The Origin Drift Model

Meaning degrades predictably as it moves through culture. What begins as direct lived experience (Zero) becomes interpretation (Mirror), then abstraction (Echo), and eventually empty performance (Mimic). At each stage, vitality is exchanged for transmissibility—until systems become self-referential and lose contact with their own origin.

This drift explains why therapeutic practices harden into jargon, why spiritual traditions collapse into performance, and why institutions come to serve procedure rather than purpose. This is not corruption or failure; it is gravitational drift within complex systems.

The model offers a way to recognize when action is emerging from origin versus echo, and to restore contact with source rather than continuing to iterate on copies.