What is your 'Petit objet a'?

Forums: Philosophy, Art, Psychology, Aesthetics, Passion
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Lacan calls it the Unattainable object of desire, or the symbolic remains of the real (that which cannot be captured by symbol), or the precious thing in the dirty box (the good in 'the other').

Zizek calls it the MacGuffin in analogy to Hitchcock's plot device. The device which propels the story at any cost. he also calls it that which is sublimated to attempt to fill the symbolic void in ourselves.

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I tend to sublimate thought. Any thought process that isn't directly concerning mundane things. Elevate abstract thought of almost any type to an almost sacred entity. Does this mean I make thought more important than it is? In the sense of Zizek's 'Petit objet a' I never get enough piling it into the void sublimating seemingly aweful thought just to fill it. Addicted to probable mediocrity simply because it is not mundane. This forum is simply another possibly unwarranted sublimated attempt to tackle my McGuffin.

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I'll be right with you.
First I have to tackle this McMuffin.
Mmmm.
Sublime.

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What is your 'Petit objet a'?

I consider that too personal a question for a public forum. And why the hell do you want to know, anyway?

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@kennethamy,

Then don't answer.
And I want to know because it is an interesting subject as Zizek discusses it.

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I would have to say that my petit objet a is certainty.

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@George,

how so?

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@GoshisDead,

I desire certainty and that is an unattainable object of desire.
Whatever of certainty I am able to achieve, still there is something in me
that says "But can you really be sure?"

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@GoshisDead,

Oh, I see now that examples were given. Like the Holy Grail.

Actually, that is a personal question that requires assessing one's whole life. Wow!

For a lot of my life the answer was: The Holy Grail. Which I don't think is really too far from the other examples given. The answer.... that sort of thing. Any more detail would probably be TMI.

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@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead wrote:

Then don't answer.
And I want to know because it is an interesting subject as Zizek discusses it.

I would, but it is such a personal question. Maybe I'll tell you about it in a private message. Would you like that? (I'll tell you, but I have never told anyone what it is before). Think I should tell Zisek too (whoever he might be)?

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@Arjuna,

Arjuna wrote:

Oh, I see now that examples were given. Like the Holy Grail.

like a pair of jeans that fit.

and no, I'm not kidding.

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@Arjuna,

Arj:
Slavoj Zizek uses the term in a personal yet pan-human manner. It isn't necessarily your holy grail. Zizek in The Fragile Absolute notes that capitalist society has a culture-wide issue with sublimating "****" to fill a divine void. He cites examples like Ikea mass producing crappy 3rd rate artsy furniture. While, I must admit Lacan is more daunting so I'm not as familiar. He however uses it in a much more personal psychological sense, which as Ken has noted could be very revealing.

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@kennethamy,

No Ken if its not fit for public consumption, I'm not that interested.

and Zizek, Slavoj http://www.iep.utm.edu/zizek/

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@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead wrote:

No Ken if its not fit for public consumption, I'm not that interested.

and Zizek, Slavoj http://www.iep.utm.edu/zizek/

I was not asking you to consume it. What do you take me for? Is Zizek Slavo a little weird too? (Is "Zizek" his given name or is it his surname. He isn't Korean is he? In Korea, the surname precedes the given name). By the way, I am supposing that he's a he and not a she.

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@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead wrote:

Arj:
Slavoj Zizek uses the term in a personal yet pan-human manner. It isn't necessarily your holy grail. Zizek in The Fragile Absolute notes that capitalist society has a culture-wide issue with sublimating "****" to fill a divine void. He cites examples like Ikea mass producing crappy 3rd rate artsy furniture. While, I must admit Lacan is more daunting so I'm not as familiar. He however uses it in a much more personal psychological sense, which as Ken has noted could be very revealing.

Maybe I still don't understand. I used to hang with people who sold crafts at Native American Pow Wows. The sublimation was so heavy you could cut it with a knife. The term some vendors used was: Native American ****.

Toward the end, I got sick of it and was inpired to tell people the truth: Native Americans were just people.... the stuff they were buying wasn't magic. And I was in this state one day when I looked up into the eyes of this woman holding one my carvings in her hands. Something about the look in her eyes made me think "Oh... " There's more to it.

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@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead wrote:

No Ken if its not fit for public consumption, I'm not that interested.

and Zizek, Slavoj http://www.iep.utm.edu/zizek/

Actually, I'd like to know. But I don't have PMs yet.

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So it has to be absolutely unattainable?

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@Arjuna,

Arj: I think you have it essentially. On a cultural level a section of the U.S. especially white community has a hyper-inflated and sublimated romance with things Native American. The romance with it is because they are placing the ideal before the real. The ideal, especially with the spiritual and with the art communities fills a void the white folk think they have. I am very close to this issue of native art and its sublimation in white culture, having worked cloesly with N.A. medicine people, herbalists, artists, as well as their counterpart scheisters, con-men, and wannabes.

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@Arjuna,

Arjuna wrote:

GoshisDead wrote:

Arj:
Slavoj Zizek uses the term in a personal yet pan-human manner. It isn't necessarily your holy grail. Zizek in The Fragile Absolute notes that capitalist society has a culture-wide issue with sublimating "****" to fill a divine void. He cites examples like Ikea mass producing crappy 3rd rate artsy furniture. While, I must admit Lacan is more daunting so I'm not as familiar. He however uses it in a much more personal psychological sense, which as Ken has noted could be very revealing.

Maybe I still don't understand. I used to hang with people who sold crafts at Native American Pow Wows. The sublimation was so heavy you could cut it with a knife. The term some vendors used was: Native American ****.

Toward the end, I got sick of it and was inpired to tell people the truth: Native Americans were just people.... the stuff they were buying wasn't magic. And I was in this state one day when I looked up into the eyes of this woman holding one my carvings in her hands. Something about the look in her eyes made me think "Oh... " There's more to it.

You thought that just from her look? Maybe she was hitting on you. Had you thought about that? Then there really would have been a lot more to it.

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

So it has to be absolutely unattainable?

inherently so

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What is your 'Petit objet a'?

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