Sunday Word: Pronoia

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

pro·noi·a [prəˈnɔɪə]:
origin: (21st century) a neologism in psychology; (11th century) Greek πρόνοια = "care" or "forethought"

noun
1. A sneaking suspicion that the universe is conspiring to help you or others; antonym to paranoia.

2. During the late Byzantine Empire, money set aside, under a state income, specifically to benefit individuals and institutions.

Comments

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

I like definition #1, but suspect I will never get a good chance to use it.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis, and Deepak Chopra all profess distinct pronoia within their communications.

Although, if one struggles with the first definition, perhaps they could at least more closely model themselves after the second? ;)

[med_cat]

An interesting word, not come across it before :)

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

It seems to be more a personal philosophy than "kismet" or "serendipity", although those words go along nicely with the idea.

[med_cat]

Agreed

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Contrast with resistentialism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistentialism).

---L.