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[vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-r”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The improvisation that is central to Jazz performances is a great metaphor for mimetic relationships that are humming smoothly along. Friendships, partnerships, romances, you and your barista \u2013 all these involve an easy rhythm of shared desires. You learn from and reinforce each other\u2019s desires and take delight in what you have in common. These relationships are anything but static \u2013 they grow and deepen with time and shared experiences. It\u2019s a beautiful thing and they are a true source of happiness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Shared desires are great but<\/i> \u2013 you knew there was a but coming, didn\u2019t you? I knew your instincts were good! So, yes, shared desires are great unless we imitate one another\u2019s desire without mercy. Sometimes a generosity of spirit is required when our desires converge on an object that\u2019s a one of kind or that we want to possess for ourselves even if there\u2019s lots of it. In other words, if we are consumed with greed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Ten Commandments totally get this most human of dynamics. The first three are all about directing our worship \u2013 in other words, centering our desires \u2013 on God. We already know that that\u2019s the key to resisting peer pressure.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_single_image image=”20039″ img_size=”500×750″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]What you may not have realized is that the last two commandments are about desire. That\u2019s because most translations use the word \u201ccovet\u201d as in, \u201cDo not covet your neighbor\u2019s wife\u201d but covet is just an old-fashioned word for desire. So the commandments are all about whose desires we should imitate \u2013 God\u2019s and not our neighbors’.<\/p>\n What happens when we imitate our neighbor\u2019s desires instead of God\u2019s? We lie, steal, dishonor our parents, kill, betray our friends \u2013 get it? It seems like the writer of the Ten Commandments was trying to list all the things we shouldn\u2019t do and then said, aw, heck \u2013 let\u2019s just stop coveting each other\u2019s lovers and all their stuff because that\u2019s the cause of all the bad things we do to each other.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566393555121{background-color: #f6ebdf !important;}” el_class=”optin”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Problem is \u2013 and my apologies to the Ten Commandments \u2013 you can\u2019t prohibit coveting! We are hard wired to imitate one another\u2019s desires and so coveting is just going to happen. What we can do, however, is be merciful towards our models. Because without mercy, well, we end up with the hyper-partisanship and political gridlock facing the US right now.<\/p>\n Even though Republicans and Democrats insist with all their might that they are absolutely nothing alike, they are actually identical in the most important way because they covet the same thing: winning. Paradoxically, the more each side insists on how different they are from each other, the more they resemble each other in their anger, hard-heartedness, and ruthless tactics.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”20040″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-l”][vc_column][vc_column_text]We often mistakenly think that we are not in relationship with the people who we call our enemies, but it is as deep a relationship as friendship or love. But there\u2019s no jazz in it. No improvisation only a hardening of positions that we righteously defend until violence becomes a real possibility. Imagine a band playing the same four notes over and over, louder and louder until your eardrums burst. In the shared desire of love, each of you flourish in a dance of mutual affection. In rivalry, your heart becomes hardened and nothing can grow in the shadow cast by you and your rival.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Suzanne Ross continues the introduction to Mimetic Theory by examining peer pressure, its source, its consequences, and what God offers in those moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4295,4328,4294],"tags":[4321,199,620,38,121,3772],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPrevious<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Next<\/a><\/h4>\n