I just ran across a new use of "secular" in a physics text: secular equilibrium. I won't go into the physics, but my question is what is the fundamental meaning of the word "secular"? By the way, the complement to secular equilibrium is transient equilibrium, rather than ecclesiatical equilibrium. I suppose to achieve ecclesiatical equilibrium you would need two bishops of equal mass astride a see-saw (at equal distances from the fulcrum of course).