Profundify!

It is not often that a “word of the day” (WOD) causes me to jump out of my seat, click my heels together, and turn a cart-wheel. In fact, it never happens. But on August 22nd, the Oxford English Dictionary chose the word "profundify" as its WOD. When I saw it, I thought to myself that I should jump out of my seat, click my heels together, and turn a cart-wheel because it made me so happy.

Instead, I took another drink of coffee.

But I was thrilled. Really. Why? Because profundify is a verb. It means, according to the venerable OED, “to make intellectually profound”. Recently Davin (see "contributors" page ) and I used the verb “to profound” in a manuscript, thinking we had come up with something new, a verb for profound but, as we know, there is very little if anything new under the sun.

I add "profundify" here to the uses of this word profound, which include profound, profundity, to profound (Why not? We have “to confound” and “to found”), and now to profundify. I guess we could add profundification and profoundness (which I don’t believe I have seen used elsewhere).

But I fell in love with the word profundify.

I broaden it to include not just making something intellectually profound, but everything profound. It suggests that we, as individuals – and actually as groups of people and organizations and even countries – have the ability to make something, anything, deeper and substantive and meaningful. Anything.

I have been focusing lately on developing my capability of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. (It is not easy in a world of reality TV, commodification of spirituality, and a consumer "more and more" driven economy, is it?)

This - seeing the profound in what is considered mundane - is the powerful and also intimate message of people like Thich Nhat Hanh, who see timeless awe in a flower or a pebble. I have been reading the wonderful books of Gunilla Norris, such as “Simple Ways: Toward the Sacred” and “Inviting Silence” lately, where she takes everyday items like a bowl or a table; parts of the house, like a door or a floor; or actions of our bodies, like using any of our senses and writes about them with beauty.

She profundifies the quotidian.

Another book I am reading just now is “Liturgy of the Ordinary” by Tish Harrison Warren. In this exquisite book she too considers the taken-for-granted and shows how meaningful it is, writing about a day – waking, making the bed, brushing teeth, losing keys and continuing through an ordinary extraordinary day - so thoughtfully it moves you to your own deep reflection.

To be able to “testify” we have first to “profundify”, in order to have anything to testify about, eh?

We need profundification!

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A Shout Out To Kelly Anderson!

Kelly Anderson, our wonderful Profound Living contributor , and I were talking about this marvelous word, profundify, a couple of days ago and we were laughing about how we could “profundify” anything. We can, you know. We have the ability take our lives and experiences and the daily chores of life and to profundify them. Over a period of time – days, months, years, a lifetime – the result will be profound living, that is, experiencing a deep and meaningful life by being in touch with every possible moment along the way.

In a blip of inspiration, I threw down the gauntlet to Kelly, the “gamer”, the “gamifier”, the "gamester" the author of the Game of Awe , and, seriously, an advocate for the use of games in training and education.

The challenge was this: Create a “Game of Profundify”, in the spirit of her Game of Awe, for Profound Living for her essay next month.

She resoundly replied (perhaps retorted), “Challenge accepted!”

Game on!

Profundify us Sister Kelly!

References:

Gunilla Norris: http://gunillanorris.com/

Thich Nhat Hahn: https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/

Tish Harrison Warren: https://www.ivpress.com/liturgy-of-the-ordinary

There are so many other wonderful sources to help us consider the extraordinary in the ordinary, ranging from the poetry of Mary Oliver the example of Brother Lawrence Brother Lawrence, a humble dishwasher in a monastery.

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