THE FINANCIAL PHILOSOPHER

A Thanksgiving Proposal

"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." ~ Lau Tzu

It's interesting and ironic how in America we have this annual ritual of giving thanks for all that we have by consuming large quantities of food then going out the next day to buy more things that we don't need. 

However, to be thankful is to be content, which is to say that one is satisfied--they have enough. 

But what kind of looks do you think you might get from your family and friends gathered around the table when you stop eating after only one serving of Thanksgiving dinner?  Imagine the reaction you might receive after announcing: "I'm satisfied; I don't need any more food. Oh, by the way, I'm not joining you for Black Friday shopping tomorrow because I already have enough things; and so do all of you!  Why don't we give money to charity instead this year?"

Are you laughing yet?  I am.  However, what makes this little anecdote not so funny a moment later is that, although it sounds like a joke, it's not really a joke.

I won't suggest here that we Americans change the entire tradition of Thanksgiving but I do propose that we do our best to help our fellow Americans and friends around the world to really think about the essence of the word and act of thanksgiving, not just the holiday.  Let's celebrate the tradition once per year and indulge in a few well-deserved small pleasures; but let's also do our best to remain thankful every single day of our lives.

Will you join me? 

Try to incorporate into your daily life some type of thanksgiving routine.  You can say aloud, pray, read or meditate on something that reminds you of how thankful you are to be alive one more day, to have your health, your mind, your family, your friends, your garden, your music and anything and everything that gives you true wealth and fulfillment.

An annual tradition that I've continued for at least 5 years on this blog is to share some of my favorite quotes on thanksgiving and contentment:

"I love to go and see all the things I am happy without." ~ Socrates

"As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life." ~ Buddha

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." ~ Frederick Keonig

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." ~ Epicurus

"If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires." ~ Epicurus

"Money often costs too much." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire." ~ Epictetus

"What is important in life is life, and not the result of life." ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontent. And there is no greater disaster than greed." ~ Lau Tzu"

"Slow down and the thing you are chasing will come around and catch you." ~ Zen saying

"My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it." ~ Zhuangzi

"The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world." ~ Zhuangzi

One year a reader said he printed the quotes from my Thanksgiving blog post, cut them out separately, and then had his Thanksgiving guests each draw one from a hat and read it aloud.  That can be in impactful beginning to my Thanksgiving proposal.

Give thanks; live thankfulness; and be thankful every day.  You will soon notice a positive difference in your life and in the lives of those around you.

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Related: The American Awakening

Defining 'Rich' (On the 'Shores of Discovery')

"The liar uses the valid designations, the words, to make the unreal appear as real; he says, for example, 'I am rich,' when the word 'poor' would be the correct designation of his situation." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

I recently joined a writer's network here on Hilton Head Island and went to a meeting where attendees are invited to read some of their work to the group for some constructive criticism.  Everything I heard was impressive but I was struck by the reading of one particular story.

One of the writers in the group compiles vignettes based upon his life work as a trash collector on the beaches.  I'll attempt to get permission to share some of his work here in the future but a particular story he read this week involved a brief discussion he had with a handyman that often serviced the maintenance requests of beach-front condos.

The handyman asked the trash collector, "Do you know the reason for my most frequent service call?  Out of all the maintenance requests I receive from these $10,000-per-week resorts, the number one compaint by far is to fix a television that does not work."

I thought this to be a powerful observation.  Although not surprising, the outside world maintains such a strong grip on most people (wealthy or not) that being even a few steps from nature--having in one's possession the rare opportunity to turn down the noise of a false reality and tune into the authentic Self--many of us still choose to remain connected to an illusion at the expense of remaining disconnected from the truth of inner richness.

"I do not know how I may appear to the world,
but to myself I seem to have been only a boy
laying on the sea-shore,
and diverting myself now and then
by finding a smoother pebble
or a prettier shell than ordinary,
whilst the great ocean of truth
lay all undiscovered before me." ~ Sir Isaac Newton

There is nothing inherently wrong with watching television at some point during one's vacation.  However, please allow me to humbly submit to you:  If you find yourslef indulging in some mindless program while on holiday in a luxurious beachfront condo and the television stops working, you may receive that inturruption as a serendipitous cue to step out of the false richness of the material world and onto the shores of inner discovery... and begin looking for seashells.

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Related:

The Fisherman's Parable

Quotes on Contentment

How to Know You Are 'Better Off'

"Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty." ~ Socrates

How do you know if you are "better off" now than you were in the past?  When you aspire to enable your children to be "better off" than you in their future, how is that accomplished?  When I tell you that these questions (and their answers) are at the root of the greatest existential challenges of the modern world, it is no exaggeration.

Money is not the root of all evil but it is the most effective means of losing oneself.  It is also the most effective means of getting votes in an election. 

As America steps closer to a presidential election, the question "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" is used as a measure of success for the sitting president but this illusion is also applied to the collective success of the citizens of our country.

"It is the mind that maketh good or ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor." ~ Michel de Montaigne

But if we believe and teach our children, as the politicians tell us, that success is measured by one's net worth, what does that teach about one's self worth?  I can tell you from speaking with thousands of people, sharing comments with hundreds of blog readers, observing the attitudes and behaviors of my financial planning clients and prospective clients, and from reading countless books on psychology, philosophy, money and happiness, that the world's message to its inhabitants, that one's identity and self worth are synonymous with money, material wealth and social status, is completely false.

As I have shared with readers in the past, the utility of wealth diminishes after the point at which one has enough money to pay for the basic physiological needs of food, shelter and clothing (plus a few of life's small material pleasures).  For example, if a family in America can sustain a reasonable lifestyle with a household income of $70,000, an increase of income to $700,000 will not make them 10 times happier. 

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." ~ Frederick Keonig

There is no doubt that some people in the world are truly suffering because they are not able to provide for their basic physiological needs.  However, there exists a larger, rarely communicated problem: The definition of "better off" is purely financial; the material, meaningless world grows in importance as the inner, meaningful world fades.

Until we are able to change the message that "better off" is more about meaning and purpose than money and prominence, we perpetuate the illusion that our self worth is measured financially; we equate high price with high value.  I believe we can change this message by attaching new and accurate meanings to it.

You know you (or your children) are 'better off' when:

• Your money is now a tool for life and your life is no longer a tool for money.
• The value of health and time are higher in relation to money than it once was.
• The word "rich" is defined as enough, not more than you have now.
• Identity is now who you are, not what you have.
• You see more similarities than differences.
• You learn that seeking is the opposite of finding.
• Suffering ceases to be perceived as punishment or necessary sacrifice but as a temporary challenge that helps reveal meaning and purpose.
• You find yourself telling your children that doing what you love is more important than finding the high-paying job.
• You maintain the perspective that things can always be better but they can also be worse.
• You spend more energy on growing relationships than growing your brokerage account.

Can you think of others?  I don't expect to completely erase the conventional line connecting financial status to the meaning of "better off" but I do believe that most people, deep within themselves, feel that there are many things in life more important and more valuable than money and material wealth.  This inner truth simply needs to be uncovered from the debris placed upon it from outside sources.

"How you are seen by others becomes the mirror that tells you what you are like and who you are. You need others to give you a sense of self, and if you live in a culture that to a large extent equates self-worth with how much and what you have, if you cannot look through this collective delusion, you will be condemned to chasing after things for the rest of your life in the vain hope of finding your worth and completion of your sense of self there." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Ironically, politicians like to speak with fond and reverent recollection of the days when their parents were financially poor but they still managed to achieve incredible goals, uphold the highest of values, and pass these lessons on to their children.  As the politicians tell their stories, tears well up in their eyes as they point to their parents in the audience and go on about how their mother and father were the greatest people in the world.

This is where the politicians are correct, although they won't explicitly communicate it:  Life is the journey; meaning is found in the doing, the perspective, not in the results; the challenges are what shape us.  And these ideals and accomplishments are not enabled by an increasing supply of money; they are enabled by meaning, purpose and the degree that people act as their authentic selves.

What the world needs is more people who are "better off," not because their net worth has grown but because their self-worth has grown.  Ironically, when people act authentically, the unintended consequence is the attraction of more financial energy.  These people are content--they are rich--regardless of the results because they live today, not in the past or future--who they are and what they do are aligned.

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Related:

Real Reason Economy is #1 Presidential Issue

The Diminishing Marginal Utility of Wealth

Quotes on Contentment

The Crisis in Consciousness

"…and considering what the world is now, with all the misery, conflict, destructive brutality, aggression, tremendous advancement in technology, and so on… it seems to me, though man has cultivated the external world and has more or less mastered it, inwardly he is still as he was: He is still brutal, violent, aggressive, inquisitive, competitive. And he has built a society along these lines." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

All crises in the world--personal, interpersonal, international, financial, cultural, political, religious--are rooted in a greater crisis. 

To borrow a phrase from the great 20th century spiritual leader Jiddu Krishnamurti, the world has for decades been in something he aptly labeled a crisis in consciousness.  To summarize some of his philosophies and incorporate similar ideas, here is a summary of points that describe the root of almost every problem that exists on the planet today:

• As a human being in the 21st century, the challenge to remain conscious--to obtain and maintain self-awareness--is greater than at any other time in history. This challenge arises from the attraction and distraction of illusion, which has increased its intensity, breadth and effectiveness with the massive and rapid growth of technology. 
• The ability to be someone else and to be somewhere else other than who you are or where you are, respectively, is growing every day.
• The more civilized the society, the greater the capacity to escape reality--to dream, to hope, to buy and sell illusion.
• The Information Age is one of knowledge, which is not the same as wisdom.  Knowledge is superficial; it is shallow; it has breadth but it has no depth.  It is all brain and no mind or spirit.  Knowledge feeds the ego and starves the Self.
• As a human, you prefer states that are temporary, rather than traits that are lasting.  Almost every product or service that is bought or sold today is used to help others enter the state they desire and to re-enter the state when that one begins to fade. 
• Most people stumble from pleasure to pleasure, doing their best to manufacture happiness.  However happiness stretches and it thus becomes increasingly difficult to reach.  You convince yourself that more money is needed to buy more things and the proverbial carrot-chasing, rat-racing existence continues.
• You consume things and increase your appetite for them; and your identity can be constructed completely of physical world forms, such as ideas, concepts, clothes, cars, houses, physical appearance and so on.  You think that, without the things, you are no longer yourself.
• Computers, hand-held devices, social media, print media and everything you see on television is designed to distract and attract your attention, to convince you to buy the things to become the advertised identity.
• However, you are not the things; you are your attention; and if you are constantly distracted, you leave little possibility to be authentic, to be your Self; you become fragmented, others become fragmented, and so the world becomes fragmented. 
• When you pay attention, what price are you paying and what are you receiving in return?  Think about that.
• All of your biases and preconceived notions can be shaped by "Liking" only people and sources of information that agree with your egocentric view of the world. Your worldview can become more and more narrow and you may find yourself "against" more and more people but "for" nothing that is authentically you.

And so we have a great paradox:  The world is more connected than ever but it is also more fragmented.  People around the planet have the capacity for greater love and understanding of eachother, and also for understanding themselves as unique personalities.  However we form figurative islands that separate and categorize, sharpen ideology and dichotomy, and thus create more stark divisions of financial, social, political and religious groups, which then create greater potential for interpersonal and international conflicts.

"See if you can catch, that is to say, notice, the voice in the head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a conditioned mind-pattern, a thought. Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it." ~ Eckhart Tolle

There are always crises in the world and they are all rooted in the crisis of consciousness.  This is not deterministic or pessimistic, just observation.  It is foolish to fight against nature and this includes human nature.  It is natural for simplicity to evolve into complexity and for complexity to eventually return to simplicity.  However humans also have the unique capacity for awareness--to think about thinking--to have a hand in our own evolution.  Technology, and all of the devices that fall under this broad heading, can be used as a tool, just as I am using it as a tool to reach you now. 

As Krishnamuriti said, "you are the world psychologically, and the world is you; and when you understand yourself you are understanding the whole human structure and nature."  To help the world overcome the lower crises that fall under the greater crisis in consciousness, you begin by helping yourself, by learning more about yourself and eventually being your Self.

A great central theme of this blog is to wake people and to keep them awake.  I am fortunate enough to have awakened from a constant, losing battle of keeping myself in an illusory state.  The illusion was that everything must always be improving: Climb the corporate ladder, make more money, buy bigger and better things, and so on.  To battle the stress of this existence, I survived by looking forward to the end of the day, to the end of the week, the holiday, the vacation, and the retirement.  I was always Becoming but never Being.  But at what cost?  I was never living in the present moment, where life resides; I was caught in the crisis of consciousness.

I will have more soon on some personal developments in my life that may help you overcome the crisis in consciousness in your own life.  Thanks for reading.

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Related:

The 'Experience-Stretching Hypothesis'

How Ego Hurts You (And How to Overcome It)

The Diminishing Marginal Utility of Wealth

The Best of Freedom

"The real opposition is that between the ego-bound man, whose existence is structured by the principle of having, and the free man, who has overcome his egocentricity." ~ Erich Fromm

This post is made in recognition of America's Independence Day celebration this week (and because I'm busy doing other things, as you would expect a free person to do). 

I rarely enjoy "best of" compilations because I like to experience the original work in its completeness.  Therefore, in that spirit, I've created this "best of freedom" compilation of previously published TFP posts with links for you to go back to the original, if you so choose. 

In different words, you are free to follow any of the links after reading the sample:

Are You Free?  Deeper Thoughts on Freedom: This post is primarily a collection of approximately 10 quotes on freedom you've probably not heard before (unless you read this post one year ago when it was published).  Here's a sample:

It is the whole soul, in fact, that gives rise to the free decision, and the act will be so much the freer the more the dynamic series with which it is connected tends to be the fundamental self.... But the moments at which we thus grasp ourselves are rare, and that is why we are rarely free. ~ Henri Bergson

'Freedom From' vs 'Freedom To':  Seeking "freedom from" something can produce unintended consequences, while seeking "freedom to" something is a path to meaning, purpose and authenticity:

....specifically with regard to the idea of financial freedom, one must be careful not to seek money only as a means to "buy freedom" from something, such as work, from society, from debt or from whatever it is one wishes to escape, unless this freedom from is attached to (or followed by) a freedom to something...

The Fisherman's Parable:  If you don't know this story, please read it.  I won't give it away with a sample but just know that its theme is about the power of contentment, which is a root enabler of freedom.

Man's (Career) Search for Meaning: One of the quickest means of losing oneself is to work in a career that is not aligned with who you are; the only purpose for the work is to make money.  Eventually, your primary source of happiness, although short-lived, is in things:

• Life goals become defined by monetary goals -- or at least you perceive that money is the primary enabler for fulfillment;
• You make your life fit the demands of your career, rather than the opposite;
• And if you hate what you do, you rationalize the stress as a sacrifice for providing for your family, your retirement goals and/or your desire to identify yourself as somebody.

As you go about your life this week, I encourage you to think deeply about freedom and what it means to you.  How do you know you are free?  If you are not content and rarely find yourself acting authentically, how can you consider yourself free? Are you serving something other than your own meaning and purpose for living? 

Why do you live?

Recessions Are Voluntary (Not Controlled by Politicians)

"Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." ~ Viktor Frankl

Complaining about the economy, followed by blaming a politician, makes one weaker and less free by unwittingly handing over more power to politicians.

The question, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" implies that some other human being on the earth, the political leader of a nation, can decide your financial well-being or, even worse and adding insult to injury, that someone other than yourself can be the provider of your total well-being.  

Equally, praising a politician for financial fortune undercuts your own ability to grow.  The praise implies you are not the master of your own fate. You have imprisoned yourself; you have shackled yourself in chains and handed the keys to someone else; and then you blame them for not giving you back the keys.

"How unreasonable people are!  They never use the freedoms they have but demand those they do not have; they have freedom of thought—they demand freedom of speech." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

To be honest, I once used the excuse, "The recession made XYZ more difficult" or equal and opposite, "XYZ was better before the recession."  Notice that I use the word excuse, which is just what it is--an excuse. 

Yes, economic conditions on a large scale do have far reaching impact. But why hold yourself (and your friends, family and the entire nation) down by looking to politicians for salvation? As a whole, they are a class of human beneath us all.  They are fully aware of human weakness--the desire to be told what to do, to be inspired, to look to them as the enablers of dreams--and they exploit the weakness for their own purposes.

"The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering." ~ Ram Dass

In difficult economic times, the submission to suffering, rather than recognizing it as a natural process--no different than the ebs and flows of the ocean--by refusing to embrace the transience.  You thus defeat yourself and perpetuate the very condition you complain about while attempting to overcome the rip current by swimming against it. 

This is not to say that the conditions of recession are not difficult.  When you are running at full speed and stumble over a bump in the road, there is no question that the bump was there, only you did not see it coming, and perhaps you were injured.  Your choice at that moment is to lay there or to get up, even if you are unable to run at first. 

Recessions do exist but only you make them real; only you allow them to persist; participation in recession is voluntary; and your economic well-being, even that of a nation, is not something that can be created or destroyed by the will of those in political power. 

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The real influences of a nation's economy--the entrepreneurs, the innovators, the hands-on parents, the coaches, the teachers, the artists, the individuals--you--succeed not because of political policy but in spite of it--one succeeds when one recognizes that the true source of power lies within oneself, and that there are no failures--there are only opportunities for growth. 

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Related:

Are You Free? Deeper Thoughts on Freedom

Stop Looking for a List of Things to Do

A Philosopher in Disneyworld

"A man should never neglect his family for business." ~ Walt Disney

I recently returned from a family trip to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida.  As you might expect, I had a wonderful time with my wife and two young boys.  You might also expect that I returned with a few philosophical observations about human behavior and life perspectives.  Your expectations are correct!

"The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, are to be lived." ~ Soren Kierkegaaard

The featured photograph (above) was one of only around 100 that I took while in various parks of Disneyworld over a four day period.  We spent at least 10 hours per day riding rollercoasters, watching shows, consuming wonderful food and drinks, and generally soaking in the magical world of Disney.  You math minds may already be thinking, "That's only an average of 2.5 photographs per hour."  Thanks for that segue into my point...

I estimate some people must have averaged close to 2.5 photographs per minute.  I love photography and I respect the desire to capture the moment but at what cost?  As I snapped the photo during Disney's "Wishes" fireworks display, I noticed dozens of people filming the entire 30-minute show with digital cameras, iPhones and iPads without pausing to watch the show with their own eyes. 

I took 4 pictures.  The point is that looking through a lens deadens the experience; capturing the image loses the moment. 

Philosophical observation #1 is that images may be seen again and again but life cannot be re-lived. 

A photograph will not remind you of something that you never fully experienced.  Unless photography is your art and brings meaning and purpose to your life, every moment you live behind a screen is a moment you lose in life.  Keep a balance.

"Once men are caught up in an event, they cease to be afraid. Only the unknown frightens men." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

If you need evidence that humans have a fear of the unknown, I have three words for you: Tower of Terror -- easily the most thrilling ride in Disneyworld (Hollywood Studios Park). You step inside what appears to be the set of a Twighlight Zone episode while Rod Serling explains the story of the Hollywood Hotel and the death of guests one fateful evening during a lightning storm, which caused the elevator to fall 13 floors down.

Of course, you step into the elevator, strap yourself in and the lights go off.  As you sit in suspense for 10 seconds (which feels more like 10 minutes), the elevator drops.  Classic suspense... 

It is no surprise that two of the other great thrillers, Space Mountain in The Magic Kingdom and The Rockin' Roller Coaster in Hollywood Studios also take unexpected turns... in the dark. 

Philosophical observation #2: The fear of the unknown is at the root of all human fears.  Turn out the light, turn on the fear.

"If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion." ~ Naom Chomsky

Sometimes, when illusion is voluntary--when one is aware of it--illusion can be good. In different words, the awareness that illusion exists dissolves it and transforms it into entertainment (or as Disney calls it, magic). Many people make the mistake of living in a man-made world of form deadened by words, symbols, concepts and social conventions. This is the bad form of illusion.

Often, people go on vacation to escape the real world.  Ironically, the vacation is real and the dreaded return to reality is actually a return to illusion.

On vacation one relaxes and releases their inhibitions, they sense their authentic nature. Laughter is effortless, deadlines cease, connection to screens are disconnected. You become yourself because there is nothing covering your authenticity.  Why must that only be reserved for weekends, vacations and retirement?

Philosophical observation #3 is to never leave the mindset of vacation.  This is not escapism, it is realism.  Transform the reality you thought was illusion into the illusion you thought was reality.

How Wealth is Measured

"Self-actualizing people have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstacy, however stale these experiences may have become to others… Thus, for such a person, any sunset may be as beautiful as the first one, any flower may be of breath-taking loveliness, even after a million flowers have been seen." ~ Abraham Maslow

True wealth is not measured by monitary means; it is by the richness of one's perspective. Given a healthy perspective, the simple things in life—the small pleasures—are easy to obtain; what appears terrible is easy to endure; a life with few and small worries and wants is one of tranquility and contentment—one of peace—one of wealth.

That is all.

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Related: Quotes on Contentment

'Coffee Theory' and Aphorisms by Kent Thune

"Remove the word 'should' and replace it with 'can' and see what happens." ~ Kent Thune

A friend, Greg Linster, asked if I was interested in writing some of my ideas and philosophies in a concise form, called aphorisms. 

I'll share a few with you here but you may see several more of my aphorisms on his blog, Coffee Theory, or subscribe to his blog, Aphoristic Cocktails, for an "almost daily," supply of similar aphorisms:

The only conflicts that exist in nature are in the minds of humans.

There is no strength or weakness but only varying degrees of authenticity.

The energy used for searching displaces the energy needed for finding.

When you ask 'Who am I?' the ego is the first to answer.

If you think things need explanations, you will look for explanations.  If you believe nothing requires an explanation, you will be happy.

For several more of my aphorisms, please visit Greg's blog post, Aphorisms by Kent Thune.  Thanks, Greg, for the invitation to write them and for sharing my thoughts with your readers.

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Related:

Quotes on Contentment

Quotes on Greed, Money and Investing

Quotes on the Unknown, the Uncertain and the Hidden

Quotes on Worry, Fear, Anxiety and Suffering

The 'Four F's': Pressing Your Buttons

"Memes involving danger, food, and sex spread faster than other memes because we are wired to pay more attention to them--we have buttons around those subjects." ~ Richard Brodie

In his best-selling book,Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, Richard Brodie provides an interesting and insightful look into the impact of memes--what he calls the DNA of human society. 

A meme is a basic unit of imitation.  All trends, social conventions and religions are built on memes.  Like DNA, a meme's purpose is to copy itself.  Genetic evolution can take decades, centuries or millennia.  However, a meme--an idea, a catchy phrase, a trendy behavior--can evolve almost instantaneously, especially in the incredibly interconnected world in which we live today.   

The most effective memes are the ones that spread the easiest.  Think of a photograph or video that gets spread quickly on the Internet.  It is said to have gone "viral."  Memes can also survive beyond the short-term trend and spread across vast regions of space and time. 

But what makes the most effective memes successful?  How do some ideas, images and messages catch our attention more than others?  According to Brodie, memes are like a computer software that builds on basic brain functions or "hardware design."  The hardware (brain) is driven by the most basic human drives, such as hunger, fear and sex.  The software (memes) enhance the functionality of the hardware.  This hardware/software design has been fundamentally the same since primitive man.

"In other words, our brains made us better at pursuing the four basic drives animals have, fondly referred to by zooligists as the "four F's": fighting, fleeing, feeding, and--er--finding a mate." ~ Richard Brodie Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

The marketing adage, "sex sells and we're buying," is true.  This can be extended to fear, food and fighting.  From these basic brain functions our figurative buttons are formed.  Mass media and marketing messages use these buttons to get your attention.  The buttons are commonly pressed by asking questions with one of the four F's imbedded:

• Are your children safe riding the bus?
• Got milk?
• Hungry for Pizza?
• Will the European Debt Crisis Tip the World into Recession?

One of the key lessons I took away from this book is that there are few human beings who are conscious of their surroundings and are therefore rarely acting authentically -- they live in a kind of dream state -- by eating, buying and socializing without knowing why they do what they do -- they imitate and replicate -- memes and DNA go on surviving long after we are gone.

"The word pay in 'pay attention' is quite apt.  As we are conscious beings, attention is our most precious commodity.  Attention is a piece of our consciousness, a slice of our human life.  When we direct our attention at something, we are spending a piece of conscious life." ~ Richard Brodie,Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

Imitation is human but it may be best used as a tool for learning, especially when young.  Once we learn how to function in our environment, we may then move on to learning about ourselves.  The challenge, however, is that self-knowledge and self-awareness take a conscious mind, which is not part of our hard-wiring.

It is not necessary for a computer to understand how it is programmed--it just runs the program.  Similarly, our brains naturally and automatically perform very simple and specific tasks.  Therefore the natural tendency for humans is to go on through life without consciousness and our buttons are easily pressed.

Try finding the memes that have become your programming:  Where did your attitudes about money come from?  Why do you tend to vote for the same political party?  What made you buy the food item that wasn't on your list?  Begin by recognizing how you are programmed to think and act in a certain way.  You are then enabled to "de-program" yourself and act consciously and authentically. 

Now, if we can only spread this meme to others we may build a better world!

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Source: Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

Related Post: The Paradox of Habit Part II: Antonyms of Creative Thought