Unification News for September 2001

Original Sin: The Adam and Eve Meme

J. Hammond Robinson
Opinion
September, 2001

Genetic research is attempting to locate the source of behavior in the genes. But they won't find a genetic source of evil behavior because original sin is not carried and passed on by the genes even though it passes through the physical body.

Original sin is transmitted through the memes. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the meme as an element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp. imitation.

Physical beings (the animals) learn new actions by seeing others doing it. I don't know about the 'hundredth monkey' idea, but definitely all the monkeys which see a useful behavior will begin to imitate what they have seen.

People learn certain behaviors in the same way; by observing and then imitating the behavior. This is why theater is so powerful. Plays and movies and TV (anything with a visual component, or with words which can be easily visualized) influence behavior by showing people doing certain things. And when those behaviors are imitated they become part of the body's kinetic memory. The memory of the behaviors are acted out by whomever sees them.

In this way a cultural meme can be picked up and spread through a society. This is how foreigners become part of a society; they imitate what they see others doing. This is how foreigners become Americanized, and is how Americans pick up new behaviors which become part of American society.

Tourists can transform a society by setting a behavioral example. Television and movies from America have resulted in the Americanization of the world.

The Presidential election of 2000 is a clear example of the transformative ability of the meme. Many Americans have accepted the idea that the internationally televised reports of the controversial election embarrassed the country. But no one was watching a republic hold an exciting election. They were paying attention to the fact that there was no bloodshed connected to the controversial election of George Bush.

And they picked up the cultural meme which demonstrates that political controversy need not result in armed conflict. They saw with their own eyes that political authority could be peacefully transferred even when there is a great deal of uncertainty connected with the transfer of wealth and power.

The 2000 election was a rather intense demonstration of a foreign meme entering global society, but there had been others examples of American political stability. The resignation of Richard Nixon demonstrated that if a society is organized in a certain way, it can endure the toppling of a living head of state. Nixon showed that there is nothing to fear from putting down the reins of power; and over time that it's possible to return to the global stage with even more cultural influence than before. Jimmy Carter is demonstrating this point with his post-presidential activities.

The American meme is the product of a complex series of cultural behaviors. But even the almost-magical American culture has not been able to erase behavior so bad that it can only be called 'evil'. These 'evil' behaviors are caused by the Original Sin.

Original Sin got started a long time ago when the first ancestors deviated from the ideal path. The Fall of Man took place when Adam and Eve had a physical relationship before they were emotionally and spiritually ready for it. The experience caused them to focus almost exclusively on the physical world of pleasure, and caused them to ignore the sublime experience of God's love.

It was much the same as enjoying the sweetness of corn. Corn has a natural sweetness which is quite pleasant. Many foods are naturally sweet, and make an enjoyable meal. But if a child eats candy before a meal, the natural sweetness of the foods are over-powered by the sweetness of the candy, and the child loses interest in the wide variety of nutritious food that are essential to life.

When Adam and Eve fell, they had a physical experience which distracted them from the love of God; and they picked up the 4 fallen natures; failure to take God's standpoint, leaving one's proper position, reversing dominion, and multiplying the criminal act.

The 4 fallen natures are passed on through the cultural memes. Failure to take God's standpoint results in certain behaviors. One of those behaviors is leaving one's position; and from there comes the desire to control situations (and people) by any means necessary. Ultimately this desire leads to a reenactment of the original Fall: spiritual murder and/or physical murder.

Cain, Abel and Seth inherited these behaviors from their parents. And the behaviors eventually led to the death of Abel. Cain and Seth not only embodied these behaviors, they passed the memes on to whomever witnessed their behavior. And their children picked up the meme and passed it on to their children, who picked it up from their parents and had the meme reinforced by their grandparents.

The insidiousness of this Adam and Eve meme is that it focuses almost entirely on the physical realm, and on the pleasure of the physical body. Those caught in the Adam and Eve meme either struggle to resist their flesh, (like St. Paul), or they are controlled by the desires and fears of their flesh.

The Jesus-meme gave mankind a degree of freedom from the tyranny of the flesh. Jesus demonstrated that there is a power greater than the flesh; the power of the love of God. This meme subverted the long-established world order and made it possible for the Founding Fathers to establish America by recognizing what Jesus knew--that mankind is endowed by God with certain unalienable rights which are untouchable by governments of the world.

This American-made meme subverted the positions of monarchs and delegitimatized tyrants. And though the meme released human creativity, it did not eliminate all the bad behaviors caused by the 4 fallen natures. Only the Messiah-meme can replace the fallen natures with ideal natures.

I think it's obvious how to absorb the Messiah-meme, (watch everything he does and/or fulfill the formula course); so I want to mention the removal of Original Sin.

The physical body attempts to pursue pleasurable experiences and avoid painful experiences. This is because the body has been spoiled by intense pleasure, and it ignores the subtle joys of life in the vain attempt to repeat the good feelings it had before. This usually causes problems which are compounded when the fallen natures kick in.

How will the Messiah untangle the badly-twisted world?

In brief; he will create a new meme; he will spread this new meme; and he will open the realm which has been the lynch-pin of satan's control: sex.

Obviously sex was created by God; but it has become a tool of satan. The Messiah must return sex back to its Godly roots. When people have absorbed the Messiah-meme they are ready for the final step: marriage to another person who has absorbed the Messiah-meme. Together they can have 'absolute sex' and are free from satan's control.

Children raised in such a family will inherit the Messiah-meme from their parents and pass it on to their children. The children will have the Messiah-meme re-enforced by the behavior of their grandparents, and it will continue to spread from generation to generation.

So to sum up this short piece, the Messiah will restore the world by living on Earth and Blessing everyone in marriage. The only question which remains is this: If the Jesus-meme produced the American-meme, which has changed the world, what will be the effect of the SMM-meme?

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