Hossam Badrawi Official Website
where do I start?
Written by Dr. Hossam Badrawi
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
This is a comprehensive article, comprehensive of ideas that I exchanged in my conversations with young people dreaming of tomorrow, and with myself, and my family. I thought, “Where do I start?” in which I answer questions from young people and friends about my being and the seeds of my emotional fabric. We do not often think about “Why are we who we are?”, but the youth’s question made me return to earlier days, to a history that was not written, and to the reasons that led to the existence of this moment and this person.
“Where do I begin” may prompt every reader to return to himself to know him better, and to put dots above letters; Meanings become clear, and a more complete picture emerges. Nothing comes from nothing, and every event in our history since our inception has an imprint on “Who are you?” and “Why are you who you are?”…
Ideas, unless documented, do not exist; Therefore, I make sure to publish my ideas and document my positions. Perhaps it will be of benefit to the youth of my country and my children.
I think that the reader should know an overview of the psychological and mental make-up of the writer, any writer, and whether his ideas and principles are connected by a single fabric? If so, what are the foundations on which this consistency is built?
A friend said to me: “Why, and where did the idea of dialogues with dreamers of tomorrow come from? How did your conscience glow with love for the country, and your belief in the ability of youth to create and innovate increased?
These are all questions that I did not think about formulating an answer to, until after the youth’s questions. I found that writing this article may be appropriate to justify the motives and composition of the conscience of those you are reading and listening to.
Ideas, how they spread, and their connection to the theory of evolution, are stronger than armies. When the “idea” comes to light, it becomes a powerful force, and the conscious mind is able to respect the idea, even if it does not believe in it. Therefore, I devoted a few pages from my new book, “Memes and Memes,” which is published by Dar Al Mahrousa these days, to dialogue about awareness and its importance, and to ideas. And how it is transmitted from one person to another, from generation to generation, and from time to time.
“Mem” in English (mem); It is a term that means an idea, behavior, or method that spreads from one person to another within a culture, often with the aim of conveying a specific phenomenon, or the meaning represented in this idea.
The “meme” functions as a unit to carry cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or any other imitable phenomenon linked by a general image. The idea may be simple, or it may be complex. “Memes” are a cultural counterpart to genes, in that they multiply themselves, mutate, evolve, and respond to selective pressures.
Professor Al-Akkad says that when we link ideas to people, we deprive ourselves of the good idea when it comes from the opposite, and we get involved in the ridiculous idea as long as it comes from a friend.
History says that the owner of a new idea may be considered a criminal within a strict cultural framework, until his idea succeeds and the idea has a thousand fathers.
Ibn Rushd says that ideas have wings, and their spread cannot be curbed even if we burn the books that contain them, or kill the person who invented them.
“Memes” and their relationship to “genes,” and linking the theory of biological evolution to the evolution of ideas, and linking that to disseminating the ideas we have and documenting them, so that they can live and reproduce, is the subject of this article detailed in the book, in which I present ideas that the reader may accept or disagree with, but they are worthy of dialogue. .
In general, I found that I may not be convinced of an idea, but I do not quarrel with the thinker, and I liked Galileo’s saying: “It is easy to understand any truth after discovering it, but the idea is in discovering it.” A person may die, and nations may rise or be undermined, but the idea continues. life; Ideas do not expire if they can confront the constants that the public is comfortable believing, and we must understand that an idea becomes powerful when it seizes the conscience of the masses, or is imposed by some people through repetition in the minds of the masses… and there have become sciences on how to do this in the modern era, and creating… Facts that have no proof, may spread, and have no validity.
I was struck by a quote by Pope Francis when I was researching, at the beginning of writing this chapter, Darwin’s theory of evolution and its relationship to the evolution of ideas, in which he says that “evolution in nature does not conflict with the idea of creation; Because evolution requires the creation of organisms that evolve from the ground up.”
My articles and books are attempts to call on society to use the best thing in us as human beings, and what the Creator distinguished us with from the rest of His creation, which is “the mind.” To spread our ideas.
I return to the beginning so that the reader can know an overview of the influences and personalities that shaped my conscience as a human being, a writer, a sage, and an artist, and I found that talking about them – and with them – documents my gratitude to these personalities, and my recognition of their beauty, beauty, and positive influence on my life.
Their thoughts and actions were lights that illuminated my mind, and when I wrote about them, my admiration for them and my appreciation for them increased. They are, in no order: Ali bin Abi Talib, Muhammad Abduh, Khaled Muhammad Khaled, Al-Aqqad, Taha Hussein, Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, Ihsan Abdul Quddous, and Khalil Gibran… and with them others. And in no order.
There are – with these – two that I do not put on the list; Because they are beyond description: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and my father (may God have mercy on him).
In the book “Me and Memes,” I focus on memes of values, and ideas that I discussed in my conversations with youth and families, and I received sharp blame from some of them for our responsibility, as an older generation, for losing much of the meaning of these values, due to the duality of the behavior of our generation and those who came before us with the heart and philosophy of these values that we sing about. And the hypocrisy of a society that is religious in form, and often fanatical, in contradiction with the values of religions that encourage tolerance, love, affection, and forgiveness.
Some fathers and mothers, as well as children, participated in the dialogue, and friends living in the diaspora joined the dialogue, and everyone was concerned about the future of Egypt, and keen to weave human values into the consciences of our children and youth, in the family, school, and university, and the responsibility of guardians for that and in and between.
