A weekend retreat at Gaia
House, 3-5
December 2004
44 people
attended the retreat.
I hope to run more one day and will post news of them if I do.
Why is it so hard to stop thinking? And who wants
to stop the thoughts? Memes are ideas, habits, skills, stories, or any
other kind of information that is copied from person to person. All
your favourite songs and phrases are memes; so are those persistent
thoughts. Memes use our clever brains to get themselves copied, and in
the process construct our sense of self.
The idea of this weekend is not so much to study
the science of memetics, but to use the idea of memes in our practice.
Meditation and mindfulness can be valuable ‘meme-weeding’
techniques. Seeing our thoughts as memes can weaken their power and
help us let go; understanding ourselves as memeplexes can undermine
our clinging to the fantasy of a permanent self.
No prior knowledge of memetics or evolutionary
theory will be assumed but if you want to read something beforehand I
suggest ‘Waking from the meme
dream’.
The weekend will be similar to that held in Bristol
in 2001 but is residential and a little longer, so there will be more
time for meditation. See the Schedule
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Page created 10 November 2003
Last updated: Monday, 04 April 2011 15:58
