Two weeks. Fourteen days remain and then Trump is inaugurated, his administration installed to pilot the ship-of-state, as per “the will of the people.” Elections and inauguration rituals are considered sacrosanct, a ‘gift of the gods’. The illusion is intentional. The desire of men long since dead was expressed in our Constitution. The institutions…
How many really individual actions are left undone merely because before performing them we perceive or suspect that they will be misunderstood! —those actions, for example, which have some intrinsic value, both in good and evil. The more highly an age or a nation values its individuals, therefore, and the more right and ascendancy…
Both within and beyondthe confines of historywe might imagine that we were listeningto a continual funeral oration: we have buried, and are still burying,all that we have loved best, our thoughts, and our hopes,receiving in exchange pride, gloria mundi—that is, the pomp of the graveside speech. It is thusthat everything is made good! Even…
Yesterday was dedicated to sorting more than several thousand photos captured in 2024. The files are archived from the iphone to this laptop. Moments in time were photographed in response to an undefined sense in my body. “Right here and right now ‘this’ penetrates more deeply than I can know,…” Or even, “has meaning,…
Even if we were mad enough to consider all our opinions as truth, we should nevertheless not wish them alone to exist. I cannot see why we should ask for an autocracy and omnipotence of truth: it is sufficient for me to know that it is a great power. Truth, however, must meet with…
Gray and raining outside. Starbucks is momentarily, unnaturally quiet, only the two of us minding our screens and our thoughts. Why so silent? Is this the edge? I mean the edge (never with a safety rail) of the abyss? Perhaps it’s extraordinary to know when one is proximate to the edge, a “hazard zone”…
The fundamental male fantasyof the womanis not her seductive appearance,but the idea,that the dazzling appearanceconcealssome imponderablemystery. -Jacques Lacan There is something tragic, simultaneously sad and delicious with respect to Lacan’s quote. How could this possibly be denied? The male – female dynamic-attraction is as old as Helen of Troy. Perhaps you remember Helen, according…
The goal is to avoid harassment. But no harassment means no joy either. [Harassment] can mean nothing more than the excessive proximity of the other with his/her desires and fears and pleasures. The other is Ok as long as he does not intrude as long as he/she is not really other. The central human…
The journey to better understand Jacques Lacan’s system of thought continues. In a few days we will turn the page on 2024. 2025 brings the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20th. The first quotation featured in today’s post reminded me of the President elect. Our institutions proved hollow, without power to incarcerate him…
Another gray day in the Fox River Valley. My day began around 6:30 AM at Starbucks in downtown Geneva. Baristas there are old acquaintances, and it was good to see everyone again. Then several friends came in. The better part of the morning was dedicated to pleasant conversation. Is there a more congenial, satisfying…
