3/17/21
Mimetic Desire
Have you ever seen children at a party playing with balloons. One child suddenly grabs a red balloon and yells: “This balloon is mine!” Inadvertently, all the children drop their balloons and fight over this red balloon. A very dumbed down example of what René Girard calls “mimetic desire.”
A lot of our desires don’t emerge from within, but from ‘outside’. We import our most powerful desires from imitating the desires of other people.
In fact, the entire advertising industry is founded on the exploitation of borrowed desire. Human desire is not a linear process, where a person autonomously desires an inherently desirable object. Rather, we desire according to the desire of others. If we are not aware, others influence us on what to desire. And this is amplified on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram which are excellent conduits of mimetic desire.
French thinker Montesquieu, explained it beautifully *“If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.”*
Getting clear about what really matters to you is incredibly important, and not as simple as it appears.
Don’t follow the desires of another.
Understand that what makes them feel rich and fulfilled is not the same for you.
Look for your own happiness & stay blessed forever.