Tag: Cynthia L. Haven

Why We Need the Saints

We don’t escape mimesis, we can only observe it—and in observing it, loosen the grip that envy has on us. And while we may be doomed to mimesis, we have, at least, a choice between…

Self-un-awareness

[I]f you believe the scapegoat is guilty, you are not going to name it as being “my scapegoat.” If France scapegoats Dreyfus, no one will recognize that Dreyfus is a scapegoat.  –René Girard, in Cynthia…

Today’s One-Liner (#170)

We still protect crippled people, handicapped people, but in the center of it all we find a sort of cancer growing, which is the return to infanticide. –René Girard, Maxim #146, in All Desire Is a…

Today’s One-Liner (#167)

No one ever sees himself as casting the first stone. –René Girard, Maxim #22, in All Desire Is a Desire for Being: Essential Writings, edited by Cynthia L. Haven

Look Within

I find [René Girard’s] ideas have enormous explanatory power not only for the world we see around us – but the world we find within us. People may question his reading of archaic societies or…

Today’s One-Liner (#140)

If we had more genuine religion, we would have less violence. –Rene Girard, in Conversations with Rene Girard: Prophet of Envy, edited by Cynthia L. Haven

Today’s One-Liner (#131)

If we respected the tenth commandment, the four commandments that precede it would be superfluous. –Rene Girard, Maxim #90, in All Desire Is a Desire for Being: Essential Writings, edited by Cynthia L. Haven

Recent Reading

Sohrab  Ahmari, The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos Thomas à  Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Wendell Berry, Blessed are the Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings of Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness…

Today’s One-Liner (#106)

 Instead of reading myths in the light of the Gospels, people have always read the Gospels in light of myths.  –Rene Girard, Maxim #104, in All Desire Is a Desire for Being: Essential Writings, edited…