“Possibly in prehistoric times the kings themselves played the part of the god and were slain and dismembered in that character”.

Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough.

JL, 2009.

It is now easy to understand why a savage should desire to partake of the flesh of an animal or man whom he regards as divine. By eating the body of the god he shares in the god’s attributes and powers. And when the god is a corn-god, the corns is his proper body; when he is a vine-god, the juice of the grape is his blood; and by eating the bread and drinking the wine the worshipper partakes of the real body and blood of his god.
-Sir James Frazer
You don't win friends with salad.
-Homer Simpson

Within the academic context, a scholarly degree is conferred only after successful performance of the rites of ideational mimesis, a.k.a a dissertation and oral defence.

Charles Bernstein, Living Tissue / Dead Ideas. 1984.

The reason why art is so commonly misunderstood is because it is naively taken to represent an answer to something that only its maker really knows, when in fact artworks are questions posed and adequations mooted, soliciting engagement.

Preziosi, Donald. Brain of the Earth's Body. Art, Museums, and the Phantasms of Modernity. Minneapolis/London; University of Minnesota Press. 2003.
(p. 147)

"This imperative of risk, however, is far more than an aesthetic principle, it's rooted in the deepest source of our art. For we not only create stories as metaphors for life, we create them as metaphors for meaningful life - and to live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk."

Robert McKee; Story. Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.
1997.

Gag me with a spoon.
JL
2009