AROUND midnight, when the calendar changes, and people realize that they are a year older, and reflect upon the 12 months just passed, and try to make plans for 2011, what is really going on? A mimesis. Mindless aping, perhaps. People imitate one another blowing trumpets, clinking glasses, shouting, being happy; almost everyone in the world does this, joining in, just as almost everyone the world over follows the general consciousness of time: ti