A Weekend with Dr. Babak Ebrahimian

March 2008 - Reflections by Adam Ericksen

Saturday, March 8, 2008, marked the inaugural event at The Raven Foundation Office. We were very excited to have Dr. Babak Ebrahimian come to Chicago to help us understand Shakespeare’s Othello. We knew that Babak would be perfect for our first event: he is an expert in theater, Shakespeare, and mimetic theory. 

It was a quick trip for Babak. He flew into Chicago from New York on Friday and left the next day. I had the great pleasure of spending much of Friday and Saturday with him. I’m sure we were both a little nervous; I certainly was. We had never met, and I haven’t hosted many people before, so I wondered how I might make Babak feel comfortable while he was with us. 

It was Babak, though, who soon put me, and others, at ease. We drove together, with Raven founders Keith and Suzanne Ross, to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier where we were to watch a performance of Othello. Very quickly, Babak showed his deep spirituality and gracious manner. It took us about an hour and a half to drive from Glenview to Navy Pier in the midst of Chicago rush hour. During the drive (and throughout the weekend) Babak was concerned about making us feel comfortable. “How do you like living in Chicago?” and “Who do you think is going to be our next president?” were two questions he thoughtfully used to start conversations. We had a similar experience on the way home. “What did you think about the play?” Babak asked. After we had the opportunity to give our thoughts, we asked what he thought. 

What intrigued me about Babak during the whole weekend was exactly this: he was always concerned with others. He was not consumed with the great interpretation of Othello that he could offer, but he was concerned with the thoughts and well being of others. We wanted the weekend to be about him, but he wanted the weekend to be about others. That was his focus when he led us through his presentation entitled: Love, Power, and Politics in William Shakespeare’s Othello: A Case Study for Mimetic Manipulation and its Sacrifice.        

I was pretty nervous during the day of the event. It was like throwing a party for a friend and worrying if anyone would show up. Fortunately, Shakespeare continues to have a following, and many people came. Whew!

Babak started off his presentation in his now familiar fashion – asking the audience what they thought the word “love” means. Then he asked, “What does hate mean?” He then led us through the traps of desire, specifically the pervasive desire to “keep up with the Jones’s.” Keeping up with the Jones family is a great image for Othello, and the audience seemed to understand it. At times, we all fall into a competitive trap with our neighbors and friends. Sometimes this competition can be friendly, but it can quickly dissolve into envy, bitterness, and, unfortunately, violence. 

He skillfully engaged the audience throughout the discussion. Members of the audience asked questions throughout the lecture, and I was very pleased with depth of the conversation. Babak helped us to understand at a deeper level just how tragic, even satanic, the play is, but, there is always hope. Babak encouraged us to learn from the tragedy of Othello; to learn that uncontrolled and selfish desire leads to sacrificial violence. The hope is that if we learn how the desire mechanism works, how it can lead us into rivalry and competition, we can then think of ways to overcome its disastrous consequences. 

After the discussion, I had the pleasure of driving Babak to his hotel. We discussed the event. We were both very pleased, but he said something very important. It went something like this: “It’s nice to know this theory of desire, but if we don’t put it to practical use, it means nothing.” “Very true,” I replied.