The transmission for this book has to be… Love has too many meanings and uses.
The word love has rapidly evolved into something almost meaningless. Yet, there is a meaning of love that correlates to a guiding compass of human action and behavior. Ultimately, my argument is that this meaning should become a separate word altogether. Love needs to fork.
If language and words are tools to help us express emotions and ideas to each other, this expression needs its own word. If love can be used as a synonym for romance, a synonym for deep appreciation, a synonym for simple kindness… what is the synonym for this behavior that we’re evolving toward? What do we call this surge of compassion, care and empathy to help make the world better for all people? It’s undeniably and vastly different from the feeling to surrender and serve one person and engage in a romantic partnership. The practice of kindness, the commitment to truth and nonviolence… We can call it love, sure, but what else can we call it?
Studying Ghandi’s teachings, I have found that the word Ahimsa comes about as close as to what I’m talking about here, and sure, Ahimsa is cool. It’s a great word. But maybe we need to conjure up something new altogether?
Prince made a symbol. Gotta love that!
To enable us to collectively put (whatever this new love word is) it into the world, we need to have a collective understanding of it.
Let’s do a rebrand on universal love. Let’s create a campaign around a new word that represents the purest and most evolved sense of life’s expression of love. Same great loving behavior… Brand new word! Let’s make this type of love clearly definable. When that happens, we can teach it, we can point to examples of it, learn it, express it, act in its guiding principles, and know were capable of it. When we can put our thumbs on it, we can put our minds to it and act with our hearts. When we stop waffling and theorizing about what it means we can put it into use and effective action.
Something else with four letters? Aloz… maybe? Nah it can’t be anything that rhymes with schnozz.
Let the word love be used for romance or affinity towards things. Let it be used in tennis matches and be tossed about in language like a friendly linguistic dishrag skank. Let it be mythical and ethereal and mysterious… let people debate about whether it exists, whether it happens at first sight, whether it’s in the cards or meant to be. Let them wax poetic about whether they’ve felt it or not, whether they’re falling in it or stuck in it. Let it be at first sight and first swipe. Let them look for it and chase after it. Let them pluck their flower pedals, wondering if it’s meant to be or not to be. Let it be everything to everyone and let it mean whatever the loving hell they want… let them love cake. Of course, we can all still say, “I love you.” Have your little love word. Make love in your beds and make love yours. Life is too short to argue about the semantics, and I’ve learned people certainly don’t love change.
May I advise, let’s not let the masses of the internet decide to create some silly combination of Lovey-Mc-Love-Face.
It may be just a new word. But I argue a new word will be a better guide. A new word for a new earth, filled with people who see it as the answer. A compass guiding our actions and behaviors, rather than a feeling we’re hopelessly wandering the earth to find.
It should be short, simple to say, and feel like a familiar word — but not an existing word with any recognizable meaning… maybe it should start with an A…?
How about Alaza?
The naysayers and traditionalists will reject it… Someone might still wonder why it even matters. But why not love?! I know the difference! Love was so easy! It was just one syllable?
We need to move on. We need to let love be what it was and make a commitment to a new word.
I’m sure other ideas will sound just as valid and logical. What about Alove? Like the Alpha Love? Or Elove which feels like evolved love? I’m sure earning credit for the shiny new word is something the human ego would want to be known for, but what’s the point of that? Hell, there might even be a contest from the UN rewarding branding agencies for the next word to capsulate this ultimate meaning of love. (that’s actually not a terrible idea, if only I could get their influence behind this idea!)
But this sort of hoopla is what makes me hesitant to even propose a new word. The fact that it would turn into some competition gives me the heavy sigh vibes. Ugh. We humans hardly ever agree.
What about Alaza? Fun to say, short and simple, feels powerful, means nothing as of yet… It’s got that sort of Eureka feel to it!
Could humanity come together to embrace Alaza? Could Alaza be our word, our arrangement of alphabet letters to become the compass and guiding light for human behavior? Could we come to know Alaza as a synonym for ultimate, pure, and universal love? Could Alaza be the answer? Could Alaza be all you need? Could Alaza be the expression of light within all of us that makes life worth living? Would bands write epic songs about Alaza? Would movies try and capture the theme of Alaza? Will Grammerly one day stop putting a damn squiggly red line underneath it? Could the practice of Alaza create the utopia of safety and kindness we yearn for on earth? I’m already starting to love the word Alaza.
But I question my confidence in it. Who am I to create such an important word? Whipped up on a whim as a sit here typing into a laptop… sitting poolside atop a Miami apartment building, mind you. Really? This is the moment where the new word for love that will be used by billions the world over and for generations to come was invented… here I decend to the internet from my urban perch and decree.. Thou shall go forth and Alaza one another!
Meh.
If my past daydreams are any measure of how far my memes and ideas spread, we won’t be hearing Alaza out of anybody’s mouth any time too soon. So good news for you if you aren’t lovin’ it.
And hey, I wonder where the word love was invented anyway?
Alas, even if Alaza only means anything to me, I will say… If ever I cease to Alaza, may the moon be turned to green cream cheese.
Alaza,
Johnny