Beyond Ideas
“Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool.”— Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Meme
Words are the seeds of culture, and letters are the roots from which words grow. Just as genes construct life, letters construct language and civilization. They not only gave rise to Western writing systems, but also became the foundation of Mandarin pinyin in the East. As codes of the human collective unconscious, letters instinctively record, replicate, and propagate culture, carrying the continuity of the human spirit. The deeper significance of letters, therefore, lies in this: they are themselves cultural memes. Within letter archetypes are embedded the underlying logic of the collective unconscious, containing forms of wisdom and truth that often remain outside our conscious awareness.
What is Meme ？
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins introduced the term “meme” to describe how ideas, symbols, melodies, beliefs, and cultural habits spread through human societies in a way analogous to genes in biological evolution. Just as genes replicate through reproduction and natural selection, memes replicate through imitation, communication, and memory. A meme can be a phrase, a fashion, a ritual, or even a scientific concept—anything that can be copied from mind to mind. Dawkins proposed that culture evolves not only through human intention, but also through these self-propagating units of information that compete for attention and survival in the landscape of human consciousness.
The Memes of Words
This book explores the collective unconscious and its hidden influence on our minds, shaping the creation of words and symbols beyond our awareness. By examining the archetypes within the 26 letters of the English alphabet, it reveals the mysterious truths behind word formation, uncovering a profound reality long overlooked.