Last week we launched the new Anti-Mimetic community on Mighty Networks, where you can sign up for the new book club, RSVP to monthly events, form new groups, chat with other readers, and much more. I hope to see you there.

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The link to the community platform will be in your welcome email.

Thanks again to all of you who support this work, whether you are casual readers or long-time supporters. The next time you hear from me, I will be back with an essay.

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I have great respect for the legal profession. The best of it, anyway.

One of my dear friends is a trial attorney who, for as long as I’ve known him, has had a very sacred view of his work. Shortly after we met, during my time living in Vegas, he articulated his passion for his job to me by explaining his role as advocate—and he did it primarily using a biblical lens.

This, it turned out, would later become one of my primary entry points to the work of René Girard. Perhaps it was the reason Girard just made so much sense to me the first time I read his book I See Satan Fall Like Lightning. The categories of Accuser and Advocate, which run throughout Girard’s work, had already become familiar to me in the framework of spiritual warfare—including the way that my friend described his small role in what he saw as a larger, cosmic battle playing out for the soul of humanity.

If it is true that there is a “principle of rivalry at the heart of human relations” (as Girard wrote), then we possess a powerful instinct to accuse and destroy one another. One could even argue that, in a fallen and sinful world, this is the default mode of relating to one another that we continually fall back into without realizing that we’re doing it. It has happened for far longer and with greater regularity than, say, the economic cycle.

Yet we also have the power to overcome this rivalrous way of being in relationship—we do have the power to relate to one another differently: to seek to understand, to build up and edify, to love. I suppose that is why, at the deepest level and layer, I chose to name this newsletter Anti-Mimetic.

In today’s world, authentic friendship and real sacrificial love are deeply anti-mimetic acts.

In the bible, the term Satan comes from a Hebrew word that means “Accuser”. In the book of Job, for example, the Accusers (men who are supposed to be Job’s friends) are relentless, attacking him day and night—insinuating that the suffering he endures is the direct consequence of some evil he has committed. They offer him no hope.

This is in stark contrast to what is referred to elsewhere as the “Paraclete”—literally, the Advocate—who defends, advocates on behalf of, and consoles. In the bible, these are often angels, prophets, and the just ones who defend people before God. In Christianity, the Paraclete usually refers to the Holy Spirit.

I think it’s a useful exercise even for people who don’t consider themselves religious or spiritual to simply examine the following questions: Who in my life is playing the role of the Accuser? Who is an Advocate? And in what ways am I myself either an Accuser or an Advocate in relating to someone else? And lastly: What things or processes in my life tend to turn me into an accuser or an advocate? Knowing the answers to these questions can become the first step to change.

These are hard questions. They are not easy (and perhaps even impossible) to answer without help. After all, René Girard famously said: “The universe is swarming with scapegoats, yet none of us think we have any of our own.” That is because to make or have a scapegoat is necessarily to not know that you have one.

It is the knowledge hidden from ourselves since the foundation of the world—the self-knowledge that is too painful for us to explore or admit.

One need not be an attorney to be an advocate. I think we can all be advocates for one another. In a world filled with Accusers and Accusations, we need more Advocates. That’s what I’m trying to do here.

So I first thank you for your support—for being an advocate. My real goal now is to begin forming a community of advocates: people who are thinking seriously about fundamental questions of humanity and people who want to be advocates to one another both personally and professionally. People who stand shoulder to shoulder, who seek to see the best in others, and who want to passionately pursue the truth with other like-minded and like-hearted people.

I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting so many of you—to the point that I now know what’s possible here. I will continue investing in growing a community of relationships beyond what we have so far been able to achieve on monthly Zoom calls, so I am announcing the next step in that process.

Invitation to Join the Anti-Mimetic Community

As promised last month, I have now invested in a much more robust community platform (Discord was not cutting it) for premium subscribers. After a great deal of research, we landed on a professional version of Mighty Networks, which seems like it has the potential to be a central hub for everything that is upcoming in this next year:

• The Book Club—launching next month. A group of us will be reading Girard’s magnum opus, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World

• Members have the option to enter their Location as part of their profile and the platform will let people know who is near them. This will help as we begin to organize more in-person meet-ups in the future.

• Community events with be accessible with Zoom links directly from inside the platform, including next month’s Salon with Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Utah. This cuts way down on logistical complexities.

• Courses and workshops, including a special new workshop that I will be teaching with a team of facilitators next summer from June 15 - Aug. 3 (learn more in the network under “Courses”, in the left navigation column.) The Layer Zero Project will be about stripping away everything that is obscuring the most deeply human from our work and our lives, and developing an anthropology of business that is capable of equipping us for the coming decade. Premium subscribers can register for that course at a 40% discount to what the general public will pay.

• All community members will be able to post articles, start chats, live stream, upload videos, start new groups (including book clubs), host events, and take user journeys to explore various topics that I’ll be offering roadmaps for.

Below is a sneak preview.

We’ve spent the past week or so building things out. Right now, I’m the only one in there…so I hope you’ll join me!

I realize it will take a few months to build the community out and get used to a new system, but I think this will support far more robust engagement moving forward.

Access to this new community platform is for paying subscribers. And there has never been a better time.

Simply sign-up, and you will find a link to join Anti-Mimetic on Mighty Networks at the bottom of this post (after the paywall), and/or in your welcome email.

I hope to see you there.

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The First Anti-Mimetic Thread Is Now Live

I’m happy to announce that Anti-Mimetic is one of the first newsletters on Substack to receive beta access to a new feature, Threads, which allows us to have real-time conversations (similar to a well-organized group chat) using the Substack app.

I like to think of Threads as a “second space” for this community, like a coffee shop or bar, where we can have more robust interaction about a variety of topics and continue conversations by pulling threads all the way through—drawing out the implications of a key idea or event together rather than moving from one thing to another without conversation, as can sometimes happen.

There is always deeper to go; I think Threads will give us one way to go there. I may start a thread on the idea of New Fremen, for instance—or ask everyone to share one of their fulfillment stories. This Saturday, I plan to be in …

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In partnership with LIT, the videobook of Wanting is out now—a 53-minute production narrated by me and a handful of special guests. As a visual learner myself, I’m excited to be able to offer the work in this new, immersive format.

Premium subscribers to this newsletter can watch the entire videobook ($25 retail) for free—it’s included in your subscription. Your promo code, which you just need to enter at checkout on the LIT website, is at the bottom of this post.

For all others: if you’d like to support this work and go deeper into Anti-Mimetic, now is a great time. A premium subscription also includes access to the community chat (Discord), invites to monthly Salons (the next one is with writer Thomas J. Bevan), and free or heavily discounted access to upcoming educational opportunities and workshops.

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I recently published this written conversation with my friend, writer Thomas J. Bevan, titled Transcending the Transactional. We discussed Art vs. Content, and the more fundamental tension of being a Creator (or an entrepreneur, for that matter) in a world in which the mimetic pressure to ‘get engagement’ are enormous.

I’m convinced that the (thin) desire for ‘engagement’ is almost entirely mimetic. I’ve watched countless people—from political personas and ‘activists’ to content creators to founders—trap themselves in a closed-market logic of consumer demand.

Due to the popularity of that interview, I have invited Thomas to a (longer-than-usual) 90-minute Salon with us on August 23, 2022, from 12-1:30pm Eastern.

We both agreed that it would be best to keep the conversation as open and free-flowing as possible, with no pre-conceived ideas of how it would go or even what we will talk about. So it should be fun, and I hope that you’re able to join us.

Please do register here if you would like to reserve a seat. (Premium subscribers will find their complimentary code at the bottom of this post.)

This is a reader-supported newsletter. Please subscribe below for complimentary access to this event (and others), additional essays and content (including the full archives), access to the Anti-Mimetic community Discord server, and—coming soon—early invites and heavily discounted tuition for educational opportunities, including the 45-60 Day Anti-Mimetic Workshop.

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Lastly, and most ironically, would you please let me know what kind of guests (and/or discussion) you would most like to see in the future at these salons, including the kind of topics you would be most interested in me writing about here? Your feedback will be taken to heart. It might even captivate me.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

Luke

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You are cordially invited to the second Anti-Mimetic Salon with media entrepreneur—and host of one of my favorite podcasts, Hidden Forces—my friend, Demetri Kolfinas. This event will take place on Wednesday, July 13, from 12-1 pm Eastern.

We’ll have an open discussion about the landscape of our new media environment and some of the hidden forces that may be driving it. Some questions we’ll tackle:

• What are people talking about and why?

• What are we missing when we focus mimetic attention on certain people and topics?

• What are people really talking about when they talk about “X”?

If you have a particular question or idea, please add it as a comment to this post and I’ll take them into account as we prep.

Here’s the format: I’ll open the the discussion with 20-30 minutes of one-on-one conversation with Demetri to introduce the theme. After that, the floor will be open for a Q&A and general discussion among attendees. I may cap this one at 50-60 attendees to ensure the best experience, so please don’t wait to sign-up.

Reserve your spot here (on Eventbrite), where you’ll also find the Zoom link for the event after registration.

This event is (as always) included with a premium subscription to Anti-Mimetic. (Please find your code for a comp’d ticket, below.)

If you’d like to become a premium subscribers and support my work, you can simply come back to this page after you’ve upgraded your subscription and you’ll find additional information at the bottom of this newsletter.

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Thank you, as always, for reading. We hope to see you on July 13!

Luke

P.S. Here’s a link to my episode with Demetri last year on the Hidden Forces podcast.

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Dear Readers,

On June 9 at 6pm EST, I will be hosting a salon-style event with Byrne Hobart, a writer, investor, and consultant in New York who publishes an excellent newsletter, The Diff, that covers inflection points in both finance and tech. I’m a reader.

Byrne is also the co-author (with Tobias Huber) of the excellent paper ‘Manias & Mimesis: Applying René Girard’s Mimetic Theory to Financial Bubbles’, which will provide the raw material for our June event. It will be open to paying subscribers only.

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The format is simple: Byrne and I will chat for about 30-minutes to explicate the main ideas from his paper and apply insights from mimetic theory to financial markets. Then we’ll open up the floor to everyone in the room for at least 30 minutes.

I hope to see you there!

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Two Announcements

#1: Zoom Event with Dr. Joshua Miller on Finding Your Core Motivational Drivers

On February 24 at 6pm EST, I’ll be hosting a Zoom seminar with Dr. Joshua Miller, one of the lead developers of the Motivational Code assessment (described in Chapter 6 of Wanting).

Space is limited. The event is free for premium subscribers—scroll all the way to the bottom of this newsletter to find your discount code. Otherwise, the cost is $10.

It will be helpful if you’ve already taken the assessment, but it’s not necessary to join. The event will be an introductory learning session, and I’ll be sharing a bit of my own motivational profile and explain how it comes into play when I’m doing anything from writing a book to working out.

#2: IdeaMarket.io Airdrop Opportunity

The good folks at IdeaMarket.io, a marketplace for ideas, are giving subscribers of the Anti-Mimetic Newsletter the opportunity to receive an exclusive, $850 airdrop of their $IMO token that launches 2/2. The first 100 people to fill out this form will claim their tokens.

MCODE Background

As many of you know by now, I’m a proponent of an exercise in narrative psychology called the MCODE (Motivation Code), developed by my friends at Pruvio.

I’ve been using it in interviews for over a decade. It has been particularly helpful to me in understanding how founders and executive teams work best together—or how to put them together in the first place.

I’ve learned that I can’t just throw a handful of smart, highly motivated people in a room together and expect them to work well. How each of them is uniquely motivated is vital. Unfortunately, few understand how they are specifically motivated; when I ask, I usually get extremely vague answers. Even fewer know how to identify the core motivational drives of others. The MCODE changes that.

The assessment goes back to Arthur Miller Jr.’s work in the early 1960’s, when he began to develop something called the System for Identifying Motivated Abilities (SIMA). Miller began asking people to tell him stories about times in their life when they were deeply satisfied about an achievement. After conducting an extensive biographical interview, a pattern began to emerge about the kinds of activities that they consistently gravitated toward. Approximately 100,000 interviews later— and after having assembled a team of researchers, including PhD’s in psychology and data scientists—they identified 27 distinct “motivational patterns” or themes, which I’ve listed below. Do any of them sound like you?

By understanding which of these core motivational themes have been most present in your life, you gain a powerful insight into how to be more fully engaged.

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The 27 Motivational Themes

Achieve Potential: Identifying and realizing potential is a constant focus of your activities.

Advance: You love the experience of making progress as you accomplish a series of goals

Be Unique: You seek to distinguish yourself by displaying some talent, quality or aspect that is distinctive and special

Be Central: You are motivated to be a key person who holds things together and gives them meaning and/or direction.

Bring Control: You want to be in charge and in control of your own destiny.

Bring to Completion: Your motivation is satisfied when you can look at a finished product or final result and know that your work is done and that you have met the objective you set out to accomplish.

Comprehend and Express: Your motivation focuses on understanding, defining, and then communicating your insights.

Collaborate: You enjoy being involved in efforts in which people work together for a common purpose.

Demonstrate New Learning: You are motivated to learn how to do something new and show that you can do it

Develop: You are motivated by the process of building and developing from start to finish.

Evoke Recognition: You are motivated to capture the interest and attention of others.

Experience the Ideal: You are motivated to give concrete expression to certain concepts, visions, or values that are important to you

Establish: You are motivated to lay secure foundations and to be established.

Explore: Pressing beyond the existing limits of your knowledge and/or experience, you explore what is unknown or mysterious to you.

Excel: You want to excel or at least to do your absolute best as you exceed the performance or expectations of those around you.

Gain Ownership: The nature of your motivation is expressed through efforts to acquire what you want and to exercise ownership or control over what is yours.

Improve: You are happiest when you are using your abilities to make things better.

Influence Behavior: You are motivated to gain a reaction or response from people that indicates you have influenced their thinking, feelings and behavior.

Make an Impact: You seek to make an impact or personal mark upon the world around you.

Make It Right: You consistently set up or follow standards, procedures and principles that you believe are “right.”

Make It Work: Your motivation focuses on fixing something that has broken down or is functioning poorly.

Make the Grade: You are motivated to make the grade and gain acceptance into a group in which you want to be a member or participant.

Master: Your motivation is satisfied when you are able to gain complete command of a skill, subject, procedure, technique, or process.

Meet the Challenge: Your sense of achievement comes in looking back over a challenge you have met or a test you have passed.

Organize: You want to set up and maintain a smooth-running operation

Overcome: Your motivation focuses on overcoming and winning out over difficulties, disadvantages, or opposition.

Serve: You are motivated to identify and fulfill needs, requirements, and expectations.

How To Get Started

If you’d like to complete the MCODE exercise, you can start the process here. (A $10 off code is available at the link above, which drops the price from $49 to $39). Once you start, the process takes roughly 30-45 minutes. Again, it’s not necessary to have completed the assessment to attend the event on February 24.

I do recommend that, prior to taking the full assessment, you spend some time identifying your three “Fulfillment Stories.” I put together this worksheet to help you do that. The more time you spend discerning which three stories from your life are most important, the more meaningful the exercise becomes. If they come to right away, though, then great—run with those.

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The server is for premium subscribers to this newsletter only. Here is your private invite link: https://discord.gg/pDt2Q6U5aA

Does it seem ironic? An anti-mimetic community, inspired by mimesis? (After all, aren’t we all looking for a better model?) Yes, that’s exactly the idea: out of negative mimesis and into a more positive kind.

My hope is that we can have a more intimate conversation and get to know one another away from the hot-takeonomy of mimetic noise. You’ll find some great people who are genuinely committed to building a healthier human ecology and inspiring others to do the same. I know that because so many of you have reached out to me privately.

I don’t know what this will become…

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Because this newsletter is meant to serve as a Field Guide to mimetic desire— practical applications, heuristics, and tactics that help us lead better lives—we want to keep this page up-to-date with the latest podcasts available on the Internet tackling mimetic desire.

René Girard was “doggedly dialogic,” according to his student Sandor Goodhart. Some of his most important works, including his magnum opus Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World, are the form of Q&A, as are other smaller works. Girard sought the truth in conversations. Podcasts, then, are an important tool in forming this Field Guide of mimetic desire.

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