Democracy could be seen as a rational method to elect our leaders. However, a more cynical Girardian interpretation could be that:Elections are a ritual through which we come together to express our frustration towards the current administration. A cathartic symbolic sacrifice of old leaders, similar in spirit to the tribal sacrifices of our past.ex: In the 2020, one could say Trump lost the election more than Biden won them.

Democracy as a cathartic ritual

This idea seemed interesting enough to save it. Not sure if true. 

Starting from lecture IV, we will move away from psychology and into Girard’s history, beginning with the very first human societies. In times of internal turmoil, these early societies would converge on an innocent victim, attribute to him all the blame, murder this scapegoat in a brutal killing, and achieve peace through violent catharsis. These founding murders gave rise to institutions, cultures, and even gods themselves. Far are we from the comfort of social contracts. Girard’s unsettling conclusion is that peace is built on the corpses of innocent victims. Worldly order demands violence and deceit. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:16 The Trojan War and Reciprocal Violence 00:13:51 Oedipus and the Scapegoat Mechanism 00:15:23 Step One: Mimetic Contagion 00:25:06 Step Two: Founding Murder 00:29:22 Consensus, Deceit, and Catharsis 00:36:04 Three Marks of the Victim 00:41:18 Step Three: Divinization 00:46:30 A Revaluation of Values 00:51:26 Step Four: Institutionalization 01:03:33 The Violent Foundations of Society 01:06:39 The Hymn of Purusha 1:10:20 The Founding of Rome 1:13:10 Moral Paradigm Shifts

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

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History

Starting from lecture IV, we will move away from psychology and into Girard’s history, beginning with the very first human societies. In times of internal turmoil, these early societies would converge on an innocent victim, attribute to him all the blame, murder this scapegoat in a brutal killing, and achieve peace through violent catharsis. These founding murders gave rise to institutions, cultures, and even gods themselves. Far are we from the comfort of social contracts. Girard’s unsettling conclusion is that peace is built on the corpses of innocent victims. Worldly order demands violence and deceit.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:16 The Trojan War and Reciprocal Violence
00:13:51 Oedipus and the Scapegoat Mechanism
00:15:23 Step One: Mimetic Contagion
00:25:06 Step Two: Founding Murder
00:29:22 Consensus, Deceit, and Catharsis
00:36:04 Three Marks of the Victim
00:41:18 Step Three: Divinization
00:46:30 A Revaluation of Values
00:51:26 Step Four: Institutionalization
01:03:33 The Violent Foundations of Society
01:06:39 The Hymn of Purusha
1:10:20 The Founding of Rome
1:13:10 Moral Paradigm Shifts

If I were not Diogenes, I wish I were Alexander.

Johnathan at Limbo

Lecture IV: The Scapegoat Mechanism | René Girard's Mimetic Theory

René Girard's Mimetic Theory - Lecture 3&4

..tell me the difference between tragedy and comedy.(...)A trick. There's no difference. It's a question of perspective. Storytelling is a landscape, and tragedy is comedy is drama. It simply depends on how you frame what you're seeing.

Lotto laughed with the others, not because he was a punch line, but because he was grateful to Denton Thrasher for revealing theater to him. The one way, Lotto had finally found, that he could live in this world.

Grief is for the strong, who use it as fuel for burning.

I hated my violin as a boy until my father made me compose a score as a match was happening on the telly. Tottenham, Manchester, our boys losing. And suddenly, as I was playing, everything that I had felt so deeply without music deepened even more. The dread, the joy. And that was it for me, re-creating that moment was all I wanted to do. I called the composition Audere Est Facere. He laughed.

Lobes of warmth, of cold, always the dazzle. He thrashed away, feeling a good tiredness come over him. He swam until his arms burned and his lungs were salted, and he swam some more.

She, at some point, had stopped loving him. (He couldn't know.) It was the sorrow of his life. But perhaps, right then she did.

She forgot meals, ate dinners of tuna still in the can, spent too much time streaming films in bed. Time clicked by. The days grew colder, darker. Some days she never turned on the light, waking at eight when the sun rose weakly, sleeping at four-thirty when it bled itself out. She felt ursine. Norwegian.

When he came in, it was only minutes after her, but she'd smelled the winter in his hair when he leaned his head against her neck. She held his head gently, feeling his secret happiness moving in him.

Or this: every day they woke in the same place, her husband waking her with a cup of coffee, the cream still swirling into the black. Almost unremarked upon, this kindness. He would kiss her on the crown of her head before leaving, and she'd feel something rising in her through her body to meet him. These silent intimacies made their marriage, not the ceremonies or parties or opening nights or occasions or spectacular fucks.

Was getting a bit bored with this story of a marriage until I got to the middle of it and everything changed. Lives are made of daily details and well kept secrets. Loved it in the end.  ❤︎

Fates and Furies: A Novel [Groff, Lauren] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fates and Furies: A Novel

Scenes from a Marriage

<ol><li> Only city without citadel in entire IVC.</li><li> Chanhu-daro is an archaeological site of the great Indus Valley Civilization near the banks of the legendary river Sarasvati.</li><li>The settlement was established somewhere between 4000 BCE and 1700 BCE, and is considered to have been a Centre for assembling carnelian globules or bead-making manufacturing industry.</li><li>This site is a gathering of three low hills that were once a part of a solitary settlement, nearly 5 hectares in size.</li></ol>

Quick Facts About Chanhu- daro (1)

<ol><li>At "Chanhu-daro", baked bricks were widely used to construct houses. Several buildings have been classified as workshops or industrial areas, and some of Chanhu-daro’s structures may have served as warehouses.</li><li>Sesame (seed) which was indigenous to South Africa has been found in Chanhu-daro and other Harappan sites. It was likely grown for oil at these sites. Additionally, Chanhu-daro grows peas.</li></ol>

Quick Facts About Chanhu- daro (2)

"Chanhudaro" was first uncovered by N. G. Majumdar (Nani Gopal Majumdar)  in March 1931, and again during the winter field meeting of 1935-36 by the American School of Indic and Iranian Studies and the Museum of Fine Arts."About N.G. Majumdar: Nani Gopal Majumdar was an Indian archaeologist who is credited with having discovered 62 Indus Valley Civilization sites in Sindh including Chanhudaro".

1. Who discovered Chanhu-daro civilization?

Archaeologists assume regarding the Harappans’ potential usage of cinnabar after finding traces of the mercury ore in the IVC sites, which is also used to produce lipstick, sindoor, & other products & discovered something they believe to be lipsticks at Chanhu-daro."Additionally, figures from the Nausharo archaeological site in modern-day Pakistan that date from 2800 to 2600 BCE had red pigment traces in the section of their hair that resembles the sindoor worn by married women in India today".

2. Was Lipstick Found In Chanhu-daro?

<ol><li>Apart from Lipstick & sindoor other important findings & excavations were a comb made of Ivory, mirrors made up of copper and bronze, axes, vessels, spears, razors, tools, dishes, etc.</li><li>There were plates and bowls, terracotta wagon models, and a miniature terracotta bird that can whistle when blown.</li><li>Male spear thrower or dancer—a damaged figure of great significance (4.1cm) that was discovered at "Chanhudaro" & is currently on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA.</li></ol>

3. Other Important Things Found at Chanhu-daro:

<ol><li>"Chanhudaro" produced metalwork, beads made of various materials, steatite seals, & shell bangles.</li><li>Chanhudaro, Harappa, & Rakhigarhi all include evidence of cotton textile remnants that have been preserved on silver or copper artifacts.</li><li>The discovery of iron objects in Chanhudaro, Ahar, Rajasthan (India), & Mundigak is significant because it supports the theory that South Asia manufactured iron throughout the third millennium.</li></ol>

4. Other Important Things Found at Chanhu-daro (2)

"Chanhudaro" known as the Lancashire of India because Lancashire literally means a mild white cheese with a crumbly texture. Mumbai is called the 'Lancashire of India'.

5. Why is Chanhu-daro called Lancashire of India?

The "Chanhu-daro" site is located in Sindh, Pakistan, south of Mohenjo-daro. Between 4000 and 1700 BCE, the settlement was occupied. The city of Chanhu-daro is the only Harappan city without a defensive castle

6. Is Chanhu-daro a Harappan site?

"Chanhu-daro" is a Harappan site. It is a tiny settlement (less than 7 hectares) as compared to other Harappan sites such as Mohenjodaro (125 hectares). The site is almost exclusively devoted to craft production, including bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making and weight-making

7. Why is Chanhudaro famous?

Chanhu-daro was exclusively devoted to craft production, including bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making, and weight-making

8. What crafts did Chanhu-daro produce?

At "Chanhu-daro", evidence of shell craftsmanship was discovered, and bangles and ladles were created. Harappan seals were typically created in larger towns such as Harappa, Mohenjo Daro, & Chanhudaro, which were part of the administrative network.

9. What is found in Chanhu-daro

"Chanhu-daro" (Sindh, Pakistan) was a city without a citadel in the Indus Valley Civilization.

10. Does Chanhu-daro have citadel?

"Lancashire" in Britain was the first place where spinning and weaving of cotton into fabric began and it was the hub of cotton and textile mills . This place was responsible for half of the world's cotton production

11. Why Lancashire is famous

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Reading & Writing

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Learning & Education

IVC Part - 7 (Chanhudaro)

Like all traditional festivals in China, Chinese New Year is steeped with stories and myths. One of the most popular is about the mythical beast Nian (/nyen/), who ate livestock, crops, and even people on the eve of a new year. (It's interesting that Nian, the 'yearly beast', sounds the same as 'year' in Chinese.) To prevent Nian from attacking people and causing destruction, people put food at their doors for Nian. It's said that a wise old man figured out that Nian was scared of loud noises (firecrackers) and the color red. Then, people put <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/lanterns.htm">red lanterns </a>and red scrolls on their windows and doors to stop Nian from coming inside, and crackled bamboo (later replaced by firecrackers) to scare Nian away. The monster Nian never showed up again. Click to learn <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/chinese-new-year-legends.htm">more legends about the Chinese New Year </a>.

A Legend of the Origin of Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year has enjoyed a history of about 3,500 years. Its exact beginning is not recorded. Some people believe that Chinese New Year originated in <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-shang-dynasty.htm">the Shang Dynasty </a>(1600–1046 BC), when people held sacrificial ceremonies in honor of gods and ancestors at the beginning or the end of each year.

Chinese New Year's Origin: In the Shang Dynasty

The date of the festival, the first day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar, was fixed in <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-han-dynasty.htm">the Han Dynasty </a>(202 BC – 220 AD). Certain celebration activities became popular, such as burning bamboo to make a loud cracking sound.

Chinese New Year Date Was Fixed: In the Han Dynasty

In the Wei and Jin dynasties (220–420), apart from worshiping gods and ancestors, people began to entertain themselves. The customs of a family getting together to clean their house, having dinner, and staying up late on <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/chinese-new-year-eve.htm">New Year’s Eve </a>originated among common people.

In the Wei and Jin Dynasties

The prosperity of economies and cultures during the <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-tang-dynasty.htm">Tang </a>, <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-song-dynasty.htm">Song </a>, and <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-qing-dynasty.htm">Qing </a>dynasties accelerated the development of the Spring Festival. The customs during the festival became similar to those of modern times. Setting off firecrackers, visiting relatives and friends, and eating dumplings became important parts of the celebration. More entertaining activities arose , such as watching <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/special-report/chinese-new-year/new-year-dragon-dance.htm">dragon </a>and <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/special-report/chinese-new-year/new-year-lion-dance.htm">lion dances </a>during the Temple Fair and enjoying lantern shows. The function of the Spring Festival changed from a religious one to entertaining and social ones, more like that of today.

More Chinese New Year Activities: From the Tang to Qing Dynasties

In 1912, the government decided to abolish Chinese New Year and the lunar calendar, but adopted the Gregorian calendar instead and made January 1 the official start of the new year. After 1949, Chinese New Year was renamed to <a href="https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/chinese-new-year-spring-festival.htm">the Spring Festival </a>. It was listed as a nationwide public holiday.

In Modern Times

Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is the most important among the traditional Chinese festivals. Here is a short history of it.

The history of Chinese New Year can be traced back to about 3,500 years ago. Do you know when the date of the festival was fixed and how the ancient people celebrate this festival?

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Religion & Spirituality

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Travel

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Society, Arts & Culture

The Origin and History of Chinese New Year: When Start and Why

In work he performed in 1896, the American zoologist Frederick Kenyon showed that the brain of the tiny bee was infinitely more complex than anyone had imagined, with thousands upon thousands of connection points, and also showed, for the first time in any organism, that neurons fell into clearly identifi­able classes. He died, forgotten, in a lunatic asylum.

Frederick Kenyon

“American writer and biologist Frederick Kenyon (1867–1941) was the first to explore the inner workings of the bee brain. His 1896 study, in which he managed to dye and characterize numerous types of nerve cells of the bee brain, was, in the words of the world’s foremost insect neuroanatomist, Nick Strausfeld, ‘a supernova.’ Not only did Kenyon draw the branching patterns of various neuron types in painstaking detail, but he also high­lighted, for the first time in any organism, that these fell into clearly identifi­able classes, which tended to be found only in certain areas of the brain.

The Inner Workings of the Bee Brain

One such type he found in the mushroom bodies is the Kenyon cells, named in his honor. Their cell bodies — the part of the neuron that con­tains the chromosomes and the DNA — decoding machinery — are in a peripheral area enclosed by the calyx of each mushroom body (the mush­room’s ‘head’), with a few additional ones on the sides of or underneath the calyces.

The Kenyon Cells

A finely arbored dendritic tree (the branched struc­ture that is a nerve cell’s signal ‘receiver’) extends into the mushroom body calyx, and a single axon (the neuron’s ‘information-sending output cable’) extends from each cell into the mushroom body pedunculus (the mushroom’s ‘stalk’).Extrapolating from just a few of these characteristically shaped neu­rons that he could see, Kenyon suggested (correctly) that there must be tens of thousands of such similarly shaped cells, with parallel outputs into each mushroom body pedunculus.

Shaped Cells

(In fact, there are about 170,000 Kenyon cells in each mushroom body.) He found neurons that connect the an­tennal lobes (the primary relays processing olfactory sensory input) with the mushroom body input region (the calyces, where the Kenyon cells have the fine dendritic trees) — and even suggested, again correctly, that the mushroom bodies were centers of multisensory integration.Kenyon’s 1896 brain wiring diagram [is a marvel]. It contains several classes of recognizable neuron types, with some suggestions for how they might be connected.

A Marvel

Many neurons have extensions as widely branched as full­grown trees — only, of course, much smaller. Consider that the drawing only shows around 20 of a honey bee brain’s ~850,000 neurons. We now know that each neuron, through its many fine branches, can make up to 10,000 connection points (synapses) with other neurons. There may be a billion synapses in a honey bee’s brain — and, since the efficiency of synapses can be modified by experience, near-infinite possibility to alter the informa­tion flow through the brain by learning and memory.

A Billion Synapses

It is a mystery to me how, after the publication of such work as Kenyon’s, anyone could have suggested that the insect brain is simple, or that the study of brain size could in any way be informative about the complexities of information pro­cessing inside a brain.Kenyon apparently suffered some of the anxieties all too familiar to many early-career researchers today. Despite his scientific accomplish­ments, he had trouble finding permanent employment, and moved be­tween institutions several times, facing continuous financial hardship.

Financial Hardship

Eventually, he appears to have snapped, and in 1899 Kenyon was arrested for ‘erratic and threatening behavior’ toward colleagues, who subsequently accused him of insanity. Later that year, he was permanently confined to a lunatic asylum, apparently without any opportunity ever to rehabilitate himself, and he died there more than four decades later — as Nick Strausfeld writes, ‘unloved, forgotten, and alone.’It was not to be the last tragedy in the quest to understand the bee brain.”

"Unloved, Forgotten, and Alone"

In work he performed in 1896, the American zoologist Frederick Kenyon showed that the brain of the tiny bee was infinitely more complex than anyone had imagined, with thousands upon thousands of…

creativity

Creativity

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

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Science & Nature

In the quest to understand the bee brain …

Harry was around 20 when he heard a joke his father, Charles, had made to his mother, Diana, during his birth. “Wonderful. You have given me an heir and a spare. You have done your job,” said Charles before going “off to meet with his girlfriend.”He writes that he was “a shadow, a Plan B” and nothing more to his older brother and Crown Prince, William. The whole book seems to be his response to a lifetime of being made to feel expendable and unimportant:“I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy,” he writes bluntly. “I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversi<warningtag>on, and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow.”</warningtag><warningtag> </warningtag>

The “heir” and the “spare” 

<ul><li>Harry describes his father breaking the news to him while he sat on his bed at Balmoral Castle. Charles, who at the best of times was not good at “expressing his emotions,” did not hug him at the moment. He put a hand on his knee and said: It’s going to be OK.</li><li>He has tried to get closure from the incident, but unfortunately, failed to do so - replicating Diana’s last car journey only left Harry “questioning the official cause of her death.” </li><li>Harry and William wanted a thorough investigation into the matter but were dissuaded by “those who decided”.</li><li>Harry describes how his sorrow over his mothe<warningtag>r’s death led him to a woman who “claimed to have powers.” He attempted to speak to his late mother various times through this medium.</warningtag></li></ul>

The trauma of losing a mother

<ul><li>Harry refers to William as "my beloved brother, my arch-nemesis".</li><li>He writes that he was desperate for William's company after their mother Diana died but that his brother disowned him when Harry started at the same senior school, Eton College.</li><li>William didn’t want Harry to be the best man at his wedding.</li><li>Harry says William attacked him and knocked him onto the floor during an argument over Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.</li><li>Harry claims William and Kate Middleton encouraged him to wear a Nazi costume at a party when he was 20.</li><li>Prince William and Harry fought about their royal role in Africa (with Willi<warningtag>am claiming prior ownership over royal/charitable activities on the continent.)</warningtag></li><li><warningtag>Harry had to ask the Queen’s permission to keep a beard for his wedding day—and then he and Prince William had an argument, which ended in Wills ordering Harry to shave off his beard (because he wasn't allowed to keep his at this wedding with Kate).</warningtag></li></ul>

The relationship with William

<ul><li>Just like the loss of their mother was a matter that brought the two siblings together, so was their father’s decision to marry Camilla. The brothers said they would not stand in the way of Charles' relationship with her, but asked that they not marry.</li><li>Harry and William begged their father not to marry Camilla. William felt “tremendous guilt” over “the other woman” whom he had “long harbored suspicions about".</li><li>The two did not ultimately stand in the way of his father and Camilla’s relationship, despite Harry wondering on more occasions than one if the now Queen Consort was like the “wicked st<warningtag>epmother” from fairytales.</warningtag></li></ul>

Begging Charles not to marry Camilla

Harry admits to taking cocaine at age 17. He writes: “Of course. I had been doing cocaine around this time. At someone’s country house, during a shooting weekend, I’d been offered a line, and I’d done a few more since...it wasn’t much fun..it didn't make me particularly happy as it seemed to make everyone around me."Harry also used psychedelics as part of his therapy to treat his post-traumatic stress after the war.

Drug use

According to the book, Charles and sometimes Camilla approved damaging press leaks about Harry and William.On one occasion, Charles cooperated with the tabloids on a story about Harry and drugs to bolster his own faltering reputation. “No more the unfaithful husband, Pa would now be presented to the world as the harried single dad coping with a drug-addled child.”The pattern is: Charles and Camilla continually prioritize their own rehabilitation narrative over the reputations of their children, and justify the practice because they are the ones closest to the throne.

Tabloid scandals and press leaks from his family 

After he’s married, he imagined, he won’t be afraid to go out in public, because his family will start to respect him. He thought he’ll get his beloved brother back because he and William and Kate and whoever he marries will get to be couple friends together. And he’ll have, at long last, a partner, someone to replace the source of unconditional love he lost when his mother died.Instead, when Harry marries, Charles tells him that he can’t afford to support both him and the Cambridges. William repeats tabloid stories about Meghan being pushy and abrasive, while Kate flinches away from Meghan’s <warningtag>American friendliness. And Meghan is so badly harassed by racist tabloids that she begins to struggle with suicidal ideation.</warningtag>

Marriage with Meghan 

Harry really, really hates the press, blaming them for chasing his mother so relentlessly, including in the events leading to her death in Paris, with Harry returning obsessively to the scene of the car accident.He also reads their coverage obsessively, to the point that absorbing press coverage of the royal family seems to be his main hobby. He has nicknames for his least favorite journalists and follows the minutia of their careers with interest.

Hating the press

Harry left because of constant harassment from the press.He says: “My problem has never been with the monarchy, not the concept of monarchy. It’s been with the press and the sick relationship that’s evolved between it and the Palace. I love my Mother Country, and I love my family, and I always will. I just wish, at the second-darkest moment of my life, they’d both been there for me.”Harry’s decision to leave the Royal Family was thus born out of years of trauma that he had endured as well as the treatment his wife, Meghan, received. Scared of seeing history repeat itself (drawing parallels to <warningtag>his late mother), Harry decided to break away from the family.</warningtag>

Leaving the Royal Family

<ul><li>It was his father Charles who first called him to say that the Queen’s health “had taken a turn.”</li><li>Harry recounts immediately then sending a text message to William to ask if he and Kate were flying to Balmoral – and when and how. There was no response from William.</li><li>Harry then received another call from Charles, who told Harry that he was welcome at the Scottish residence but that his wife, Meghan, was not.</li><li>Harry says he spent much of the time on his flight to Scotland staring at the clouds, replaying the last time he’d spoken with his grandmother, 4 days prior. </li></ul>

Goodbye to the Queen

Soon to be a major Amazon film directed by George Clooney and starring Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, and Christopher Lloyd, a raucous, poignant, luminously written memoir about a boy striving to become a man, and his romance with a bar, in the tradition of This Boy’s Life and The Liar’s Club. J.R. Moehringer grew up captivated by a voice. It was the voice of his father, a New York City disc jockey who vanished before J.R. spoke his first word. Sitting on the stoop, pressing an ear to the radio, J.R. would strain to hear in that plummy baritone the secrets of masculinity and identity. Though J.R.'s mother was his world, his rock, he craved something more, something faintly and hauntingly audible only in The Voice. At eight years old, suddenly unable to find The Voice on the radio, J.R. turned in desperation to the bar on the corner, where he found a rousing chorus of new voices. The alphas along the bar—including J.R.'s Uncle Charlie, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike; Colt, a Yogi Bear sound-alike; and Joey D, a softhearted brawler—took J.R. to the beach, to ballgames, and ultimately into their circle. They taught J.R., tended him, and provided a kind of fathering-by-committee. Torn between the stirring example of his mother and the lurid romance of the bar, J.R. tried to forge a self somewhere in the center. But when it was time for J.R. to leave home, the bar became an increasingly seductive sanctuary, a place to return and regroup during his picaresque journeys. Time and again the bar offered shelter from failure, rejection, heartbreak—and eventually from reality. In the grand tradition of landmark memoirs, The Tender Bar is suspenseful, wrenching, and achingly funny. A classic American story of self-invention and escape, of the fierce love between a single mother and an only son, it's also a moving portrait of one boy's struggle to become a man, and an unforgettable depiction of how men remain, at heart, lost boys. Named a best book of the year by The New York Times, Esquire, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, NPR's "Fresh Air," and New York Magazine A New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Booksense, and Library Journal Bestseller Booksense Pick Borders New Voices Finalist Winner of the Books for a Better Life First Book Award

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Books

Now a major Amazon film directed by George Clooney and starring Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, and Christopher Lloyd, a raucous, poignant, luminously written memoir about a boy striving to become a man, and his romance with a bar, in the tradition of This Boy’s Life and The Liar’s Club—with a new Afterword. J.R. Moehringer grew up captivated by a voice. It was the voice of his father, a New York City disc jockey who vanished before J.R. spoke his first word. Sitting on the stoop, pressing an ear to the radio, J.R. would strain to hear in that plummy baritone the secrets of masculinity and identity. Though J.R.'s mother was his world, his rock, he craved something more, something faintly and hauntingly audible only in The Voice. At eight years old, suddenly unable to find The Voice on the radio, J.R. turned in desperation to the bar on the corner, where he found a rousing chorus of new voices. The alphas along the bar—including J.R.'s Uncle Charlie, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike; Colt, a Yogi Bear sound-alike; and Joey D, a softhearted brawler—took J.R. to the beach, to ballgames, and ultimately into their circle. They taught J.R., tended him, and provided a kind of fathering-by-committee. Torn between the stirring example of his mother and the lurid romance of the bar, J.R. tried to forge a self somewhere in the center. But when it was time for J.R. to leave home, the bar became an increasingly seductive sanctuary, a place to return and regroup during his picaresque journeys. Time and again the bar offered shelter from failure, rejection, heartbreak—and eventually from reality. In the grand tradition of landmark memoirs, The Tender Bar is suspenseful, wrenching, and achingly funny. A classic American story of self-invention and escape, of the fierce love between a single mother and an only son, it's also a moving portrait of one boy's struggle to become a man, and an unforgettable depiction of how men remain, at heart, lost boys. Named a best book of the year by The New York Times, Esquire, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, NPR's "Fresh Air," and New York Magazine A New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Booksense, and Library Journal Bestseller Booksense Pick Borders New Voices Finalist Winner of the Books for a Better Life First Book Award

J. R. Moehringer

The Tender Bar

Spare - Prince Harry

He published his for essential paper all in his one miracle year of 1905.He was 'meh' at poetry or violin playing. He refused the job of being the Israel's president (he didn't quite fit the job profile now, did he, with all that wild hair). :))

Was Einstein really all that smart?

Words cam with difficulty to him, but images came easier.He wasn’t mathematically brilliant, but could pull his weight. He was different. He had a clear way of thinking that wouldn’t register on an intelligence test. His first paper on special theory of relativity  can be understood by ordinary mortals: no jargon, just simple ideas, inescapable logic. Just brilliant in its simplicity.

Einstein was a bit of a weirdo.

He ran little experiments. At age 16 he wondered about riding alongside a ray of light. What does light look light for a moving observer? Light would always look like it was moving at the same speed. Other's were thinking about this also, but his thoughts were more visual.When thinking about theory of gravity, he imagined riding a falling elevator. He was also extremely stubborn. He didn't trust experiments not confirming his ideas. Trusting his instincts was mostly correct.

Einstein's way of thinking

Einstein seems like this larger than life figure, but his weirdness makes him likeable. Makes him more human and approachable.

How did a man who had been working as a patent clerk publish four groundbreaking papers about space, time, atoms and the strange nature of light -- all in one year? A look at Albert Einstein's unique intelligence. 

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Science Fiction

problemsolving

Problem Solving

How Smart Was Einstein?

Mimetism was not Rene Girard original idea. It can be traced to David Hume who observed one's actions reverberates to the rest like the strings of a violin. It describes humans as a social specie, prone to co-vibrations aka under the influence of other people's actions.<ul><li>Mimetism is a social technology to get to the subjectivity of others. But ...</li><li>Mimetism is a tendency, but also a capacity. It leaves room for individual agency. At any time, you, the player, can choose the next string to pluck.</li></ul>

Mimetism as the Strings of a Violin

The basic mimetic behaviour manifests in society in more meaningful ways:<ul><li>Through prestige. The respect, admiration, and high regard that is accorded to someone has less to do with the objective qualities of the person and more with the adherence to normative values.</li><li>A step higher is the real of the sacred. For Girard this is just a dial up of mimesis. The power of a sacred relic lies just with the collective admiration that one feels compelled to mimic. Gods live only as long as there are rituals of belief.</li></ul>

Normative Evolution, Prestige and Gods

Mimesis is both the strongest and necessary authority for us to hold normative values. It more than any faculty decides what we think of beautiful, as good ... what laws we think of just or what sexual relationships we think of as legitimate or depraved. Even what we strive to be like.

Mimetic desire can be separated in:<ul><li>a desire to experience (physical desire)</li><li>a desire to be (metaphysical desire). We chase objects for what they say about us on for the fullness of being that we expect them to confer upon us.</li></ul>ex: We may chase a sexual partner for how they make us feel or for the social status of being with them. We may start a company for the thrill of the struggle or because we want to be like like the Silicon Valley tech bros. The balance of the 2 will vary from person to person, but pride and ambition are strongly correlated with metaphysical desire.

The 2 twin components of mimetic desire

Metaphysical desire is focused on our identity, our ego, our spirit ... the core of what we are. This itself can be broken down into 3 components:<ol><li>Reality. We want our existence to be observed and noticed by others. What really matters is not the physical experience but what others think it's real.</li><li>Persistence. We want our identities to last through time. We are obsessed with achieving some immortality. </li><li>Self-sufficiency: Deals with having the power of the social realm to fulfil our thirsts. It's what Nietzsche calls "the will to power". It has a lot to do with domination over others.</li></ol>

The 3 Components of Being

We crave objects because other people we look up are associated with those objects: a celebrity, a parent, a colleague etc... The faulty logic being that our acquisition of the object will grant us the same sense of being as our role-model. Desire is not a straight line from subject to object, but a triangular path to object through the role model.

The Faulty logic of Object Acquisition

Not all our actions will be motivated by metaphysical desire, but out of the possible motivations ... it is the strongest. In commercial terms it means products that focus on it will command the most value. It explains the success of branding, the celebrity culture and consumerism as a whole.

The Power of Metaphysical Desire

<ul><li>Malleability. They are highly dependent on our mediators. If I grew up with a Don Juan father I may seek superficial relationship. </li><li>Power. The more we get motivated by it the more we loose our agency. The tulip buying mania, the 2001 dotcom crash etc.</li><li>Deceitful: We are oblivious that we are confusing an object for a state of being. </li><li>Ungovernable: It is not ruled by reason. Reason becomes a spoke-person to our spirit. Not the source of action, but its justification.</li></ul>

The 4 Qualities of Metaphysical Desires

The second part of the lecture on Girard. More in depth look at desires.

Mimesis, mimetic desire, and metaphysical desire are the fundamental building blocks of Girard’s psychology. They will show us how even the most intimate aspects of our identity can be radically shaped by others and how to distinguish vanity from authenticity. These psychological fundaments are what make humans social animals, why prestige and recognition matter so much to us, and how we are able to form cultures and even language itself. They are responsible for humanity’s greatest achievements, but they also render us helplessly fallen. Under scrutiny, metaphysical desire will reveal itself to be none other than original sin. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:51 Mimesis 00:08:16 Mimesis and Normativity 00:17:34 Mimetic Desire 00:29:17 What is Meant by "Being" 00:31:53 The First End of Being: Reality 00:34:38 The Second End of Being: Persistence 00:35:31 The Third End of Being: Self-sufficiency 00:41:36 Metaphysical Desire 00:50:14 The Malleability of Metaphysical Desire 00:52:09 The Power of Metaphysical Desire 00:53:30 The Deceitfulness of Metaphysical Desire 00:58:18 The Ungovernability of Metaphysical Desire 01:00:31 Original Sin

Mimesis, mimetic desire, and metaphysical desire are the fundamental building blocks of Girard’s psychology. They will show us how even the most intimate aspects of our identity can be radically shaped by others and how to distinguish vanity from authenticity. These psychological fundaments are what make humans social animals, why prestige and recognition matter so much to us, and how we are able to form cultures and even language itself. They are responsible for humanity’s greatest achievements, but they also render us helplessly fallen. Under scrutiny, metaphysical desire will reveal itself to be none other than original sin. 

00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:51 Mimesis
00:08:16 Mimesis and Normativity
00:17:34 Mimetic Desire
00:29:17 What is Meant by "Being"
00:31:53 The First End of Being: Reality
00:34:38 The Second End of Being: Persistence
00:35:31 The Third End of Being: Self-sufficiency
00:41:36 Metaphysical Desire
00:50:14 The Malleability of Metaphysical Desire
00:52:09 The Power of Metaphysical Desire
00:53:30 The Deceitfulness of Metaphysical Desire
00:58:18 The Ungovernability of Metaphysical Desire
01:00:31 Original Sin

Lecture II: Mimetic Desire and Original Sin | René Girard's Mimetic Theory

René Girard's Mimetic Theory - Lecture 2

A French philosopher he developed a unique worldview based on the concept of mimetic desire. According to him, human beings are constantly seeking to imitate and emulate the desires of others, and this process of imitation drives much of human behavior and social dynamics.His main idea is that desire is always mediated through the desires of others, and that this process of imitation creates conflicts and rivalries that are fundamental to human society.He is gaining a lot of praise recently with lots of Silicon Valley luminaries listing him as a major intellectual influencer.

René Girard

Girard observed that our desires are social. We rarely desire an object for it's intrinsic functional qualities. We usually use the objects as proxies for an identity we envy. Desire are not fixed or innate, but rather constantly changing & under the influence of the people we encounter. We can see this in advertising, when we buy sneakers to be like Jordan, not to run a marathon. When we date a certain person because others will see us a certain way and so on.

Mimetic Desire

For Girard, we are different than animals because of our desires, our myths, our lies. We invent stories, we go to war for abstract concepts etc. This is a the object of his psychological focused philosophy. Similar to how class was the nexus of socialism, how casts worked in Hinduism, or rationality in liberalism.

Spirited Animals

According to Girard, is a social mechanism that arrises from a cataclysmic event. A troubled society murders an "innocent" victim (blamed for all evils) & thus gains cathartic release and gains new new Gods. This event is dramatised, captured in myth and then translated back into the society in the form of rituals & prohibitions. Ex: Julius Caesar is ritually killed as he is blamed for the fall of the Republic. However, as his nephew becomes emperor, Caesar becomes a God. And later on an institution emulated by all rulers.

Girardian Scapegoating

The Christian mythology follows the same Girardian arc: civil unrest in Judea, Jesus crucified as a scapegoat, turned into a God, institutionalized through the church. However, the unique element is that the story is told for the perspective of the victim, rather than of the accusers. In the Bible, the victim is innocent, the crowd was mistaken.It is this unique care for the victim that spills into our modern worldview and institutions: from human rights to work ethic. In a sense we all live in a Christian society even if we don't consider ourselves as Christians.

The Uniqueness of Christian Scapegoating 

For Girard, violence is natural. But modern day seems quite peaceful. And Girard credits 2 institutions:<ul><li>capitalism: which Girard sees it as a status seeking game more than a rational transfer of resources.</li><li>laws: a set of institutions that mediates disputes and acts as a monopoly on violence </li></ul>For Girard capitalism is this stew of violent energies that needs to be contained through laws. One can not function without the other.

The mechanism to protect against violence

It's no wonder the European aristocracy went into business as soon as heroes and warriors went out of fashion.

Basic Girardian ideas beautifully presented by a young philosopher, Jonathan Bo, in conversation with David Perell. 

Lecture I gives a brief overview of Girard’s life and work. It summarizes the key conclusions of mimetic theory, distilling the most crucial ideas of this 10+ hour long lectures series into a digestible 2 hours. For those who are short on time, this synopsis is sufficient to give you a taste of Girard. For those embarking on the full journey, this lecture is a rough map that will orient you throughout the expansive, tumultuous, and dizzying terrain ahead. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:05:05 The Case for Engaging Girard 00:19:34 The Structure of This Lecture Series 00:23:52 Girard's Biography 00:29:06 What We Cover in Lecture I 00:30:45 Mimesis 00:33:43 Metaphysical Desire 00:42:04 The Negative Phase of Mimesis 00:51:20 The Scapegoat Mechanism 01:03:05 Christianity 01:10:55 Love and Hypocrisy 01:13:38 Truth and Dogma 01:18:04 Innovation and Imitation 01:26:02 Violence and Apocalypse 01:37:16 The Case Against Engaging Girard

Lecture I gives a brief overview of Girard’s life and work. It summarizes the key conclusions of mimetic theory, distilling the most crucial ideas of this 10+ hour long lectures series into a digestible 2 hours. For those who are short on time, this synopsis is sufficient to give you a taste of Girard. For those embarking on the full journey, this lecture is a rough map that will orient you throughout the expansive, tumultuous, and dizzying terrain ahead. 

00:00:00 Introduction
00:05:05 The Case for Engaging Girard
00:19:34 The Structure of This Lecture Series
00:23:52 Girard's Biography
00:29:06 What We Cover in Lecture I
00:30:45 Mimesis
00:33:43 Metaphysical Desire
00:42:04 The Negative Phase of Mimesis
00:51:20 The Scapegoat Mechanism
01:03:05 Christianity
01:10:55 Love and Hypocrisy
01:13:38 Truth and Dogma
01:18:04 Innovation and Imitation
01:26:02 Violence and Apocalypse
01:37:16 The Case Against Engaging Girard

Lecture I: Introduction to Mimetic Theory | René Girard's Mimetic Theory

René Girard's Mimetic Theory - Lecture 1

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