From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Sat Mar 29 2003 - 17:41:19 MST
Amara Graps wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 28, 2003 at 05:58:44PM -0800, Cory Przybyla wrote:
>
>> What are recommendations for the best way to spread
>> transhuman memes to the more resistant population,
>> which also seems to be in the vast majority?
>
>
> I'll repost something I wrote 1.5 years ago to this list.
> (intense work month for me, getting back to that)
>
> Ciao,
> Amara
>
>
> -------------------------------------
> December 2001
> Re: Meme-set conflicts [was Re: some U.S. observations and notes]
>
> From: Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se>, Sat, 15 Dec 2001:
>
>> No need to coerce people, just give them a chance to convince
>> everybody that their memes are the best (according to some values)
>> on a free memetic market.
>
>
> I don't see how it could be any other way. A human being has such a
> rich mix of philosophies, experiences, intellects, skills, desires,
> goals,
> prejudices, emotions, etc., that, in my opinion, all anyone can do
> if they want to 'teach' an idea in a nonacademic setting is:
>
> 1) be an example,
> 2) 'plant seeds' for ideas
>
> The notion of 'Converting a meme-set' is completely against my
> ethics and as coersive as I can imagine. If you think of an idea as
> a seed that germinates and grows, then either a person has the
> internal 'soil' where that seed will germinate, or he/she doesn't.
> It's very cool if they do take to it, but if the soil is not right
> for that idea then it's not right, and that's all. Find a way to
> present that idea (or 'be' that idea), and let it go. If that person
> likes the idea then they'll return to you with questions.
>
> So while I've been practicing the above for 20+ years, the Sufis
> have been practicing a much richer way to present ideas for 1000+
> years. Their way uses a presentation method which I call 'picture
> word concepts'. Even though the Sufis are a poor fit in a Moslem
> mosque, they are a perfect fit in the Arabic language, and this is
> one of the most important reasons they have for choosing Arabic
> as their primary language to express their concepts (as I
> understand these people).
>
> The Sufis don't use *one* word to concisely present an idea, they
> let the Arabic language concisely present an 'impression' via the
> roots of a word. You start with a particular Arabic word, extract
> the root, then generate/expand more words from the root. These
> special words with the roots describe a complex set of ideas which
> accord with a number of Sufi ideas and practices, and build up, on
> close examination, a 'word picture'. With the meanings taken together,
> the word carries a message or composite presentation of certain
> essentials. It extends the dimensions of meaning, through the word
> and its derivatives, and acts like an impression.
>
> For example, the Sufi traveler belongs to a 'tariqa'. This word
> means: course, rule of life, order of dervishes. The nearest
> approximation to the sense of this word is 'way' in English, the
> way of doing a thing, the way upon which a person is traveling, the
> way as an individual. But there's much more meaning to this word for
> the Sufis. The root is (TaRiQa). Now expand the TRQ root:
>
> TaRQ = sound of a musical instrument
> TaTaRRaQ Li = to aim at, to wish, to draw near to
> ATRaQ = to remain silent with downcast eyes
> TaRRaQ Li = to open the way to
> TaRaQ = to come to anyone by night
> TuRQaT = way, road; method; habit
> TaRIQAt = lofty palm tree
>
> So for the Sufis, the tariqa is the Path in which resides the
> transmission. It is a rule of living, a thin line within ordinary
> life, sometimes maintained through the note of music, expressed
> visually by the palm tree. The tariqa itself opens the Path, and it
> is connected with meditation, silent thinking, as when a man sits in
> quiet contemplation in the silence of the darkness. It is both the
> aim and the method.
>
> So do you see how this 'scattering' method creates an whole
> impression on the disparate elements of the human mind?
> I think it's lovely.
>
> Amara
>
Sounds rather like Kabbalah (or however you want to spell it). More
specifically Gematria. But its got a couple of problems. The first is
that it can't be translated. The second is, that it may be largely
introspective. (Quaballah, at least, runs into many cases where things
don't seem to be reasonable. E.g., Serpent and Messiah share the same
root, leading some to speculate that the serpent in the garden of Eden
is the same and the redeemer-king to come.)
This doesn't mean it doesn't work. A large part of the Quabbalistic
work is resolving those problems. And if you take it seriously, they
are problems. Seems somewhat similar to koans, a way of attacking the
rooted beliefs. With koans, at least, you don't even need to believe in
the persuppositions of the system to benefit from it, if you can take
the challenge seriously as a riddle.
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