Wednesday
3/4/24
The way I pack is so stupid. Yesterday, I got everything packed. Then, today, I was thinking about what I packed and how I packed it, and I decided I needed to do it all over again. Why can't I just pack it the way I really want the first time? I have no idea...
Top of Mind:
I'm thinking about how the Lacanian concept of the phallus (φ ανδ Φ), which evolved and changed a lot over time, and comparing it to the concept of the sinthome. To write out the way I see the journey from Lacan's initial elaborations of the phallus to his articulation of the sinthome would take lots of time and many words.
The way I'd summarize it would be like this:
1.0—The Phallus is a signifier (or semblant), a theoretical object that plays a very specific function within the phantasy (i.e., the fundamental fantasy, which is unconscious but always influences the subject).
1.1 – The specific function is the function of the phallus being that which is lacking. The fantasy is if someone has the phallus, they have what is lacking in the Other and therefore, they become desirable (i.e., chosen by) to the Other
1.2 – What stands out to me at this moment is the way that the phallus is a phantasy of a solution to the lack. It is a phantasy of being having what would make us complete and non-lacking, and because we are complete and non-lacking, we are able to give the Other what it lacks/wants.
1.3—In this phantasy, the phallus fills the lack and creates a harmonious relationship (i.e., rapport) between the subject and the Other (e.g., between two romantic partners).
2.0 – The sinthome is very different. It is something makes it possible, and even enjoyable, to live as a lacking subject.
2.1—So rather than trying to fill the lack (as the phallus does) and get rid of it, the sinthome is a way of living with the lack without that lack causing misery.
2.2 – Rather than trying to create a harmonious relationship (rapport), the sinthome is about finding ways to live with and get satisfaction from the lack of harmony (non-rapport).
WATCHING (Interview):
CM Punk is a wrestler whose work I admire a lot. He did a long interview with Ariel Helwani's podcast/YouTube channel that discussed lots of things happening in professional wrestling today.
I think it is interesting to listen to what Punk is saying and consider if it represents a phallic phantasy or a sinthomatic way of relating to the lack of harmony with the Other.