Mimesis Theory How To End The

In fact, sometimes we eat for a completely different reason than to satisfy our hunger.

It offers the best available analysis of the causes of conflict, the contagion of violence, and the pervasive use of scapegoating by individuals and communities.

Mimesis Theory How To End The

But its enduring value is found in the guidance it offers for how to end the plague of violence and establish a real and lasting peace.

Mimetic is the Greek word for imitation and Ren Girard, the man who proposed the theory over 50 years ago, chose to use it because he wanted to suggest something more than exact duplication.

Human imitation is not static but leads to escalation and is the starting point for innovation.

Girards great insight was that imitation is the source of rivalry and conflict that threatens to destroy communities from within.

Because we learn everything through imitation, including what to desire, our shared desires can lead us into conflict.

As we compete to possess the object we all want, conflict can lead to violence if the object cannot be shared, or more likely, if we refuse to share it with our rivals.

It was so effective that we have continued to use scapegoating to control violence ever since.

The successful use of a scapegoat depends on the communitys belief that they have found the cause and cure of their troubles in this enemy.

Once the enemy is destroyed or expelled, a community does experience a sense of relief and calm is restored.

But the calm is temporary since the scapegoat was not really the cause or the cure of the conflict that led to his expulsion.

When imitation leads once again to internal conflict which inevitably escalates into violence, human communities will find another scapegoat and repeat the process all over again.

Prohibitions forbade the mimetic envy and rivalry that lead to conflict; ritual sacrifices recreated the expulsion or death of the scapegoat.

By reading the Bible, Girard realized that the Judeo-Christian tradition reveals the innocence of the scapegoat and so renders ancient religion ineffective.

The last 2,000 years is witness to humanitys attempt to find non-sacrificial ways to control our rivalry and conflict.

Christian apocalyptic literature predicts our failure to do so.

Finding ways to form unity and ease conflict without the use of scapegoats is thus the key to establishing a real and lasting peace.

Its helpful to know the difference between needs and desires.

Sex, for example, is a biological need but it is by imitating the desires of others that we find ourselves directed toward a certain sexual partner.

This is why two friends may end up desiring the same lover they are mimetically sharing their desire.

What is important from Girards perspective is that for human beings, the object of desire is not fixed.

They dont have to decide what to eat, the object of their need for food is fixed and unchangeable its grass and it will always be grass.

For humans, when we feel hungry we have a big decision to make We must choose the object that will satisfy our desire for food and the object can change day to day, hour to hour, depending on whose desire is influencing ours at that moment.