Skip to main content

The Age of Rediscovered Biblical Memes

 


In my previous email I mentioned the word “meme.” It comes from science and understanding what memes are and how they work is an essential requirement for accurately understanding any form of human communication received by the brain from the eyes or ears. By accurate I mean “understanding what the memes communicated meant to their Source (speaker or author).”

 

Take a moment think about the underlined words above. I believe we are at a critical juncture in the history of our biblical heritages:

 

We have entered “The Age of Rediscovered Biblical Memes!”

 

Understanding that our Bibles are like “flash drives” in which memes are stored is really exciting! “The brain generates human realities from belief models created by the memes it has.” By being aware of the memes in our Bibles, we are able to understand the words of our Bibles more like their authors understood them. Today I will give you a quick overview of memes. In future emails I will apply that information to words in our Bibles, beginning with “rediscovering the memes of Jesus.”

 

Memes 101

 

A meme is a unit of cultural information spread by imitation. The term meme (from the Greek mimema, meaning “imitated”) was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his work The Selfish Gene. Dawkins conceived of memes as the cultural parallel to biological genes. Memes carry information, are replicated, and are transmitted from one person to another. 

 

● Within a culture, memes can take a variety of forms, such as an idea, a skill, a behavior, a phrase, a fashion, an institutional truth, etc.

 

● The replication and transmission of a meme occurs when one person copies a unit of cultural information comprising a meme from another person.

 

● The process of transmission is carried out primarily by means of verbal, visual, or electronic communication, ranging from books and conversation to television,

e-mail, or social media programs on the Internet.

 

The brain receives memes based on different types of information:

 

● An individual-based meme is information someone trusts, or places confidence in (whether factual or not).

 

● An institutional-based meme is a meme created by an institution and backed by authority.

 

● A fact-based meme relies on no humans or institutions for its existence.

 

The subconscious function treats the memes above as if they are identical. The conscious level must become involved to make distinctions between them. The subconscious creates belief models from the memes it places the most confidence in. The brain searches for patterns in incoming information that matches and confirms it belief models.

 

Belief models are complex meme structures that contain names,

meanings, and strategies for actions to take when a pattern is recognized.

 

The main sensory organs for the brain to receive memes are the eyes and ears. The universal and most effective way to replicate and spread belief models is through narratives – stories.  

 

Stories are to the brain what food is to the stomach.

Stories are the glue that holds members of human collectives together.

 

Many of the most ancient stories of cultures are recorded in religious texts. Now we are ready to begin “rediscovering the memes of Jesus.”

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

● Subscribe to List & Receive these Email (FREE) by Clicking Here.

 

● “Like” our Facebook Page by Clicking Here.

 

● Donate and to Help Fund Our Work by Clicking Here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It’s a Yod -- NOT a Jot and Tittle!

Not only did Yeshua read and speak Hebrew, so did his followers and disciples! Two very well known, but not accurately understood words in the Gospel of Matthew prove it – jot and tittle . For some reason jot and tittle stick in the minds of Christian Bible readers. But when you ask them what jot or tittle mean, you get a lot of conflicting and some really weird answers. Today, you are going to get the facts about what Yeshua originally said and how they ended up in English translations of the Bible as jot and tittle . Let’s begin by reading Matthew 5:18 from the King James translation: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. If you have not read the article “ From Yeshua to Jesus ” in Yeshua’s Kingdom Handbook please take a moment to read it online by clicking here before you continue. In it you will see how we began with the name “ Jesus ” and traced it through Lati...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Not Say RAQA! - Yeshua on Anger (Part 2)

In the last blog, we covered the first part of Yeshua’s lesson on Anger -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer – keep in mind that “anger” is the focus of Yeshua’s lesson. “Whoever says to a brother, ‘ RAKA ,’ shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin.” [i] Yeshua reveals that the seriousness of the offense has become greater by elevating the crime to the next highest court – the Sanhedrin . It is the highest court in the nation and would be the equivalent of our Supreme Court. What makes this offense more serious than murder, to keep things in the context established by Yeshua? It is because of what the angry person said out of anger – “ RAKA !” RAKA is the English transliteration of the Greek word found in the ancient manuscripts of Matthew. Interestingly, the Greek word is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word into Greek. Keep in mind that when a translator working on a translation of a Greek manuscript transliterates a Greek word, he only finds ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Prayer Yeshua Prayed Twice Every Day

One of Jesus’s earliest memories was no doubt watching and listening to his family when they gathered to pray the Shema at sunrise before the day’s work began and after the working work day was over at sunset . He also heard and participated in praying the Shema at their synagogue. He was surrounded by neighbors who also prayed the same prayer in their homes every day. The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah . It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning “ to judge oneself .” This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. [1] Most of Jewish prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me," an...
Post a Comment
Read more