Apocalyptic Visions--Preface and Review

It's coming, folks, and you know it. But it's not what you expect. 

Over the next couple of articles, I will attempt to explain what the heck-fire is going on. To kick things off, let's start with a review of what the Simple Explanation means by "memes".  The following is a reprint of my blog article dated April 1, 2015. 

The Simple Explanation proposes that we are all defined by the memes we believe in. This goes for individuals as well as larger groups, institutions, and cultures. The memes an individual holds onto define one's personality. The memes a group holds define its cultural boundaries--basically, who's in and who's out--based upon the memes shared and endorsed by the group. 

What is a meme? A meme is the smallest unit of information that can be passed from one person to another. Sometimes a meme is extremely simple and unequivocal. A basic emoticon would fall under the simple meme category. There's no mistaking the happy face's meaning.

Memes are commonly grouped in linked sets that the Simple Explanation calls meme chords. A meme chord is always more complicated than a single meme, because it consists of many related memes. Meme chords vary in complexity.

This meme chord is known as the Condescending Wonka meme, wherein the image of actor Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka has come to personify condescension. Why? Because the image presents a facial expression that is easily recognizable and not likely to be misunderstood. Whatever silly lines Wonka says follow an expected pattern of sarcasm designed to put someone in their place. When this meme appears during a discussion thread, everyone "gets it."



Meme chords can be incredibly complex, as is the case with religious meme chords and constitutional meme chords. Religious meme chords are codified in the Holy Book of the religion and taught to all believers. Violations of religious memes are called sins. Governmental meme chords are written as constitutions, laws, and court rulings, and all citizens are expected to learn them and obey. Violations of governmental memes are called crimes. 

Academic meme chords represent the field of study. Accumulation of academic memes is what makes a person "educated." Scientific meme chords, for example, consist of the subject material of each scientific speciality--geology memes, astronomy memes, chemistry memes, and so on--plus the meme chord known as the scientific method that specifies how inquiries are to be handled and what constitutes "proof." Axioms, theorems, and proofs are memes. Violations of scientific and academic memes are considered to be either honest mistakes or academic fraud.

We like people who share the same memes we do. The more memes people have in common, they more they agree with each other, and the more they like and respect the other person. Friends have a lot of memes in common. Co-religionists share the same religious meme chords. Tribal brothers and sisters share tribal memes. Citizens share their nation's meme chords. Sub-cultures share their sub-culture's memes.

Some types of memes are more important than other types, and it's the important memes that matter most. If we agree on the meaning of the meme "justice," we can probably overlook disagreement over the meme of whether the toilet paper should go over or under the roll. Or maybe not.

What happens when meme chords collide? What happens when the memes I believe in and hold onto contradict the memes you hold dear? Herein lies the source of all human conflict. The disagreements, the fights, the wars, are all conflicts over incompatible memes. 

Yes, my memes are vastly superior to yours. Does that mean I should kill you? How ridiculous. Yes, my memes are the best, no doubt about it. Does that mean you have to believe every meme I believe or else? How absurd. Yes, but my memes are so much better than your memes. Does that mean you are stupid? Does that mean you are a fraud? Does that mean you just don't get it? Maybe, maybe not. Most of our memes came embedded in larger meme chords handed down by others--your parents, your schooling, your friends, clergy. 

Most of us have no idea what meme chords we hold and how we came to hold them. In any case, you can't force someone else to adopt your memes, any more than you can force someone to adopt your gender or your skin color. It is impossible. 

The Simple Explanation suggests that "live and let live" would be a great meta-meme for everyone to adopt. If we could appreciate the fact that each of us has a unique perspective, then perhaps we could allow each other to hold the memes that make the most sense for our lives. This is my meme chord; that is your meme chord. If I don't like your meme chord then I can talk it over with you and see if we can move our meme chords closer to one another in agreement. If neither of us is able or willing to swap memes with the other, then so be it. Either accept the other person, memes and all, or move on. Find someone else who more closely agrees with your memes. There is enough room in this world for each of us to hold our own chords, but only if "live and let live" is an overarching meme.

Why Is the Left Terrified of Trump?

President Trump strikes terror into the hearts of Liberals and Progressives. This terror manifests itself as anger clothed in the garb of righteous indignation. Every news cycle prompts fresh rounds of hand wringing and tears of frustration from the Left. Each new Presidential tweet provokes apoplexy. You can see the fear and anger on the faces of Progressive marchers, town hall protesters, and pop culture icons. You can hear it in the strained questions of reporters at press briefings and the opinions of pundits at round-tables. 

The target of this Trump-terror is broader than the President and his staff--it affects every one of us. Those who voted against Trump have not settled down post-election, but continue to rage, rage, rage against the Trump machine. Those who voted for Trump now stand in for the Administration as localized whipping boys of Liberal indignation, buffeting wave after wave of hyperbolic sidewalk insults. Ask anyone who wears a certain red ball cap how it feels.

One of my best and dearest friends said a ridiculous thing to me at my brother's funeral. After many touching tributes to David's selfless devotion to others, my friend said to me, "I'm surprised your brother was so active in charity work and the mission field--I thought he was a Republican." Tempers quickly flared, words like "Trump" and "racist" were exchanged, and he and his partner left in a huff.  By the time I got home, there was an email cancelling an upcoming visit, signed "Best Regards."

David Puett teaching orphans in Brazil.

David Puett repairing water pump at Malawi orphange.

David Puett and his buddies at Malawi orphanage.

No doubt about it--the schism between Left and Right is deep, and we can make sense of it in terms of the Simple Explanation's meme exchange dynamics. 

First, a simple explanation of memes:  memes are simply the meaning of bits of communication, whether the meaning is carried by a word, an image, or any other way we communicate meaning to one another.  If you need a better explanation of memes, please read the "When Meme Chords Collide" article from 2015 .

The memes we cling to form sets of memes that I call "meme bundles." The totality of our meme bundles form the belief system we hold. The more your meme bundle overlaps with someone else's meme bundle, the more kinship you feel with that other person. The less your meme bundles overlap, the less you have in common and the greater your distrust of one another.

Oftentimes, belief systems, or "meme bundles" aren't held by individuals alone, but are shared with other people and with institutions we belong to. Not only do we share memes with others, it is the job of institutions to maintain the integrity of their meme bundles by keeping believers in and non-believers out.  From my 2011 article, "Meaning is in the Memes": 

"I realized the other day that each and every cultural institution we belong to (family, workplace, church, mosque, tribe, nation, etc.) not only comes with its own bundle of shared memes held in common by its members, it also comes with a filter that prevents members from acknowledging or adopting incompatible memes. Memes are even more important to an institution than its members in the sense that members come and go, but memes persist." 

"Institutions are defined as much by their excluded memes as they are by their included memes. An exclusive institution holds tightly to the identity provided by its memes; its border is strong and its filter powerful. An inclusive institution allows members more latitude in the memes they may hold; its border is less defined; its filter less opaque. An "open-minded" institution acknowledges the fact that there are memes out there in the greater culture that may have value, and is willing to consider new memes; its border is permeable and its filter thin." 

When you view politics through the lens of the Simple Explanation's theory of meme exchange, today's turmoil begins to make sense.  Seems obvious, but here it is:  The Left and the Right hold different meme bundles that appear to be mutually exclusive.  In other words, if I like people who like the memes I like, then I am made uneasy by people who reject the memes I hold. And vice versa. And the more polarized politics becomes, the less my meme bundle is likely to overlap your meme bundle. 

Furthermore, Conservatives have less permeable boundaries than Liberals--it is their function to "conserve." Liberals have more open, permeable boundaries because it is their function to welcome new memes. Conservatives are less likely to welcome foreign memes and those who hold foreign memes. Conservatives expect newcomers to adopt American memes. The open/closed aspect of Right and Left is not a moral short-coming of either side; it is their essential character and mandate. 

I think the extreme emotionality of politics today stems from not respecting one another's meme bundles.  Does holding exclusive meme bundles bring the end of civility? Not if we allow one another our beliefs.  Clashes over meme bundles only occurs when others are forced to adopt memes they do not hold. "Live and let live" is the only motto that assures peace among those who disagree. 

"Live and let live" acknowledges that there is more than one way to view reality. "Live and let live" acknowledges that someone else with another point of view may actually have a respectable meme bundle--just not one you happen to hold.  In other words, it is possible to disagree with someone, yet still respect their moral integrity and their right to their beliefs.

"Live and let live" is a meme that ensures civility amongst competing institutions.  "My way is the only way--death to all others" is a meme that ensures strife and warfare. Totalitarianism is the attempt to eradicate all meme bundles (and their believers) that differ from the tyrant's.

This American election cycle has brought an unprecedented level of mistrust between the Right and Left because they no longer appear to have anything in common. But is that really true? Not really.  We all share the same basic memes in common--Truth, Justice, Love, Family Values are just a few of the memes shared by the Left and Right. Most importantly for our country, we all agree that we want a functioning federal government and laws fairly applied all. We all, Left and Right, sign on to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--which are our founders meme bundles written down. What we fear from the "other side" is that they don't really believe those founders' memes. And it is that fear that inspires such mistrust.  

The reason for the mistrust is the rhetoric, not the reality. The Left says terrible things about President Trump. The hyperbole, the exaggeration of fault, the accusations of treachery--these are rhetorical devices designed to emphasize Trump's supposedly crazy, self-centered meme bundle. The problem with this rhetoric is that it paints an unrealistic version of Trump's memes that are over-the-top evil. In the vacuum of Trump's vaguely-defined policy memes or omissions of fact, the Left impugns the President with memes of pure devilry from their own imagination. It is important to realize that the rhetoric is not the reality--it is an interpolation of imagination borne out of fear.

I wish there were some way to reassure my friends on the Left that most of what they fear is hyperbole and not fact. Time will tell whether the Administration's motives lie in their public declarations or not. The proof lies in a "wait and see" approach. It's my belief that the gap between the Left's meme bundle and the President's is not nearly so large as they fear. 

When Meme Chords Collide

The Simple Explanation proposes that we are all defined by the memes we believe in. This goes for individuals as well as larger groups, institutions, and cultures. The memes an individual holds onto define one's personality. The memes a group holds define its cultural boundaries--basically, who's in and who's out--based upon the memes shared and endorsed by the group. 

What is a meme? A meme is the smallest unit of information that can be passed from one person to another. Sometimes a meme is extremely simple and unequivocal. A basic emoticon would fall under the simple meme category. There's no mistaking the happy face's meaning.

Memes are commonly grouped in linked sets that the Simple Explanation calls meme chords. A meme chord is always more complicated than a single meme, because it consists of many related memes. Meme chords vary in complexity.

This meme chord is known as the Condescending Wonka meme, wherein the image of actor Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka has come to personify condescension. Why? Because the image presents a facial expression that is easily recognizable and not likely to be misunderstood. Whatever silly lines Wonka says follow an expected pattern of sarcasm designed to put someone in their place. When this meme appears during a discussion thread, everyone "gets it."



Meme chords can be incredibly complex, as is the case with religious meme chords and constitutional meme chords. Religious meme chords are codified in the Holy Book of the religion and taught to all believers. Violations of religious memes are called sins. Governmental meme chords are written as constitutions, laws, and court rulings, and all citizens are expected to learn them and obey. Violations of governmental memes are called crimes. 

Academic meme chords represent the field of study. Accumulation of academic memes is what makes a person "educated." Scientific meme chords, for example, consist of the subject material of each scientific speciality--geology memes, astronomy memes, chemistry memes, and so on--plus the meme chord known as the scientific method that specifies how inquiries are to be handled and what constitutes "proof." Axioms, theorems, and proofs are memes. Violations of scientific and academic memes are considered to be either honest mistakes or academic fraud.

We like people who share the same memes we do. The more memes people have in common, they more they agree with each other, and the more they like and respect the other person. Friends have a lot of memes in common. Co-religionists share the same religious meme chords. Tribal brothers and sisters share tribal memes. Citizens share their nation's meme chords. Sub-cultures share their sub-culture's memes.

Some types of memes are more important than other types, and it's the important memes that matter most. If we agree on the meaning of the meme "justice," we can probably overlook disagreement over the meme of whether the toilet paper should go over or under the roll. Or maybe not.

What happens when meme chords collide? What happens when the memes I believe in and hold onto contradict the memes you hold dear? Herein lies the source of all human conflict. The disagreements, the fights, the wars, are all conflicts over incompatible memes. 

Yes, my memes are vastly superior to yours. Does that mean I should kill you? How ridiculous. Yes, my memes are the best, no doubt about it. Does that mean you have to believe every meme I believe or else? How absurd. Yes, but my memes are so much better than your memes. Does that mean you are stupid? Does that mean you are a fraud? Does that mean you just don't get it? Maybe, maybe not. Most of our memes came embedded in larger meme chords handed down by others. Most of us have no idea what meme chords we hold and how we came to hold them. In any case, you can't force someone else to adopt your memes, any more than you can force someone to adopt your gender or your skin color. It is impossible. 

The Simple Explanation suggests that "live and let live" would be a great meta-meme for everyone to adopt. If we could appreciate the fact that each of us has a unique perspective, then perhaps we could allow each other to hold the memes that make the most sense for our lives. This is my meme chord; that is your meme chord. If I don't like your meme chord then I can talk it over with you and see if we can move our meme chords closer to one another in agreement. If neither of us is able or willing to swap memes with the other, then so be it. Either accept the other person, memes and all, or move on. Find someone else who more closely agrees with your memes. There is enough room in this world for each of us to hold our own chords, but only if "live and let live" is an overarching meme.

Meme Share: Stay Positive and Optimistic

Proverbs 23:7 states, "As ye think, so shall ye be." 

Buddha said, "What we think, we become."

Marcus Aurelius put it this way: "Our life is what our thoughts make it."

In other words, events are neutral. The thoughts referred to above are the memes you bring to the table and apply to the situation. You are the holder of the memes. You construct your apprehension of reality through the memes already in your meme bundle.

In Hamlet Shakespeare said, "For there is nothing good or bad, but that thinking makes it so."

Can you trade your pessimism meme bundle for an optimistic bundle? Would you want to if you could? Can you trade your current attachment to frustration and indignation for acceptance of the here and now and peace?

Epictetus suggested this simple course in order to achieve just that:

"Learn to wish that everything should come to pass exactly as it does."

Communing With the Soul of God

This morning we were reading from The Second Coming of Christ/The Resurrection of the Christ Within You. This book was assembled and edited by the Self Realization Fellowship from numerous writings published by Paramahansa Yogananda during his lifetime (1893-1952).

Paramahansa Yogananda

Yogananda taught his followers a modified Kriya yoga technique of "scientific meditation" as the way to open up intuitive vision and access direct knowledge of "God" or, alternately, "Reality." The following quote from his chapter on Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-8) leads into a discussion of what it means to be "born again":

 "All bona fide revealed religions of the world are based on intuitive knowledge. Each has an exoteric or outer particularity, and an esoteric or inner core. The exoteric aspect is the public image, and includes moral precepts and a body of doctrines, dogmas, dissertations, rules, and customs to guide the general populace of its followers. The esoteric aspect includes methods that focus on actual communion of the soul with God. The exoteric aspect is for the many; the esoteric is for the ardent few. It is the esoteric aspect of religion that leads to intuition, the firsthand knowledge of Reality." (Yogananda, p.240, vol. 1)

According to the Simple Explanation, the exoteric, public image of a religious institution is defined by the memes held by or rejected by that institution. The "moral precepts" and "doctrines, dogmas, dissertations, rules, and customs" are the particular memes and meme chords that define membership in that institution. Many religious meme chords are shared by members of diverse religions. Religions generally share, for example, belief in the overarching "God" meme chord, and generally agree on most of the lesser-included memes that make up the God chord, such as memes concerning God's omniscience and omnipotence, and the importance of communing with God in prayer. Then come the memes religions do not share in common--memes of saints and saviors, histories, and other customary beliefs. The memes they do not share set them apart from each other. 

A Simple Explanation of the esoteric aspect referred to by Paramahansa that focuses on "communion of the soul with God" is that such communion is not of the religious meme-sharing variety, but involves its opposite--meme shedding. When one's grip on habitual thought patterns relaxes, their governing UC intuitively aligns itself with the metaversal principles embodied by the Universal UC. During these brief or extended periods of alignment, "firsthand knowledge of Reality" is glimpsed.

"Glimpsing God" through a toroidal skylight at Sagrada Familia Cathedral.

Exoteric knowledge is often defined as knowledge available to anyone, whereas esoteric knowledge is reserved for the innermost circle of devotees. This definition makes it seem as though true knowledge is being withheld by those in power. Yet, if one adopts the Simple Explanation's definition of meme-based vs. intuitive knowledge, then esoteric knowledge of God is truly available to any and every believer. The only limitation is the believer's own willingness to suspend attachment to their personal meme bundle long enough to allow their UC to align with the Universal UC.

When the memes are set aside, i.e. thought is suspended; language suspended; the person's governing UC remains. This fractal unit of consciousness underlies the memes. Unencumbered by meme attachments, the person's governing UC aligns with the Universal UC. This condition is called "bliss" in Buddhist and Yogic teachings. "Be still and know that I am God" is how the Bible says it (Psalm 46:10). Verse 16 of the Tao Te Ching says, "Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity," (J. Star translation).

To "be still" is to suspend attachment. Knowing comes during the still point between the pendulum swings of breath and thought. To "be still" is how we hear God. Be still.

Meaning Is In the Memes

The Simple Explanation states that a huge part of our personalities is shaped by the memes we hold dear as well as the memes we hate.

The memes you cling to (sanskara), both the ones you like and ones you don't like, influence your ability to exercise your free will in the here and now. When you unthinkingly lock onto a meme or set of memes, it is your belief in the memes that determines how you will interpret your surroundings and how you will respond. Your response may or may not be the best response to a situation, but it is the only one your set of memes allows.

We see this phenomenon at play every day. For example, a person (person A) whose meme bundle includes a belief that others are "out to get me" will interpret events in a manner that reinforces that meme. The most innocent statements on another's part (person B) will activate person A's "out to get me" meme, even when no such insult was intended. Person A's ego is hurt by their own meme, not by person B.

Another example of delimiting memes occurs during problem-solving. The more tightly held one's memes are, the fewer solutions will present themselves. The ability to consider solutions "outside the box" and to engage in "lateral thinking" comes about through nonattachment to the "shoulds" and "oughts" of how things work. One must be willing to set aside treasured beliefs in order to perceive memes outside one's own bundle and thereby discover fresh solutions.

I realized the other day that each and every cultural institution we belong to (family, workplace, church, mosque, tribe, nation, etc.) not only comes with its own bundle of shared memes held in common by its members, it also comes with a filter that prevents members from acknowledging or adopting incompatible memes. Memes are even more important to an institution than its members in the sense that members come and go, but memes persist.

Institutions are defined as much by their excluded memes as they are by their included memes. An exclusive institution holds tightly to the indentity provided by its memes; its border is strong and its filter powerful. An inclusive institution allows members more latitude in the memes they may hold; its border is less defined; its filter less opaque. An "open-minded" institution acknowledges the fact that there are memes out there in the greater culture that may have value, and is willing to consider new memes; its border is permeable and its filter thin.

A goal of the Simple Explanation is to demonstrate the simple commonality of the reality underlying the panoply of memes. Not just the religious memes; not just the spiritual memes; but the "rational" and "scientific" memes, too.

A Simple Explanation of The Perennial Philosophy

A philosopher friend of mine recently commented on the Simple Explanation, "Excellent retelling of the Perennial Philosophy!"

I was unfamiliar with the expression "Perennial Philosophy," so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Here's their essential definition:

Perennial philosophy is the philosophical concept which states that each of the world’s religious traditions share a single truth. Perennial philosophy asserts that there is a single divine foundation of all religious knowledge, referred to as the universal truth. Each world religion, independent of its cultural or historical context, is simply a different interpretation of this knowledge...

Yes, my friend was right. The Simple Explanation is all about identifying the universal truth embedded underneath ages of confusing memetic overlays.

And what is the basic truth that all traditions share when you strip away their superfluous memes?

• There is a Divine Reality underpinning everything; without This, no thing and no one would exist. 
• Ground, Sat, Undiffentiated Unity, Brahman, Godhead, Pure Light of the Void, Pure Consciousness, Metaverse

• This Divine Reality may be directly perceived under certain conditions.
• through prayer, meditation, near-death experiences, mystic revelation, psychedelic drugs, religious ecstasy, inspired ritual, super-rational intuition
• Humans possess a dual nature: the little, egoic "me" of day-to-day living, and a true Self that reflects the Divine Reality.
• egoic "me" is selfish, competitive, single-minded, short-sighted, meme-bound
• transcending ego, Self reaches out to others with love, help, and information for the betterment of all
• People long to reunite with that divine Reality from whence they came.
• salvation, enlightenment, Self-realization, Buddhahood
• Unification is only possible through denial of the earthly self and identification with divine Reality.
• focus on the here and now; drop unwanted memes

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The late Aldous Huxley wrote an excellent book on the topic in 1944 called The Perennial Philosophy. I've only read the first three chapters so far, but they are already marked up with happy scribbles. What a smart man Huxley was! Everything he is saying fits in perfectly with the Simple Explanation, so if you would like a fuller explanation of the Perennial Philosophy, I'd recommend Huxley's book.

"I" am not my Ego

My Ego is not really "me," even though that's who I usually think I am.

We think of the mind and ego as ourselves, but this is the delusion. Yes, the "me" package reflects our personalities, but "I" am much more than the meme bundles and karma of this personality.

Nor am "I" my mind. My mind is a tuning device that scans for and locks onto "my" meme bundle. The Ego feeds on the memes tuned in by my mind. My mind is directed toward its preferred memes by my karmic record. Ego is not a conscious entity. Ego is only a construction--a garment cast over; a vessel containing; the shadow outlining, "my" self's Unit of Consciousness (UC).

Underneath the garment of "me" resides a perfect fractal of the originating unit of consciousness, my Self. "I" am a Unit of Consciousness, identical to the universal UC.

"I" have the choice at every moment of time to either identify with "me" and my bundle of memes, or to identify with the universal unit of consciousness and the bigger picture that transcends personal identity.

• The Egoic "Me" is selfish, competitive, single-minded, short-sighted, meme-bound;
• Transcending Ego, "I" reach out to others with love, help, and information for the betterment of all.



Here is a more detailed definition of "I" from my article 9, "Who Am I?" 

For most people, the answer to "who am I?" is that I am my self-aware sense of "me" encased in this body of mine. This Simple Explanation theory says we are that, but also we are the things we love and hate, plus the record of our actions in this world, overlaid upon our UC. Think of a UC as a perfect echo or wave form "shaped" exactly like God's mind. You might say our universe is populated by exact echoes of God's primordial UC. The UCs are all identical--they're all reflections of the God UC. What makes "me" different from "you" is the pattern of my meme bundles and karma that overlay or filter out my UC.

The Self UC is a perfect reflection of the God UC. But "I" (the subjective sense of "me") am not that perfect, because of my meme attachments and karma.

 

Process Note: Why Is My Model Toroidal?

In 1979 I first read Itzhak Bentov's book, Stalking the Wild Pendulum.  Recently I realized that what the Simple Explanation has been calling the conscious "fractal" universe is another term for what Bentov called the conscious "holographic" universe. (By holographic, Bentov referred to fact that any small fragment of a holographic image can be used to reproduce the whole image out of which the fragment came.)

Here's an overview of Bentov's universal model from the website worldlingo.com

•  Our bodies are mirrors of the whole universe, at every level.
• Vibration permeates all things.
• The universe and all matter is made of consciousness in the process of developing to higher levels.
• Our brains are thought receivers and amplifiers, not the source of thought.
• All knowledge that has ever been generated is potentially available to us from other consciousnesses somewhere in the universe.
• The universe is a hologram. The brain is a hologram interpreting a holographic universe.

These memes were first planted in my meme bundle in 1979. I didn't reread the Wild Pendulum until after I began writing the Simple Explanation, but the genesis of the Simple Explanation from Bentov's cosmology seems clear. Bentov may even have coined the term "unit of consciousness." It's still a great book and I recommend it.

As for the toroids, I've been doodling them in the margins of papers and on love notes since I first read his book. I even sewed two toroids into the pattern of a house blessing I embroidered in 1982 that hangs on the wall here at the Albion Inn. Obviously I'm holding onto and regularly activating that toroid meme.

The toroid makes its first appearance in Bentov's Stalking the Wild Pendulum on page 132, in his chapter, "A Model of the Universe." Here's the only Bentov torus image I could find online.

This Winter as I have been writing these articles and searching the web for images for illustrations, I have been very surprised to find so many spirituality and cosmology articles and blogs touching on the toroidal model of the conscious universe. The Simple Explanation of this is that I and the other writers are all resonating to and evoking the same toroidal model meme out of our shared transpersonal memory. I can assure my readers that I am not researching other people's articles and blogs and cobbling together a bunch of torus ideas from what people are writing. I have written; they have written; we've all tapped the same meme; we're all manifesting the same exact concepts filtered through our various individual governing UCs. And the more we each individually explore and tap out this same meme, the stronger it becomes, because memes are starved through lack of usage and reinforced through invocation.

A Simple Explanation of Dreams

If you haven't read the Basic Principles articles from the column to the right of this page, this might be a good time to do so. You should at least be familiar with the articles Units of Consciousness and Memes.

The Simple Explanation proposes that our personalities are largely defined by the memes we cling to. These memes, and our reactions to them, contribute to our behaviors and subsequent karma.

In a previous article on Transpersonal Memory, the Simple Explanation suggests that memes constitute "vibratory patterns held in the zero-point field, and accessed through our minds. Furthermore, apparently personal memes are actually harmonics of collective memes and are shared in common with all who hold onto that meme. The particular shadings of one person's meme differs slightly from the next person's, as is to be expected among fractal replications  of a single phenomenon, but all who hold it recognize its pattern and are affected by it."

The Simple Explanation of Dreams boils down to this:

Dreams are nothing but the night time resonances of memetic patterns.

These meme patterns are stimulated by the thoughts, encounters, and emotional reactions experienced during the day, transformed into symbolic imagery, and enacted while you sleep on the stage of your mind. Meme bundles stirred up by the day may be dealt with again and again until the emotional reactions associated with them are resolved. If not resolved, these memes will continue to bedevil dream after dream, guised in one form after another.

In sleep we are open to the leading of the Universal Unit of Consciousness to an extent not available during waking. Our ego in sleep relinquishes the control it exerts over our waking lives. When our hearts are quieted in the hush of sleep, our governing UCs are better able to commune with the Universal UC.

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This receptive state is addressed in a scholarly article I wrote that is published in the journal Janus Head. You may read the entire article at the Janus Head site if you care to. From that article:

Richard Palmer paraphrases Richard Rorty's "From Epistemology to Hermeneutics" in his own essay, "What Hermeneutics Can Offer Rhetoric," when he describes a nonfoundationalist, hermeneutical style of thinking that is "radically at variance with the modern Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm of conclusions whose certainty is based on clear demonstrations" (110). It is this hermeneutical style of thinking, one that allows for the figurative slippage of rhetorical cognition referred to earlier by Farrell, that liberates dream analysis from the terministic strictures of rigidly authoritarian interpretive systems. One problem with theoretically-based dream interpretation systems is that calculative thinking may be prematurely applied to a hermeneutic process in need of a continuation of the more receptive frame of mind characteristic of meditative thought. Palmer hints at another alliance between dreams and hermeneutics when he describes Rorty's conceptualization of language as the matrix of all thought. Dreaming provides a nightly opportunity for engaging in a hermeneutic activity originating prior to the conditioning matrix of language. Perhaps this is the reason so many inventors and artists find creative inspiration in dreams, for by escaping language radical new possibilities can emerge. As such, dreams provide a virtually untapped site for studies of rhetorical invention.

(Ropp, Cyd C., A Hermeneutic and Rhetoric of Dreams, Janus Head,Cyd-C.-Ropp.pdf (janushead.org)

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A Simple Explanation of Transpersonal Memory

Transpersonal psychology deals with mystical and spiritual experiences of the human psyche. "Transpersonal memory" is defined as memories that are shared at a cultural level, rather than a personal level. Transpersonal memories reveal themselves in many ways, through societal archetypes and archetypal dreams, through sub-conscious assumptions, stereotypes, and expectations, and through strange occurances such as the "100th Monkey" phenomenon.


Jung referred to this transpersonal memory as the collective unconscious. Here Jung is quoted in Wikipedia:  “My thesis then, is as follows: in addition to our immediate consciousness . . . there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is  identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents.” [C. G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (London 1996) p. 43

Again from Wikipedia: "Jung also made reference to contents of this category of the unconscious psyche as being similar to Levy-Bruhl's use of collective representations or "représentations collectives," Mythological "motifs," Hubert and Mauss's "categories of the imagination," and Adolf Bastian's "primordial thoughts."

The Simple Explanation refers to these collective memories as culturally shared "memes" and "meme chords."   A person can be defined by the memes they cling to. To a large extent, one's memes shape one's personality.

Biologist Rupert Sheldrake has written extensively about, and staked his professional reputation upon, a scientifically controversial process called "morphogenetic fields." How does an oak tree develop from an acorn? By information carried in the morphogenetic field surrounding the acorn. Sheldrake explains that morphogenetic fields are to life forms what quantum probability clouds are to sub-atomic particles, carrying the information that gives rise to particular biological manifestations of form.

The Simple Explanation would site these morphogenetic fields at the zero-point field at the center of the toroid, part of the metaversal information streaming into our universe through our universal unit of consciousness, tempered by the organism's karmic record and acquired memes. In the case of the acorn and the oak tree, the morphogenetic field of the oak tree provides the genetic blueprint, while the mama tree's karma and memes provide the individualized epigenetic pattern that tells which genes to turn on and off. What karma can a tree have? Its karma is the record of its life--nutrients, history of water availability, pest attacks, and so on. What memes can a tree hold? "The sun feels good on my leaves; must follow the sun."



In an article published in the journal In Context, Robert Gilman ties together morphogenetic fields and personal memories by describing how the memories generated by our brains "are not locked in your brain, but are available throughout all space and all future time!" through the process of morphogenetic resonance. Gilman claims that not only is our biological form influenced by these fields, but our behavior as well, as shared memories influence behavior.

The Simple Explanation agrees with Sheldrake and Gilman that personal memories do not reside in the meat portion of our brains, but are vibratory patterns held in the zero-point field, and accessed through our minds. Furthermore, apparently personal memes are actually harmonics of collective memes and are shared in common with all who hold onto that meme. The particular shadings of one person's meme differs slightly from the next person's, as is to be expected among fractal replications  of a single phenomenon, but all who hold it recognize its pattern and are affected by it.

Shed Unwanted Memes Here! Now!

As defined in the article "Memes and Chords of Memes," memes are the cultural expressions of societies. Every discrete cultural concept, mythology, or icon you can think of is a meme. Indeed, each and every concept that a person can know and name is a meme, even self-concept. According to the Simple Explanation, the memes we believe in and cling to are like theads draped over our souls, obscuring our perfect Self UC and interfering with our awareness of here and now.

If my Self UC is a perfect fractal expression of the primordial Universal UC ("Holy Ghost," "Kutastha Chaitanya," "Purushottama") then my personal meme bundle is the garment woven by my mind out of life's experiences ("avidiya," "maya"), and sustained by my Ego as personal identity ("Ahamkara").



Self UC





Self UC Clouded by Memes

The article "Bundles of Memes" explains that once you acquire a meme, it becomes part of your unique vibratory bundle. If you do not wish to continue holding that meme in your personal bundle of strings and chords, you need to detach that meme from your bundle.

• Some memes fall away of their own accord through disuse.
• Other memes must be consciously detached and laid aside.
• Some memes are pernicious; addictions are their behaviors. 
• Emotionally evocative memes such as victimhood or jealousy are difficult to detach due to the intense synergistic coupling of thoughts and emotion.

In the worldly course of events, unwanted memes must be detached through an effort of will, either through conscious disuse or by acquiring a competing, more desirable meme. Therapies such as EFT may help.

Within one's spiritual tradition, memes may be surrendered to one's Higher Power through prayer and meditation. Serenity is achieved as memes are discarded.

Here, now, you may lay down that unwanted meme. If you find yourself accidentally carrying it around again, lay it down again. If you notice yourself invoking that meme out of habit, good. Lay it down again. You may need to lay down some neighboring memes as well, if their vibrations are invoking that pernicious meme in you. No need for dismay or despair. Onward and upward.

7 Memes and Chords of Memes

Memes are the cultural expressions of societies. In human societies, memes are most often propagated through mass media such as magazines, films, and the internet, although they may also be spread by word of mouth and tradition. The Beatles is a meme. Andy Warhol’s iconic poster of Marilyn Monroe is a meme. Archetypal figures like the Trickster or the Shadow are memes. Football is a meme. Patriotism is a meme--all “ism”s are memes. Every discrete cultural concept, mythology, or icon is a meme. Indeed, each and every particular concept that a person can know is a meme.

Some memes are held in common by most human cultures—the wheel; the ideal model of a caring family; archetypal heroes and villains; universal human values such as honesty and loyalty. Other memes are exclusive to their particular culture. This especially applies to memes dealing with local traditions, religions, politics, and regional myths.

Humans are not the only units of consciousness affected by memes. All cultural aggregations of UCs propagate and utilize memes. Cats, for example, bury their waste because there is a strong waste-burying meme that resonates in all cats. “Dog is man’s best friend” is a shared meme chord continually re-propagated by both humans and dogs. “Flying in formation is awesome” may well be a duck meme.

The memes we cling to are like threads draped over our Self UC.

Every UC's garment of memes is as unique as each person's opinions and beliefs.

Memes are energetic waves of cultural patterns fueled by repetition or starved by lack of usage. As wave forms, each meme has a distinct vibratory signature, akin to a musical note. Each individual meme can be likened to a string on society’s harp.
 

A single meme is like a single note. A group of related memes is like a chord. In the example above, "America" is the meme chord, and each stripe is a meme or set of memes that contributes to that chord. Each meme chord vibrates to the particular concepts that make it up. Believers in those memes and meme chords are like members of a choir cloaked in the robes of their meme chords. 

 Continue on to Chapter 8, Bundles of Memes