ka

ka is an Ancient Egyptian word for the 'double', vitality or life force, represented by a pair of raised arms (possibly to embrace).

I love this word. I don't know if it's the word itself or the concept that gets me. It's like karma or kismet but untainted by years of stupid hippies misusing it.

Ka is the force in Stephen King's Dark Tower series that leads all living (and unliving) creatures. It is the will of Gan, the approximate equivalent of destiny, or fate, in the fictional language High Speech. It is the force that causes a destiny to happen, but is not necessarily impossible to surpass. Ka can be considered to be a guide, a destination, but is certainly not a plan - at least, not one that is known to mortals. Ka is not necessarily a force of good or evil; it manipulates both sides, and seems to have no definite morality of its own.

The official Dark Tower site describes ka as the following: "Ka... signifies life-force, consciousness, duty and destiny. In the vulgate, or low speech, it also means a place to which an individual must go."