RE: virus:Logic

Richard Brodie (RBrodie@brodietech.com)
Fri, 17 Oct 1997 09:49:03 -0700


On Thursday, October 16, 1997 10:08 AM, David McFadzean
[SMTP:david@lucifer.com] wrote:
> >many, Christianity is more like a mood than like a scientific belief
> >system, like having a pleasant, motivating melody playing in the
background
> >of your life. You think that the kind of belief system you have is the
only
>
> True, and for many Christianity is more like a scientific belief system.
> (I get e-mail from them on an almost daily basis.)

I'm not sure that's right. You are filtering their mail through your own
glasses. You try very hard to make people play on your field rather than
extending yourself to play on theirs. SO naturally, the messages you accept
seem to be hideously flawed scientific/rational messages. What if they were
movements of a symphony?

> What makes you think I am not past OK?

Hey, I never said that! I'm responding to what I hear as a request for
learning. If I have something to teach you, I'm happy to do it. If not,
that's wonderful too. I think you're a hell of a guy and your wife is very
lucky to have you.

I don't invite just anybody to Seattle for cognac and cigars, you know!

> Your examples are only about beliefs that can affect reality such as
> "people can't be trusted" or "I can't sing". What about beliefs about
> things that cannot be changed like "the Holocaust never happened"?
> Do you still recommend believing whatever would make you happier?

A frequent source of pain is adopting a "victim" position about past
events. Very often, data can be reframed. For instance, one could easily
shift a belief that "Germans are evil because they committed the Holocaust
on poor powerless us" into "the Holocaust was a tragedy caused by
unenlightened minds being swept up by the Nazi mind virus." The latter is a
much more powerful belief, in my mind.

Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Author, VIRUS OF THE MIND: The New Science of the Meme
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm
Visit Meme Central: http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm