Seminar X -- Session 4

0:00all right can you all hear me okay

0:04thumbs up if you can

0:06alright great thanks

0:09so this is our fourth session with

0:11anxiety

0:12this tenth seminar by chocolate con

0:15we're going to finish this thing in six

0:18and thankfully the readings that we got

0:20into for today were not

0:23crazy

0:24there was some weird stuff some very

0:26interesting stuff in fact

0:28buddha's eyelids

0:30or lack thereof

0:32fascinating

0:34we can definitely talk that through

0:36as you like i went ahead and tracked

0:38down

0:39the statue in question

0:42check this thing out i can share the

0:44images with you

0:45it's legit it doesn't have eyes but it

0:47looks like it has eyes

0:49so we can talk about that there's been a

0:52little bit of scholarship out there on

0:53this topic

0:55some of you i know especially

0:57in the pacific graduate institute crowd

1:01are interested in eastern philosophy and

1:04how this connects with things happening

1:06in psychoanalysis

1:08in addition to other figures that you've

1:10read that have a

1:12debt to eastern thought

1:14this is one of the places in lacan's

1:16work where you can see his take on it

1:19so in this seminar he takes a trip to

1:22japan

1:23my understanding is that it's his first

1:25of two trips that he took to japan

1:27and in both cases he was deeply

1:29intrigued by the zen tradition

1:33and here we have him talking through

1:36um

1:37this bodhisattva statue with the um

1:40with the apparent eyes that aren't eyes

1:43we'll see if it comes up i'm not sure

1:45it's entirely relevant to what we're

1:47doing

1:48but it could be it absolutely could be

1:50especially if tonight we can get to some

1:54discussion of the drives

1:57you've heard me mention this before i've

1:59told you that in lacan you have these

2:00four different

2:02levels operating there's need

2:05demand

2:06desire and drive

2:09and it's set up hierarchically

2:12getting closer to the drive is better

2:15than remaining at the level of need

2:18and i'd say if there's a goal or a

2:20horizon for lacanian psychoanalysis it's

2:23keeping the drive alive

2:25figuring out a way to bring analyzands

2:28into contact with their drives

2:32and tonight what i think we can also

2:33suggest is that

2:35if we can get to the level of the drive

2:38i think what we can suggest is that

2:40drive because it is a partial

2:42manifestation and realization of desire

2:46is also a defense against anxiety

2:49so part of the shift i want to make this

2:51evening

2:52is

2:53in addition to making sure we all

2:55understand what we mean by anxiety

2:58we also want to start talking about okay

3:01now you know what anxiety is what's the

3:03other side of anxiety

3:05how might you coach someone

3:07in or out of therapy beyond anxiety

3:11what are some defenses against we've

3:13talked about desire as a defense against

3:15anxiety and love as an antidote

3:19to that repertoire tonight we'll

3:21probably have the drive

3:23but i don't want to start there i want

3:25to throw that out as a horizon and i

3:27want to start per usual by taking

3:29questions from last time

3:31any key passages or pages you want to

3:33make sure that we touch upon tonight

3:36this is your show as much as it is mine

3:38we create these things together

3:58hey sam how's it going

4:00great thank you

4:01hey i i uh i wanted to cover page 188

4:05and 189. it's interesting because lacan

4:08barely ever uses case studies

4:11um and this is a sort of a privileged

4:14and and sort of a strange

4:17case study has where this woman

4:20gets turned on

4:22by a car

4:23so uh

4:25yeah i'm sort of curious about what he's

4:27doing here

4:28um

4:31and maybe to add something to it just

4:34what's the relationship what is what

4:36does she want him to see

4:38here i think is

4:40sort of interesting yeah

4:42yeah so

4:44if you're on page 188

4:45she explains 180 188 189

4:50small matter whether he desires me

4:52provided he doesn't desire others

4:55there's your clue and then

4:57moving down the page you get some other

4:59good stuff here

5:00um

5:02god a car

5:04all right yeah thanks let's see what we

5:06can do with that yeah

5:08yeah

5:10188 to 189

5:12[Music]

5:14um

5:15you know it it ends

5:19in this interesting

5:23gendered move that he makes

5:26about men's anxiety

5:31is linked to the possibility of not

5:33being able

5:36and

5:37i mean think about this he's

5:39here he's playing

5:41with um

5:43the aristotelian modality known as

5:45potentiality

5:47which according to aristotle also is

5:49bound up with

5:50impotentiality with impotence

5:54incapacity being unable

5:57but think about this too in terms of

5:59impotence

6:00as we popularly understand it today and

6:02how that might be linked with men's

6:05anxiety

6:09okay 188 189 got it let's see what we

6:12can do with that

6:18anybody else out there remote controlled

6:21what else do you want to say about being

6:22remote controlled

6:28i'm just messing around

6:36other topics pages you want to make sure

6:38we touch upon

6:39if not delve into tonight

6:50i mean i'll just add the anxiety point

6:52is something that i'm not exactly sure

6:54about

6:55so if we can touch upon that tonight i

6:57think that would be really helpful

7:00um so really just

7:03crystallizing as much as we can this

7:05definition of anxiety

7:08um that that we can do

7:10uh this will be i think so

7:13go ahead cody oh just just anxiety point

7:16i think he mentions that in this this

7:18these four chapters this like sort of

7:20median point between

7:22jewish sons ah

7:24yes

7:26yeah

7:28trying to

7:32that culminates on page 174

7:37and this is a scale up of a table that

7:40he's been developing

7:42in the previous few chapters you can

7:44also see it's getting started on page

7:46161

7:48and 160 both of which are key passages

7:50for us

7:54this is something he's been messing with

7:56i don't know that i've seen him take

7:58this further

8:02but 174 seems to be the culminating

8:06point

8:07with anxiety

8:09as this

8:10median function

8:13not a mediator

8:14he says at the top of 174 but a median

8:17between joussants

8:19and desire

8:21i think we can explain that

8:24it'll take some work though and it's

8:25going to take us manipulating this table

8:28taking it apart

8:29and re-articulating it along the lines

8:32of the graph of desire but i think we

8:34can do it

8:36and i think it might actually prove

8:37pretty damn productive as well

8:42so top of 174

8:46and this discussion that really extends

8:49through 175 to where he's breaking down

8:52this table

8:53and talking us through it

8:56okay

8:57what else you all got

9:10any other must

9:13feature items for tonight

9:21okay

9:22let's start then

9:24by talking about

9:26some big others

9:27this is where the discussion begins in

9:29fact take your book go all the way back

9:31to page four

9:33and you can see this graph of desire

9:37the big other

9:38[Music]

9:40is in each of the key

9:43nodal points there are four

9:46and they have circles around them

9:49so the first we discussed is this

9:51capital a in a circle

9:53and then to its left lower italicized s

9:57meaning signified or meaning according

9:59to the big other

10:02upper left-hand quadrant

10:05capital s parens

10:08barred

10:09capital a other

10:11a signifier of the other's lack

10:15is how we read that that capital s is a

10:17signifier

10:18it means somebody is showing you some

10:21authority is showing you that they don't

10:22have all their [ __ ] together

10:24if we could be a little

10:26pedestrian about it

10:28even though in the math theme of the

10:30drive which is in the upper right hand

10:34circle

10:36split subject lozenge capital d

10:40that capital d means demand

10:44the big d here comes from the big other

10:47if you will

10:48this is a split subject living their

10:50life into in relation to the demands of

10:53a big other that according to lacan in

10:55the 60s is the math theme for the drive

10:58now i think we can make something of

11:00that i think we can work with that what

11:02i want to show you though

11:04is that the structuring nodal points of

11:07the graph of desire

11:09all have a big other inside them

11:12and this is important to us for

11:14understanding anxiety so let's talk

11:16through by way of review each of them

11:19and we'll pause in each case and make

11:21sure we're all up to speed

11:23so first

11:24capital a in a circle

11:27the bottom right

11:28again we're on page four looking at the

11:30graph of desire

11:32this is simply the symbolic

11:35this is the big other

11:37as a treasure trove

11:40of all of the laws norms signifiers you

11:44name it

11:46all of the possible answers meanings

11:51in a given situation

11:55this is very much

11:57a complete set

12:00now of course we know that it's not

12:02really a complete set

12:04because if you follow set theory you

12:06know

12:07that any

12:08set that purports to contain everything

12:12always has to leave one thing out

12:17which is nothing

12:19nothing is always left out

12:21if this is the set of everything

12:24nothing has been excluded

12:27and lacan's point is precisely that

12:32i think this is one of the most

12:33important things to understand about

12:35lacan's thought

12:37the symbolic is structured atop a lack

12:41that it cannot process

12:45a nothing a no thing

12:49that wanders errantly through the

12:51symbolic

12:52as its essential ingredient

12:54you see

12:56in order for the symbolics claim to

12:59represent every law or every word in the

13:02english language

13:07it has to leave something behind

13:10a leftover a remnant something that's

13:12ejected but not exterior to

13:19there's a kind of ecstasy

13:21intimacy combined with an x

13:24something that's outside that has been

13:26folded in and here it's this gap this

13:29nothing

13:30that legitimates the totalizing claim of

13:32the symbolic that's the really important

13:34part

13:35even if the symbolic could account for

13:37this nothing it would push it back

13:40underground again because it needs it

13:43in order to represent everything and

13:45have that claim be legitimate

13:48nothing has to be left left out

13:52so yes the symbolic purports to be a

13:54complete set my point here is that it is

13:57always leaving one thing behind and this

13:59is where lacan is going to get lots of

14:01conceptual traction

14:03so examples of the big a

14:05earlier in this series i mentioned

14:08before my kiddo was born talking to my

14:10brother and saying what do i do when it

14:12cries

14:13he says well there are only four

14:14possible things that you can do

14:16and he listed the four

14:18that was the symbolic in that situation

14:20that was the big other it was the

14:22collection of all the possible reactions

14:25i could have to a child crying

14:29the oed

14:31oxford english dictionary

14:35any dictionary that purports to contain

14:37every word in a given language

14:40that's the symbolic at work

14:43it always purports to have all of the

14:45laws the library of congress

14:48is a great example of the big other

14:51embodied

14:52because they want every single book that

14:54has ever been published and every record

14:56that has ever been produced to be in

14:58their collection

15:00that's what we mean by the big a in

15:02circle here

15:04it is a complete set

15:06of all the possible

15:09records

15:10in the world now here's the thing

15:13you can't listen to all the records in

15:15the world at the same time you have to

15:17choose a few

15:19similarly when my kid cried

15:22i couldn't show up with food a blanket

15:26an opportunity to sleep a fresh diaper

15:30feeding a baby and changing its diaper

15:32at the same time was like asking for

15:34trouble

15:36i had to pick one

15:38that selection

15:40from among the totality of options

15:43available to me

15:45is what we mean by the big other in the

15:47lower left-hand quadrant of the graph of

15:50desire that little s means

15:52interpretation means signified

15:56which means meaning

15:58meaning according to the big other

16:02so this is a subset

16:05of a

16:07a selection from all of the available

16:09responses to a crying baby

16:13right you can't just open up the oed

16:16and read all the words at once you got

16:18to start somewhere

16:20and where you start is

16:22a selection from that wider set

16:26for those of you that are working in the

16:28clinical field what else is the dsm

16:32but this volume that purports to

16:34represent all of the i shouldn't say

16:37mental disorders characterological

16:39abnormalities

16:41and you go through the list and you can

16:43figure out where your client where your

16:45patient where your analysts and fits

16:48that's the symbolic the dsm is the big

16:52other

16:53so don't get all caught up in this crazy

16:55business of lacanians talking about the

16:57other the big other this that and the

16:59other

17:00what we're talking about here is the

17:01symbolic

17:02it's a totalizing set

17:05that nevertheless always leaves a

17:07something that is nothing

17:08out

17:10now to its left though in the graph of

17:12desire we see a selection from this this

17:15is me choosing to show up with a diaper

17:19i selected from all the possibilities

17:21that my brother told me i could

17:24choose from

17:25and i showed up with one this is meaning

17:27according to the big other

17:30and you'll recall how we discussed this

17:33this marks

17:35the expression of need in language

17:38known as demand

17:40the parent or the primary caregiver

17:44interprets the cry of the child

17:48and transforms it from an expression of

17:50need

17:52to a demand that the parent can then

17:54make sense of

17:56that's how we get from need to demand in

17:59this developmental case

18:01you can see this though oftentimes in

18:04regular everyday life beyond dealing

18:06with little babies and stuff

18:09if you want to know where this

18:13this other full of answers exists

18:16it's in that person maybe even a parent

18:18of yours

18:20who always has an answer to the question

18:23someone whom you've never heard say i

18:26don't know

18:28you've heard me mention this before and

18:30it's true but my dad is one of these

18:32people he's a great guy but when you ask

18:35him a question even if he doesn't know

18:36the answer he will just stone cold make

18:38some [ __ ] up

18:40and he's dead serious

18:42now you might say hey wait what are you

18:43doing he might say well i'm just

18:44speculating i'm just guessing that

18:46that's there and this is what's going on

18:49i had to learn this the hard way

18:52about a decade ago i bought a house it

18:54was an old place we were doing a lot of

18:55work on it this is how my dad and my

18:57brother always do it one of us buys an

18:59old house and the other two show up and

19:01then we punch it out and get the thing

19:02fixed up and ready well one of the

19:04things i learned when it was my turn

19:06is that my dad shows up and he likes to

19:08wonder

19:09what is behind

19:11wall number one

19:13could there be some electrical in there

19:15might that be the exit line for the tub

19:17he wonders what's behind wall number one

19:20and what he proposes

19:22very seriously is what he calls an

19:24exploratory cut

19:27where he basically gets a sawzall if you

19:29know what these are it's a reciprocating

19:31saw

19:32and he puts a hole in the wall and then

19:34puts his head in there and just looks

19:35around

19:37i'm like fool that is not good business

19:39i said well that's how we're going to

19:40find out what's in here he had an answer

19:42to the question

19:43what's behind wall number one he had an

19:46answer about how to get answers

19:48this is somebody a big other embodied

19:51literally a parent here

19:53who can never admit that they don't have

19:55the answers in other words who can never

19:57admit that they lack

20:00now the reason why this is important for

20:02us

20:03is that if you look

20:04above this iteration of the big other

20:08you see the opposite

20:10not a big other that has all the

20:12meanings

20:14and has selected

20:16the

20:16appropriate

20:18above this you have a signifier of a big

20:21other that lacks

20:25this happens when you realize

20:28that the person you're dealing with

20:30doesn't have all their [ __ ] together

20:34person whom you perhaps thought

20:37had all the answers turns out to be just

20:39a normal person like you

20:42this would be the point at which my dad

20:45to continue with the example might

20:46stammer a little bit when i ask him a

20:49question about who knows what

20:52that would be a signifier of the fact

20:54that he's about to make some [ __ ] up

20:56because he doesn't have an answer

21:00so that's a really clean way to read the

21:03upper left-hand quadrant of the big

21:05other

21:06this is a signifier of lack

21:09in one of these big others

21:14something seems to be off

21:16missing

21:17in this individual

21:20of course we know that all big others

21:23lack

21:24for the reason i pointed out earlier

21:26regarding set theory

21:28because any

21:30claim to totality

21:33and containment of everything must by

21:35necessity leave something out of

21:38something that is nothing and when that

21:41nothing pops up this is where the state

21:45this is where the big other this is

21:47where the parent stammers

21:50this is where the cop drops his baton

21:54this is where something in the otherwise

21:57polished edifice of authority

22:00reveals that it's a little bit cracked

22:02a little bit broken

22:05so you see this constantly in media

22:07portrayals of the president of the

22:09united states joe biden

22:12one of the classic ones that keeps

22:13popping up at this point is

22:15him after delivering a speech turning

22:17away from the podium and looking around

22:20as though he doesn't know where he is

22:22either he's looking for somebody who's

22:24no longer there or he's trying to find

22:25his way off stage he can't quite figure

22:27it out

22:28and then some clever memer writes the

22:30caption underneath

22:32me when blah blah blah blah blah

22:35the reason why this is significant is

22:37because this is the head of state

22:40the executive

22:42of

22:43the executive branch in our country we

22:46expect them to be clean polished damn

22:48near perfect which isn't to say that

22:50they're not mistaken

22:52is to say that they're always on top of

22:54[ __ ]

22:57so

22:58there are numerous examples of each of

23:01these big others

23:02you'll notice what i'm leaving aside

23:04right now

23:05is the definition of the drive but this

23:08is what we have so far for the first

23:11three big others that concern us

23:14the reason why i've scaled it up this

23:16way

23:17is that

23:18when we see a signifier of lack

23:22in the big other in some authoritative

23:25figure

23:27we can't help but wonder

23:30where their desire

23:32is pointed

23:34you see if someone or something lacks

23:38that means

23:39that it leaves something to be desired

23:43that means that it experiences desire

23:47a display of lack tells us that somebody

23:50is a desirous

23:52being just like us

23:55not somebody like the big a in a circle

23:57whose has everything

23:59you see the big a in the circle

24:02the proper big other has everything

24:07it contains everything

24:12across from that a signifier of lack in

24:14the other shows you that no on the

24:16contrary this is a big other who's

24:18missing something

24:20and as a result probably desires it

24:24now you can see why i've got this scaled

24:26up

24:27because the next question is

24:30what does that have to do with me

24:34is it something about me

24:36that the big other lacks is it something

24:38that i have

24:41that they want

24:42how am i

24:45caught up

24:46in the desire of the big other

24:51which is why immediately after

24:52presenting the graph of desire also

24:54lacan shifts to the praying mantis

24:56example which is where we started our

24:58work four sessions ago

25:02i won't rehearse the example because you

25:04know it all too well it's important

25:06though the female praying mantis is big

25:09desirous and perplexing to us there in

25:13our ambiguous mask

25:16this is how we start with anxiety

25:19anxiety occurs somewhere along the way

25:21there

25:22for the neurotic

25:28the starting place

25:31for anxiety

25:33is a breakdown of fantasy

25:36and on page four you can see fantasy

25:39midway between the two desires

25:42desirous big others that i was talking

25:44about

25:45fantasy the math theme for fantasy a

25:47split subject

25:49living their life in relationship to

25:51little a our key topic for last time and

25:54this tonight

25:56is midway between these two

25:59big others

26:01and when fantasy begins to falter

26:04when we start to lose traction on what

26:07we think other people want for us

26:11we usually

26:13respond to them in one of two ways

26:17if we turn right

26:20out of fantasy and head up to a

26:22signifier of the lack in the other for

26:24the neurotic that's going to be the path

26:25of anxiety

26:31if fantasy starts to falter

26:34and we turn right out of fantasy in the

26:36graph of desire we see the big other as

26:38desirous and we freak out

26:42because the reason why we have fantasy

26:43in the first place is because we don't

26:45know what we want

26:47we are split subjects hence the split

26:49subject and the mathemate for fantasy

26:51living our life in relationship to what

26:53we think other people want

26:56now i've already told you how we got to

26:58that point

26:59from desire for to desire of to desire

27:03as this is a scale up for fantasy

27:07but now that we're here at fantasy

27:09there sometimes occur moments

27:12when we lose traction

27:15and we start to realize holy [ __ ]

27:18i don't know what i want which is why i

27:20built this fantasy around what i imagine

27:23your desires to be but it turns out

27:27i just saw a signifier of your lack

27:29which tells me that you don't [ __ ]

27:31know what you want either

27:36omg you're just like me

27:38that's what we're talking about here

27:42you don't know what you want either

27:45that is a cause for anxiety this is the

27:47seed bed for anxiety with the neurotic

27:50now the pervert

27:52enjoys all of this the pervert says

27:55oh

27:56you're incomplete you don't know what

27:58you want

27:59i'm sure it's me

28:01climb on top and find out

28:04let me be

28:08what daddy told me i couldn't

28:10which is to say you're phallus

28:14we'll come to that in a minute i say

28:15daddy of course

28:17in a highly figurative sense because

28:19what i'm talking about is a paternal

28:21function

28:22the paternal function comes in and says

28:25mommy or maternal function whoever

28:27occupies that position does not have the

28:29phallus

28:31and baby

28:33cannot be it for her

28:36this is that dialectic and lacon between

28:38having and being

28:41the pervert is somebody who

28:45who disavows that moment

28:48and says oh on the contrary poppy

28:52i can absolutely be that for her

28:56i accept that she doesn't have it

28:58but by god if i'm not going to try and

29:00be it for her

29:03that's a disavowal of the paternal

29:05function

29:07and of course in the case of the

29:08psychotic

29:10where the paternal function is

29:11completely foreclosed like it never even

29:13happened

29:16the whole thing is just

29:17right over there

29:20we may come to that a little bit later

29:21but it has been a kind of light motif

29:23for some of the work that we've been

29:25doing

29:26now when fantasy falters and let's be

29:29clear about this this is one of those

29:31moments

29:32where you no longer feel sure

29:35that you're i don't know dressing like

29:37everybody thinks you should dress

29:39where you're not quite sure

29:42that this is what everybody wants for

29:44you

29:46this could be one of those moments where

29:48you have you're at a fork in the road in

29:50your life and you've talked to all the

29:52great advisors that you have and you've

29:54asked them should i do x or should i do

29:56y

29:58and you get

29:59two great people giving you two

30:01completely different answers

30:04like wait a minute my fantasy is that if

30:06i can just do what you want then i'll be

30:09whole again then i'll be straight we'll

30:11be good it's all cl nah fantasy breaks

30:14down in these moments

30:17the other option

30:19is to turn left out of fantasy and head

30:21back down to a big other

30:23who's able to tell you what it all means

30:27so this is not

30:29anxiety

30:31this is this recursive

30:35regressive cycle of demand

30:38that lacan talks about in the 40s and

30:4050s of this book

30:44we've we mapped this one already so i

30:46won't go through it again again this is

30:47all by way of review

30:49and what that basically says is

30:53i'm no longer certain

30:55what it is that you want for me

30:58but you know what big other

31:01come on

31:02i know

31:03that you know what you want for me so

31:07just tell me what it is

31:09this is what the neurotic wants more

31:11than anything as lacan puts it in his

31:13seminar

31:14for the big other to issue

31:16him or her a demand

31:19tell me what to do

31:24that left turn out of fantasy back down

31:27into a big other

31:29that has all the answers and can choose

31:31them diligently

31:35is

31:36a demand for the other to issue a demand

31:41and you'll recall we did with this

31:45the split subject courses their way back

31:48through the graph of desire

31:50all the way up until demands are all

31:53emptied out at what lecon in this

31:55seminar calls the bottom barrel of

31:58demand

31:59d zero

32:01and the only thing

32:03that the big other can reply to

32:05after your

32:06repeated request that they issue a

32:09demand they can only reply by saying

32:14show me your castration

32:17what i want is what splits you

32:22what i want is for you to be split and

32:24to show it to me

32:27now we'll get into these details again

32:29tonight but this is what we're seeing

32:32on page after page early on in the

32:34seminar what the neurotic does not want

32:36to do is to show up and present their

32:39castration

32:43this is a roundabout way of getting at

32:46exactly what they tried to avoid by

32:48turning left at the faltering of fantasy

32:50namely anxiety

32:54the neurotic source of anxiety

32:56is when the big other forces them to

32:58show up

33:01for circumcision

33:04or at least let me be clear to prove

33:07that they've been circumcised

33:10show me

33:12prove that you've been circumcised show

33:15me where you've been cut

33:19show me in other words what you lack in

33:22this case a foreskin circumcision is

33:24also a key theme throughout this seminar

33:27as you've seen

33:30it keeps coming back to this topic again

33:32and again and again why because it's a

33:35great example of little a

33:38which is that

33:40little

33:41piece of flesh

33:43which is very important here that it's a

33:44part of the body that is cut off

33:47and as left over as a remainder

33:51as waste is cast aside

33:56little a as your first lost object

33:59and the basic structure for the human

34:01subjects relationship to their body from

34:03here on out

34:05my khan says on this this is not me just

34:07making [ __ ] up

34:09it's right on the page in front of us

34:12so we have these two choices when

34:14fantasy falters

34:16we can choose to deal with the other as

34:19desirous

34:21and run the risk of anxiety

34:24or we can force them

34:27to issue a demand

34:29but all that really does

34:31is prolong the inevitable

34:34which is them demanding to see the

34:36evidence of our lack

34:38why

34:39so they can take it

34:43anxiety is when your lack has been taken

34:46by somebody else

34:48or as lacan playfully puts it when lack

34:51itself is lacking

34:56now this is not more complicated

34:59than having a smothering

35:02imminently present

35:04enveloping primary caregiver

35:08who never gives the kid any breathing

35:10room

35:11what's being taken from us in moments of

35:14anxiety

35:16is space between ourselves and another

35:18person

35:20so in a good relationship for instance

35:22as grown-ups

35:24you can tell your partner that you need

35:25a little space

35:27you can say things like i need to go get

35:29some air

35:30i need to just take a break hell maybe

35:32you need to take a break from the

35:34relationship that's how much space you

35:36need

35:38and sometimes at the end of a phone

35:40conversation things might get intense

35:42like you know what i just i gotta go we

35:44can i can't talk about this with you

35:45right now we say [ __ ] like that

35:47those are all ways of staving off

35:50anxiety by imposing space

35:53between ourselves and other people

35:57what anxiety does is it never lets us

36:00hang up the phone

36:03anxiety is what is what happens when we

36:05forget how to take space in

36:06relationships

36:08and the reason we forget is because that

36:10space has already been taken from us by

36:13our partner usually

36:15the same way that mommy took it from us

36:18or if yours was a daddy maternal

36:20functions can be performed by whomever

36:24[Applause]

36:26my point here is that to see the other

36:28as desirous

36:30is dangerous

36:33it's dangerous because it threatens to

36:36take from us the very cause

36:39for existence

36:41namely the cause of desire

36:45what else is depression

36:47but waking up in the morning and having

36:49no desire this is the worst form of

36:51human life the worst experience in the

36:54world is to have no desire to not want

36:57to do anything

36:59and to feel like you can't do anything

37:02to have your desire taken from you

37:07is usually

37:08an indication that somebody has poached

37:12your lack

37:15they have swiped your cause

37:20taken the space that you need in order

37:22to be yourself and enveloped you

37:25in their presence

37:29now

37:30we had a formula for this which i'm

37:33going to bring up again

37:35just to give us a sense

37:38by way of a jolt

37:43what we're up to

37:56okay do you all see this black screen

37:58thumbs up

38:00okay

38:01the formula that we were working with

38:03looked something like this

38:10the desire of the big other here they

38:12are

38:18in relationship

38:21to the cause of our desire

38:23as split subjects

38:27and the way we read this as

38:29is as follows

38:32if you just look

38:34at this side of the equation

38:37you've got

38:39a picture of what it looks like to

38:41experience desire

38:44as a subject here

38:46is the cause

38:49of our desire which is always lack

38:53this is the experience of lack little a

38:56here symbolizes

38:58what it feels like

39:00to miss out to feel like you don't have

39:03something

39:05this is the object

39:13this is what we want

39:15down here though is

39:17why we want it

39:19what happens when anxiety strikes

39:23is that a desirous other

39:26shows up

39:29and is larger

39:32than that

39:34which defines us

39:36and they take it for themselves

39:39the cause of our desire

39:44becomes the object

39:48of the other's desire

39:53this

39:55is anxiety

40:00if you want a formula for it this is it

40:03the desire of a big other

40:06larger than

40:08the cause of ours makes our cause of

40:11desire their object of desire and as a

40:14result

40:15[ __ ] us up

40:17to put it bluntly

40:22now as usual i will save these

40:26even though i believe that we have this

40:29one already in the books

40:37now while we have this in front of us

40:40i can see you but i bet you can't see me

40:43i don't know actually can you see me

40:45still or or oh you do okay great that's

40:48wonderful because i can see you too so

40:49looking at this formula

40:52what questions do you have

40:55so far

41:01i kinda haven't wrapped my head around

41:07our lack

41:09um

41:11is the object of the others desire like

41:13i get it but

41:15like is there like another example that

41:18you can use like

41:20that can kind of solidify what that

41:22really

41:23means

41:25well let's march it back a little bit

41:27let's imagine a childhood scenario

41:30where let's say you've got

41:33a parent who is frequently unhinged

41:37that could mean

41:39every friday night you know they're

41:40coming home drunk

41:42but you might not be sure how drunk they

41:44are

41:46and you're not quite sure how they're

41:48going to [ __ ] with you or your other

41:50parent or your siblings in those moments

41:54so here is a parent that is wildly

41:56unpredictable

41:58overwrought inconsistent in short

42:01dangerous to us

42:03a child in a growing up in a situation

42:06like this is going to spend all their

42:08time

42:08worrying

42:10about the future

42:12what is about to happen what are they

42:14going to do when they get home what's

42:16going to happen to my little brother i

42:18would really like to leave the house but

42:19i feel like i need to be there to

42:20protect him

42:22what's going to occur if i stick around

42:25what's going to occur if i don't stick

42:26around

42:28in this moment

42:29the child spends all their time

42:31anxiously anticipating what might happen

42:35next

42:37what the big other might do when they

42:39get home

42:40from the bar

42:42in this moment we see anxiety because

42:44the child is overwhelmed

42:48by

42:49the unpredictability

42:52of the big other in their life in this

42:54case a parent

42:55that feeling of being overwhelmed and

42:58enveloped completely

43:02preoccupied

43:05by what mood the other is going to be in

43:10is a definition of anxiety and the

43:12reason why

43:14it's anxiety and the reason why it

43:16functions as a lack of lack

43:19is because you are so preoccupied and so

43:22immersed

43:23in all the different possibilities of

43:25what might go wrong when daddy or mommy

43:27gets home on friday night

43:29that there's no room for you

43:33this is a kid who does not

43:36live in a household

43:38that is a containing or holding

43:39environment for them this is a child

43:42whose container is leaky

43:46is porous

43:48it doesn't provide them with the

43:50requisite safe space to be imaginative

43:53to be playful

43:55to sleep at ease

43:57to just kind of drift off

44:00i'll give you an example of this one of

44:02my favorite things

44:04that happens at my house

44:06is when my kid gets into the shower

44:09i like when she's in the shower because

44:10it gives me a minute to be like

44:13okay we got dinner done what's the next

44:16move here it just gives me a second to

44:18kind of like check in

44:20but the reason i really like it when

44:22she's in the shower is because she sings

44:24when she's in there

44:26she makes up songs

44:28i have like a glass shower door that she

44:30writes on and she writes draws little

44:32pictures she pees in there she hangs out

44:35she does all kinds of weird [ __ ] she's

44:38in her own world

44:40singing her little songs

44:42the reason why that makes me happy is

44:45that it tells me that she feels safe

44:48enough held enough

44:51contained enough in my house

44:54to be able

44:55to just kind of like

44:57be a kid

44:59she's not worried

45:00that someone's gonna come charging

45:02through the door and do some crazy ass

45:05[ __ ]

45:05she is able to just be in there

45:09with plenty of space between her and the

45:11adults in her life

45:15if she were an anxious

45:16kid she would be in the shower

45:19constantly calling for me

45:21wanting to make sure the door was locked

45:23before she got in there

45:26she would be completely preoccupied with

45:29all the possible

45:32uh

45:34interruptions

45:36insinuations

45:38that an adult might have

45:40stumbling into the bathroom

45:43screaming on the other side of the wall

45:45she's not worried about any of that

45:47and as a result she has the space to

45:49pursue her own desire

45:53she sings songs

45:56about

45:57like little relationships boyfriends and

46:00girlfriends and stuff like that princes

46:03and princesses

46:04she draws pictures of landscapes that

46:07aren't in the household

46:09little mountains little houses and trees

46:11animals and stuff

46:13she couldn't do that if she was anxious

46:18so one of the tests for instance

46:20i'm no psychologist but i've heard that

46:22this is one of the tests for how well a

46:23kid is doing is how easily are they able

46:27to immerse themselves in imaginative

46:30play

46:31how carefree

46:33are they able to just slip into play so

46:36this would be more like before you get

46:38to structured talk therapy maybe more

46:40along the lines of like what happens in

46:41play therapy

46:44and a kid who's really guarded

46:47who lives with anxiety is going to be a

46:49kid who who doesn't allow themselves to

46:51slip into imaginative play as easily

46:54they might be defended they might be

46:56avoidant i don't know what the proper

46:57terms are for this kind of stuff

47:01but this would be perhaps a red flag for

47:04the psychologist

47:05and they might wonder okay what's this

47:08kid's home life like that they feel like

47:10they have to be so guarded around others

47:14you could see for instance you know drop

47:17a kid off at school and you'll see kids

47:18that have separation anxiety

47:20especially in the first week especially

47:22among like kindergarteners and first

47:23graders and preschoolers they can't let

47:25go of the parent

47:28now that's a pretty normal thing

47:32but major separation anxiety that

47:34doesn't go away

47:36suggest something

47:39think about it the child is so used to

47:41the overwhelming

47:44presence of an unpredictable parent

47:48they're so used to it

47:51that they can't let that parent go when

47:53they finally have a chance to flee

47:57and go to school and have that parent

47:59not around

48:03anxiety like every characterological

48:06abnormality and every maladaptive trait

48:08we develop

48:09it can become habitual

48:11you might not like it but at least you

48:13know it

48:14it's familiar

48:19so these are some examples

48:21the reason why we call this lack as

48:24lacking

48:26is because in this case the kid doesn't

48:28feel like they have a sufficient buffer

48:30zone

48:31between themselves and the desirous

48:34parent

48:37let me give you one more example desiree

48:38because i think your question is a

48:40really good one here

48:42think about a child

48:44that hears a primary caregiver

48:46whispering to another primary caregiver

48:48in the other room

48:49and they come out of their bedroom

48:52and they say what are you guys talking

48:53about

48:56now

48:57one primary caregiver could turn to the

48:59child and say

49:01we're just talking about how big your

49:03dad's [ __ ] is

49:05the kid's gonna be like

49:08what i didn't know daddy kept chickens

49:12that's a bad answer right

49:14a better answer is we're talking about

49:17adult stuff you don't have to worry

49:19about it go back to your room don't

49:21worry about it we're just talking about

49:23adult stuff

49:24or you say something like this

49:26oh it's just boring work stuff

49:29we're just talking about the chores

49:30we're going to do this weekend even

49:32though you're totally having a fight

49:34about who's going to vacuum the floor

49:38so

49:39what this does is the primary caregiver

49:42imposes a barrier

49:45imposes some distance between the issues

49:48that preoccupy them

49:51and the child

49:56that imposure of distance

49:58is a preservation

50:00of the child's ability to lack to have

50:03an opening or a space

50:05between them and their big others

50:09the bad answer is the one when the child

50:11shows up where the parent says yeah

50:14we're just talking about how we might

50:15not be able to make rent

50:17this month and so there's a good chance

50:19we're probably going to have to go live

50:20at grandma's again

50:22you think that kid is going to sleep

50:23well that night

50:25absolutely not

50:28that kid has now been introduced to

50:30anxiety

50:32what's been taken from them

50:35is the requisite space that children

50:37need between

50:38kiddo issues and grown-up issues lacan

50:41would say

50:43this is the basic definition of trauma

50:46for lacan

50:47trauma is just whatever you're not ready

50:50for

50:52so for instance you can be a grown-ass

50:54person

50:56and pull up at the intersection see

50:58somebody get hit by a car with their

51:00brains spilling out and [ __ ] lose it

51:04that is a traumatic event because you

51:06are not used to seeing

51:08brain on pavement

51:11that same event though

51:13for the emt

51:15who's sitting in the passenger seat of

51:17your car is not traumatic

51:20because they are used to seeing brain on

51:23pavement

51:25trauma for lacan is not a complicated

51:27concept

51:29it's being exposed to something that

51:31you're not ready for

51:34and the bigger the deal

51:36the sharper the exposure the less

51:39preparedness the more traumatic it is

51:42this is the weird thing about humans we

51:44are incredibly adaptable

51:47second only i would say to our ability

51:50to use hands for something other than

51:52locomotion

51:54people talk about the opposable thumb

51:56but it's really the whole hand our

51:57manual capacity is what enabled us to

52:00become these beings

52:01but right up there with it what the hand

52:04in turn did was it made us one of the

52:06world's most adaptable organisms

52:09it's why we are one of the only species

52:12that lives on every single inch of this

52:15earth

52:16we can get used to anything

52:23i used to work with some guys

52:25in an anger management group

52:28and they were all ex-cons

52:30and some of them been down for 30 years

52:32some been down for five years old young

52:34we had grandpa's we had all ages in this

52:37group

52:38some of them acted in ways

52:40and even professed very directly that

52:42they would just rather be back

52:45in the camp

52:47like

52:48at least in the can i had respect

52:51i knew what was what i had my place

52:54three hots and a cot i was in business

52:57out here i'm sleeping in my [ __ ] car

53:00nobody will hire me

53:02i can't get [ __ ] together

53:04my kids won't talk to me i talked to

53:06them more when i was in prison than when

53:07i got out

53:10and now i'm tempted to use again

53:12and i got in a fight this weekend and i

53:14got arrested again

53:16and it's almost at some level that these

53:18guys

53:19some of them not a lot but some of them

53:21were willing their way back to prison

53:24and you'd ask him

53:25is that a good place to be [ __ ] no

53:29tripping that's the worst place you

53:30could be in your life son

53:33and yet

53:35there i go right back into it because

53:37it's what i know

53:39humans are adaptable like that

53:44so we can get used to anything

53:47and events that were traumatic in the

53:48past we can become numb to them later

53:53but usually it works out in different

53:55ways

53:57the child who experiences traumatic

53:59violence is the kid who also becomes a

54:01bully at school

54:03not always but that can happen

54:06the thing that they can't handle in

54:07their own lives

54:09like everything else human gets

54:11projected right back out into the world

54:18is this sufficient

54:20as an example and an answer to your

54:22question desiree

54:27yeah i just wanted to clarify the part

54:30you know so

54:32just for the first example is um

54:37the object of the desire and use the

54:39caregiver impinging on

54:43impinging on the ability of giving the

54:46child a holding environment

54:48so then what is the object of the desire

54:50like having a

54:52a hold enough environment like sorry i'm

54:55like my brain's just trying to

54:57kind of put it in like structure or

55:00something

55:01yeah um

55:04there are two good bumper stickers that

55:05can help us through this

55:07one is misery loves company

55:11and so also with desire

55:15people who are exorbitantly desirous

55:17usually enjoy producing desire in others

55:23extreme

55:24forms of desire

55:28people who are terribly overwrought

55:33can sometimes be the people who most

55:36provoke similar feelings in others

55:41you can run this through the khan's

55:43formulation for hysteria

55:45and come up with some pretty good stuff

55:51the other one that i like is hurt people

55:54hurt people

56:00almost inevitably the overly desirous

56:03parent

56:04who provokes anxiety in the child

56:08is themselves anxious as hell

56:14and if you're anxious as hell it makes

56:16you feel like the world is always coming

56:19after you always closing in on you

56:28so you might feel like in other words

56:30that you need and would welcome a little

56:32bit of lack a little bit of space

56:35so why not take it from somebody else

56:38why not take theirs

56:40maybe that'll finally help me

56:43maybe if i take your little a

56:46i won't feel so smothered and enveloped

56:48in my own life

56:55so to summarize

56:56here the overwhelming enveloping

57:00smothering presence of some parent

57:03leaves no space

57:05no room

57:06no

57:07opening or no gap

57:09in which a kid can be a kid

57:12what's taken from the child in this

57:15moment is lack is the space needed to

57:18cultivate their own desire

57:22and that's how we get again this

57:23definition of anxiety where lack itself

57:26is lacking

57:28let me put it a little more clearly in

57:31line with the formula that you have in

57:32front of you

57:34and again these are all sessions that

57:36are being recorded so you can go back

57:38and and [ __ ] with this phrase later but

57:40let me be really crystal clear about

57:42this

57:44the object of the other's desire

57:47is the opening

57:49in which i would otherwise develop my

57:51own

57:52that's what that formula says

57:55the object of their desire

57:57is the opening in which i would

57:59otherwise formulate my own

58:03it's the cause of my desire lack

58:06that the desirous other takes for me

58:08when they envelop me

58:11never give me a moment to myself

58:15that's what happens when anxiety strikes

58:18in other words it is my capacity for

58:21desire

58:22my ability to want

58:26that's missing when anxiety strikes

58:32this is why desire is a defense against

58:34anxiety

58:36and when anxiety hits

58:39what it preys upon

58:41is your capacity

58:43for desire

58:46the key question here for us the most

58:49difficult of the bunch

58:51is this thing this object of anxiety

58:55this little a

58:57that i take to be the core of what

58:59desiree is asking here like what is this

59:01lack

59:02that gets taken from a kid

59:07lacan himself admits

59:09that this is a pretty difficult

59:12topic

59:15people ask him what is the object of

59:17anxiety

59:20because we've heard from sartre

59:22heidegger and others that anxiety means

59:25having no object

59:28fear has an object you know what you're

59:29afraid of anxiety though doesn't have

59:31one

59:35the khan's response is

59:37anxiety does have an object

59:40but it's not like any other object

59:44in the world it's not like a bear

59:46chasing you down the street

59:49and so the phrase that he uses here

59:53he says anxiety is not without an object

59:59i'm gonna stop sharing here you've seen

1:00:01this formula enough

1:00:04so that we can look at the book together

1:00:08the first place that we talked about

1:00:09last time where lacan

1:00:12trots out this

1:00:14object cause

1:00:16this

1:00:17object that's not really an object is on

1:00:19page 89 at the top

1:00:23what we're really getting at here is a

1:00:25definition of object of little a

1:00:28this little a that is the cause of

1:00:31desire that [ __ ] with lacanians left

1:00:34and right

1:00:35the top of 89 as we discussed last time

1:00:40anxiety is not without an object

1:00:47but again

1:00:48it's not an ordinary object

1:00:51the object in question here is elusive

1:00:54it's enigmatic

1:00:55it's obscure it's unusual

1:00:59it's not an object but what lacan is

1:01:01eventually going to call an object cause

1:01:07check out page

1:01:08131.

1:01:10he takes another swipe at this topic

1:01:15at the beginning of chapter 10.

1:01:18there it is again

1:01:19anxiety is not without an object he's

1:01:22emphasizing it

1:01:24he's not just going to come out and say

1:01:26anxiety has an object and the object is

1:01:28this he has to say it a little weird

1:01:29because he wants to like

1:01:31shift your perspective a little bit he

1:01:33wants our perspectives to shift a little

1:01:35bit what we're looking at here is not

1:01:37really an object

1:01:40i'll be clear about this in a second but

1:01:42right now let's just look at what he's

1:01:43got here

1:01:45this doesn't mean that this object is

1:01:47accessible by the same path as all the

1:01:50rest

1:01:52i've already emphasized that to say that

1:01:54a discourse that is homologous to or

1:01:56similar to any other part of scientific

1:01:58discourse can symbolize this object can

1:02:01put us alongside it in the relationship

1:02:03of symbol to which we shall be coming

1:02:05back later

1:02:06would be yet another way of getting rid

1:02:08of anxiety

1:02:09although anxiety sustains this

1:02:11relationship of not being without an

1:02:14object

1:02:15it is on the condition that we are not

1:02:17committed to saying as one would of

1:02:20another object which object is involved

1:02:23nor even to be able to say which

1:02:28in other words anxiety introduces us

1:02:32with the accent of utmost

1:02:34communicability

1:02:36to a function that is for our field

1:02:40radical

1:02:41the function of lack

1:02:45131 is really the bible for what he's

1:02:48working at here in this seminar

1:02:51he's telling you that this is the big

1:02:54deal topic

1:02:56the function of lack

1:02:58the reason why he wants to study anxiety

1:03:01among others

1:03:02is that it turns us on

1:03:05to this very odd enigmatic field of

1:03:09objectility

1:03:14now that is key

1:03:17objectivity

1:03:20is what modern science is into it's what

1:03:22pure reason is all about

1:03:26the khan's gonna say

1:03:28what he deals with is objectility

1:03:31which has nothing to do with call has

1:03:33nothing to do with objects it's

1:03:35fundamentally about causes

1:03:38objectivity is about what he calls the

1:03:41pathos of the cut

1:03:44it's about the cause of desire

1:03:47not its object

1:03:50that's what that formula

1:03:51i drew for you tonight shows

1:03:54the cause of your desire

1:03:56lack

1:03:58becomes the object or the target of

1:04:00someone else's

1:04:03what they want

1:04:05is to see you squirm they want to see

1:04:08you fumble

1:04:10this also don't forget is the reason why

1:04:12lecon keeps coming back to sadism and

1:04:14masochism

1:04:16the sadist doesn't get off again on

1:04:18inflicting pain

1:04:20what they get off

1:04:23on is provoking anxiety

1:04:27the sadist

1:04:29gets out the whip don't forget

1:04:32and what gets them off is not hitting

1:04:35you with it

1:04:37but showing it to you

1:04:39along with the pronouncement

1:04:42verging on legislation itself

1:04:44you've been a very bad boy

1:04:48you deserve this

1:04:50i hereby pronounce you

1:04:52i hereby decree

1:04:55capital

1:04:56punish you are about to receive fill in

1:04:59your basic court rhetoric here

1:05:0250 lashes

1:05:04across your bare elderly white

1:05:08propertied extremely wealthy

1:05:10heteronormative ceo of twitter ass

1:05:18and that's what happens

1:05:20but before that whipping occurs there's

1:05:22this elaborate linguistic setup a

1:05:26staging of the event

1:05:28this

1:05:29is where

1:05:30the sadist enjoys

1:05:32because this is where

1:05:36white man in ties begins to squirm and

1:05:38saying yes i have been a bad boy you're

1:05:40right i've been pilfering from people

1:05:43for years or whatever the [ __ ] it is

1:05:46that provocation of anxiety

1:05:49is what gets the sadist off

1:05:54that's the source of their enjoyment

1:05:58and the masochist in turn

1:06:00gets off on provoking anxiety in others

1:06:04at the fundamentally dilapidated state

1:06:08of their being

1:06:10the masochist gets off

1:06:13on only wearing shredded used clothes

1:06:17around their conservative parent

1:06:19so the parent can say what the hell you

1:06:22dress like a homeless person why can't

1:06:24you dress a little bit nicer you're

1:06:25never going to get a job if you leave

1:06:26the house dressed like that

1:06:29listen to how they get all riled up

1:06:32just based on how you dress

1:06:35this is a really classic thing among

1:06:37teenagers right the teenager comes

1:06:39downstairs ready to go to school dressed

1:06:42in a way acting in a way looking in a

1:06:44way that the parent or primary caregiver

1:06:46doesn't approve and the parent or the

1:06:48primary caregiver loses their [ __ ]

1:06:51saying things like why would you do that

1:06:53to yourself

1:06:55or as someone i once knew

1:06:57mother told her why are you trying to

1:06:59make yourself ugly

1:07:03now i'm not saying that this old friend

1:07:05of mine was a masochist

1:07:08but if she were

1:07:10this would be a source of enjoyment for

1:07:12her

1:07:13watching her mother

1:07:15squirm in this way

1:07:26let's pause there

1:07:27and see where you are

1:07:35i'll always give us a moment but not too

1:07:37many because

1:07:38we have other bridges to cross

1:07:42what would you say is the difference

1:07:45between anxiety and paranoia

1:07:48that is such a great question oliver at

1:07:50a couple of moments tonight

1:07:52i have been inclined to say that

1:07:54paranoia is the peak of anxiety

1:07:57now what we know in the lacanian

1:08:00tradition is that

1:08:03paranoia

1:08:04is a subset of the clinical structure

1:08:06known as psychosis right

1:08:09anxiety is something that neurotics are

1:08:11usually more wrapped up in

1:08:14but here's the thing

1:08:15there are some locations who say that

1:08:17there is no passageway

1:08:20between these clinical structures i

1:08:22don't believe that

1:08:25and i think there's evidence ample

1:08:27evidence in lacan to say that he doesn't

1:08:29believe that either

1:08:30now there's probably evidence to the

1:08:31contrary as well that's why little a is

1:08:33so difficult because lacan was

1:08:35constantly shifting the meaning of this

1:08:37thing over like 25 years it's a

1:08:39challenging phenomenon because it's

1:08:41there with him at the start of his

1:08:43career and there with him at the end of

1:08:45his career and it means different things

1:08:47at each stage we're at one stage right

1:08:50now we're at the stage in which little a

1:08:53becomes affiliated with the real that's

1:08:55why he's talking about the pound of

1:08:56flesh

1:08:58we're going to talk about that tonight

1:09:00prior to this it was more closely

1:09:01associated with fantasy you see that

1:09:03little a in there

1:09:05an imaginative prop

1:09:08later on in life it'll be at the center

1:09:10of the bromine links

1:09:13so little a is all over this guy's work

1:09:15and depending on what year you find him

1:09:17it's going to mean something different

1:09:18so what i'm giving you is what it means

1:09:20for him in the early 60s around the

1:09:22topic of anxiety

1:09:24what we know about lacan though is that

1:09:28the ego

1:09:30has a fundamentally paranoic structure

1:09:35there's a very real sense in which the

1:09:38basic

1:09:40figure of normalcy

1:09:43namely having a functioning ego

1:09:46almost certainly

1:09:48overly functioning ego

1:09:51is itself a kind of paranoia the ego is

1:09:54a paranoid mfr

1:09:57each of our egos is fundamentally

1:09:59paranoid which is why the temptation of

1:10:01narcissism is so great

1:10:03everybody is interested in me

1:10:05everybody wants to know what i'm up to

1:10:07i'm the center of everyone's attention

1:10:11what else is that but a paranoic

1:10:13structure

1:10:14so what i'd like to suggest is that

1:10:17it's not only tempting

1:10:19but i think legit

1:10:21to read paranoia

1:10:24as

1:10:25an extreme form of anxiety

1:10:28and let's not forget

1:10:31that we find ourselves here on april

1:10:3320th

1:10:344 20 the 4 20th of days

1:10:38think about the effects

1:10:42of anxiety on the verge of paranoia

1:10:45that some of us have experienced and not

1:10:47just from

1:10:49smoking pop man think about some of the

1:10:52effects of psychedelic use when that

1:10:54[ __ ] goes south

1:10:56some of you have been on trips that you

1:10:57wish would just stop it's like the 14th

1:11:00hour and you're like holy [ __ ] i have to

1:11:02go to work is this over yet

1:11:05and think of all the figments that have

1:11:07chased you around the room in those late

1:11:10nights it doesn't mean you lost your

1:11:13mind

1:11:14hell if anything it means you probably

1:11:15found it

1:11:18so yeah oliver i think it's a great

1:11:19question my inclination and here when i

1:11:22answer these questions i want you to i

1:11:24want you to know all this

1:11:26i'll always try and tell you when what

1:11:29i'm saying is something from me

1:11:32but rest assured when i tell you

1:11:34something's from me and it's in this

1:11:36lacanian context i am building on the

1:11:39logic presented by lakhan's argument

1:11:42logic which i would mind you sometimes

1:11:45he himself doesn't even follow

1:11:48so there are times when it is important

1:11:51to outlakhan lakhan

1:11:55because sometimes even he himself gets

1:11:57twisted up in these concepts but we with

1:11:59the availability of hindsight

1:12:02don't forget he's doing all of this [ __ ]

1:12:04live

1:12:06yeah he has some notes

1:12:07but this is a transcript

1:12:10come on man thousands of pages of

1:12:13somebody up on stage 20 years

1:12:16dealing with some pretty heavy stuff you

1:12:18know they're going to slip up a little

1:12:19bit here and there

1:12:20some people like to make a big fuss out

1:12:22of these moments

1:12:24i don't see them as important or

1:12:26unimportant

1:12:27i read lacan for the coherence and for

1:12:30the systematicity of his work

1:12:32second only to hegel

1:12:34in terms of systematicity and western

1:12:36thought

1:12:37way up there right up there with

1:12:38heidegger in terms of developing a

1:12:41systematic line of thought and kant

1:12:43that hangs together conceptually and

1:12:46lacans does that

1:12:47so oftentimes i'll build on structures

1:12:50and conceptual moves in his work to say

1:12:53things like i just did

1:12:54which is that yes paranoia is the peak

1:12:57of anxiety

1:12:58if you think about it

1:13:00now there are going to be some big

1:13:02differences and this is where we would

1:13:03get into row

1:13:05with the lacanians

1:13:07because the clinical structure of

1:13:09paranoia is anchored in psychosis which

1:13:12has a very different relationship to the

1:13:14symbolic

1:13:16than the neurotic who experiences

1:13:18anxiety

1:13:22so we could dig in here and find all

1:13:24kinds of ways why paranoia could never

1:13:27be an extension of anxiety

1:13:32for our purposes i think it's useful

1:13:34to think about this on a spectrum

1:13:38where paranoia would be the outer limit

1:13:40think about it the world is out to get

1:13:42me

1:13:43all of these enormous imaginary others

1:13:46are bearing down on me constantly the

1:13:49aliens are trying to read my thoughts so

1:13:52i have to wrap my head in tin foil

1:13:57vladimir putin is hacking into my bank

1:13:59account who's listening to this skype

1:14:01call oh i don't use zoom

1:14:04because zoom is a highly surveilled

1:14:06platform

1:14:07and it's not safe our discussions are

1:14:09not uh protected there

1:14:11i got to change my passwords did you

1:14:14know the average millennial changes

1:14:15their passwords more than they have sex

1:14:20put that in your [ __ ] pipe on 420.

1:14:26so does that mean that they are all

1:14:28psychotic no

1:14:30it means that anxiety can be tuned with

1:14:32paranoia the same way that the ego when

1:14:36functioning

1:14:37all too well

1:14:39can have a paranoic structure

1:14:43great question i hope that answers it

1:14:47what else y'all got out there

1:14:49yeah i have another question um

1:14:52sort of to oliver's question as well

1:14:55but taking it down in the direction of

1:14:57sort of the depressive or the

1:14:58melancholic

1:14:59i think

1:15:01i i don't know it's interesting i mean

1:15:02like freud in his his essay morning and

1:15:05melon mongolia it's all about the loss

1:15:07of the object right however

1:15:10i think if we if if we read lacan

1:15:12seriously about anxiety and sort of

1:15:15thought about it um

1:15:18thought about melancholia in a similar

1:15:20fashion it would be

1:15:22sort of

1:15:22this i don't know traumatic kind of

1:15:27enveloping of the object

1:15:30right that i have to get the [ __ ] away

1:15:32from this thing how do i get away from

1:15:33it i mean an interesting fantasy and

1:15:35then i'll shut the [ __ ] up is um

1:15:37of the depressive is

1:15:39i need to get away from society i need

1:15:41to get away from all big others i mean

1:15:43you think of uh a good example is like

1:15:45christopher mccandless right like into

1:15:47the wild that guy or anybody who is

1:15:51slightly depressed and needs to get away

1:15:54they'll have that fantasy breaking away

1:15:56from sort of these symbolic

1:15:58uh structures

1:16:00right um or

1:16:02you know getting away from the big other

1:16:04uh which determines their social

1:16:06existence so so yeah maybe i don't know

1:16:08i guess

1:16:09what i'm trying to say is that maybe the

1:16:11melancholic is the

1:16:14is the peak of one side of anxiety

1:16:18yeah yeah because melancholic

1:16:21in either case the object is lost

1:16:24the melancholic monkalia they can't let

1:16:26go of it

1:16:28they can't let it go

1:16:29so mourning

1:16:31unlike melancholy is when you've

1:16:33actually let the object go

1:16:36the melancholic can't quite let it go

1:16:38the [ __ ] thing is gone

1:16:40but they can't quite let it go

1:16:42and that's how we get you know people

1:16:44like this

1:16:45where you and you encounter them years

1:16:47later and you're like damn you are still

1:16:51shitty with me about that you just

1:16:53cannot let it go

1:16:56there will even be times when you'll

1:16:58meet somebody from your past and they'll

1:17:00be talking to you and it'll be like

1:17:03they're talking to somebody else they're

1:17:05looking right at you but you don't

1:17:07actually identify with their

1:17:08addressivity

1:17:10they are speaking to you but you do not

1:17:12feel addressed

1:17:14because you're not the person to whom

1:17:16they're speaking

1:17:18or for instance you'll be talking with

1:17:19somebody and they'll say some [ __ ] to

1:17:21you and you'll be like damn you must

1:17:22have had a bad day

1:17:24because clearly i didn't do anything to

1:17:26provoke that kind of a response from you

1:17:28holy [ __ ]

1:17:29what world did you just project on to me

1:17:33let it go

1:17:36truly important here in the shift from

1:17:37melancholy to morning and i want to say

1:17:40that

1:17:41cody this is actually a really great way

1:17:45to define what lacan is doing with an

1:17:47object here around anxiety i'm glad you

1:17:50bring this up

1:17:51little a

1:17:53is a lost object

1:17:55it's the first and to some extent the

1:17:57only lost object it's the symbol of

1:17:59whatever

1:18:00object has been lost

1:18:02let me be clear

1:18:04when lacan says anxiety is not without

1:18:06an object

1:18:09the object in question is not an object

1:18:13but an opening

1:18:16in which an object has been removed

1:18:20is missing

1:18:21and is thus experienced as lost

1:18:24in short lacking

1:18:28let me be clear about that and say it

1:18:29again

1:18:30what we're dealing with here is not an

1:18:33object but the opening

1:18:36of void

1:18:38if you will

1:18:41in which an object has been removed

1:18:45and is now missing

1:18:47and crucially

1:18:49experienced as

1:18:51lost

1:18:55that experience of loss

1:18:58is lack

1:19:00it's to feel like you're missing

1:19:03something that you

1:19:05want so badly that sometimes you feel

1:19:08like you even need it

1:19:10now

1:19:11we have seen this before

1:19:19the symbol

1:19:22that lacan initially offers

1:19:28for this

1:19:29space

1:19:36is this

1:19:40this is

1:19:41the space

1:19:43or the opening

1:19:46that is created when a certain object

1:19:49has been removed

1:19:52and this is that object

1:19:59now

1:20:00let's recall

1:20:02very quickly

1:20:04how we map this thing out

1:20:08so there's this pre-editable triangle

1:20:11that lacan is messing with here where

1:20:14you've got the child

1:20:16you'll recall this from our early work

1:20:18together

1:20:24and then the maternal function

1:20:26occupied by whoever plays that part for

1:20:28you

1:20:29and the child initially you'll recall

1:20:31has desire

1:20:33for the body of this person

1:20:36care for me take care of me etc etc what

1:20:39the child notices

1:20:41is that

1:20:42this primary caregiver

1:20:47also is interested in other stuff

1:20:50it can be their phone it can be their

1:20:52job it can be whatever

1:20:55and wherever their attention is directed

1:20:58other than at the child

1:21:00and so what the kid learns to do

1:21:04is to identify

1:21:06with this

1:21:07in order to gain access to that

1:21:12here we see the desire of

1:21:16mother

1:21:18transforming and affecting

1:21:22the child's desire itself

1:21:25now

1:21:26i say this is

1:21:27it's fundamentally imaginary

1:21:39all

1:21:40right pre-edible here too so you can

1:21:43recall it

1:21:46this is the imaginary phallus

1:21:54it's whatever you imagine

1:21:59the primary caregiver is interested in

1:22:01addition to you

1:22:06are you all with me so far on this

1:22:10okay

1:22:13now this is where a lot

1:22:15of post-freudian work

1:22:18begins and ends if it even gets this far

1:22:22what makes lecon great is that he does

1:22:25not stop there in the least

1:22:29because he turns this imaginary triangle

1:22:32into a symbolic square by introducing

1:22:36another person

1:22:41the paternal function

1:22:44this is

1:22:46the name and don't forget it's also the

1:22:49no

1:22:53of the father we've been over this so

1:22:55i'm going to move fast

1:22:56what this individual does as you well

1:22:58know

1:23:03is it cuts in

1:23:05and says

1:23:07child

1:23:09you cannot be

1:23:11this for

1:23:13the maternal function and whoever's

1:23:15playing maternal function

1:23:17and you don't have it in the first place

1:23:19so here's that riff again

1:23:21mommy doesn't have it

1:23:24and baby can't be it for her

1:23:27this process of cutting in

1:23:30fundamentally negates

1:23:32the imaginary phallus

1:23:35and what it does

1:23:36in effect

1:23:40i want to draw this live and in motion

1:23:42so you can see the effect that this has

1:23:46the effect looks something like this

1:23:55do you see what i'm doing

1:23:57i am imposing distance

1:24:00i am opening up a gap

1:24:03or a space

1:24:10between the child and the primary

1:24:12caregiver

1:24:15this gap or space

1:24:20is symbolized

1:24:26by a

1:24:28which is why i've always told you

1:24:30that little a

1:24:32is the irreducible minimum distance

1:24:35between two points

1:24:38that allows them to remain distinct

1:24:42the goal

1:24:43of the paternal function

1:24:46is to

1:24:47intrude on this imaginary triangle

1:24:51subtract the phallus and all of the

1:24:54desire games that the child plays with

1:24:56the maternal figure

1:24:58and introduce some space

1:25:01in between here

1:25:03space that is initiated by the logic of

1:25:06prohibition

1:25:08she doesn't have it and you can't be it

1:25:10for her little a

1:25:13is the symbol

1:25:15of that irreducible space that the

1:25:18paternal function

1:25:20when it is accomplished

1:25:22imposes between these two figures

1:25:28anxiety

1:25:30is what happens

1:25:36when the primary caregiver

1:25:40totally overrides this

1:25:43and starts to encroach

1:25:46upon the child

1:25:50in whatever capacity it is

1:25:53now we have a child who is not contained

1:25:56and held but for those of you that are

1:25:59interested in other post-freudian

1:26:01trajectories this is a child that now

1:26:03suffers from impingement

1:26:06this is a child that is impinged upon

1:26:10when lacan uses the word anxiety

1:26:13you can substitute it

1:26:15for what british object relations folks

1:26:17refer to as

1:26:20impingement i'm not saying you can do so

1:26:23cleanly but i'm saying that you can

1:26:25render that

1:26:27analogous

1:26:29so here it is again

1:26:37what we're dealing with anxiety and

1:26:38anxiety is not an object but the opening

1:26:41in which an object has been removed in

1:26:43this case an imaginary object

1:26:47is in is missing and is experienced as

1:26:49lost in short lacking

1:26:52little a is the symbol

1:26:54for this opening

1:26:57after the imaginary phallus has been

1:26:59removed

1:27:02and if this triangle that we were

1:27:04working with

1:27:05was imaginary you know where i'm going

1:27:07to go with this

1:27:12the square

1:27:13introduced by the paternal function with

1:27:15these four nodal points is not imaginary

1:27:18but symbolic

1:27:26this

1:27:28negative v that

1:27:30a comes to replace

1:27:37is the space

1:27:38the opening

1:27:40a gap some breathing room

1:27:42left after the pursuit of the imaginary

1:27:45phallus has been prohibited

1:27:50mom can't have it child can't be it

1:27:53this is exactly also

1:27:55what the psychotic

1:27:58forecloses what the pervert disavows

1:28:01and what the neurotic represses

1:28:04that's important

1:28:06but let me be clear about that

1:28:09repression has built into it and

1:28:12acceptance

1:28:14in fact if you look at repression and

1:28:16you march it back through all the

1:28:18various phases

1:28:20you're gonna have a system

1:28:22that has

1:28:23like six different layers each

1:28:26retroactively presupposed by its

1:28:28predecessor

1:28:30you can read this in freud and lecon

1:28:33repression presupposes negation

1:28:38negation presupposes

1:28:41affirmation

1:28:45an affirmation presupposes the name of

1:28:48the father

1:28:50which presupposes an imaginary order

1:28:53into which the name of the father

1:28:54intrudes

1:28:57an imaginary order that emerges from

1:28:59something

1:29:01that we might call the here and now

1:29:05of the all in becoming

1:29:08a kind of presence that only

1:29:11animals experience

1:29:13bio animality

1:29:16all of this is baked into a repression

1:29:19the reason why i'm pointing this out is

1:29:21because

1:29:22if the

1:29:24psychotic forecloses the name of the

1:29:27father

1:29:29if the pervert disavows it

1:29:32and the neurotic represses it

1:29:34let's be clear about that repression

1:29:37includes and has baked into it an

1:29:40acceptance of the thing that is

1:29:41repressed

1:29:43an acknowledgement or affirmation of its

1:29:45existence

1:29:47and then a negation that can then be

1:29:49repressed

1:29:51order to repress something you have to

1:29:53acknowledge its existence as something

1:29:57out there in the world

1:29:58with an effect that is dangerous to you

1:30:01the psychotic doesn't even acknowledge

1:30:03that [ __ ]

1:30:05if you're interested in this

1:30:08we can just take the detour and i can

1:30:10walk you through each of these steps

1:30:14otherwise we'll just move on

1:30:20this would be

1:30:21the

1:30:25the a priori

1:30:28structure of repression

1:30:33but we don't need to get into that we've

1:30:34got other stuff to talk about

1:30:40so again what you see here with this

1:30:42little a

1:30:44this is just the marker it's just an

1:30:46algebraic sign

1:30:48that lacan has chosen to designate this

1:30:51opening

1:30:52really to mark any sort of opening

1:30:55an irreducible distance between any two

1:30:58entities

1:30:59that allows them to remain distinct i

1:31:02can't emphasize that anymore

1:31:06okay let's pause for a couple more

1:31:07questions

1:31:09about anything that you've heard in the

1:31:11past few minutes

1:31:12and then we'll look to take a little bit

1:31:14of a break

1:31:17i don't know if this is so much a

1:31:19question but i keep

1:31:20and you've kind of

1:31:22touched it um but i keep going between

1:31:25the lack as love versus having been

1:31:28taken right because when we tie it back

1:31:30to castration right it's not something

1:31:32that just like oh wait where did that go

1:31:33right it was removed

1:31:35and then

1:31:36after that in the void like the opening

1:31:39of the thing that was removed and i

1:31:40think

1:31:42that feels like a pretty critical

1:31:43distinction

1:31:44yeah

1:31:46something someone or thing

1:31:49negated that from me it wasn't just

1:31:53clumsy or you know sort of like an

1:31:55unforeseen

1:31:57vaporized church

1:31:59brilliant yeah this is really

1:32:01one of the

1:32:03key conceptual moves

1:32:05that lecon makes

1:32:06the question here is

1:32:08did you have something at one point

1:32:11that was then taken from you

1:32:14and that is now lost

1:32:20or does the experience of loss itself

1:32:24retroactively

1:32:29figure this thing

1:32:31in other words were we once in eden

1:32:35and then we got kicked out

1:32:37were we in this uteromorphic space

1:32:41of becoming

1:32:43and bliss

1:32:45and then language and society took that

1:32:48from us

1:32:49and that that wholeness is now something

1:32:51that we lost

1:32:54lacan's answer is

1:32:55no

1:32:58you didn't have that [ __ ]

1:33:01because you were that [ __ ]

1:33:04here's that split again between having

1:33:06and being

1:33:08you didn't have eaten and then it was

1:33:11taken from you

1:33:13you were that

1:33:14and the only reason why i know you were

1:33:16that is because you feel like it's been

1:33:19taken from you now on the other side

1:33:22it's the experience of

1:33:25loss

1:33:27not the fact of losing something

1:33:30that interests look on

1:33:32and here's the deal

1:33:34we don't need to get up we don't need to

1:33:35get too caught up in this but

1:33:38what is denied and prohibited

1:33:41when the paternal function comes in

1:33:44is any furthering of life without

1:33:47prohibition

1:33:50that's the deal

1:33:53you can't just pretend like that [ __ ]

1:33:54didn't happen which is exactly what the

1:33:56psychotic does

1:33:58foreclosure is that didn't happen

1:34:02it's it's like repression on crank

1:34:05it's something completely different it's

1:34:07not even an acknowledgment that the

1:34:08thing occurred it's that didn't even

1:34:10happen

1:34:13the neurotic represses something that

1:34:15they fundamentally accept as occurring

1:34:18which is this basic prohibition

1:34:20the name of the father is the know of

1:34:22the father

1:34:24and it's a prohibition against any more

1:34:26life without

1:34:29prohibition

1:34:31and so in other words

1:34:33you're living your life your bio animal

1:34:35existence

1:34:36and then there is a big fat no

1:34:41this is crude but it gets to the point a

1:34:42big fat no introduced you can't keep

1:34:45crying and expect to have your needs met

1:34:48the kid is like wait what

1:34:51and the parent says no you have to use

1:34:52words now holy [ __ ] from that moment

1:34:55forward

1:34:57the child is divided and has a choice

1:35:00i can either keep crying

1:35:02and get into trouble

1:35:04or i can use my words and maybe get what

1:35:06i think i need

1:35:09prior to that big fat no

1:35:12there was only one path forward

1:35:16but it wasn't experienced as a path

1:35:19because it was the only thing you knew

1:35:22you were

1:35:26the here and now and of becoming

1:35:28the lizard was the rock

1:35:31and the rock the lizard

1:35:36it's only with the advent of the

1:35:37symbolic with the name of the father

1:35:40that there is a distance

1:35:43imposed introduced between these

1:35:46entities

1:35:48it's the world of words lacan says

1:35:53that engenders and creates the world of

1:35:56things

1:35:58before the world of words it was just

1:36:01all of this [ __ ] in the imminent here

1:36:04and now of pure presence

1:36:07bio animal fluid [ __ ]

1:36:11which is not the same as consciousness

1:36:14you were not aware of that

1:36:16i was not aware of that

1:36:18i only become aware of that

1:36:20retrospectively

1:36:24it's a presupposed place

1:36:26so think about it

1:36:28what is your earliest memory

1:36:31how old were you

1:36:34three

1:36:35four

1:36:36five

1:36:38let's say you were three years old

1:36:40you've got a great memory your first

1:36:42memory is when you were three years old

1:36:44were you born three years old

1:36:47hell no you were born zero years old

1:36:50and you survived for three years

1:36:55before anything like a memory popped up

1:36:57in your mind

1:36:59those three years are not three years of

1:37:02awareness

1:37:04they are three years of animality

1:37:08it's only in hindsight

1:37:11of later years when you can look back

1:37:14and discern your first memory

1:37:18a memory that began at the age of three

1:37:25full well knowing that you weren't born

1:37:27at that age so you presuppose

1:37:30some sort of human experience from years

1:37:32zero to three

1:37:35it doesn't mean that you have any memory

1:37:37or recollection of that experience you

1:37:39might see a picture here or there

1:37:42to prove it

1:37:44lacan's point is

1:37:46it's only with the advent of split

1:37:48subjectivity and the introduction into

1:37:50language

1:37:51that you can look back

1:37:54and imagine at

1:37:56a fantastical level

1:37:59what it might have been like before what

1:38:02it was like back in the day

1:38:05but it is a fantasy

1:38:07it is a fantasy of wholeness

1:38:13that is always experienced as loss

1:38:17and i want to make the difference here

1:38:19very simple before we take a break

1:38:21the difference that kaim is working out

1:38:23here

1:38:24is between the word loss

1:38:27l-o-s-s

1:38:29and lost

1:38:30l o s t

1:38:34it's the experience of being at a loss

1:38:39of feeling like something is off

1:38:43that

1:38:44elicits the fantasy that someday we

1:38:47might be complete and whole

1:38:50and it's a fantasy that has a

1:38:51retrospective hook

1:38:54because it suggests that this is not

1:38:56just a becoming something that we never

1:38:58were but a return to a uteromorphic

1:39:01state of

1:39:02pre-linguistic bliss

1:39:06but that is a fantasy

1:39:09in fact if you ask me

1:39:11bio animality is a horrific

1:39:14terrifying place to be

1:39:18like think about that [ __ ] you have zero

1:39:21motor skills but by six months you have

1:39:23an elaborate perceptual apparatus you

1:39:26can basically see people walking around

1:39:28and almost stepping on your ass and not

1:39:30being able to do anything about it

1:39:32at some level you can see

1:39:35the world around you

1:39:37and yet you have no ability to affect it

1:39:42i can't imagine

1:39:44a more vulnerable state

1:39:47regardless all i can do is imagine it

1:39:50because i have no memory of it

1:39:53it doesn't mean it didn't occur it just

1:39:55means that in order for me to experience

1:39:57it

1:39:58i can only experience it at the level of

1:40:01the imaginary

1:40:05and some people would say that's even

1:40:08exactly what the imagination is

1:40:10it is a de-sensing of one's umvelt the

1:40:14world around you

1:40:15a desensing a transforming of it into

1:40:18images

1:40:20this is the this is the augustine

1:40:21tradition

1:40:23all the way up to kant

1:40:25the imagination is an imaging of the

1:40:28world

1:40:30you desense it

1:40:32leaving images behind

1:40:34images that can then become food

1:40:37for thought

1:40:40which was which were known as memories

1:40:44memories were the food of thought and

1:40:45memories were images

1:40:47of the world

1:40:48descensed

1:40:51but that's another discussion

1:40:54for our purposes i think it's important

1:40:56to just remember the difference between

1:40:57the experience and the feeling of loss

1:41:03and the experience

1:41:06of losing something

1:41:11we'll get after this a little bit more

1:41:13but i want to give you all 10 minutes

1:41:14it's quarter to eight now we've been at

1:41:16it for about an hour and 45 minutes so

1:41:20take 10 come back here at 7 53 and we'll

1:41:23pick up where this discussion left off

1:41:25and make a few more moves all right see

1:41:27in a minute

1:50:33hey

1:50:51hmm

1:51:15thank you for your punctuality y'all

1:51:20come on back

1:51:27you know what i love about this group

1:51:31is there a connection between this

1:51:32negative fee and phallic should we saw

1:51:34it hold on let me get this chat up again

1:51:38let's see

1:51:40is there a connection between this

1:51:41negative fee and phallic chewisons or

1:51:44feminine

1:51:46jewish sons

1:51:48um

1:51:49yes there is

1:51:52um

1:51:55because this negative fee business is um

1:52:00is the structuring element

1:52:02for the symbolic order which is where

1:52:05phalanx shuisance

1:52:07um

1:52:08involves itself

1:52:10so it's this negative fee here is um

1:52:14in in some places even lacan will mess

1:52:16around and transform this into the

1:52:18phallic signifier which is another term

1:52:20that he comes up with

1:52:22um not the imaginary phallus but the

1:52:24phallic signifier

1:52:27but just because it has the word phallic

1:52:29in it

1:52:31the main thing to remember

1:52:33is um

1:52:36bruce fink does a good job with this

1:52:38i think is um

1:52:39that

1:52:40remember that phallus

1:52:42is of the same etymological origin as

1:52:45failure

1:52:47and fallibility

1:52:49and that's what the phallus is designed

1:52:52to indicate

1:52:53it's to indicate incompletion

1:52:56inadequacy

1:52:59something that you

1:53:01um

1:53:02uh struggle with

1:53:04it's a fault

1:53:05if you will

1:53:06and think fault line here too these are

1:53:08all etymological origins

1:53:11of the word phallus and that's what we

1:53:13know about phallic jewish sons is that

1:53:16it is a failed jewish sons

1:53:19it is a faulted jewish sons

1:53:24i would hold that in mind um but yeah

1:53:26the the the symbolic structure

1:53:30uh that is constituted by the paternal

1:53:33function which results in this negative

1:53:36fee

1:53:37is the world

1:53:38in which phallic jewish sons will take

1:53:41root

1:53:42so the answer is yes

1:53:44what's interesting about this question

1:53:46and the reason why i appreciate it so

1:53:48much is that it reminds me of where we

1:53:50are

1:53:51and it reminds me that what we're really

1:53:54doing here and what seminar 10 invites

1:53:56us to do

1:53:58is to really dig deep into the

1:54:00conceptual foundations of lacanian

1:54:02psychoanalysis

1:54:03that's what we're doing here

1:54:05that's an interesting place to be the

1:54:08reason why i want us to be at this place

1:54:11is because once you arrive at the

1:54:13foundations

1:54:15you can look up

1:54:17and see all the other pieces

1:54:20and how they work and that's what this

1:54:22question really reminds me of is that

1:54:25phallic jewish science is something that

1:54:27is of interest to a lot of you

1:54:30especially as it relates to the other

1:54:32jewish songs feminine jewish sons so to

1:54:34speak from seminar 20.

1:54:36here where we find ourselves now with

1:54:38this negative fee is one of the great

1:54:41foundations for lacan's phallic thought

1:54:45there are essays in

1:54:46a cree 2 that you should check out as

1:54:48well

1:54:50signification phallus it's a version of

1:54:52the subject these are all great ones

1:54:55but this seminar is really terrific for

1:54:57this stuff

1:54:58and it goes back even further

1:55:00this is like the third or fourth year in

1:55:03a row that lacan has been making good

1:55:04use of the phallus

1:55:08but just remember the key thing here is

1:55:09faulted

1:55:11and this gets us back to the question

1:55:13that we paused on times was a good one

1:55:15about loss versus lost is it that we had

1:55:19uteromorphic

1:55:21bliss and then it was taken from us

1:55:23or is it something else lacan's answer

1:55:26is it's something else

1:55:29here's how we get there

1:55:32so

1:55:33the other big other the symbolic that we

1:55:36started talking about tonight what we

1:55:38know about this is that it precedes us

1:55:40it's another word for society

1:55:43language order law

1:55:45it precedes the self

1:55:47again this is what heidegger meant by

1:55:49throneness we're thrown into a world not

1:55:52of our own design

1:55:54other people designed it for us they

1:55:56carved out places for us

1:55:58in law and language

1:56:01and subjectivity and asked us to occupy

1:56:03it

1:56:04they drug us into this world

1:56:09don't think about where they drug us out

1:56:12of

1:56:13or where they drug us from think about

1:56:15what we got drug into

1:56:18this dragging into society

1:56:22is the process known as subjectivization

1:56:25and it always results in a split subject

1:56:30split between

1:56:32embodiment

1:56:33and language

1:56:35the enunciating subject and the

1:56:37grammatical subject

1:56:39the bio animal material

1:56:42body

1:56:43that experiences need and cold and

1:56:46hunger

1:56:47and the socio-linguistic body

1:56:50that can now exist at the level of a

1:56:52name on an

1:56:54envelope or on a screen in our cases

1:56:57here

1:56:58so the split subjectivity that lecon

1:57:00introduced introduces us to

1:57:03it has these two fundamental elements

1:57:06there's a biomaterial component that

1:57:09came with us

1:57:12when we entered the symbolic

1:57:14and there's a large part of that bodily

1:57:16environment that receives representation

1:57:21but think about how many body parts are

1:57:24in your no no zone

1:57:26the known ozone that as a child you were

1:57:29told were your private parts which were

1:57:32parts you weren't supposed to talk about

1:57:34parts that the symbolic didn't have a

1:57:36lot of

1:57:37available appropriate terms for

1:57:40discussing

1:57:42this is part of what lacana is getting

1:57:44at when he talks about object

1:57:47this little a

1:57:48this little a

1:57:51is whatever gets cut out and off of the

1:57:54body

1:57:56in this process of subjective

1:57:58of subjectivation

1:58:00and gets thrown to the side

1:58:04into your no-no zone oh we don't talk

1:58:06about that we don't do that here don't

1:58:09touch yourself there don't think about

1:58:11this don't deal with that we don't make

1:58:13those noises etcetera etcetera you

1:58:15should be embarrassed when you fart and

1:58:16burp and all this kind of all the bodily

1:58:19mechanisms and parts that society deems

1:58:22inappropriate

1:58:24are rejected from the symbolic

1:58:29and they become

1:58:31little a's

1:58:33little a is what is cut out

1:58:36of the symbolic

1:58:38it is the basis for the real

1:58:41the real did not precede the symbolic

1:58:45conceptually speaking

1:58:47the real is an effect structure of the

1:58:50symbolic

1:58:51it's whatever of biomaterial existence

1:58:54the symbolic cannot account for

1:58:58and thus places under erasure

1:59:02everything in your nonozone swimsuit

1:59:04zone

1:59:05genitals all this kind of stuff that we

1:59:07don't talk about that's all [ __ ] that

1:59:09gets pushed into the reel

1:59:11the reason why lacan as carolina pointed

1:59:14out last time is attaching the real to

1:59:18obj ah to this little a

1:59:20is because it's that pound of flesh that

1:59:23body part that gets ejected from the

1:59:26process of subjectivation

1:59:29the impulsive side of us the embodied

1:59:31side of us

1:59:33we'll come to that in a second the point

1:59:35i want to get at here is that

1:59:37when you are drug into the symbolic

1:59:41that is effectively a prohibitive

1:59:43process

1:59:45the name and know of the father is a

1:59:47prohibition that says

1:59:49and you can't live as though this world

1:59:52doesn't exist anymore

1:59:55when you're drug into the world

1:59:58of the symbolic

2:00:00what may have been experienced as a here

2:00:03and now

2:00:05of the all in a process of becoming

2:00:09is now transformed into a before and

2:00:13after

2:00:14the here and now is now subject to a

2:00:17logic of before and after

2:00:20and the before

2:00:22can only be figured in thought and

2:00:25imagined retroactively

2:00:27because it's only in the after

2:00:30we've been introduced to the symbolic

2:00:32that we have the terms to experience

2:00:35anything like a memory or knowledge

2:00:38of

2:00:39this supposed

2:00:41presupposed

2:00:43bio animal

2:00:45existence now i bring this up

2:00:49because what i want to suggest is that

2:00:52one of the basic experiences that we

2:00:55have

2:00:56is the experience of a lack of wholeness

2:01:01so i'm trying to get back at that

2:01:03question we ended with before the break

2:01:04from time about what are we doing here

2:01:07with loss

2:01:08which of course was started by cody

2:01:10talking about the lost object

2:01:13and it's all right on point here with

2:01:15little a

2:01:16i want to try as always to be as

2:01:19grounded and clear as possible as this