I thought that, with Valentine's Day coming up, I might spend a few minutes expounding upon the subject of love.
A friend of mine once told me this:
“I believe the way we talk, the words we have, partially
determines what concepts we have available, what tools we have for dealing with
and clarifying reality around us and more importantly within us. There
are some areas in English, however, that greatly need expanding. English is one
of the most plastic of all languages, adopts and absorbs and modifies anything
from anywhere, yet it’s so stilted in some crucial areas.”
One of these areas, I’m convinced more and more, is that concept of “love.” So much confusion and
misconception could be cleared up just by adding some words to expand it from
its simple singular existence into something that more accurately reflects the
myriad ways in which we employ the word. It goes far beyond the romantic
connotations. Adding more words would
add corresponding concepts into the national consciousness and clarity to the
vagueness, and maybe a little revelation and self knowledge. It could save
a lot of wasted lifetime nationally.
The ancient Greeks had, what, 4 words for different types of love? The Hopi Indians have a dozen. We have one. A person can say I love my car, my mom, my house, my artwork, drag racing, milkshakes, my lover, my song, freedom, my dog, flying, the smell of burning rubber, my country, my spirit, God, and even sports teams, and that person doesn't mean the same thing at all by each 'love.’ And when we do speak of romantic love, we don't love each person the same way. It's not even about amount--they are just different, different frequencies and flavors, and sometimes not comparable.
The ancient Greeks had, what, 4 words for different types of love? The Hopi Indians have a dozen. We have one. A person can say I love my car, my mom, my house, my artwork, drag racing, milkshakes, my lover, my song, freedom, my dog, flying, the smell of burning rubber, my country, my spirit, God, and even sports teams, and that person doesn't mean the same thing at all by each 'love.’ And when we do speak of romantic love, we don't love each person the same way. It's not even about amount--they are just different, different frequencies and flavors, and sometimes not comparable.
I think that making assumptions from the vagueness of language causes a lot of problems and damage. People automatically assume the other person is talking about the same concept/emotion/experience they mean just because they're using the same word. I think English needs some tuning up clarifying words. Maybe we should add some.
It probably won’t matter though. No matter how many words you have in your
vocabulary for a concept, it doesn’t matter if you don’t truly believe in the
concept in the first place. We give it
lip service, but we don’t pay attention.
I think that’s what our problem really is: too many of us “love” our
cars and our houses and our flags, but we have never truly learned what it
means to love each other.
And to love ourselves.
Anyone feel like making up needed new words for very
specific kinds of love?
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