In the same way that ancient mythology is a useful codification of universal wisdom with foreign and therefore uncontroversial terms that places a profound truth it protects into greater prominence, a safe word is a shorthand for a more complex idea. a simple communication that quickly signals a participants internal physical and emotional state when approaching a boundary of the same kind. Wether we like it or not we are all participants in the world and often for good reason, in the same way as BDSM, we have calibrated much of it for safety. We know all the safe words, and if we are not careful this might make us timorous without even realizing it as we approach the one boundary we will have to cross wether we like it or not. Death. What happens on the other side, anyone can say. But to fortify us against a fearful life. To give us the heart to fight, win or lose. to remind us to live daringly, boldly, courageously, and that there is something deep within each of us that can help us become who we want to be, who we can be. That a girl may be someday a woman, and a boy may be someday a man. For this I propose an unsafe word. “Valhalla.” A prompt to tell ourselves or someone we care about to live our lives in such a way that in the moment of our death we feel no fear, but joy. And if we do, then Valhalla as attested in Viking mythology, becomes not for the dead, but for the living. an invitation, a bidding, a command here and now not to die, but to live. And if we do, who knows, we may discredit the sentiment contained in that cheap imitation of greatness “YOLO” and see each other again after we make the crossing, to feast together in the halls of Valhalla where the brave live forever.
Examples:
“She’s so beautiful, I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“Talk to her. Valhalla”
“He’s too powerful, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Stand up to him. Valhalla.”
“Financial discipline is hard and there’s a lot of concepts I’m not familiar with.”
“Learn it. Valhalla”
Matthew Cameron 
In the same way that ancient mythology is a useful codification of universal wisdom with foreign and therefore uncontroversial terms that places a profound truth it protects into greater prominence, a safe word is a shorthand for a more complex idea. a simple communication that quickly signals a participants internal physical and emotional state when approaching a boundary of the same kind. Wether we like it or not we are all participants in the world and often for good reason, in the same way as BDSM, we have calibrated much of it for safety. We know all the safe words, and if we are not careful this might make us timorous without even realizing it as we approach the one boundary we will have to cross wether we like it or not. Death. What happens on the other side, anyone can say. But to fortify us against a fearful life. To give us the heart to fight, win or lose. to remind us to live daringly, boldly, courageously, and that there is something deep within each of us that can help us become who we want to be, who we can be. That a girl may be someday a woman, and a boy may be someday a man. For this I propose an unsafe word. “Valhalla.” A prompt to tell ourselves or someone we care about to live our lives in such a way that in the moment of our death we feel no fear, but joy. And if we do, then Valhalla as attested in Viking mythology, becomes not for the dead, but for the living. an invitation, a bidding, a command here and now not to die, but to live. And if we do, who knows, we may discredit the sentiment contained in that cheap imitation of greatness “YOLO” and see each other again after we make the crossing, to feast together in the halls of Valhalla where the brave live forever.
Examples:
“She’s so beautiful, I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“Talk to her. Valhalla”
“He’s too powerful, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Stand up to him. Valhalla.”
“Financial discipline is hard and there’s a lot of concepts I’m not familiar with.”
“Learn it. Valhalla”
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