Audi diagnoses the cultural spell of desire, but it does not provide a cure.  Audaciously enough, after the commercial tells us we are all under a spell, it casts another spell upon us!  Audi tells us that we want one of their cars.  Why do we want an Audi?  Because when we drive an Audi our neighbors’ heads will turn, their mouths and keys will drop, and their children will look upon us with awe.   

“I’ve been told to desire an Audi.”

This social aspect of desire is crucial for us to understand human relationships.  Desire can bind us together by forming relationships based on love, or can tear us apart by forming relationships based on jealousy and envy.

It’s not difficult to perceive the social dangers of this spell.  When we are told to desire the same objects as our neighbors, we fall into competition and rivalry for those objects.  But desire is more than simply about objects.  For once we obtain objects, we are generally left unsatisfied.  What we really desire is prestige.  We want to cause our neighbors’ heads to turn and mouths to drop.  We want our neighbors to be jealous of us.    Jealousy has to do with desiring the being or essence of others.   In order to have the “Being” that we perceive our neighbor to possess, we need to take it from them.  This principle of desire is what leads to power struggles with family members, friends, and neighbors.

Strangely enough, Audi has given us the truth about their spell.  I wonder if we will resist their magic.