The destructive mimetic cycle works when people are convinced of the absolute primacy of their own desires. They’re even willing to sacrifice others in order to fulfill them. But in the positive cycle of desire, people respect the desires of others as they would their own. What’s more, they take an active role in collaborating with others to help

I believe the purpose of work is not merely to make more but to become more. The value of work cannot be measured by the objective output of a job alone; it must take into account the subjective transformation of the person who is working. Two

Meditative thought is patient enough to allow the truth to reveal itself.

We find ourselves in a cycle of destructive desire. But that, in itself, is not deadly. It’s deadly because people don’t seem to think there’s any alternative. Our society is decadent and stagnant because it lacks hope. Hope is the desire for something that is (1) in the future, (2) good, (3) difficult to achieve, and (4) possible.

Discernment exists in the liminal space between what’s now and what’s next. Transcendent leaders create that space in their own lives, and in the lives of the people around them.

Desires are discerned, not decided.

Many books have been written about improving one’s ability to discern well. Here is a distillation of some key points: (1) pay attention to the interior movements of the heart when contemplating different desires—which give a fleeting feeling of satisfaction and which give satisfaction that endures? (2) ask yourself which desire is more generous

The health of an organization is directly proportional to the speed at which truth travels within it.11 Real truth is anti-mimetic by its very nature—it doesn’t change depending on how mimetically popular or unpopular it is.

Transcendent leaders don’t insist on the primacy of their own desires. They don’t make them the center around which everyone and everything must revolve.