A joke is a meme. The alphabet is a meme. Religion itself is a meme. A “meme” is simply ideas that get passed down from person to person.
The word (rhymes with “deem”) is related to the word “gene.” And like genes, as an idea is passed around, the “meme pool” gets bigger. The ideas that spring from the first idea may be different, but still in the same lineage.
In internet contexts, however, a meme is simply a short way of describing those quizzes you see everywhere, the MySpace bulletins you see posted fifty thousand times, that same forward about the king in Nigeria who needs your investment…
How about instead of sending useless crap around the internet, we start some memes with a higher intention?
I found this really insightful webpage: here.
It brings up an interesting point. “[Memes] remove the element of conscious choice,
making the process purely mechanical.”
Is this what we're supposed to be breaking free from? The “groupthink” so to speak? But aren't memes helpful? They give us language, history, knowledge passed down from generation to generation…
To what degree are memes in control of us, and are we in control of memes?
This was my reply:
Memes can be thought of as viruses for the mind. But let me clarify one thing: there are memes, like fashion trends, or hip hop, or a phrase, or whatever, and then there are MEMES, like the developmental levels of Spiral Dynamics, or religions, which are collections of inter-connected memes.
Memes, either little or big, are only as "automatic" as we choose to let them be. If we are mindful people, then we choose whether or not to infect our consciousness with a given meme. And if we get infected against our will, we choose whether or not to get rid of it.
Many MEMES have built in virus protection to prevent them from being replaced by a different MEME or to keep those infected as carriers. For example, Christianity has one of the best virus protections ever devised: eternal damnation. Buddhism has a pretty good protection too: endless rebirths in samsara.
The original post hit the nail on the head: why not “start some memes with a higher intention”? Thus we have Zaadz, which is as much a meme – an idea – as it is a sorta-physical space in the cyber world and an actual physical piece of software and hardware.
On my blog, I have been doing gratitude posts for a couple of months, posting something I am grateful for every day. In that time, some other bloggers have begun doing something similar, even if only once a week. I want to make gratitude a meme.
So here is the challenge: let's put the technology of memes to work doing something good in the world. Let's become more grateful people. Life really is amazing and joyful, even when we are hurting or sad. Let's all put a daily gratitude post on our home blogs and/or on our Zaadz blogs. At least for a while. If you are not a blogger, add a comment to your favorite blog's gratitude post.
Give it a chance for a few weeks and see if it changes your outlook. It sure has changed mine.
Are you in?
Technorati Tags: Gratitude, Meme, Zaadz, Blog, Grateful
6 comments:
let's put the technology of memes to work doing something good in the world. Let's become more grateful people. Life really is amazing and joyful, even when we are hurting or sad. Let's all put a daily gratitude post on our home blogs and on/or our Zaadz blogs. At least for a while. If you are not a blogger, add a comment to your favorite blog's gratitude post.
Very well. I am grateful I found your blog. There's a number of resources here that are of interest to me. I'll have to add you to my related links section so I can easily (and gratefully) find you again.
Glad you stopped by.
Your blog looks like a great resource for those who have gone through or are going through the initiatory illness that you experienced.
I'm actually writing a book on how to navigate such a soul crisis in as painless a way as possible (recognizing it will never be painless). And conversely, how to initiate a low-grade varaition as a way to shift worldviews.
Thanks for visiting.
Peace,
Bill
I'm actually writing a book on how to navigate such a soul crisis in as painless a way as possible (recognizing it will never be painless).
Are you familiar with the work of John Weir Perry, Maureen Roberts or Anne Baring? I found their Jungian inspired insights to be exceptionally helpful.
Here's a few other links you may enjoy...
- Disordered: Marek's process seemed to really get under way in about mid-January. His blog and guestbook provide some fascinating and very hopeful "peeks" at the unfoldment of that process. He has continued to offer glimpses via his Underground blog (linked via that page). There are also a number of stories linked at the top of my Related Links page, including my own.
I'm assuming you have been through a similar process yourself?
Thanks for the links, I've bookmarked your site for future reference.
Yeah, I had a less intense initiatory illness back in 1985, when I was 18. Only lasted about six days, but it changed my life. Had a second go around about three or four years later, and it further changed my life.
Both times the "illness" served to disconnect me from a bad path my life was on and directed me in a new direction even though I didn't know why.
Anyway, thanks for the links and hope you visit IOC whenever you can.
Peace,
Bill
Thanks, I needed to find your blog today. The structures such as the exercises provided for inner exploration/integration, will be helpful if I am structured enough to make regular returns, I tend to wander...
Funny, I have been reading about the Castaneda cult tonight and my captcha word is "cults" : D
Have a wonderful evening, day and night.
~Z
Rats, google chrome cannot connect to to Marek's site!!!
On a gratitude note, I am grateful for your blog too Spiritual Emergency. I've been in and out of emergence and emergency since the early 90's. Thanx and thanx.
~Z
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