29 July

This child behaviour, fighting over toys, really is the root of all human thought and behaviour. Neither really wants the toy, it’s a sideshow. Each wants it because the other wants it. It’s desired purely because somebody else desires it. That same principle applies to everything - ideas, music, cars, the people we desire, etc. That’s also why humans then imitate or copy one another, obsessively. They imitate what others desire, which in turn leads to rivalry between the imitating group, and with other groups who desire different things. Possessing that object becomes the source of social status. Again the object itself is irrelevant, anything can be made to ‘trend’ as the apparent object of desire. Your favourite car, band, clothes, beliefs and ideas, hairstyles, politics - everything is this same process. Everything is a battle for status and by that identity, through the copying or imitation of others, and rivalry with others copying.