My ideas are in blue, quotes are from Jacques Lacan by Sean Homer:
"Lacan always refers to the subject as arriving or having just arrived; as always too early or too late. There is never a point in time that the subject can be said to finally emerge as a stable and complete entity."
I find this interesting as I tell people that I see myself like this. I'm not complete now and I don't anticipate ever being complete. I think that as an individual I am a constant work in progress and will learn and change until the day I die.
"It also involves a 'want to know' of that which is outside structure, and beyond language"
I struggle with this as there is certainly an inner longing for something beyond language within me.
"A need such as hunger or thirst can be satisfied. Desire on the other hand refers to something beyond basic human needs that cannot be satisfied."
I do think that desire is something that can never be fully satisfied. I think this is because I desire things (people, objects...etc) but once I have that, I still have a desire for more.
"Desire is at the very core of our being and as such it is essentially a relation to lack; indeed, desire and lack are inextricably tied together. Lacan defines desire as the remainder that arises from subtraction of need from demand."
I get that desire is the core of my being. I agree. Desire as need minus demand...that is going to take some more thought...
"The unconscious manifests iteself at those points when language fails and stumbles. The unconscious is precisely this gap or rupture in the symbolic chain."
I can understand the concept of things being beyond words - I feel this and I get it. However, I get confused in the idea that the unconscious is that place where words fail. If the unconscious is the place where words fail - then how am I able to ever come to an understanding of it?
"The more we submit ourselves to the superego imperative, the greater its pressure, the more we feel guilty."
Ultimately this means that I feel more guilty when I give in to my feelings of desire than if I supress them? I don't think this is true. When I give in to my feelings, although relieved and whole, don't normally feel guilty for those feelings - perhaps other negative feelings, but not guilty.
"Any given sign acquires its meaning by virtue of its difference from other signs."
I like this idea! The thing that makes me...me...is the fact that I am not you and I am not Bob.
"Human subjectivity or what we call existence involves this constant process of projecting oneself out on to the world and into the future."
"Take a moment to sit back and consider what the text is doing to you. Think about how you feel at that moment and what effect the language has had upon you."
