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Last episode for the summer. Shakespeare snobbery. Two audiences of Shakespeare: the mob and the initiates. Two layers in Othello and Hamlet: romanticism and mimesis. Othello: thirst for the exotic and the death wish. Hamlet: disillusionment with the violent sacred. Shakespeare the man: relationship trauma and dramatic genius.
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René Girard wrote a book of literary criticism of Shakespeare titled "Theatre of Envy: William Shakespeare." The book makes centuries of Shakespeare critics look like fools while confirming the bard himself as a monumental literary figure. This podcast summarises some of the big points of Girard's analysis of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare dramatised and reflected on what Girard calls the mimetic nature of desire ("love through others' eyes"), using it as a key plot device in many of his works. In this episode we talk about a few of them, including Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Rape of Lucrece, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida.
Furthermore, Girard analyses Shakespeare's depictions of what he calls mimetic crises and sacrificial murder. We discover these elements in Troilus and Cressida and Julius Caesar.
This episode is Part 1 of 2 (for now) on the topic of Shakespeare interpreted by Girard. -
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Christ's admonitions to turn the other cheek, love thy enemy, etc., from the Sermon on the Mount unsettle many brave Christians. We interpret these admonitions conclusively with the help of René Girard's mimetic exegesis. Take courage soldier! – Jesus does not advocate cowardice or resignation. We also reference C.S. Lewis, and discuss how "love thy enemy" links to Sun Tzu's precepts in The Art of War.
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Mexico: A Girardian analysis of Mel Gibson's movie ApocalyptoChina: Girardian notes on Terracotta Warriors and pandasRome: The Gladiator movie; the origin of gladiatorial gamesGreece: The origin of the ancient Olympic Games -
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L'appel du vide -- the call of the void; or as Nietzsche says, "If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you" A mimetic theory interpretation of the call of the void: inflamed (rather than mortified) desire leads to sadomasochism, leads to an urge to dash ourselves before the terrible and awesome model-obstacleCall of the void in romantic pursuit and poverty (forgot to discuss existentialism and atheism)Call of the void leading to political and ethnic self-harm -
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René Girard's understanding of the symbiosis of imitation and innovation.In traditional societies, imitation was encouraged, innovation was discouraged; in modern society, it is the opposite; why?Imitation and innovation game in science, the arts, business, and geopoliticsBad imitation: resentment of the rival and cargo cults -
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Modernity is the precious product of Western Christian Tradition. It is good. You can't and you don't want to go back to some fanciful "trad" era. The aim should be to learn how to navigate the novel challenges of our exciting though perilous times, not give up on them.
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An early reader of The Modern Malaise tunes into Boreas Podcast to talk about his personal journey through the shadowy valleys of male coming-of-age, one that included many – or rather all – of the challenges covered in the book: an obsession with Nietzsche, a body-building buddy group, online dating, and money Twitter. His impressions and advice on making it through.
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Girardian takes on racismHow white racism is unique: blindness to violence and genteel insistence on "scientific objectivity"Racism as sadomasochism that ends up in self-destruction and/or mixing with the "inferior"You are whom you f*** so if you want to keep your race pure get used and comfortable with hating your own people.Scale back on globalisation. -
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"Eternal Recurrence" of Nietzsche and pre-Socratic philosophers, history repeating itself, and the victimary mechanism, or "Satan casting out Satan"; A big part of "trad Christian Twitter" as a swinging of the "infernal pendulum" from the heathen idols of wokism to a heathen interpretation of Christianity as a violent religion;Religious fear mongering as bottom-shelf cowardice and resentment, and as the way Satan gets his due in post-vengeance era;The impossibility of non-sacrificial space, manifested in the failure of modernity and in the repulsive and bloody sacralizations of postmodernism. -
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Keynes as prophet of mature capitalism, against its rival religion of communism. The arcane language of economics sages. Mythologies that economics/capitalism supplanted (and that's a good thing). Nature of mythologies old and new: how they make you feel good early on, and what happens when they run their course.
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What is it that makes us uniquely human? Thinking (homo sapiens)? Organizing (homo economicus)? Symbols (“the symbolic species”)?I propose that it is desire in Girardian sense — we are homo desiderans: the desiring humans.Artificial intelligence versus the desiring human.Wordcels, shape rotators, and a third way. -
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What is the one single basic principle of all war strategy?
The answer is given from readings of René Girard's mimetic theory together with Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and the Bible. I suggest how to apply it in modern life.Also, there is a discussion of military history and how war changed through to modern times. Were Sun Tzu and Machiavelli cynics? Were European aristocrats who shot each other in pistol duels idiots? How did Napoleon influence modern warfare?
Are Gospels pacifist in the strict sense? Was René Girard a pacifist?Listen to find out.
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A Girardian angle on the stock market. Yes, the market is irrational, and no, it's not because we have "herd instincts" and other traces of evolutionary survival instincts, but because we are mimetic. Investing is like romance. Girard's mimetic theory does not in any way, shape, or form support any Marxist or neo-Marxist attacks on the Western civilisation.
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Conspiracy theories getting out of hand on the right.Separating sound skepticism from "esoteric" conspiracy theories.Esoteric conspiracy theories as leftover of archaic paganism.Conspiracy theorising is witch hunting in a secular age.CTs may be violent polytheism, but the woke left is the Antichrist. -
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Girardian takes on addiction.Beyond the biochemistry, brain science, and environmental triggers.The pursuit of deviated transcendence.The tormenting obstacle; obsessive or repetitive stumbling.Addiction to pain as well as euphoria; sadomasochism. Escapism; addiction as medicine.Aggravated addiction and hallucinations, monsters, and demons. -
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Exploring the connection between the black pill (resigned mindset) and embracing or rejecting "the flesh." Why scientism is an embracing of the flesh. Why the black pill is a demonic lie that should be rejected and protected against.
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Some personal background on how I ended up writing and talking so much about Christianity. Reading some of Dostoevsky's "Grand Inquisitor" and discussing the big question of individual freedom versus belonging.
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Exploring Jews in the role of Girard's archaic scapegoats: magical outsiders who blend in and either bless the community with white magic or curse it with black magic, and how Jews react and act in this role.
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George is back with Virgil for Season 3 of the enchanting, enlightening Boreas Podcast!
The episode was recorded around Christmastime 2023. We discuss the katechon, one of the concluding topics in our new book, The Modern Malaise, available all over the internet February 7th, 2024.
Katechon ("he who restraints / that which restrains") is a term from St. Paul's second letter to Thessalonians and a mysterious concept much discussed over the centuries. We talk about how the katechon may be getting permanently removed by our current culture, which may lead – finally! – to the Apocalypse. - Vis mere
