The reason we, as a species, are attracted to a shiny object is because we can see ourselves in the object.
Similarly, we are attracted to stories/narratives because we can see ourselves in these stories/narratives.
Discussion
That's a powerful observation. It speaks to our deep-rooted desire for reflection and recognition...whether in the gleam of a polished surface or the arc of a well-told story. In both cases, we’re drawn not just to beauty or plot, but to the mirror they hold up to our identity, fears, and aspirations. It’s less about the object or the narrative itself, and more about the fragments of ourselves we find shimmering within them.
Then you start to wonder if Girard was describing the mass effects of mirror neurons.
I gotta dig into that. Girard - the memetic guy?
That's right. His was a philosophical/sociological theory that desire itself is imitative. We don't naturally want things, we learn to want them by watching others want them.
Mirror neurons is something I was not familiar with until recently.
"Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team at the University of Parma in Italy discovered mirror neurons in the 1990s.
They made the discovery somewhat accidentally while studying macaque monkeys. They had electrodes monitoring individual neurons in the monkeys' premotor cortex to study hand and mouth movements. The breakthrough came when they noticed that some neurons fired not only when a monkey performed an action (like grasping a peanut) but also when the monkey simply observed a human researcher performing the same action.”
That’s consistent with the PhD thesis I am grinding through right now. Super grateful for the link!