In
my previous email I mentioned the word “meme.” It comes from science and
understanding what memes are and how they work is an essential
requirement for accurately understanding any form of human communication received
by the brain from the eyes or ears. By accurate I mean “understanding
what the memes communicated meant to their Source (speaker or author).”
Take
a moment think about the underlined words above. I believe we are at a critical
juncture in the history of our biblical heritages:
We have entered “The
Age of Rediscovered Biblical Memes!”
Understanding
that our Bibles are like “flash drives” in which memes are stored is really
exciting! “The brain generates human realities from belief models created by
the memes it has.” By being aware of the memes in our Bibles, we are
able to understand the words of our Bibles more like their authors understood them.
Today I will give you a quick overview of memes. In future emails I will apply
that information to words in our Bibles, beginning with “rediscovering
the memes of Jesus.”
Memes
101
A meme is a unit of cultural information spread
by imitation. The term meme (from the Greek mimema, meaning “imitated”)
was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins
in his work The Selfish Gene.
Dawkins conceived of memes as the cultural parallel to biological genes. Memes
carry information, are replicated, and are transmitted from one person to
another.
● Within a culture, memes can take a variety of
forms, such as an idea, a skill, a behavior,
a phrase, a fashion, an institutional
truth, etc.
● The replication and transmission of a meme
occurs when one person copies a unit of cultural information comprising
a meme from another person.
● The process of transmission is carried out
primarily by means of verbal, visual,
or electronic communication, ranging from books
and conversation to television,
e-mail, or social media programs on the Internet.
The
brain receives memes based on different types of information:
● An individual-based
meme is information someone trusts, or places confidence in (whether
factual or not).
● An institutional-based
meme is a meme created by an institution and backed by authority.
● A fact-based
meme relies on no humans or institutions for its existence.
The
subconscious function treats the memes above as if they are identical. The
conscious level must become involved to make distinctions between them. The
subconscious creates belief models from the memes it places
the most confidence in. The brain searches for patterns in incoming
information that matches and confirms it belief models.
Belief models are
complex meme structures that contain names,
meanings, and
strategies for actions to take when a pattern is recognized.
The
main sensory organs for the brain to receive memes are the eyes and ears. The
universal and most effective way to replicate and spread belief models is
through narratives – stories.
Stories are to the
brain what food is to the stomach.
Stories are the glue
that holds members of human collectives together.
Many
of the most ancient stories of cultures are recorded in religious texts. Now we
are ready to begin “rediscovering the memes of Jesus.”
Shalom,
Jim
Myers
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