The Meme Machine

244 THE MEME MACHINE
practice. One of the problems is motivation – it is hard to practise consistently
just because someone else tells you this is a better way to live. This is where
science can help. If our scientific understanding of human nature leads us to
doubt the inner self, the soul, the divine creator, or life after death, that doubt
can provide the motivation to look directly into experience; to try living without
a false sense of self or false hope. Science and spirituality- are often opposed
but they should not be.
I have described these practices as being done for a few minutes while sitting
quietly, but can all of life be lived that way? I think so, but the results are
somewhat unnerving. If I genuinely believe that there is no ‘I’ inside, with free
will and conscious deliberate choice, then how do I decide what to do? The
answer is to have faith in the memetic viewer; to accept that the selection of
genes and memes will determine the action and there is no need for an extra
‘me’ to get involved. To live honestly, I must just get out of the stay and allow
decisions to make themselves.
I say the result is unnerving because at first it is odd to observe that actions
happen whether or not ‘I’ will them. I used to have two possible routes home,
the main road and the prettier but slower lanes. As I drove up to the junction I
was often torn by indecisiveness. How could I decide? Which would I enjoy
most? Which would be best? One day I suddenly realised that ‘I’ didn’t have to
decide. I sat there, paying attention. The lights changed, a foot pressed the
pedal, a hand changed gear, and the choice was made. I certainly never went
straight on into the stone wall or bang into another car. And whichever way I
went was fine. As time went on I found that more and more decisions were like
this. It brought a great sense of freedom to let so many decisions alone.
You do not have to try to do anything or agonise about any decision. Let us
suppose you are in the bath and the water is beginning to get cold. Do you get
out now, or snuggle under the water a bit longer? Er . . . um. This is a trivial
decision but, like getting out of bed in the morning, can colour your life.
Knowing there is no real self to choose and no free will, you can only reflect that
this body either will or will not get up, and indeed it does. Getting up decisively
turns out not to be a matter of self-control and will-power, but of letting the false
self get out of the way, and the decisions slake themselves. The same is true of
more complicated decisions; the brain may turn over the possibilities, argue the
case one way or the other, come down on one side or other, but all of this can be
done without, in addition, the false idea that someone inside is doing it. Rather
the whole process seems to do itself.
Desires and hopes and preferences are probably the most difficult to deal
with – I hope he’ll get here in time, I must pass that exam, I hope I’ll live to a