It's pronounced myrrh-zee, with slightly greater emphasis on the first syullable.

Burke, I agree on no Santa Claus, frankly. And 1/1 doesn't work, too many folks have to work on the 2nd, whereas nobody works on the 26th so it's really a 2-day thing (and on Boxing Day, note not St. Stephen's day, we host the aunts and uncles, cousins and their kids, and close family friends; the 25th is just for the 15 or so of our immediate family. So we really are stuck with the 25th, which we get off because our GOVERNMENT celebrates Christmas, even though we don't. So we're stuck with the date, unfortunately. So we'll celebrate ON Christmas, not celebrate Christmas, and that's OK because of the logistics.

But back to CapriUni's interesting statement: "'Ultimate reality' is the official theological term used by scholars of world religions to apply to whatever the person or culture they're studying believes is the root cause behind existance, whether that cause is supernatural or natural." Well, I'll admit I didn't know it, although I assumed from the prior post that it was SOME theological term. But just look at the underpinning of theism in that term, which is why NON-religious scholars should shun it. It's just like the underpinning of Christianity in theoretically secular US midwinter holiday celebrations. They ASSUME that gods are real to have coined the term, and are actually saying that if you don't believe in gods, that can be your reality too. Hogwash and balderdash and a few other choice words. It IS NOT REALITY if it isn't actually real.

Want to get into whether what we perceive is real at all, hee hee? Now there's another thread for you!