Word: hocus-pocus
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...stroke, a lady friend racked with back pain, an ex-colleague failing mentally. Roth is writing in the medieval tradition of memento mori--remember that you must die. (The novel's title comes from a Christian morality play about a visit from Death.) But Roth's protagonist rejects the "hocus-pocus" of God and Heaven. If he were to write his autobiography, he thinks, "he'd call it The Life and Death of a Male Body." For this Everyman, there is only life and the "deadening depersonalization" of illness, which negates the self...
...classified research. A group called United Campuses to Prevent Nuclear War has circulated a petition asking scientists not to accept any Government funds for SDI research. Some 2,100 have signed the pledge, many from Cornell, Caltech and M.I.T. They contend that Star Wars research is high-tech hocus-pocus that will escalate the arms race. Some scientists suggest that because the protest has been centered at elite universities, SDI research is being done at less prestigious places. Huffs Princeton's Nobel Physicist Philip Anderson: "People who are hungry and need funding are going to lap up the money. They...
When a winemaker counsels others to bury dung-filled cow horns on the autumnal equinox and takes cues from the lunar calendar for everything from vineyard treatments to bottling, it's easy to dismiss his advice as hocus-pocus...
Kate Dunitz, 16, was plagued by chronic pain following surgery in 2004, and was prescribed a mix of healing Iyengar yoga, craniosacral massage, art therapy and hypnotherapy. The clinic also uses acupuncture, meditation and relaxation exercises. "I thought they were hocus-pocus," says Dunitz, "but I did a complete turnaround." She will return to high school full time next fall as a senior...
Even among people who regard spiritual life as wishful hocus-pocus, there is a growing sense that humans may not be able to survive without it. It's hard enough getting by in a fang-and-claw world in which killing, thieving and cheating pay such rich dividends. It's harder still when there's no moral cop walking the beat to blow the whistle when things get out of control. Best to have a deity on hand to rein in our worst impulses, bring out our best and, not incidentally, give us a sense that there's someone awake...