Consider the etymology of “interest”, and ask yourself: Isn’t it a case study of how meaning drains from words over time? Inter + est. Nowadays the word “interest” implies that we stand apart from a thing and regard it objectively. That is we stay apart from it and keep it “whole against the sky”, as opposed to entering into its being – really being with it. At least we’ve preserved some formal grammatical clues: we remain interested in something, not interested about it, or on it, or toward it.