Mr. Webster

I like words as a general rule.  I also believe - without invoking my inner seance - that our original founders chose the words they put into the literature very carefully.  I think they were parsed and gone over with a fine-toothed comb, massaged and manipulated, added and subtracted, until things were just so.  I pay attention to these words because I think that they're in there for a very specific reason.

Sober:  Marked by a sedate or earnestly thoughtful character or demeanor.
             Unhurried; calm.
             Marked by temperance, moderation, or seriousness.
             Showing no excessive or extreme qualities of fancy, emotion, or prejudice.

Lot of marking going on in those definitions.  Marked by the sign of the beast. 

"We had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing.  God either is, or He isn't."

Defiant:  Full of or showing a disposition to challenge, resist, or fight; showing aggression or independence by refusing to obey someone.

Fightin' Seaweed.

Egotism:  The practice of talking and thinking about oneself excessively because of an undue sense of self-importance.

I had figured out the talking about myself too much part - it's "the undue sense of self-importance part" that's pretty amusing.  All of us have been in situations where we're nervous or uncomfortable with dead air so we talk too much.  This appears to be OK.  The problem arises when I'm talking about myself because I think I'm far more important than anyone else in the room.   This appears to be kind of shitty.

Will:  A person's determination, choice, or desire.
Willpower:  Control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.

These are interesting words, too.  The Book talks a lot about the proper use of willpower.  It talks about trying to align my will with the will of my higher power instead of trying to bombard my problems in an attempt to remake the world to my own liking.