Shaping the Narrative

Save all the cats, herd none

“More than ever, I am convinced that history has meaning—and that its meaning is terrifying,” wrote René Girard.

The apocalyptic Girard saw that history was trending toward increased mimetic conflict. For the first time in history, humanity had all of the technological means to destroy itself almost instantaneously.

The only thing more terrifying than believing that history has a meaning and that its meaning is terrifying is everyone believing that history has a different meaning.

Girard thought history’s meaning was terrifying because humanity had rejected a lifeline from God—the only thing that could keep it from imploding. The Belgian playwright Émile Cammaerts summed up the predicament in different terms: “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing. They then become capable of believing in anything.”

Meaning-makers are a dime-a-dozen. Meaning comes from each person’s stable of mimetic models. There is no transcendent model, no meta-narrative, no…