Humans Are Experts at Mimicry
By: Jonas Ellison
Tags: Christianity, Life, Mimetic Theory, Religion, Theology

There are a few things I’ve learned lately that have turned my theology inside out (right-side up?). Here’s the gist of my recent discovery…

Humans don’t desire anything in a vacuum. Our desires are not original or unique to us but are acquired through imitation (mimicry). Humans come into conflict because we’re alike, not because we’re different. God has nothing to do with human violence (nor has God ever).

It’s seriously bass-ackwards from how I once saw the world. Here’s what I believed up until recently…

We each have our own desires. Our desires are like a ‘blob and arrow’ — we each have our own ‘blob’ inside of us with an arrow pointing to things that we (individually) desire. Human conflict happens because we think we’re different. When we start to see that we’re all the same in our humanity, we’ll start to get along. God (at least the God of the Bible) is (especially back in the day) an angry and bloodthirsty God who killed his son to pay for the ‘bad’ things we’ve done. (I never liked this God. It’s been refreshing to know he never existed.)

The philosophy that has helped me turn these latter points right-side-up has been the study of ‘mimetic theory’ and divine nonviolence as embodied in Christ.

I wrote a fairly comprehensive crash course on this subject matter the other day, but this entry is the first of a series of entries on the foundations of mimetic theory and divine nonviolence. I look forward to taking more time to break the basics down.

Writing this series is also a selfish act because the more I write about this stuff, the better I learn it and can apply it to my ministry thus changing the world and saving Christianity from the toxicity of performancism and piety! (Okay, maybe I’m drunk on hubris and am starting to sound pious myself. See, this is what happens. We’ll get into this in this series soon.)

Now, do I believe that this is the only way to arrive at a healthy theology? No… I don’t. But it sure has helped me redeem the Christian faith (or maybe I should say — for the authentic Christian faith to redeem me).

Okay, enough for the preface. Let’s jump in…

Today, I want to bring your attention to the word ‘mimicry’. Though the greek translation for the word is ‘imitation’, in the context of this conversation, it’s slightly nuanced. René Girard, the guy who discovered this way of seeing the human condition, emphasized that mimicry is more than mere imitation. We’re not exact carbon copies of each other, but we do, at all times, subconsciously imitate each other. You may have seen by now in your life that humans are living and breathing dichotomies. This is apparent in this conversation about mimicry because we can both go around imitating each other WHILE being our completely unique and wonderfully authentic selves. It turns out, human imitation is a very complex and mysterious phenomenon.

That being said, as we peel back another layer of the human onion, we have a fly in the ointment. This proverbial fly is human instinct. The desires of every other animal are powered and motivated by instinct. As I wrote the other day, when a dog (or a cow or a chicken) is hungry, they eat. When they’re threatened, they fight or flee. They’re totally powered by instinct. When she’s hungry, my dog, Dagny Ellison, doesn’t stop to consider what Charlie, our downstairs neighbor’s dog, has been eating lately and posting on Instagram. She just eats.

Unlike our animal friends, the objects of human desire are not fixed. When my wife and I get hungry, sure, sometimes we just eat leftovers. But oftentimes, we have some extra time and want to dress it up, get a sitter, and go out and eat. This means pouring over social media, Apple Maps, and Yelp (God help us) to decide where to go. And we can’t go to Chick-fil-A because no culture-fearing progressive goes to that place. We like to be known as (because we mimic) people who eat thoughtfully (?). So we’ll likely find a Thai place, a local pizza joint, a new restaurant (or sushi if it’s up to me). In other words, human desire is complicated and based largely on what the ‘social other’ (our cultural tribe) is doing and not doing.

Now, this is a fabulous thing! It’s part of the human condition. How great it is to be human. To find an archetype of people in which to mimic in our very own authentic way. I’ll never speak against this because it’s what makes us what we are (besides, we’re anthropologically stuck with this propensity, so we might as well get comfy with it).

Another thing I need to say before closing today’s series is that SOME animals do tend to imitate. Our closest primate, monkeys, do this. But we’re WAY better at it than they are. (So there, monkeys. We win in the mimetic department — even though I’m super jealous of your amazing climbing skills and feats of sheer strength). Our mimetic prowess is what led to our survival and thriving as we’ve evolved and adapted to our world, mimicking each other all the while. All of the art, innovation, etc. around us is because of our mimetic aptitude.

Okay… That’s it for today. If you’re enjoying this conversation and want to deepen into it, tune in tomorrow for the next installment. Or, even better, if you’re not already subscribed to my email list, you can do that below so you never miss a thing…

[This is part 1 of my mini-series about mimetic theory and divine nonviolence. To read part 2, click here.]