Mimetic theory contradicts the thesis of human autonomy. It tends to relativize the very possibility of introspection: going into oneself always means finding the other, the mediator, the person who orients my desires without my being aware of it.
-Rene Girard, Battling to the End, p.10
To someone who has a high view of introspection, this is rather chilling. I’m afraid he’s completely right though. One of these days I’ll hash out the details of how this relates to Larry Crabb’s “cone” model of discovering the motivations and underlying causes of our emotions and conflicts. My initial impression is that mimesis fits in at the “image” stage, early in the chain. The image of ourselves is based largely on our image of others in many ways we don’t realize and even actively repress from realizing.