Mimetic rivalry replaces acquisitive desire for coveted things when the rivals become aware at an unconscious level that they “lack” part of what it is to be a complete human being. The rivals’ experience of their own lack therefore entails a “misrecognition” of the other as whole and complete. The other is seen as the representative of “genuine” personhood: s/he is the “model” that embodies the desires and possessions that constitute “authentic” human being. At bottom, rivals covet not a common object but each other’s “wholeness.”
What is a Catholic to make of Jordan Peterson?
Peterson’s idiosyncratic but sympathetic views on Christianity appear to be outgrowths of his ultimately incoherent views about human societies, blending brash political incorrectness with a love of tradition and an enthusiasm for individualism. For modern Christians frustrated by their loss of standing in liberal societies, this makes Peterson, like a stiff cocktail, potent, delicious, and, if enjoyed carelessly or in the wrong context, dangerous.
.. He speaks with a breezy self-assurance, but at the same time he takes serpentine routes to his conclusions – so much so that it’s not always clear even he knows where he’s going until, with a splash, he arrives and all seems to have been made clear.
.. This sense of being on a journey with an unknown destination is heightened by the idiosyncratic nature of his arguments. It’s just weird to get to principled conservatism and appreciation of Scripture from Nietzsche and Jung
.. some – and perhaps a great deal – of what is attracting millions of largely young male viewers to him is not laudable and should not be thoughtlessly applauded by Catholics.
.. Strident denunciations of feminism and anti-racism are not what is missing from our apologetics
.. Jesus Christ is neither politically correct nor incorrect
.. Peterson is at his best and most magnetic when he is almost stammering in awe of the human condition
.. When I hear Peterson speak about God, I think of the late French-American philosopher René Girard.
.. Peterson’s strategy to bring meaning and success to the lives of deracinated young men is an essentially amoral training in interpersonal dominance founded in an uncritical acceptance of the radical individualism that has dominated Western civilisation for the past few centuries.
.. For instance, he argues that the credible threat of violence is essential for earning respect in conversations with men; in one lecture he asserts with his distinctive fatherliness: “If you are not capable of cruelty you are absolutely a victim to anyone who is.”
.. It is true that our present crisis of meaning is related to the inability of many young men to compete effectively in the marketplace, which is for us the primary giver of significance
.. the role of the Church is not to prop up a secular civilisation that has reduced meaning and identity to paychecks and sports teams, but to offer a more beautiful and comprehensive alternative.
.. If the Church is to baptise “Jordan Peterson the internet sensation”, it must be for his reputation as an authentic and awe-filled truth-seeker, not as a politically incorrect provocateur. His sincere reverence for the awesome reality of the human person is a potent antidote for a civilisation whose spirit has been oppressed by secularism and nihilism.
.. striving not for the greatness of alpha status in a world of brutes but for the greatness of communion with the God who is love.
How Does War Teach Soldiers About Love?
Journalist Sebastian Junger was embedded with soldiers in the Korengal Valley during the war in Afghanistan. One of the reasons some veterans miss war, he says, is because it fulfills a deep human need to belong to a trusted group.
Many soldiers experience intense connections, without fully understanding what they experienced.
How does this experience of a common enemy compare to Rene Girard’s ideas about the first scapegoating process.
Rene Girard CBC Interview Notes
View on Original Site:
Part 1:
Part 2:
(Highlights from Part 2)
The high priest transferred the sins of the community to the goat and .. the animal was chased out and killed .. by forcing it to jump off a cliff which was fatal (3:45 min)
It was only as modern societies digest Sir James Frasier made an encyclopedic summary of scapegoat rituals in “The Golden Bow” (17th century), but he refused to admit that Victorian England still had scapegoats.
How it became possible to recognize that scapegoating is universal.
draw a distinction between sacrifice (44 min)
* the figure of Christ is the good prostitute who prefers to sacrifice her own interest to save the child
– against sacrifice as an instrument of death
– can not use the same word for both women
* this story shows the whole history of religion, the history of religion and two forms of sacrifice
Part 3:
Video link broken: View Interview on CBC website: Part 3
Part 4:
Why are we able to decode witch-hunting texts from the middle ages? (18:30)
* because we decode the text through Christianity
* the Oedipus myth is nothing but undecoded witchcraft
We didn’t stop burning witches because we had invented science.
We invented science because we stopped burning witches.
Part 5:
Highlights:
(3 min)
The good individual and the bad institution is the primary myth of our time (16 min)
Girard argues that we should try to understand others
Blaming our ancestors implies that we think we would have done better. It is a form of scapegoating.
What is lacking is gratitude.
The Enlightenment wanted to keep Christian ethics and get rid of the rest
Nietsche wanted to get rid of ethics too. Nietsche discovered that God is for the victims: Aphorism 1052 in the will to power.
Nietsche is in the first age of political correctness (29 min)
Christ’s death represents heroic opposition to the crowd. Dionysius represents acceptance of the mob.
We killed God. What are we doing to atone for the death through rituals? This is the birth of religion. What are we going to do?
Heidegger seems to be after a neo-pagan view of the world. Trying to do away with Christianity in a more extreme way than Heidegger.
