Heresy (The Valentine's Day Special)

So here's an interesting fact of etymology I stumbled across while browsing through Wikipedia in a totally normal and non-isolationist way, involving the origins of the word "heresy" or, more specifically, "heretic."

The word, for anybody who doesn't know, is usually used in the context of Judeo-Christian or other religious belief to refer to a person who does not believe the doctrines in question, and usually carries a substantially negative connotation. Think "infidel;" Martin Luther was widely defamed as a heretic for his Theses, which ran contrary to the original Catholic doctrines. Witch hunters during the various Inquisitions searched, among other things including witches and necromancers, for "heretics," notably Muslims and Jews in Spain during the Reconquista, etc. The word is laden with the bile of history, full of judgments about "otherness" (I'll probably talk about otherness in later posts, woohoohoo!).

The word "heresy," interestingly enough, derives from the Greek root "heresthai," meaning essentially "to choose."

Wait, what? "To choose?" Not "to rebel" or "to disagree?" That's weird.

The weirdness continues. The word "heretic" derives from a modification of the same root: "haeretikos," meaning literally "able to choose." So a heretic, in the Classically faithful way, is someone equipped with the faculty of choice.

Now, with all the horrors justified by this word, the terrible feelings of rejection and persecution associated with it, the way it just sounds like somebody coming to sacrifice all your babies, all this word refers to is someone able to choose. All the revulsion encoded into the English word is targeted at a type of person the ancient Greeks would have referred to simply as fully alive and cognizant of their own faculties.

Having discovered all this, I came to the realization that sometimes a heretic is just the right type of person to be. If you don't like what's going on, in a group of friends or at a committee meeting, or wherever, realize it's within your rights to just not be a part of it. The sense of internal conflict you feel is your personal genuine desire butting up against the equally genuine desire to be accepted and respected by those around you, and the first option is almost always more satisfying once you overcome your fear of rejection.

This Valentine's Day, if you're single and uncertain of how you feel about that, my advice is: feel free to be a heretic. If you don't want to go drinking and/or trying to find fleeting, impersonal connection, you're under no obligation. Feel free to do whatever it is that makes you happy; other people will come around or go away, and that's the way life goes, in my limited level of experience.

TL;DR Heresy is cool, don't let our hook-up-fueled culture make you feel bad.