> Is it in our interest to look at what kind of structure is used by a
> meme complex such as this, that allows it to survive for 1000 plus years?
I beleive the one mentioned in VoTM and Reed's post was:
"<faith> <your meme here> <evangalize>"
--hmmm--
Looking back, Tim's original question was exactly whether this was a
valid definition of "Mysticism". gosh...
Try the dictionary! hoo boy. This is not going to go over well...
Mysticsm: n. 1. The doctrine or belief the through contemplation and
love man can acheive a *direct* and immediate consciousness of God or of
divine truth, etc. *without* the use of reason of any of the ordinary
senses. 2. Any theory confirming that spiritual truths may be
*directly* apprehended by intuition or meditation. 3. Vague or confused
thinking; fanciful speculation. (emphasis mine)
I don't see any <evangalize> here, folks. And, if it works, I also
don't think there is any <faith>. (but then, perhaps the very faith that
something *will* happen when contemplating brings about the state, thus
verifying the entire process in a circular manner)
Also note that this seems to be a *specific* category of the religious
spectrum... does Christianity meet the criteria? Maybe... is this what
prayer is about?
> The <mysticism> meme/shell also has one quality that I think is pure
> genius, a wonder of adaptation. Many memes have no basis in reality[1].
> That doesn't stop them from growing and spreading, but it does make them
> vulnerable to the <let's just check the evidence, hmmm?> meme antibody.
> And this is often their undoing.
>
> <Mysticism>, on the other hand, offers no receptor sites for the
> <evidence> antibody to take hold of. Woven into its coat is the message,
> "accompanying memes exists outside the realm of evidence, attach no value
> to countermeasures employing evidence." This is beautiful!!! As an
> adaption it is simply a wonder, the perfect anti-antibody defense.
Yes! This is the one that is very aggravating! I've been working on my
"Christianity Crusade", and the very first thing I'm doing is
establishing a "you should listen to reason" deal. So difficult. It
will be an "anti-anti-antibody" The deal, I think, is to show
"hypocrisy"... that is, "you accept reason and your senses here[1], and
here[2], and here[3]; why not *there*[4]?"
I don't think it'll work. But I'm looking for other vectors too...
ERiC
[1] "Thor", "Apollo", "Big Bird"
[2] Crossing the street
[3] Your kitchen: the microwave, the toaster, the fridge, the ...
[4] Creationism, "blind faith", The Flood, the "perfection/Truth" of the
Bible, etc.