Love First Is… A Game
I’m really excited to announce this, as I’ve been working towards this for seven years, and the pieces are finally coming together:
Love First is an idea, a philosophy, a way of life, a framework, and more, but one of the biggest things it is, is a Game.
Not some video or board game you play for an evening. This is A Game Of Life Itself, played every day and any day you want to. It’s a game you play for fun AND for serious personal, professional, and spiritual growth. It’s a game you can play on your own, but it gets better the more people you play it with. It’s a game designed to benefit you as an individual, but also benefit the people you love most in life and those around you, even society at large.
Love First is a Game designed for humanity, to help us solve the many challenges we face. It does so by gamifying some of the things we desperately need today: cultural and spiritual transformation. And it does all this in contrast to a society-wide game we’re already playing:
The Game of Power.
I Am Done With The Game Of Power
The Game of Power, also known as the game of wealth, the game of sides, and the game of opposites. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the game we are all born into and forced to play, whether we want to or not. There is no opting out of the Game of Power because the ruling classes of the world force us all to participate.
It’s a game that the oligarchs and plutocrats are playing using the rest of the world as their pawns. And it’s so. Boring! It’s just war and domination and violence. Yawn.
The fundamental problem with the Game of Power is that it requires a subjugated people to have power over, which forces a permanent state of distrust, conflict, and pursuit of ever-more control over others. After all, power is meaningless when it’s power over nothing. As a result, the Game of Power relies on maximizing resource extraction and labor exploitation (Capitalism) and keeping all labor classes preoccupied with each other (culture wars) to prevent us from changing how the game is played. This means that the Game of Power inevitably leads to the powerful doing whatever they can to maintain their grip on power (and wealth)—and that results in imperialism, colonialism, and genocide.
Their mindset makes sense: if you believe that you must have power over others to be safe, you are naturally inclined to believe that if those others have power over you, you won’t be safe. It’s a valid assumption to make, especially given history, but it doesn’t have to be true.
Throughout history, a big element of many revolutions that significantly and materially changed the lives and welfare of millions of people is class consciousness. Many revolutions are rooted in a conflict between the ruling class and the people they exploit—middle and working class alike. I say “exploit” because revolutions don’t typically happen when the ruling class simply rules. It’s the oppressive exploitation continually leading to worsening material conditions for the everyday person that creates strain and tension, eventually culminating in upheaval.
Panem et circenses. — Juvenal, Roman poet
Bread and circuses. Give them food and give them distractions, and they will fight you not. Or so goes the idea. But Juvenal didn’t coin this phrase just to describe how the ruling class can use palliatives to get away with their schemes; he meant it as a critique on the population’s lack of involvement in wider concerns and civic duty.
I believe people today are more concerned with wider issues than ever before, but the knee of Capitalism is bearing down on our necks so forcefully that we can barely breathe. It’s the unbearable weight of simply existing in a society designed to use us as cogs in a machine, rather than recognizing us as the artists and lovers and storytellers and stewards of a beautiful world that we are.
A recent U.S. poll showed that 4 out of 5 respondents across party lines are concerned with the wider issue of our oligarchy and plutocracy:
Most of the respondents, 82%, “either strongly or somewhat agree that one of the biggest problems facing America today is that a handful of corporations and economic elites have too much power and the government is doing too little about it.”
Seven in 10 Republicans, 92% of Democrats and 81% of independents agreed with the statement.
So I know I’m far from alone in being tired of and done with the Game of Power. The only issue is: what do we do instead?
Introducing: The Game of Love
That’s where the Game of Love comes in, a.k.a. Love First as a Game. It’s about creating an alternative to the Game of Power, one that uses different rules. For example: the Game of Love only involves people consensually, meaning everything is opt-in and you can opt-out any time you want. Not so for the Game of Power.
The Game of Love is a non-zero-sum game, and as such, it is not meant to “beat” the Game of Power at its own game. It’s designed and meant to be an alternative to it, with one of its goals being that, eventually, even those who are high-powered players in the Game of Power are incentivized to play the Game of Love instead. Because it’s more fun and it creates a better, brighter, and thriving world for all of us.
In the Game of Love, we don’t want to exact vengeance or “righteous retribution” upon those in power, no matter how much harm their actions cause and have caused. Our revolution will be A Revolution of Love, not violence. Our revenge will be the laughter of our children in a world where everyone thrives.
The Game of Love has as its goal a world wherein everyone—including nature—has their needs met, thriving and blossoming as we collaborate in harmony. As someone who has spent the past 7 years increasingly surrounded by love and harmony, enjoying beautiful relationships, a nourishing community, and a meaningful and fulfilling career, and all without great wealth or power, I not only know that it is possible (I’m living proof of that every day), but I know how I did it and why these techniques and practices work. It’s a lot, but that’s unsurprising, since Love is huge topic.
And my mission in life is to share everything I’ve learned about Love with the world.
How To Play The Game Of Love
One of the central tenets of the Game of Love is the idea of Universal Love, a love held in all directions and existing between all of us. It’s the love that this universe has for all of us, since we are the universe—and the universe profoundly loves itself. The more we, as individuals, practice this capital-L Love in our lives, the more harmonious and serendipitous our lives become.
We can even use it to access mystical powers.
While our traditional conception of “love” often gets limited to romantic and familial love, this cosmic form of Love is much more broadly applicable. It’s like the secret ingredient to Life, not just that delicious banana bread you baked for someone you love.
When you’re playing the Game of Love effectively, it feels like the universe is constantly supporting you in your every need—because it is! And I cannot put into words how it feels experiencing the incredible joy and relief that comes from Love. It’s like being on another plane of existence altogether. It’s pure bliss.
So how do you play it?
First, imagine a giant role playing game, where real-world skills are taught as skill levels in the game. Where the workshops, classes, courses, retreats and seminars that people go to every day are tweaked just a little to align with the game’s mechanics, giving you “experience points” as it were. Basically, everything can continue as it does today, but there’s just a little bit more love poured into it all through intentional and conscious techniques.
These techniques use the Love First Framework as the foundational ‘rules’ of the game, and help us practice personal, spiritual, emotional, and professional growth. But those foundations are not just for you as an individual—they also help you in work, in relationships, in your home life and more. For example, I’m using the same framework to outline and structure a book I’m writing.
There’s a ton to be said about how the game works, how it’s played, and how you can participate—far too much for any single blog post or even a series, and I’ve already said a lot just by setting the stage. So how about we just start playing and you can ask questions and jump in and participate with any part that speaks to you? Subscribe and follow along to see how it’s played!
The first Skill offering in The Game of Love is my upcoming Visioning Workshop, held in person in Berkeley on both Wednesday December 18th and Sunday December 22nd. This workshop takes you on a journey of envisioning the life you want to live, whether you’re planning your 2025 or beyond, and outline concrete steps to help you get there. More details on the event pages:
I’ll be doing the Visioning Workshop on Zoom and in person again in January, as it is one of the best ways to get introduced to and started with the Game of Love and its myriad benefits. Let me know in the comments whether you prefer during day time or evening, weekdays or weekends.
And, of course, feel free to ask questions. We’re changing the world here; you better have some questions about how we’re going about doing that.
Signing off for now,
Yours across time,
Supernova