REPORT ON THE PRESENTATION OF THE LACANIAN CARTEL:
“LOVE, DESIRE, AND KNOWLEDGE”
HOUSTON FREUDIAN FIELD LIBRARY – Fibol, NLS, Lacanian Compass
AUGUST 25, 2018 – Houston, TX – USA
This is the fruitful result of two years of work of the four Cartelisands and the Plus One members, who following Lacan’s Teachings and after overcoming multiple challenges, presented their Cartel productions at “open sky” last Saturday in Houston, TX. We thank Fibol, the New Lacanian School and Lacanian Compass for registering our Cartel at the School. We share below a short summary of each cartelisand’s product which will be published complete and in both languages on the HFFL -Houston Open Sky’s bulletin No. 5, October 2018 http://www.houstonfreudianfieldlibrary.com
Plus-one: Maurien Caron – “Muzzl-ov-e and Knowledge”
Maurien Caron talked about her experience as plus-one and the cartel function of facing the hole in knowledge and allowing the unexpected to occur. She questioned whether the encounter of ones that meet in a Lacanian cartel could be considered an act of love since for it to happen there must be a desire to say and something to be said, and hence, love, knowledge and desire are conditions of a cartel. On her subject of cartel, Maurien created a neologism, in Spanish “amordeseo”, in English “muzzl-ov-e” uniting the words love, desire and muzzle to talk about the limitations that the university discourse, the identifications and the love for knowledge can put onto the novice analyst’s speech. Intertwining the analytical and her personal knowledge constructed from analysis, she recounts her experience of passage from being “muzzled” by her love for knowledge to becoming an analyst practitioner who works by means of “knotting”.
Carmen Navarro Nino – “Desire and Knowledge: Questions about Love”
Carmen Navarro Nino started the reading of her work by expressing sympathy for the victims of hurricane Harvey; Just today, a year has elapsed from its impact in Houston. Carmen stressed the importance of promoting ties, interrogating the deadlocks and revealing the responsibilities leading to questions, questions that should be raised as per psychoanalysis to subscribe something of the real on the social, political and cultural fields, questions that allow a contribution of public utility of psychoanalysis in these areas. Following this route she posed: it is advisable to build again in the same place where Harvey occurred and destroyed everything affecting so many families? Carmen also noted how certain afflictions impact the effective production of intellectual work. In questions about love, she made references to philosophy, poetry, Freud, Lacan and Miller, as well as the recent work of the anthropologist H. Fisher, pointing that madness and falling in love seem chemically similar. She said that love lives with the body and at the joint of what is Real and what is imaginary, thereabout clarity sometimes disappears. She spoke of the ups and downs of the game of seduction that leads from satisfaction to rejection. She illustrated it with a reference of the “Diary of a Seducer” by Kierkegaard and other clinical case illustrations whose questions served as the basis for the construction of the subject of cartel and to clarify questions regarding love, desire and knowledge. She also explored issues about the effect of the superego and the fear of love, as well as the gratitude as something that can be confused with love.
Edgar Marin – “Confucius”
Edgar Marín summarized his experience with these words: “After the conclusion of this Lacanian Cartel work about love, desire and knowledge, I can say that they are deep and difficult to elaborate issues. I look at my final product and notice that it is mainly focused on access to knowledge and love through practice, very influenced by the teachings of Confucius, hence the title, but mainly by the teachings of Lacan as expected. The unconscious and the real that accompanies it plays a primordial role in love and knowledge, a journey of Lacanian analysis is of much help in deciphering the real that may be causing obstacle. I have also touched on the issue of the use of psychoanalytic knowledge and the handling of love in political discourse, warning about the responsibility that entails when it comes from individuals who have studied Lacan; they are expected to have better knowledge and wisdom but, in my opinion, this doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Gabriela Depine – “Desire to Know Love”
Gabriela Depine started her work trying to separate love from a given relationship definition and cited the work from J-A Miller about the Affectio Societatis to break down love from the contract established during a relationship. She continues her elaboration revisiting writings from her adolescence and questions about love and desire and refers to the number of unanswered questions about these topics as the “Whirlwind of Love” (torbellino del amor). In her desire to find peace of mind, she explores what it would look like going back to the basics, simplicity, where no personal desires are projected, but new questions arise because it seems that love is not possible without desire. In her attempt to understand the origins of love in her life, Gabriela presents a metaphorical story accompanied by graphical illustrations portraying love as a refuge with solid walls. Her story starts with her hanging from the walls, but in her attempt to find whether there is a solid floor, she discovers that her refuge is supported on top of her parents’ refuge, and she concludes that her first knowledge about love comes from her parents. She finishes her work with a poem that expresses that the only thing that is not temporary and lasts above everything else is love.
Grecia Parra – “Desire, Love, and Knowledge: The Question for Punctuation”
Grecia Parra produced a collection of poems that reunite experiences and questions about love, desire, and knowledge. She described her product as “Questions and comments regarding symbols of punctuation, which are used to mark pauses and use places which aid in our advancement, and points towards desire as the force, which presented before the “hole”, causes movement. Knowledge, given the proper words, allow us to advance and overcome the real. Using the punctuation symbols to relate love, knowledge, and desire: Love is like a Comma (,) which makes us pause and helps us gain strength to keep moving forward, Knowledge is compared to the Semi-colon (:), a pause followed by a definition of unique concepts and Desire as the Ellipses (…), always changing and requiring action in order for it to materialize. Lastly, with analysis, it is possible to tie and untie our affections, our loves, and desires; using the reals as a means to analyze and move forward. This becoming, the true love…”
Comments from one of the invitees: “This Lacanian cartel presentation in Houston, “Desire, Love and Knowledge,” evidenced the dedicated work, both individual and collective, of five cartelisands. Each presentation put forward singular elaborations around the “hole in knowledge” that only a cartel work can permit. With both Spanish and English used, the language choice and translation also became a topic of conversation.”
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