Link: WOF 3485: The Power of Mimetic Desire with Luke Burgis

Here are some of my takeaways after listening to the podcast:

One talking point in the podcast was René Girard's interpretation of the story of the adulterous woman brought before Jesus (John 8:1-11). This is the story where Jesus famously says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Before he even utters that famous line though, the bible passages specifically says that Jesus looks down and writes on the sand, while the scribes and the Pharisees try to get a reaction out of him. By the law of Moses they said, a woman caught in the act of adultery will be stoned. Jesus averts his gaze and keeps writing on the sand.

Why?

Girard thinks that Jesus was averting his gaze to avoid imitating the accusatory behavior of the accusers. If behaviors like that, can be imitated unconsciously, then that would explain so much of the toxic behavior online. All it takes is one person to throw the stone, and then everyone else picks up a stone and slings it at the accused.

You can see this play out in social media. A common example is when somebody gets jumped on by the masses for saying something wrong on Twitter or Facebook.

The key point from Girard is this: what Jesus was doing in that Bible passage, was showing us how to deal with negative mimesis. It can be really easy to get whipped up into being an accuser and start throwing stones all over the place. What we need to do, is take a step back and avert our gaze before coming up with our own judgement of the situation.

The hive mind of the internet, of social media, can be described by René Girard's Mimetic theory.

Another interesting point that was mentioned in the podcast, was the 10th commandment, “Do not covet your neighbor's goods.” How quickly we've forgotten that in today's world. And why wouldn't we, when this is what the internet and social media serves up everyday; photos and videos of our neighbors living their best life with the coolest products at their disposal.

Another way to look at it is, God already knew that we humans will fall prey to mimetic desire. So he tried to steer us away from it with the 10th commandment. And yet, we easily forget about it in today's modern world.

Social media has made everyone our neighbor.

The sheer reach of social media has made everyone appear to be our neighbor. And with that comes the unconscious imitation of our neighbor's desires. And with that comes rivalry and competition.

Can you see it now? This is why people keep trying to one-up each other on social media. It's rivalry and competition caused by mimetic desires. Mimetic conflict/desire/theory by René Girard does explain so much of our current state of the world.

For car enthusiasts, there's a short story on the rivalry between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferarri. The owner of Lamborghini realized that competing against Ferrari (mimetic rivalry) only brought him stress and sleepless nights, so he actively sought ways to avoid it.

To get away from mimetic desires and rivalry, you have to find God's mission for you.

How does that help?

It helps because that mission is going to be unique to you. Everybody else's mission is going to be different. That means you won't end up comparing yourself to others, because each person has a different mission.

If you focus only on your desires in life, if you focus only on what you want to do in life, you'll end up comparing yourself to others to see what they are doing and how they are doing relative to you. And then you'll find yourself subjected to mimetic desires, rivalry, competition, envy, etc...

If you've made it this far, I thank you for reading. In the event that this is my last post for the 2022, I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tags: #Bookmarks #WordOnFire #MimeticTheory #ReneGirard #BishopBarron #Christianity #Spirituality

If you have an interest in minimalism, detaching from material possessions, finding joy and happiness with less, you might want to watch this. It's 14 minutes long, but well worth your time.

Here are some of my takeaways from this sermon:

Earthly goods will keep you in an addictive pattern. You'll want more and more and more. And chances are, you'll get more and more and more. And yet, you'll never be satisfied.

The more you cling to the goods of the world, the more you become imprisoned by them.

The goods of the world talked about here are not limited to material possessions. They can be immaterial things too like fame, honor, reputation, likes, hearts, etc... If you cling on to those, you will also be imprisoned by them.

Nothing in this world lasts. And so while we can cling to them, they will still fade away. We will still fade away. And so what's the point of trying to hang on to them?

What should we do instead?

We should savor the moment, but not cling to it. Detach and let it go. Don't be imprisoned by the goods of the world.

Guess what doesn't fade away?

The Word of God. It's been here for 2000 years now. That should give you an idea of what you should be clinging to instead.

If you keep your focus on Christ, then in turn you'll learn how to deal with the goods of the earth in a manner that doesn't consume you, in a manner that doesn't keep you addicted, in a manner that doesn't imprison you.

Lastly, he ends his sermon with this wonderful quote from Cardinal George of Chicago. Read it a couple of times and let it sink in. It might just change your life.

The only thing you take with you into the life to come, is what you've given away on earth.

Tags: #Spirituality #BishopBarron #Christianity #Detachment #WordOnFire

Each one of us who have been baptized in the Christian faith, are all prophets in a way, because we are expected to spread the word of God.

I have tried doing that on this journal. Every once in awhile, I talk about God, I talk about my faith, I share some Christian music, I share some interesting homilies like this one. And whenever I do, I notice that I would lose readers and subscribers. It has been a stumbling block for me. Sometimes, I ask myself, what's the point of doing so, if no one is listening?

But towards the end of his homily, Bishop Barron does two things:

• First, he quotes Chapter 5 from the reading itself. “Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”
• Second, he quotes Mother Teresa. “We are not called to be successful. I leave that up to God. We are called to be faithful.”

And all of a sudden, my stumbling block is gone. I have no more excuses.

I shouldn't worry if I lose readers and subscribers because I try to share the word of God. On the contrary, I should expect opposition when I take up this task.

And as it was written in Ezekiel 2:5 — it doesn't matter whether people listen to me or not. The point is that they would have known that there was a prophet in their midst. The point is, that I as a baptized Christian, took on the role of being a prophet to my own people. The point is, that whether I was successful or not, I was faithful to the word of God.

And so now I'm curious. To the people who read this journal, does this kind of content turn you away? Why do you follow this journal? What kind of content on this journal made you subscribe?

I am curious to hear your thoughts. Please leave me a comment below, or for private messages, send me an email.

Tags: #Spirituality #BishopBarron #Christianity #Bookmarks #Blogging

In case you didn't watch the video, the answer is, the presence of the church today.

Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, as the story goes, 2,000 years ago. Again, 2,000 years ago. Had the story of resurrection been fake, had it been fabricated, how come the church still exists today?

Surely some smart people should have been able to dispel the myth. I mean 2,000 years is a long time to come up with an explanation for it. But that also presents something interesting. A number of smart people actually believe the story...

And here's another question I have that is related to this. If His apostles just made up the story, then why go through the trouble of proclaiming what they witnessed and end up dead in the process?

Okay, so maybe they were fools to believe the story. In that case, I would have expected one, or two, or three of them to have gone on proclaiming the story and end up dead. But that's not what happened. History claims that ten of the apostles died as martyrs. They either truly lost their minds or they truly believed what they witnessed.

Tags: #Spirituality #BishopBarron #Christianity #Theology #Bookmarks

If you're wondering what the film is about, check out the trailer below.

Tags: #Spirituality #BishopBarron #Catholicism #WordOnFire

Pray, fast and give alms. That's what us Catholics should be focused on during lent. But what do they mean? And how do we practice them? Bishop Barron covers them really well in this Sunday sermon.

And even if you're not Catholic, watch it anyway. It's only 15 minutes long. There's some interesting ideas on self-discipline and helping the needy covered in the video. Surely, you don't need to be religious to be interested in that.

Tags: #Lent #BishopBarron #WordOnFire #Catholicism #Spirituality

One of the most enlightening parts of this first episode for me, was when Bishop Barron talked about the duties of a baptized Christian. As a baptized Christian, we are priest, prophet and king. What does it mean to be a priest? How do we live out our prophetic duties in today's world? And what are our kingly duties in modern society? All those are covered in this episode.

Here is a trailer to the first episode.

And if you're still interested, here is the link to the first episode that you can watch for free: The Sacraments – Lesson One: Introduction and Baptism

Tags: #Spirituality #Theology #BishopBarron #WordOnFire #Bookmarks

Yeah the world is contingent and everything in it. It comes to be, it passes away. What does that tell us? It tells us that nothing in the world contains within itself the reason for its own existence. Nothing in the world explains itself. If it did, it would always exist. It would have within itself the reason for its being. So, since it comes into being and passes away, we know it doesn't contain in itself the reason for its own existence.

Therefore, by a very healthy instinct, and every single scientist in the world knows this, by a healthy instinct we begin to look for... causes. – Bishop Barron

All it took was for me to watch the intro to this video and I was hooked. You don't even have to be religious to be intrigued by what was said in the intro. Bishop Barron doesn't even mention the word “God” until the last 2 minutes of the video.

He goes on to discuss about contingency and contingency of the world. I was blown away. It's something I've never even considered or much less thought of.

Tags: #Bookmarks #BishopBarron #WordOnFire #Spirituality

Link to podcast: 827: Bishop Barron- Using YouTube & Social Media to Demystify Christianity & God

Bishop Barron answered some really good questions like:

• Why is there “senseless” suffering in this world?
• What is God?
• Why do you think Christianity is the right religion?
• How do you reconcile the two Gods that appear in the Bible?
• How the gospels in the Bible were selected?
• Why Science and Religion are not really at odds with each other?
• Can you have a good relationship with God and not go to church?
• What the Saints discovered that the devout have not?

If you are a non-believer, but have an interest in learning more about Christianity or God, or if you had one of those questions listed above, then you should definitely check out this podcast.

If you are already a believer, this is a great refresher on the Christian faith. The analogy about God acting like Waze was funny, but makes sense.

As a dad, this is great prep work for when my son starts asking me the same questions like, “what is God?” I mean I felt like I knew what to answer before, but after listening to this podcast, I feel like I can give better answers now. So bring on the questions Davin.

You can also find this podcast on Spotify, which is where I listened to it.

#Spirituality #MindPump #BishopBarron #WordOnFire