In the past year I’ve come to appreciate Jesus afresh, through the lens of what’s called Mimetic Theory as pioneered by Rene Girard. This literary critic and philosopher reads the Gospels (and really, the Hebrew Bible and New Testament) through the lens of mimentic violence – looking at what happens when we humans imitate hostile and fearful acts, causing “violence begetting violence.” Mimetic theory puts Jesus’ life, death, and teachings in a whole new perspective that transcends – and if we’re honest, in many ways outright negates – traditional religious structures.

And yet, mimetics as I’ve encountered them leaves me wanting more. I want to see the conversation expand from philosophy, lit-crit and theology into other social sciences – even the so-called ‘hard’ sciences, like brain sciences. And I want to see some examples of positive mimesis, darn it! Surely we’re capable of imitating more than just the ‘bad.’

I think I may have discovered the bridge to ‘something more’ that I’m looking for – Jeremy Rifkin distilling his latest ground-breaking work, The Empathic Civilization. I won’t say much more except to watch this video! It’s over ten minutes long; get over it.  It’s ten minutes well-spent. You will be mesmerized! And just maybe, your entire outlook on life and what motivates people will be transformed.

This is what guides my passions, in both Presence and The David Group International – to see a new earth and a new humanity being birthed, a people with a deeper trust in a more expansive God, where common humanity creates the deepest of ties. Viva la empathetic mimesis!

This past summer I turned 50. 50! As I look at it on the page it makes me laugh – like somebody sauntered up to me at a party and without my knowing it stuck a ‘50’ sign on my back as a joke. And it is a joke. There’s no way I’m 50. I know the calendar says so, but my heart, mind and soul cannot seem to embrace that. I feel no more than 25 and, as my wife would probably protest, act no more than 10!

The one thing that causes me suspicion that I just might actually be 50 is the person I find myself to be today versus the one I know I used to be. Once upon a time I had so many more answers than I find I have now. Life carried a certainty and permanence that has long since departed. My religion, politics and overall philosophy for living holds little in common with those same spaces in which I lived in yester-year. Continue reading…