Theos-Talk Archives (March 2002 Message tt00496)

David Blankenship: "The "Economist" ran a summation of the current 
status of the mind - brain duality" 

Can you give a reference pls, date , article title or/and name of 
author ? Would like to look it up, see what they say.

I agree with you that the memes of Ken Wilbur/Hawkins are just a 
hypothesis be it a partly scientificly based one. I don't think one
can say that about elves and gnomes, I don't know of any modern 
scientists that accept these even as a hypothesis.

Wilbur was a member of the TS however and had his first book 
published by the TS Quest Publications. But I am not a believer of 
memes.

Regarding religious beliefs, yes you are right reincarnation is
one of them. And there are indeed tausends of different religious and
cultural after death beliefs that are all 
different. 


Bri.





--- In theos-talk@y..., "David Blankenship" <david-blankenship@a...> 
wrote:
> Perhaps it would help to the understanding of memes to know where 
Dawkins is
> coming from. He is a noted atheist, who believes that the brain
and 
the
> gene is all that makes up a human consciousness. "New Scientist" 
ran a
> cover story on the meme and several articles. The brain has been
> extensively mapped and the meme is as nebulous as the soul, angels 
and
> fairies.
> 
> The "Economist" ran a summation of the current status of the mind
- 
brain
> duality and said it was a draw with neither side the clear winner. 
Also
> that there are diehards on both sides that will go to extraordinary 
lengths.
> 
> It is better to admit to being an optimistic agnostic who chooses
to 
believe
> there is a purpose to life than a pessimist. I don't know what
Brigitte
> believes, but I tend to believe in reincarnation and karma.
> 
> David Blankenship
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gerald Schueler" <gschueler@e...>
> To: <theos-talk@y...>
> Cc: <theos-l@l...>
> Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 12:00 PM
> Subject: Theos-World Re to Brigitte - memes
> 
> 
> >
> > <<<What do you think about this idea of "Memes" nowadays, that 
started
> with the 1976 Richard Dawkins book on evolution (taking in
account 
that
> the SD also mentions evolution a lot) called "The Selfish Gene",
and 
has
> been further defined in that "memes" are fundamental units of
culture,
> passed
> > on by imitation, and a question that comes up is whether taking
a 
meme's
> eye view of cultural evolution leads to any useful scientific work ?
> > One argument against making "imitation" the centerpiece of mimetic
> mechanisms, and an alternative ides has been proposed of a 
distinction
> > between surface-level memes and deep-level memes by asserting 
that
> deep-level memes are not acquired by imitation but rather by a 
complex
> process of construction and integration.>>>
> >
> > I tend to agree with it as a conditional truth, but it is only
one side of
> a dualism, being a polar opposite to cooperation, which is also 
discussed
> nowdays as a possible evolutionary causal factor. Both selfishness
and
> cooperation are certainly in our skandhas in mixed amounts. Maya is 
all
> about the belief in a self. Once this belief takes hold, we grasp
onto it,
> and we want it to continue and to be happy and to have pleasurable
> experiences while avoiding unpleasant experiences. Thus the 
fundamental
> concept of a self drives the whole evolutionary train (and NOT some 
Logos as
> many Theosophists like to think). Memes would seem to into into
this 
scheme,
> but we cannot forget its polar opposite which is cooperation, and 
evolution
> occurs as these two factors interact as a result of the belief in a
self.
> >
> > Jerry S.
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to 
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
> >