shal

“Tolstoy, in the last year of his life, said of Gandhi, whose work he followed and with whom he exchanged letters: ‘His Hindu nationalism spoils everything.’ It was a fair comment. Gandhi had called his South African commune Tolstoy Farm; but Tolstoy saw more clearly than Gandhi’s English and Jewish associates in South Africa, fellow seekers after the truth. Gandhi really had little to offer these people. His experiments and discoveries and vows answered his own need as a Hindu, the need constantly to define and fortify the self in the midst of hostility; they were not of universal application.”
― V.S. Naipaul, India: A Wounded Civilization

“Girard discovered that most of what we desire is mimetic (mi-met-ik) or imitative, not intrinsic. Humans learn—through imitation—to want the same things other people want, just as they learn how to speak the same language and play by the same cultural rules. Imitation plays a far more pervasive role in our society than anyone had ever openly acknowledged.”
― Luke Burgis, Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life

“We’re more threatened by people who want the same things as us than by those who don’t.”
― Luke Burgis, Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life

“It’s easy to be an armchair contrarian. It’s hard to take contrarian action: to question the dominant narrative, to be honest with yourself, to tell the truth even when the immediate outcome is pain”
― Luke Burgis, Wanting: Mimetic Desire: How to Avoid Chasing Things You Don't Truly Want