Pronunciation: &-'pä-k&-"lips
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, revelation, Revelation, from Anglo-French apocalipse, from Late Latin apocalypsis, from Greek apokalypsis, from apokalyptein to uncover, from apo- + kalyptein to cover -- more at HELL
1 a : one of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200 B.C. to A.D. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom b capitalized : REVELATION 3
2 a : something viewed as a prophetic revelation b : ARMAGEDDON
3 : a great disaster
I had the oddest notion while driving in to work today: Having spent a good portion of my (earlier) life in anticipation of the Biblical Apocalypse, I found myself thinking that while we may not ever see a literal apocalypse, we are responsible each day for a number of little apocalypses. How often do we find ourselves destroying one thing to begin another? Whether it be a career change, or a relationship, or changing an old for a new habit. Maybe that is why change is so difficult; we resist change, because we resist destruction. But we cannot stop change: destruction and creation are both bound up in it. Anytime we embrace something new, something old is lost. The four horsemen are always riding through, but in here and not out there.
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