The definitive pronouncement of Google's Gemini is that Meher Baba, the spiritual master who eschewed oral communication for almost 44 years cannot properly be described as mimetic.
(Lest I be misunderstood, this is not a counter-claim to anything in your article: more of a "stub" as Wikipedia would say: a tickle that needed expression in its own right, lest the thought were to flow away on the wash of my forgetting, and this wasn't the worst place to pin a comment.)
(Indeed, writing a comment has the lasting effect of a college freshman writing a poem on a fresh sheet of paper. )
"Suppose you were told there was a tiger in the next room: you would know that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told "There is a ghost in the next room," and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is "uncanny" rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply "There is a mighty spirit in the room," and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would feel wonder and a certain shrinking—a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant and of prostration before it—an emotion which might be expressed in Shakespeare's words "Under it my genius is rebuked." This feeling may be described as awe, and the object which excites it as the Numinous." --CS Lewis
This quotation came to mind while reading this piece.
And you're right, Botet in Mama is terrifying. when I was watching the piece, it recalled the music of the movie version fo Silent Hill.
As for immitation being the basis of human behavior, particularly the example of the business person,I have even more to add. This fundamental truth is part of the basis of in-group/out-group behavior, or in the ethical realm, moral communities. That is, the term "moral community" describes an individual's or groups sense and intutions of moral responsibility. SO, for instance, racism and sexism are in part trigger conditions for being "pushed away" or "pushed out" of the moral community. I'm bringing this up because most people don't realize how crucial mimicry is as a moral foundation; if people "aren't like us" even at the level of how we move or hold bodily tension, it quickly becomes the basis for subtle distance and possibly exclusion. A person can just pay attention to the bodies of working vs. professional class persons.
This topic sparks my interest given my multicultural background and having to navigate these issues since I was a child, and always having to decide who or what I'd imitate, which is something most (monocultural) Americans don't face.
The definitive pronouncement of Google's Gemini is that Meher Baba, the spiritual master who eschewed oral communication for almost 44 years cannot properly be described as mimetic.
(Lest I be misunderstood, this is not a counter-claim to anything in your article: more of a "stub" as Wikipedia would say: a tickle that needed expression in its own right, lest the thought were to flow away on the wash of my forgetting, and this wasn't the worst place to pin a comment.)
(Indeed, writing a comment has the lasting effect of a college freshman writing a poem on a fresh sheet of paper. )
"Suppose you were told there was a tiger in the next room: you would know that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told "There is a ghost in the next room," and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is "uncanny" rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply "There is a mighty spirit in the room," and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would feel wonder and a certain shrinking—a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant and of prostration before it—an emotion which might be expressed in Shakespeare's words "Under it my genius is rebuked." This feeling may be described as awe, and the object which excites it as the Numinous." --CS Lewis
This quotation came to mind while reading this piece.
Thanks for this. This is a great piece.
And you're right, Botet in Mama is terrifying. when I was watching the piece, it recalled the music of the movie version fo Silent Hill.
As for immitation being the basis of human behavior, particularly the example of the business person,I have even more to add. This fundamental truth is part of the basis of in-group/out-group behavior, or in the ethical realm, moral communities. That is, the term "moral community" describes an individual's or groups sense and intutions of moral responsibility. SO, for instance, racism and sexism are in part trigger conditions for being "pushed away" or "pushed out" of the moral community. I'm bringing this up because most people don't realize how crucial mimicry is as a moral foundation; if people "aren't like us" even at the level of how we move or hold bodily tension, it quickly becomes the basis for subtle distance and possibly exclusion. A person can just pay attention to the bodies of working vs. professional class persons.
This topic sparks my interest given my multicultural background and having to navigate these issues since I was a child, and always having to decide who or what I'd imitate, which is something most (monocultural) Americans don't face.
Thank you. Well-said.