Sublime

The mimetic theory describes man as a social being that is dependent on relations to others. No human being, in other words, is intrinsically complete.

The reversal of the relation of innocence and guilt between victims and executioners is the keystone of biblical inspiration.

Once we apprehend the biblical criticism of mimetic contagion and its results, we can understand the biblical profundity of the talmudic principle that Emmanuel Lévinas often cites: “If everyone is in agreement to condemn someone accused, release him for he must be innocent.” Unanimity in human groups is rarely a vehicle of truth; more often it is

The high priest would lay his hands on the head of the goat that was bound for Azazel. As he did so, the priest would confess all the sins of the Israelites, symbolically transferring them onto the animal.6 After the priest had said the appropriate prayers, the people would drive the goat out into the desert, to Azazel, expelling their sins along

Girard discovered that most of what we desire is mimetic (mi-met-ik) or imitative, not intrinsic. Humans learn—through imitation—to want the same things other people want, just as they learn how to speak the same language and play by the same cultural rules. Imitation plays a far more pervasive role in our society than anyone had ever openly