Wanting The power of mimetic desire in everyday life

Luke Burgis

Book - 2021

"Wanting is a groundbreaking exploration of why we want what we want, and a toolkit for freeing ourselves from chasing unfulfilling desires. As an undergraduate studying philosophy at Stanford, Peter Thiel met French polymath René Girard and was introduced to his theory of "mimetic desire"-the idea that most human wanting comes from imitating what other people desire, rather than from an innate sense of need. Inducted into the Académie Française as the "Darwin of the social sciences," Girard is largely unknown outside academic circles. But because of Girard, Thiel knew that Facebook would thrive because it offered a window into people's curated presentation of the best parts of their lives, thereby satisfyin...g our need to look for "models" who tell us what to desire. According to Girard, each of us is surrounded by people who generate, shape, and manipulate our desires at every turn. Mimetic desire is no mere tool of advertisers but a reality that affects our daily lives in romance, work, fitness, politics, and parenting. Mimetic desire is a secret, unacknowledged, sophisticated form of adult imitation that drives a larger degree of human behavior than anybody ever realized. The consequences of mimetic desire are startling. Because people learn to want what other people want, they are easily drawn into rivalries and conflict. According to Girard, people don't fight because they want different things; they fight because, through mimetic desire, they start to want the same things. But mimetic desire does not have to be in control. We are free to choose. And those who understand mimetic desire have a tremendous advantage over those who don't-they can use it for good or for ill. Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur, teacher, and student of classical philosophy and theology, Luke Burgis shows how to counteract the mimetic forces of the market by turning blind wanting into intentional wanting-not by trying to rid ourselves of desire, but by desiring differently. Intentional desire is what propels us to create a better world. Burgis shows how to achieve more independence from trends and bubbles, how to feel more in control of the things we want, and ultimately how to find more meaning in our work and life by grounding them in desires that will never fade away"--

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Subjects
Published
New York : St. Martin's Press [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Luke Burgis (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xxv, 273 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781250262486
  • Note to Reader
  • Prologue: Unexpected Relief
  • Introduction: Social Gravity
  • Part I. The Power of Mimetic Desire
  • 1. Hidden Models-Romantic Lies, Infant Truth
  • Secrets Babies Keep
  • The Martini Is a Gateway Drug
  • Torches of Freedom
  • Mimetic Games
  • Models That Move Markets
  • 2. Distorted Reality-We're All Freshmen Again
  • Two Kinds of Models
  • Celebristan
  • Freshmanistan
  • Distortion 1: The Misappropriation of Wonder
  • Distortion 2: The Cult of Experts
  • Distortion 3: Reflexivity
  • Social Mediation
  • 3. Social Contagion-Cycles of Desire
  • Lamborghini versus Ferrari
  • Memes and Mimetic Theory
  • The Flywheel Effect
  • The Creative Cycle
  • The Destructive Cycle
  • Hierarchical Values
  • The Collapse of Desire
  • 4. The Invention of Blame-An Underrated Social Discovery
  • Sacred Violence
  • The Danger of Purity
  • Saving People from Themselves
  • The Path of Least Resistance
  • The Dancing Mania of 1518
  • Safety in Judgment
  • The Joy of Hate Watching
  • The Scapegoat Wins
  • Self-Awareness, Self-Hatred
  • Signs of Contradiction
  • Part II. The Transformation of Desire
  • 5. Anti-Mimetic-Feeding the People, Not the System
  • Moving Goalposts
  • Mimetic Systems
  • Being Watched and Rated
  • The Tra-La-La and the Chichi
  • The One Less Traveled By
  • Modeling a New Mindset
  • 6. Disruptive Empathy- Breaking Through Thin Desires
  • The Problem with Sympathy
  • Thick Desires
  • Shaking the Dust
  • Fulfillment Stories
  • Motivational Patterns
  • 7. Transcendent Leadership-How Great Leaders Inspire and Shape Desire
  • Immanent Desire
  • Transcendent Desire
  • Skill 1: Shift Gravity
  • Skill 2: The Speed of Truth
  • Skill 3: Discernment
  • Skill 4: Sit Quietly in a Room
  • Skill 5: Filter Feedback
  • 8. The Mimetic Future-What We Will Want Tomorrow
  • Cultural Quicksand
  • Instruments versus Relationships
  • Engineering Desire
  • Transforming Desire
  • Pivotal Spaces
  • The Three Inventions
  • Single Greatest Desire
  • Afterword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Appendix A. Glossary
  • Appendix B. Mimetic Theory Reading List
  • Appendix C. Motivational Themes
  • Notes and Sources
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Burgis (Unrepeatable), a business professor at the Catholic University of America, argues in this fascinating treatise that desire is often misdirected. His focus is on mimetic wanting, a theory proposed in the 1980s by Stanford professor and historian René Girard, which posits that humans learn to want things from seeing others want them. Most of these desires are what Burgis calls "thin desires," which are "shallow" and "contagious." He recommends pursuing so-called "thick desires," which are formed over time and "make for a good life." Wanting to retire, for example, is a thin desire, while wanting to spend more time with family is a thick desire. The key to thick desires, he writes, is practicing "disruptive empathy"--by, for instance, listening to other people's stories about where they find fulfillment--which can derail one from focusing on thin desires. Through thoughtful anecdotes, Burgis makes a case that "the transformation of desire happens when we become less concerned about the fulfillment of our own desires and more concerned about the fulfillment of others' desires." Readers who don't mind psychology mixed in with their inspiration should give this a look. (June)

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