Friday, May 02, 2008

Quotes of the Day - René Girard

“What is frightening is the conjunction of massive technical power and the spiritual surrender to nihilism. A panic-stricken refusal to glance, even furtively, in the only direction where meaning could still be found dominates our intellectual life.”

"Choice always involves choosing a model, and true freedom lies in the basic choice between a human or a divine model."

"Deviated transcendency is a caricature of vertical transcendency. There is not one element of this distorted mysticism which does not have its luminous counterpart in Christian truth."

"'Genuine spontaneity' is not the absence of mimetic behavior but the most naive and innocent imitation of all, that of a little child, the attitude recommended by Jesus."

4 comments:

mimesis3 said...

Totalmente de acuerdo. OK.

Athos said...

Buenas dias, Jose. I don't know how good your English is (mi Espanol is muy malo) but you might want to try my book, The Dionysus Mandate. It is based on Girard's mimetic theory. Via con Dios.

David Nybakke said...

Ath, (assuming I have not lost my marbles) do you recall the context of (and which ERI talk) Bailie referred to what true freedom was in light of Jesus?

He said something like freedom is irrevocably linked to obedience (to His Father) and authority (in His Name) in the mystery of the Trinity. I was thinking about this idea of freedom when I read the Girard quotes and it made me think of the "deviated" freedom as post-Christians think of it - it being a caricature of the vertical freedom that Bailie was referring to. The notion of our freedom today neglects to be attached to obedience (to Our Father) and authority (in His Name).

Athos said...

I'm sorry, Aramis, haven't a clue nor a jot of memory re: that discussion. Right now, true freedom is all related to the distance I can stretch when my catheter bag is attached to a drawer ...