What does mimetic mean?
“Mimetic” is a Greek word, roughly meaning “imitation” or “mimicry.” Girard uses it to describe what he believes is a defining characteristic of human beings — we are mimetic. That means that we grow, learn and become ourselves through a process of imitation. We do not exist in a vacuum, but we depend on relationships with others, even for life itself. Infants who are given all the biological necessities of life, yet who are deprived of human contact, sicken and die at alarming rates. In addition, infants learn by watching and imitating their parents. We cannot know who we are or even that we exist without seeing it reflecting back to us in the eyes others. This means that human beings have an extraordinary openness to one another. We try to read each other’s feelings and interpret motives. We long to know one another intimately as if our lives depended on it — and it does! It is our mimetic nature that makes love, compassion, and friendship possible. It is the source of our creative
