Amusement

I've been reading Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald. Today I was struck when he was talking about working on the part of our private world involving our minds, wisdom, and knowledge. He talked about our amusement, and in doing so he broke down the word:

A-Muse-Ment

Whoa.

Did you catch that? Once the word was broken down, I was stunned. "A" as a prefix means "not". As an aspiring writer, the muse is very important. "Muse" deals with thinking. So "amusement" refers to a state of lack of thinking.

How often is that true? When we are seeking amusement, it is really involves a lack of engaging our mental capacities. I remember coming home from college and flipping on the afternoon cartoons like Animaniacs. Since I was working in the toy department at Wal-Mart, I joked that I was doing research to see what kind of toys kids were buying. But I really wanted something that helped my mind shut off for a little while between being engaged at school and then engaged at work.

Think about what we do, and if it is really profitable for our mental life. I know we can't be "on" all the time, but how often do we "shut off" for our amusement?

Interesting...