That which does not lie: the real within the symbolic
“A sister gave me a great present in my life: she gave me the encounter with psychoanalysis, an experience that has, without a doubt, changed everything.” With these words, Luisa D. begins her interview.
She goes on to say: “As no life is straightforward, I too have had moments that have led me to seek answers to pain, to unease, or to that which I considered unnameable.” There came a point when everything had built up, “a point at which it becomes necessary to delve deeper into what is happening. An incident involving a loved one pushed me to my limit.”
It was precisely there, says Luisa, “that my encounter with psychoanalysis provided that space to name the unnameable, the answers—my own answers to what was happening to me”. Answers which, as Luisa puts it, “already existed within me; I simply had to be willing to listen to them, face them and see what I was going to do with them”. To which she adds, “It’s not just about stopping at the answers, but also taking action. With all that this entails, as my analyst says”.
It has undoubtedly been a process which, in Luisa’s words, “has brought her closer to the way out. A way out towards what I have always dreamt of in my life”. Words that lead us directly to what the psychoanalyst Éric Laurent (1) considers to be the ‘good exit’ found in psychoanalysis: “The good exit is not wisdom but a relationship between the subject and their desire”, the driving force of life.
Luisa acknowledges that at times she has reached the exit door and has not dared to take the step. She experiences what Freud would say about that which has been so intensely yearned for: that on occasions it is “precisely what one flees from when reality presents it” (2).
“The reason I’ve turned back is fear, anxiety,” Luisa tells us. Anxiety—that ‘real’ within the symbolic, as Miller puts it (3)—is, according to Lacan (4), something that does not deceive; as an affect that does not lie, it points to the truth, to the presence of desire. It points to the threshold that must be crossed, “with all that this entails”—as her analyst has told her.
That step outwards has gained momentum; in recent months, Luisa has begun developing her brand. Our interviewee writes: “It is a project born, essentially, out of a personal need and an interest in wellbeing, recognising that looking after our bodies goes beyond sport. It is about giving our bodies what they need, incorporating habits that allow us to lead a healthier life. My aim is to make these products accessible to anyone who, in their daily life, seeks to supplement their diet and look after themselves.
For me, this brand represents much more than just a business venture; it is an opportunity to bring my own idea to life, to create, to take on new challenges and to give free rein to that desire to build something based on my own experience, making it available to the whole world.”
The respect and admiration for her parents that Luisa mentions in this interview serve as a kind of testimony to her journey. The development of her brand is not merely an invention born of analysis; it is, as Lacan would say, bypassing the father on condition tha one make use of him (5).
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References:
(1) ÉRIC LAURENT: Los objetos de la pasión, Buenos Aires, Tres Haches, 2004.
(2) SIGMUND FREUD: »Bruchstück einer Hysterie-Analyse«, in Sigmund Freud. Gesammelte Werke, Band V, London, Imago Publishing, 1952.
(3) JACQUES ALAIN-MILLER: La experiencia de lo real en la cura psicoanalítica, Buenos Aires, Paidós, 2011.
(4) JACQUES LACAN: The seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book X: Anxiety, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2014.
(5) JACQUES LACAN: The seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book XXIII: The Sinthome, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018.
