{"id":177587,"date":"2023-07-10T08:51:08","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T13:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=177587"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:40:15","slug":"thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The last time we had entrepreneur, professor, and author Luke Burgis on the show, he discussed&nbsp;the concept of mimetic desire, which says that we want the&nbsp;things we want because other people want them. Since that time, Luke has continued to explore the idea of mimesis, and how to resist its negative consequences, in his Substack: <a href=\"https:\/\/read.lukeburgis.com\/\">Anti-Mimetic<\/a>. Today on the show, Luke and I dig into these ideas and discuss ways we can step outside the tempo, cadences, and priorities that the world would foist upon us and establish our own rhythms for our lives. Luke unpacks what it means to have &#8220;thick desires&#8221; and become a &#8220;political atheist&#8221; and how these concepts can help you live a more anti-mimetic life.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last time we had entrepreneur, professor, and author Luke Burgis on the show, he discussed&nbsp;the concept of mimetic desire, which says that we want the&nbsp;things we want because other people want them. Since that time, Luke has continued to explore the idea of mimesis, and how to resist its negative consequences, in his Substack: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,156,42388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-podcast","category-self-improvement"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The last time we had entrepreneur, professor, and author Luke Burgis on the show, he discussed&nbsp;the concept of mimetic desire, which says that we want the&nbsp;things we want because other people want them. Since that time, Luke has continued to explore the idea of mimesis, and how to resist its negative consequences, in his Substack: [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-10T13:51:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-07T19:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-10T13:51:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-07T19:40:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":136,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/910.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Character\",\"Podcast\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2023\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/\",\"name\":\"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life | The Art of Manliness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/910.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-10T13:51:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-07T19:40:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/910.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/910.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\",\"name\":\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life | The Art of Manliness","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life | The Art of Manliness","og_description":"The last time we had entrepreneur, professor, and author Luke Burgis on the show, he discussed&nbsp;the concept of mimetic desire, which says that we want the&nbsp;things we want because other people want them. Since that time, Luke has continued to explore the idea of mimesis, and how to resist its negative consequences, in his Substack: [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Manliness","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness","article_published_time":"2023-07-10T13:51:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-07T19:40:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Brett &amp; Kate McKay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@artofmanliness","twitter_site":"@artofmanliness","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brett &amp; Kate McKay","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Brett &amp; Kate McKay","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3"},"headline":"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life","datePublished":"2023-07-10T13:51:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-07T19:40:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/"},"wordCount":136,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910.png","articleSection":["Character","Podcast","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2023","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/","url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/","name":"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life | The Art of Manliness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910.png","datePublished":"2023-07-10T13:51:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-07T19:40:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/910.png","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/thick-desires-anti-mimetic-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Podcast #910: Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/","name":"The Art of Manliness","description":"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3","name":"Brett &amp; Kate McKay","url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}