{"id":3068,"date":"2015-11-13T16:32:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T21:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/?p=3068"},"modified":"2015-11-13T16:32:23","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T21:32:23","slug":"mimetic-theory-desmond-tutu-and-the-blank-red-starbucks-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/teachingnonviolentatonement\/2015\/11\/mimetic-theory-desmond-tutu-and-the-blank-red-starbucks-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Mimetic Theory, Desmond Tutu, and the Blank Red Starbucks Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"desmond<\/a>The human sense of identity is very fragile, especially when we seek it in the wrong places.<\/p>\n

Whenever I get angry at someone, my spiritual director tells me to enter into that person\u2019s \u201cmap.\u201d What does the world look and feel like from that person\u2019s point of view? From within their shoes? Of course, we can never really know the answer to that question, but it\u2019s an exercise in empathy, which I think is crucially important if we are going to follow Jesus in loving our neighbors, who include even our enemies, as we love ourselves.<\/p>\n

So I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and with the help of Ren\u00e9 Girard\u2019s mimetic theory, I try to imagine myself in the shoes of someone who is offended by receiving a red Starbucks cup without the words \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mimetic theory is crucial to this exercise because it tell us the truth about human identity. Mimetic theory claims that there is no \u201cself\u201d without an \u201cother.\u201d Desmond Tutu explains this principle in his book\u00a0God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time<\/em><\/a>,<\/p>\n

None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. I am because other people are.<\/em><\/p>\n

The truth is that \u201cI am because other people are.\u201d I am, I have a sense of self, because I receive my sense of self in relationship with other people. I use the term \u201cother people\u201d in a very broad sense to include all of culture. Because we are relational creatures, for better or for worse, we will always receive our identity from others \u2013 our family, friends, co-workers, church, television, movies, and possibly even a blank red Starbucks cup.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the point: Once we understand the mimetic nature of being human, we can begin to intentionally choose which people and what things we will receive our identity from.<\/p>\n

What does this understanding of human nature have to do with the scandal over the red Starbucks cups? Well, here\u2019s what happened to me when I put myself in the shoes of someone who is offended by receiving a blank red Starbucks cup: I felt blank inside. I felt an emptiness within. And that emptiness caused fear inside of me because, in the face of a blank Starbucks cup, I felt how one could begin to lose a sense of self. That emptiness can trigger a burning sense of instability and fear. What do I do with my fear? I could easily become angry and lash out against Starbucks.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to make two quick points here. First, receiving our identity from a Starbucks cup is what biblical idolatry is all about. It elevates an object of the world to a position that it shouldn\u2019t have in our lives. That\u2019s when our sense of self becomes very fragile. When it\u2019s threatened, even by something as mundane as a blank Starbucks cup, we tend to lash out. But the second point is that telling certain Christians that they have a fragile sense of self because they are in an idolatrous relationship with a red Starbucks cup isn\u2019t actually very helpful. Neither is responding to their outrage with our own outrage against them. Because of our mimetic nature, responding to outrage with outrage only reinforces the outrage between us.<\/p>\n

So, when I put myself in the shoes of a Christian who is offended by the Starbucks cup, I ask myself, \u201cWhat do I need?\u201d Here\u2019s what I\u00a0don\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0need \u2013 I don\u2019t need someone to attack me. I don\u2019t need someone to tell me that I\u2019m wrong. That will only harden my heart. I\u2019ll probably become defensive and simply reinforce my position.<\/p>\n

What I\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0need is for someone to model an alternative to the outrage and hostility that seems to permeate our culture. From politics to red Starbucks cups, hostility is everywhere. But, if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, we will see that love and compassion also permeate our culture.<\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Girard and Desmond Tutu would say the same thing: we receive our identity through others, but one\u2019s true self is found by receiving it from the God who is love. That God calls us to seek justice and to love our neighbors, including our enemies, as we love ourselves. To paraphrase\u00a0Ephesians<\/a>, it\u2019s that love that puts to death the hostility between us and enables us to live into the new creation of God\u2019s universal compassion.<\/p>\n

Image 1: Flickr: Jennifer Hughs,\u00a0Starbucks Holiday Cups<\/a>,\u00a0Creative Commons License<\/a>, some changes made; Image 2: Flickr: Skoll World Forum,\u00a0Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu<\/a>,\u00a0Creative Commons License<\/a>, some changes made.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop!\u00a0Like Teaching Nonviolent Atonement on Facebook!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The human sense of identity is very fragile, especially when we seek it in the wrong places. Whenever I get angry at someone, my spiritual director tells me to enter into that person\u2019s \u201cmap.\u201d What does the world look and feel like from that person\u2019s point of view? From within their shoes? Of course, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1651,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[961,396,608,117,129,963,156,962],"class_list":["post-3068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-desmond-tutu","tag-fear","tag-identity","tag-love","tag-mimetic-theory","tag-outrage","tag-rene-girard","tag-starbucks"],"yoast_head":"\nMimetic Theory, Desmond Tutu, and the Blank Red Starbucks Cup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The human sense of identity is very fragile, especially when we seek it in the wrong places. 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