I've had a few requests asking how my blog name came to be and what the name means – so here’s the story! Before we get started though, keep in mind that hindsight is always 20/20. The name may sound natural and logical now, but discovering it was far from simple.
Codex Vita - it is a bit unusual sounding, yet has a rhythm to it. It is also the kind of name that sticks in your mind.
As I labored over the content and format of the blog, I had a continuously nagging voice in the back of my head reminding me that I did not have a name for my blog site yet. The name, at least in my mind, is a very important part of the website and here I was without even the slightest idea of what it would be! So, I began to devote more time and energy to discovering the name.
One thing was obvious from the start, and that was that it had to be something simple. A few examples come to mind very quickly: Amazon, Google, Apple, and Yahoo. They have become household names that have no relation to what the organizations behind them does, yet everyone knows them!
Ok, so I needed something simple. It also had to be catchy. Hear it once and it’s embedded in your memory. Now I should mention that I love words and word play, so having a name that is both meaningful, yet makes you think just a bit about what it represents was another important characteristic.
Nothing was immediately obvious, so I began to ponder the name in every spare moment I had. I also meditated upon it, asking for guidance from the universe (we will spend a lot of time talking about how to manifest the things you want in your life). I frequently carried pen and paper with me (or made notes on my phone in those times when I didn’t have paper). Anytime I came across a word of interest I jotted it down. Sometimes ideas came from conversation, sometimes from books, and sometimes from web searches. I even took word possibilities and ran them through synonym finders to mine for other words. One word I really liked, and pondered for quite a while was genesis. That word is cool, easy to remember and has plenty of meaning. In the end, I rejected it because it sounded too biblical. I didn’t want people to associate my blog with a religious cause in any way. Now I’m not saying that association is a bad thing, simply that it wouldn’t be a true reflection of the blog’s mission and content. So, on continued the search…………
Now I've always been a big fan of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the truly great minds that have blessed humanity. As I sat at my desk one day, pondering names, my blank stare happened to stop at a book on how to think like Leonardo, perched on my bookcase and beckoning to me. It suddenly dawned on me that Leonardo had written many manuscripts describing his thoughts and ideas. These manuscripts were called codices, or codex in the singular. I thought, “What an interesting word.”
Now, it turns out that the various da Vinci codices also usually have a descriptive word to set each codex apart as unique. Sometimes they indicate the subject matter of the codex and sometimes they have historical meaning. For example, codex Leicester was the name given to the da Vinci codex that compiled his thoughts on astronomy, the properties of water rocks and fossils, and celestial light. It was named after the Earl of Leicester, who initially owned it and is considered one of the da Vinci’s most important works. In fact, Bill Gates thought so much of it that he purchased it in 1994 for a record $30.8 million USD at a Christies auction.
A little research showed me that works termed codices applied in other creative areas by other authors as well. One great example is the Rossi Codex that formed one of the most complete collections of 14th century secular music in existence today.
So there was my base, my foundation – codex! And as you may have guessed, the definition of codex is manuscript, or book (in Latin). And what is a blog really, but a collection, or book, of writings on a particular topic. Ahhhh, the topic! I now needed a descriptive term to pair with “codex” to describe the subject matter of the blog. Again I found myself filtering through words, only this time with a bit more focus since the search is now narrowed to my specific topic. But how do I describe that topic? It is spirituality….no, more than that. Is it relationships….no, more than that. And round and round I went until I realized that I was writing about…….. LIFE!
Well, “Codex Life” doesn't really have much of a ring to it, does it? Something was missing! Then I realized that I couldn’t possibly mix a word like “life,” which is from Old/Middle English origins, with a Latin word. And thus the Vita (the Latin word for life) descriptor was born! And so we have Codex Vita, or book of Life!!!
I hope you like the name as much as I do, and the content even better. Don’t be shy, I would love to hear your feedback.
Namaste