fundamental change of character. Example: ‘Her metanoia from flibbertigibbet to philosopher was astounding’.
3. the journey of changing one’s heart, mind or self. Example: ‘His metanoia to greater compassion and understanding commenced when he read the wistful and poignant words of the destitute victim’.
4. rhetorical term for self-correction in speech or writing. An example of metanoia in literature:
“One of the greatest myths in the world–and the phrase ‘greatest myths’ is just a fancy way of saying ‘big fat lies’–is that troublesome things get less and less troublesome if you do them more and more”. from (Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid. HarperCollins, 2007)

Origin:
1870–75; < Greek metánoia change of mind, repentance; see meta-, -noia

Anagram

amen iota
atone aim

Today’s aphorism

One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.

– Joan of Arc

On this day

13 April 1570 – birth of Guy Fawkes, English soldier and one of the masterminds behind the failed ‘Gunpowder Plot’ to blow up English Parliament in an effort to assassinate King James 1 and VI of Scotland. Died 31 January 1606.

13 April 1923 – birth of Don Adams, American actor, most famous for his character Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV show ‘Get Smart’. Died 25 September 2005.

13 April 1975 – The 15 year long Lebanese Civil War starts when Christian Phalangists attack a bus, massacring 26 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

13 April 2014 – Palm Sunday