Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday life
Luke Burgis

Summary

An overview of Rene Girard's famous philosophy about mimetic desire - how everything we want is because someone else wants it. Great modern read and Luke gives great tips on how to make yourself more aware of your own internal desires.

Notes

Wanting well is not an ability we’re born with. It’s a freedom we have to earn

Most of what we desire is mimetic or imitative, not intrinsic

Models, not our objective analysis, shape our desires

Humans fight not because they are different but because they are the same and in their attempts to distinguish themselves have made themselves into enemy twins, human doubles in reciprocal violence - Rene Girard

Models get their desires from other models

Babies come out of the womb seeming to have the ability to imitate

Mimetic desire operates in the dark. Those who can see in the dark take full advantage

Models are most powerful when they are hidden. If you want to make someone passionate about something, they have to believe the desire is their own

Playing hard to get is a tried and tested method to make people desire you

Sometimes the most important things in our life come easily - they seem like gifts - while many of the least important things are the ones that we worked hardest for

Desire is not a function of data; it’s a function of other people’s desires

We are fascinated by people who have a different relationship to desire, real or perceived

Rivalry is a function of proximity

The modern world is one of expects. Everything boils down to choosing the right one

People worry about what other people think before they say something, which affects what they say. Our perception of reality changes reality by altering how we may act

‘Memes’ were first coined by Richard Dawkins in the Selfish Gene

The most effective personal flywheels comes from those who know themselves well

Understand your hierarchy of values

Accusations are dangerously mimetic

Crowds love scapegoats and blaming a specific person

We lack the humility to see we are all caught up in mimetic processes

People pursue the goals that are on offer to them through their systems of desire

Goals are often chosen for us by our models

When deciding goals, start with your why

Every goal is embedded in a system

Mimetic desire the unwritten, unacknowledged system behind visible goals

Put aside thin desires and focus on the thick anti-mimetic one

To uncover thick desires, share personal stories with those around you and listen to theirs

Comprehend and express: a person with their core drive wants to understand, refine then communicate their insights in some way

Increase the speed of truth

To make better decisions, sit quietly in a room

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room - Pascal

Filter feedback from everyone

We’ve given google our desires and that’s a very high price to pay

Authoritarian governments only stay in existence as long as they control people’s desires

Spend more time in meditate thought and less in calculated thought

Life is about navigating an uncertain future and every one of our current schemes is inadequate

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