College As An Incubator Of Girardian Terror: Dan Wang
Dan Wang takes us through a journey through Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory — the crux of which is explained below.
Girard’s work is founded on the often hidden reality that human desire is aimless. It wants without knowing what it’s objective is. This is why for Girard, our desire is always related to another person, book, advertiser, teacher, movie – something to give our desire direction. He says it quite simply: we desire according to the desire of another.
Mimetic (or meme-based) desire states we want because we see that others have.
Most dangerously, when we all hold similar desires, we compete on our ability to achieve against those end goals. Mimesis then, is not positive-sum, but zero-sum. One is only happy if they meet their desires to a larger extent to those around them. This causes unnecessary violence — usually amongst individuals who are more similar than different.
To me, Dan’s piece was an important mirror: I’m no longer in college, but where am I competing unnecessarily to climb an imaginary ladder? Given my intensely mimetic tendencies, how can I make space to ensure I’m following a path made for myself, not laid forth by others? And importantly — how can I use the positives of extreme mimesis — fitting in quickly with different groups, an intense understanding of social cues — to my benefit?
The Days Are Long But The Decades Are Short: Sam Altman
As we hit the halfway point on the year, I return to one of my favorite reflections / reminders of our relationship with time.
Sam shares 36 small reminders which help with a life well lived — a lot resonate, none quite as much as 25.
25) Remember how intensely you loved your boyfriend/girlfriend when you were a teenager? Love him/her that intensely now. Remember how excited and happy you got about stuff as a kid? Get that excited and happy now.
Balance in the things that don’t matter, extreme emotion in the things that do. Let it all hang out. In the end, I always return to the last point, though — and the first. The days are long, but the decades are short. Let’s enjoy them :)
Moments By XYV: …Me
Recently, I decided to start keeping track of moments. Moments which made me feel gratitude, feel pain, feel love, feel alive. To feel is ultimately the root of our experience as humans, as sentient beings, and it seems to slow down time to think about how much impact a single moment can have on the way I feel.
The 22 tweets thus far tell stories from a cancer survivor, a conversation with a grandparent, the impact of a great movie, building things with our hands, and the love of a mother. I can’t wait to share our stories, together. Join us!