Among the means by which interconnectedness operates in human cultural systems, and for that matter in living systems generally, is the phenomenon of contagion.
We usually think of contagion as operating through the transmission of disease. But that's not the only form of contagion.
We're also aware of the way certain behaviors --like yawning, and laughter-- spread in contagious fashion.
The idea of contagion might also be applicable to some of the ways in which a "Zeitgeist" emerges. (See "SEEING THINGS WHOLE: The Zeitgeist as Evidence of Subtle Patterns and Connections" at Here's an interesting manifestation of a kind of contagion I just happened to run across in my reading. It's a quotation from Nicholas A. Christakis, professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, and it appears in a Harvard publication, THE YARD, of fall/winter 2007.)
Recently, we examined whether obesity --a serious public health and individual problem-- evinces epidemic properties. We wanted to understand whether obesity could spread from person to person, what the possible mechanism of any such spread might be, and whether there is evidence for so-called 'hyperdyadic effects.' We found that exercise or eating behaviors may spread from person to person via a kind of social contagion. Additionally, some of our results suggest that norms, as well as behaviors, may be shared: as individuals gain weight, others to whom they are connected appear to change their ideas about acceptable body size and then gain weight themselves. In tehse ways, social networks can augment the rise in obesity in America.
I invite any other examples of such "social contagion," or other instances by which patterns spread in a "contagious" fashion. Also invited are any insights, or reflections, or useful questions about contagions. Finally, I hope people will share any insights anyone may have regarding how the phenomenon of contagion may fit with any of the other dimensions of wholeness.
Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states.
Wow, Andrew, you do open up some amazing areas of enquiry!
There is an ancient teaching that says that mankind is asleep, and has been put into this state of sleep so he can serve his planetary and cosmic functions unknown to himself, thus avoiding his possible objection to this. From time to time, genuine messengers from God come to Earth to undo the worst of the conditions that sleeping man, in his ignorance, creates around himself. (In fact, the Greek myth says that Selene, the Moon, was enamoured of Endymion, Mankind, whom Selene's father Zeus had put into a deep sleep.) The features of man's sleep include his incessant unnecessary talking, his constant daydreaming and negative imaginings, his negative emotions, and also a tendency in him to imitate. This teaching also says that man has not one brain, but seven brains, which include the intellectual brain, which we refer to as "the brain", the emotional brain, the sexual brain, the instinctive brain, which regulates the physiological functions of the body, and the moving brain, which has to do with man's movement. Each of these brains are independent centres of receptivity and initiative. People differ in which brain predominates in them. The moving brain, which, like all the other brains, is much faster than the intellectual brain, has the particular tendency to imitate. This function of imitation is particularly obvious in people who live in the moving (/instinctive) brain (the majority of people). And that may be your mechanism of contagion. It is interesting that recently there have been articles, one in Time magazine, about the discovery of "mirror neurons". It turns out that when a monkey sees another monkey doing something, the same neurons fire in the brain of the observing monkey as do in the brain of the acting monkey. So there is scientific corroboration of the ancient idea of the moving brain as the great imitator.
The question then becomes: What is it like to be an awakened man, to be more self-determined and have greater control over oneself, and be less influenced by the crowd (or the Zeitgeist)? And how does one become a man like that?
Sydney, Australia
by
Robert Hoogenboom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 165 comments)
on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 6:10:43 AM
I believe that much of the world is slowly waking up. The Americans, long kept in a state of monetary drowsiness, have been some of the last to come out of the slumber. Fortunately, the wealth of this country (not the public school systems) has provided these newly awakened Americans with the proper educational background to enact change. This change will come about through fundamental shifts in the way we think, see, and do.
The wheels are in motion. The powers are worried. Freedom is contagious.
by
Ferdinand (16 articles, 4 quicklinks, 21 diaries, 194 comments)
on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 11:45:37 AM
