WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DESIRES – AND HOW TO NAVIGATE AROUND IT
The term “mimetic desire”
was coined by René Girard, a French historian, literary critic, and
philosopher of social science. According to Girard, mimetic desire is the
desire to obtain an object or experience that is not inherently desirable but
becomes desirable because someone else desires it. In other words, people
desire things because someone else - a model - did first. Imitation is the
force that shapes human desire. Girard’s theory of mimetic desire has been
influential in fields such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, and literary
studies.
Mimetic is an adjective that means "h
aving
an aptitude for mimicry". It comes from the Greek verb
"mimeisthai" meaning "to imitate" and from
"mimos" meaning "mime". The term mimesis, derived from
mimetic refers to the attempt to imitate or reproduce reality. The mimetic
theory of desire, which explains human behavior and culture, originated with
the French historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science René
Girard.
To understand the concept, let’s
take an example of two young kids playing together. If one child gets attracted
to a particular toy, the second child also gets attracted to the same toy. And
soon both of them start to fight to ensure possession of the same toy.
In the world of adults, the
story is not different, every adult is trying to model someone else in terms of
the choices they in life. From the most mundane choices to the biggest choices
in life is influenced by this concept. It is just that, we as adults make decisions
in our lives and then justify those actions as our independent choices we have
made. Throughout our lives, we continue to absorb ideas, thoughts, and beliefs
from the people around us and the environment around us. Conceptually, Mimetic desires
are not bad, but the problem is our subconscious mind cannot differentiate
between what is good for us and what is not so important, still, we gravitate towards
it, just because others around whom we model are possessing it.
In simple terms, mimetic
desire is the idea that what we want in life is largely shaped
by what other people want. This theory suggests that desire is contagious,
and passes from person to person, in the same way that a flu virus spreads.
In a world the communication between people has become so easy, and democratic
and the physical boundaries redundant, the Mimetic desires have grown multifold
because any person sitting in a small village in India can see what someone is
doing in the Western world through the wonder device the mobile phone. The
humble talking device has transformed itself to become the mirror of the world
for every individual (as per the latest estimates about 60% of the world’s
population have access to mobile phones and the internet). By the end of 2030,
almost 90% of people will be connected to the internet mostly through their
mobile devices.
While we can not change the
way the world is shaping up thanks to technological advancements, by
understanding the concept, we could probably make conscious decisions about the
way we want to lead our lives from now onwards. One of the ways to deal with
the Mimetic Desires is to understand the concepts of Thick and Thin Desires.
This concept was explained by the author Luke Burgis in his book titled, “Wanting:
The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life”.
Luke Burgis is an
entrepreneur, professor, and author who has written extensively on the concept
of mimetic desire. In his Substack, Anti-Mimetic, he explores the idea of
mimesis and how to resist its negative consequences. Burgis explains the
concept of thick desires, which he describes as “desires that are deep,
meaningful, and long-lasting”. He contrasts thick desires with thin desires,
which are fleeting and superficial. Burgis believes that cultivating thick
desires can help individuals live a more anti-mimetic life.
I would like to draw attention
to how to practice Thick desires in life by another interesting thought leader and
author, Stephen Covey, who explains the concept by using the idea of Big Rocks and
small rocks. I am sharing the link here for readers to go through the 11-minute
video. https://youtu.be/VyL93MlR_I0?si=qG_Osmgc0pZ8VlPJ
In simple terms, Thick
desires are those that are aligned with you as an individual by your strengths,
personality, and family values. These desires, if cultivated and worked upon
continuously, will lead to a fulfilled life true to your potential as an
individual. Contrarily the Thin desires are like the flash on the pan, live now
and go in the next moment. In a day, a normal human being is bombarded with
about 65000 thoughts, many of which are the Thin desires.
Conclusion/Way forward;
Try conscious to live a
life of anti-mimetic desires. These are practical things you can do to
transform your relationship with desire so that it becomes a life-giving,
rather than a destructive force in your life.
1.
Think consciously about
your role models, are they adding good value to your life or are they creating
more think desires, which are just the shiny objects at this moment and will
fade away soon?
2.
Step out of your comfort zone/mimetic
zone. It is easier said than done. But one to go through the discomfort of the
unknown to expand one’s horizon and set a new mimetic zone of Thick desires.
3.
Creating a hierarchy of
values in life. In our lives, we are constantly bombarded with options, which
can divert us in the wrong direction away from our Thick desires. If we have
created a hierarchy of values in life, it becomes easy for us to choose the
right thing every time, we are attracted towards Thin Desires.
4.
Pursuing good habits from
early on in life. Good Habits, such as physical exercise, practicing mental well-being
through meditation, reading physical books, traveling, getting involved in a
social cause, etc. these activities will forcefully keep us away from very toxic
social media for at least some time every day or regularly, and we will be in a
state of non-influence from Thin Mimetic desires. The actions (of creating good
habits) you take today, can make it easier for you to want something in the
future. Since January this year, I have enrolled myself in a Daily Yoga class which
is conducted online at a fixed time every day. Because of this, I have been
able to do Yoga every day and in much better physical and mental health
compared to about a year back. Similarly, about two years back, I decided to
move away from non-veg food consumption. The combination of regular Yoga along conscious
knowledge of healthy vegetarian food has had a very positive impact on my physical
body and my mental state.
5.
Sharing your success and
knowledge. The purpose of writing this article is to share what I have learned
in the last few days about the concept. I thought those were very powerful for
anyone who would like to learn and adapt in life. If my article can make one
positive change in someone’s life, I will be very pleased.
6.
Practice meditation. It is
easier said than done. But if you make conscious efforts for a few weeks, you
will be able to lead a far better mentally balanced life and will be in a far
better state to control yourself and not get drawn into Thin Mimetic Desires.
7.
Lead a Purposeful life. God
has brought you this world with a purpose. And that purpose should be your
biggest goal in life. There should be at least one or two biggest goals in
life. This should be the overarching Thick Mimetic Desire in Life. Everything
else can be under this umbrella of the big goal. One of the most effective
ways to do this is to choose one overarching desire. When you
have clarity on what this is for you, it allows you to subordinate all of your
lesser desires to serve it. It acts as a filter for making
decisions.
If you’re interested in
learning more about this topic, you might want to check out Burgis’s book
“Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life”.
Hindi Translation: https://youtu.be/JvSEE2B8qRQ?si=BHrUstet0fQpk6GE
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