ursine, Ursa Major, usufructuary, usus et fructus, usury, usurer, usurious, The Merchant of Venice

ursine [L. ursinus, ursus  bear]  resembling a bear.

     Ursa Major: a constellation resembling a bear, that contains the Big Dipper and points to the North Star

     These "u" words seem to point to the sky tonight.  I will have to pull out my dog-eared copy of Walden for the appropriate references.  One of my treasured vade mecums.  I recall Thoreau asking how can he be lonely when he has all the myriad stars above him to keep him company.  And he also had his books of wisdom from around the world to fill his soul.   I do remember him referencing the Upanishads...from a one room hut in Massachusetts he was speaking of the wisdom of the Upanishads.

    One of my favorite movies is Contact  with Jodie Foster.  Reaching out to search the skies, to travel the infinite universe in our search for a sense of community and love,  only to find that our journey leads to a reconnection with parents and family who were here before us all along. 

usufructuary: one having the usufruct of property; one having the right to use and enjoy something.  

    usus et fructus: use and enjoyment. 

  

     After cutting the grass or raking leaves with my children when they were young, I would sometimes just pause and draw them to me and ask, “We are working so hard, but do we every stop and just look and see the beauty of what we have done?”  There was a wooden bench under a tree in the yard and I often wondered why we rarely ever just sat in it and observed nature.  Our homes give us the usus et fructus but I sometimes have to quiet my mind and take a zen outlook until I can really see and appreciate this reality.  

     I once went to a Buddhist retreat in a beautiful monastery in the woods.  It was late afternoon and all was silent.  The zen master was very humble and self-effacing.  His joyful manner taught me as much as his words did.  He changed into his robes and we did some chanting sitting in this small wooden monastery in the woods as the sun started to fade.  

     He then went outside to the door to the monastery and took a wooden mallet from its holder and methodically, slowly, carefully hit a flat wooden piece of wood set against the door frame.  I was almost euphoric at the beauty of this powerful sound and of this ritual; the natural sound of wood against wood as it echoed and faded into the surrounding darkening woods.  I enjoyed each passing moment.  

usury:  [L. uses, to use]   \you zhury\  The loaning of money (often exorbitant interest)

     pronounced with a z sound  

     usurer one who practices usury

     usurious having to do with usury

    I just finished reading Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice  which features the despicable usurer Shylock.  When Antonio, the ‘Merchant of Venice,’ can’t pay back his loan, Shylock literally demands his ‘pound of flesh’ that Antonio put up as collateral.  

     This play also mentions the word obdurate when describing Shylock.  [Latin ob- against, durus hard, as in durable]  resistant to persuasion, stubborn in persistence of wrongdoing.  

     

Note: The Merchant of Venice has passionate love as one of its typically Shakespearean themes.  It introduces the phrases "love is blind" (2.6.37) and "green-eyed jealousy" (3.2.110).