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Words around Higgins in English
My Fair Lady as a Metaphor for the Church
Introduction
Tuesday morning, August 19, 1997, I had a dream in which I was learning parts for a
play. This is highly unusual, as the last play I was in was for a church "road
show" while yet a teenager, unless you count a vignette I did a couple of years ago.
That day, attending BYU=s Education Week,
upon exiting from a performance by Angela Johnson at the de Jong concert hall, I was
approached by a complete stranger (an associate of Angela=s) about playing the part of Professor Higgins in an
excerpt to be performed from My Fair Lady on the coming Thursday, 11:10 A.M. at the
same place, with Angela Johnson playing Eliza. Apparently, I looked the part. Little did
she or I know how much I would relate to the part.
As I learned my part for this excerpt, which comes from the first portion of the
Musical, I was amused by the strong metaphorical connections. The way that Professor
Higgins initially felt about Eliza is the way I sometimes find myself feeling towards the
current state of affairs in the Church. I know how great she can be, but I become
disgusted by where she is. There is so much that is full of richness in the Mormon
destiny, and I long to see the Saints "put on strength" as Isaiah prophesied
they will.
I relate to Professor Higgins in more ways than just metaphorical. I too have been
unusually astonished by the sacredness of language. There are phenomenal encoded messages
to be found therein. Professor Higgins was able to isolate a person to within six miles of
where they lived, sometimes to within a block, because of his/her dialect; my studies,
through words C dictionaries and lexicons C have brought me to find phone numbers, addresses,
and first, middle, and last names of specific people and institutions.
You can imagine my delight, therefore, when I applied one of the word study tools I have discovered to the
situation at hand. Looking up the name "Higgins" in the Dictionary C at least where it would occur if it were there C and then looking at the words before and after, I
found the following. See if it does not apply.
The definitions are as found in The New Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the
English Language (Consolidated Book Publishers, Chicago, 1971). My comments are added
[in brackets].
Words around "Higgins" in English
Hieroglyph: A figure implying a word, an idea, or a sound [e.g. AHiggins=
phonetics and Universal Alphabet]; a figure having a hidden or enigmatical significance
[secret code of words themselves as I and others are now discovering].
hierophant: One who teaches the mysteries...
hi-fi: Life-like sound reproduction or high fidelity; phonographic
equipment that reproduces sound with comparatively slight distortion. [Higgins= hobby and profession.]
Higgins [inserted alphabetically]
higgle: To haggle (haggle: to hack; to cut in an unskillful manner; to
mangle [e.g. Eliza=s English, which Prof.
Higgins set out to correct]. To be difficult in bargaining [e.g. Eliza=s hawking]. To stick at small matters [e.g. Higgin=s insistence at proper pronunciation {see
play on word "Webster"}].)
To chaffer (chaffer: To talk much and idly; to treat much about a purchase [e.g.
Eliza].)
high: elevated, lofty; exalted, excellent, superior; elevated in rank, condition
[theme of the Musical.]
hike: To lift up with a jerk; to increase an amount suddenly [e.g. Eliza
elevated from gutter girl to Dutchess in six months].

 Parallels Between My Fair Lady Plot and
Current Circumstances
My
Fair Lady
( e x c e r p t ) |
Application
by Sterling D. Allan 8/97 |
| Eliza comes on the scene
making a fuss over her flowers having been knocked onto the ground. Prof. Higgins is
taking note of what she is saying as example of hideous English dialect. |
Those who are awake take note of what goes on
in around them, in the country and in the Church. |
| Eliza becomes alerted to the
fact that Prof. Higgins is recording everything she is saying and becomes very defensive,
saying there is nothing wrong with what she is doing. |
The lay members of the Church become aware of
those who are observing their behavior and they become defensive, not seeing that anything
they are doing is out of line with the way Athings have always been done.@ |
| Upon seeing the commotion
Eliza is making, Higgins implores her to hush, which makes her all the more upset. She
insists on seeing what it is he was writing down. When she looks as his notes, they make
no sense to her. |
The lay member begins to make a fuss, going to
his/her bishop, etc... to complain about the observers. When they look at the writings of
the observer, it is nonsense to them. They don=t understand Isaiah, chiasms, parallels, word studies,
etc. |
| Prof. Higgins then reads
back to her a sample of what he has written, mimicking her atrocious pronunciation. She is
clueless as to the fact that he has just uttered slaughtered proper English pronunciation. |
When the observer parrots back to the lay
member some of the lay person=s statements of belief and warped paradigms of truth, the lay person does not see
anything amiss in what is stated back to them. |
| Still upset, Eliza again
flies off. Higgins then tells her where she was born, based on her dialect; and then tells
Colonel Pickering where he came from. Colonel Pickering is astonished and asks Prof.
Higgins if he does this for a living. Prof. Higgins replies that it is both his hobby and
profession. He states that he can pinpoint a person in London to within a block sometimes
by their dialect. |
The observer is able to show forth to the lay
person certain evidences that they have a divine track of insight into the lay person=s behaviors and paradigms,
such as showing them a prophecy that unquestionably specifies the situation at hand. In my
case, I have discovered that particular individuals even are identified by name, address
number, phone number and zip code in dictionaries and Bible lexicons. |
| When Eliza continues to
croon like a sick pigeon, Professor Higgins states, ARemember, you are a human
being with a soul and a divine gift of articulate speech, that your native language is the
language of Shakespeare, and Milton, the Bible, [and the Book of Mormon.]@ |
The observer then tells the lay person of the
great destiny that is theirs to pursue if they would but seize upon it: of communing with
God, eventually even beholding his face and walking and talking with Him, of exercising
His powers in righteousness for the benefit of all mankind. |
| Henry then turns to
Pickering and brags that given six months with Eliza, he could pass her off as a duchess
at an Embassy Ball, etc... |
Likewise, the lay member who but takes the
energy can awake and arise from the dust, blossoming into the true saint of God that they
are destined to become by godly birthright. |
| When Eliza doubts what Henry
is claiming, Colonel Pickering states that Aanything is possible@ [with the Lord], and states
that he himself has studied the Indian [e.g. native Amer.] dialects; at which Higgins asks
him if he knows of Colonel Pickering, author of Aspoken Sanskrit.@ Higgins announcing that he is Henry Higgins, author of AHiggins Universal Alphabet.@ They walk off together,
delighted in finally having met one another. |
The connections here are quite amusing, for
several of my close associates are involved in language studies, specifically those
pertaining to the word of God, looking at individual letters that make up a word and the
meanings they contain and thus contribute to the meaning of the word. I have found some
very fascinating things pertaining to alphabetical listings of words containing a wealth
of uncanny and profound information. |
by Sterling D. Allan; Fountain Green, Utah; August 20, 1997
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