Daniel Garner and I today got to discuss a wide range of topics. We discuss the possibility of relating to the Lacanian lack in a positive way that helps lift such a concept out of nihilistic tendencies. We talk about das ding, the other of the other, and its seeming similarities to the Holy Spirit in Christianity. We touch on relational or communal ontology and we talk a bit about understanding Paul and his writings in light of some of these ideas.  

I had the privilege to interview my friend Michelle Garner of the writing duo OG Rose. I've been enjoying and learning from their book "Belonging Again" and their Youtube channel. So check em out! The breadth and depth of their work is astonishing.

Michelle and I got to briefly touch on their work as it relates to "givens" and "releases" and how these states of being coincide with a sense of belonging. We then touched on paranoia and how philosophy can potentially rescue us from crippling anxiety that is connected with our sense of certainty. Lastly, we briefly touch on Das Ding ... if that's even possible ... pretty sure we nailed it and there's nothing more for anyone to need to say on the matter.  

Lenny Returns to help me prep for my upcoming interview with Mari Ruti.

In this episode I try to give my zoomed out understanding of the movement of concepts I see over and over in various Psychoanalytic theorists' work.

Fall - (Mirror Stage - Imaginary - Symbolic - Real. Law - Castration - Loss of Imagined Unfettered Jouissance, ie. the Lost Object)

-->

Lack - (1. Constitutive Lack: Inherent, Necessary ... Restlessness, Hungry Hearts | 2. Contingent Lack: traumas that are particular to you like say a car accident that changes your life ... but contingent lack is also to do with your gender, skin color, and class and how the society of your time relates to those contingencies)

-->

Call - (Echo of Das Ding: The experiences when we feel we've found "IT" ... the sense of feeling haunted by something ... the sense of being summoned by something in the world ...  inexplicably drawn to x ... objet a ...)

-->

The struggle for Fidelity to the Call - (the struggle to manage and direct Jouissance in the midst of a world that constantly wants you to give your time/passion/attention over to its ends ... this is where we could talk about Neoliberal tendencies in society today, the Superego, and the pressure to Enjoy every minute of your life.)

In the preface to the Call of Character Mari Ruti introduces what she'll cover over the expanse of her book. That while many self help authors and gurus advocate for streamlined approaches (do these 12 things to attain or achieve x) to living the good life, she intends to show that a big part of life is realizing that struggle and hardship are to some degree necessary. And that, counterintuitive though it may seem, we wouldn't actually even want a life without some degree of lack. 

Though trauma and lack can wound us greatly -- that these lack shouldn't be overlooked or minimized but rather metabolized ... and in a strangely hopeful way these injuries can also be sites that open us up to the possibility to hear a call that when heeded can usher us into new forms of being that can be emancipatory not only for us as individuals but for our communities as well.  

She'll argue against essentialism and advocates instead for a way of dwelling or being toward the world that has made peace with the fact that we never completely attain equilibrium ... or that if we do, we do for relatively brief moments. 

She believes that instead of pursuing an authentic core or kernel within the self, that one can alternatively attune oneself to the call of character -- that we become our most authentic selves when we remain faithful to the specificity of our desire and that this specificity can free us from the herd mentality that stifles the idiosyncratic spirit that resides within every person. 

My ol' pal and ol' roommate Josh L ... his last name is too complicated to spell ... helps me test online podcast recording services as I prepare for an upcoming interview with Mari Ruti. We talk about some of Ruti's concepts (following and remaining faith to the specificity of desire ... the summons of love)  as well as how do we tarry with the ethical (if it is so) component of sharing "I reckon" modalities of discourse with the necessity of coming to know what we believe through simply giving it our best shot. 

If you're interested in attending an upcoming Theory Night here in Billings ... email [email protected].

In this episode I am trying to briefly cover the concept of lack and the two ways in which it insists in every human being. I am using the work of Mari Ruti, especially her book Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings ... an alternative title could be (if I'm understanding this correctly) Castration and other forms of Lack ... or Ontological Lack and Contingent Lack. 

I plan to interview Professor Ruti in the coming weeks and will record episodes leading up to the interview in the attempt to make sure I am grasping as well as possible her work. 

Thanks, 

Tyler