Each person must ask what his relationship is to the scapegoat. I am not aware of my own, and I am persuaded that the same holds true for my readers. We only have legitimate enmities. And yet the entire universe swarms with scapegoats. Rene Girard More Quotes by Rene Girard More Quotes From Rene Girard We are aware that globalization doesn't mean global friendship but global competition and, therefore, conflict. That doesn't mean we will all destroy each other, but it is no happy global village, either. Rene Girard village competition happy friendship Individualism is a formidable lie. Rene Girard lie individualism formidable If you scapegoat someone, it's a third party that will be aware of it. It won't be you. Because you will believe you are doing the right thing. Rene Girard doing someone you believe We don't even know what our desire is. We ask other people to tell us our desires. We would like our desires to come from our deepest selves, our personal depths - but if it did, it would not be desire. Desire is always for something we feel we lack. Rene Girard feel know desire people I do not read many periodicals, and I have little or no contact with progressive Christians, so I don't really know what goes on with them. It seemed to me that very often, the progressive Christianity was an initial step in de-Christianization, but this was probably unfair. Rene Girard step know me unfair A scapegoat remains effective as long as we believe in its guilt. Rene Girard remains guilt long believe When we judge, we are always in a psychic space which is circular. Rene Girard which judge always space When scandals proliferate, human beings become so obsessed with their rivals that they lose sight of the objects for which they compete and begin to focus angrily on one another. Rene Girard lose human focus sight In preventing a riot and dispersing a crowd, the Crucifixion is an example of cathartic victimization. Rene Girard crowd victimization riot example I think the most influential aspect of my work is to show that Judaism and Christianity exist in a continuity with archaic religions. Rene Girard religions i-think think work Western civilization is, no doubt, predominantly on the side of secular relativism. That is not true in the Islamic world, where faith dominates. Rene Girard true faith doubt world Paradoxically, we have become so ethnocentric in our relativism that we feel it is only okay for others - not us - to think their religion is superior! Rene Girard feel think okay religion All of my work has been an effort to show that Christianity is superior and not just another mythology. Rene Girard show just effort work When the whole world is globalized, you're going to be able to set fire to the whole thing with a single match. Rene Girard you single fire world The profound self is a universal self. Rene Girard universal self profound Humanity is the child of religion. Rene Girard child humanity religion Why is our own participation in scapegoating so difficult to perceive and the participation of others so easy? To us, our fears and prejudices never appear as such because they determine our vision of people we despise, we fear, and against whom we discriminate. Rene Girard never vision fear people Salvation lies in imitating Christ, in other words, in imitating the 'withdrawal relationship' that links him with his Father... To listen to the Father's silence is to abandon oneself to his withdrawal, to conform to it. Rene Girard words silence relationship father More than ever, I am convinced that history has meaning - and that its meaning is terrifying. Rene Girard meaning i-am more history The myth-making machine is the mimetic contagion that disappears behind the myth it generates. Rene Girard disappears machine behind myth
