On Why The Creation of Aestheticism Is So Important To Self-Esteem and To Falsehood
“Therefore, nothing can be neglected with respect to the infinite presence in the world. There are no poetic objects as opposed to others that are not. Genuine purity has nothing to do with the choice of objects and of means: it is that which courageously faces up to the harshnesses and the impurities of the world, and returns to the light of day having lost nothing of its whiteness. The poet has a right to all worlds: his only sin would be a lack of love for some fragment of the universe.” ~Jean Rousselot, ‘L’Evangile selon Rainer Maria Rilke’, in Les Lettres Nouvelles, 1952
Sublimation is required for the manifestation of the perverse creative process. Enigmatic is the relationship between creation and perversion the two are intertwined on a basic level. The same instinctual energy that is released through perverse sexual activity is now sublimated and re-directed through the perverse creative process. Pregenital libido is released with pregenital instincts which are essential as the raw materials to this sublimation process.
This basic psychoanalytic information given to us by Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel in Creativity and Perversion is the information that helps us uncover the Truth surrounding Falsehood. For me, it was to uncover Truth behind the sexual perversion of homosexuality. The psychoanalytic compulsion to idealize certain aspects of the Self is a vital need for the maintenance of self-esteem in structural theory. Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel uses the term “pervert” to describe the person who wishes to distort, warp, contort, abuse, misrepresent, and corrupt reality. I find the term “pervert” demeaning and derogatory simply because we are all potential “perverts” waiting on the right set of environmental cues to manifest. What is required is an astute mind to evaluate what is “true” against what is “false.” Uncovering Truth is not always an easy thing to do but becoming closely acquainted with Falsehood, in man’s social game of thrones, is a crucial skill to learn for any individual.
First, Falsehood develops out of a poverty for the pregenital ego to maintain an appropriate amount of self-esteem in early childhood development. In fact, it could be said a lot of perversions develop out of an impoverishment both socially, financially, AND individually.
I am going to speak on my own personal observations in a family drama that has unfolded recently, and ones that are probably not too unfamiliar with people in positions of power and leadership. It is also one of the popular areas that surround a subtle, yet lethal, type of Falsehood and it is in the act of charitable contributions associated with what Jacques Lacan wrote in the following quote:
“The images of man’s body is the principle of every unity he perceives in objects . . . all the objects of his world are always structured around the wondering shadows of his own ego.”
In the movie “The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo” Martin Vanger, the killer, posed a question to Mikael Blomkvist right before his unsuccessful attempt to murder him, “Why human beings don’t run at the slightest feeling of danger?” To which he provides the answer he believes to be the reason. It’s because humans are trained in early childhood development not to offend others and that “to be polite” is more important than pain or being uncomfortable whether it be psychological pain or physical pain. As a result, they are unwittingly trained to self-doubt their own instincts. This is something that doesn’t happen in the wild. Animals, at the slightest perception of danger, run. This makes them excellent barometers for cataclysmic events like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.
Regarding my own personal analysis in my personal perspective on conflict and violence; to give anything, gifts, services, or charitable donations is a way people “win sales” in game theory. Psychopaths are very astute at social games and sociopaths are very astute at learning how to get what they need. It is for this reason, psychopaths learn early on that charity can be wielded and taken away with abusive power as it could also be used to manipulate a victim, and, at the same time, used as a character witness to deceive onlookers in the crowd. It is for this reason not only sociopaths, but innocent victims, who are impoverished, and at a disadvantage, may become ensnared in the barbed coil of psychopathic social games played by the charitable psychopath. It’s a game played out over and over again in rings of power and leadership. It’s the smoke and mirrors of the illusionist making things disappear and reappear when warped and distorted minds begin playing their elusive games.
It is at this point I would like to re-introduce Chassegeut-Smirgel’s first research entitle ‘The Emperor of China’s Nightingale — A Psychoanalytical Essay on Falsehood’ (1968) in why the creation of aestheticism is so important to self-esteem and to Falsehood. In this research paper, Chassegeut-Smirgel introduces the Hans Christian Andersen story ‘The Nightingale.’ I give a very brief account of the story. Beyond the limits of the Emperor of China’s garden was a lovely forest where, in the branches, lived a nightingale whose exquisite singing enchanted poor fisherman. The nightingale soon became famous as one of the best of all the Emperor’s wonders. The Emperor, wanting to possess the bird, requested it be bought to him so he could cage it and listen to it sing. A little girl brought the lord-in-waiting to the nightingale, but he was disappointed to see a little grey bird that looked, well, rather ordinary. But its song brought tears to the Emperor’s eyes and determined to possess this exquisite bird, had it caged and brought to court. The Emperor then received a package and inside was a casket that contained a mechanical nightingale supposed to look like a living one, but it was covered all over with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. As soon as the artificial bird had been wound up, it could sing like the real one and could move its tail, which sparkled with silver and gold, which moved up and down. It was a present from the Emperor of Japan to the Emperor of China. Very soon after its arrival, the whole court enthused over the mechanical nightingale, which was so beautiful to behold and which could sing thirty times over the same tune at a tempo the real nightingale could not sustain. No one noticed when the real nightingale flew out the window, back to its green woods.
Can we make the connection between the reality of our current political events and the difference bound in Falsehood and Truth?
In this area of psychoanalysis to which I have drawn you, many times the question can become less a legal question of “who is right” and “who is wrong,” and more a question of morality as opposed to the Law. As you know, there are no laws making morality a legal requirement to live in civilized society. The entire cliche, “I cannot tell a lie,” is used to train the very young to be honest. It becomes more and more a philosophical question of “What grounds the claims that Falsehood is wrong and that the interdiction against Falsehood should be a label of ‘outcast’?” These prohibitions can become absolute prohibitions that cast all forms of Falsehood in the arena of “outside Other” in some cultures. It becomes bound to philosophical questions like, “Who is deserving of the right to live?” and “Who is deserving of the right to die?” These questions are both metaphorical and literal at times in the pursuit of philosophy. “Whose lives are more valuable? Whose lives can be left to die?” It’s the root of all conflict and violence in the Us vs Them, sometimes petty litigations of the adversarial court of “The Satan,” or at least those we label as “The Satan.” Those characters we deem as Luciferian Other and those characters we deem as “Godly Other.” In reality, it is just like Ru Paul said, “We are all born naked. The rest is drag.”
I have chosen to write this post because I was inspired by personal family events and my awareness of the psychoanalytic truths that are bound to these events.
Sources:
Chassegeut-Smirgel, Janine. (1984). Creativity and Perversions. London. Free Association Books. (pg.89)
Lacan, Jacques. (1991). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book II. New York. W.W. Norton. (pg. 166). Originally written in French ‘Le Seminaire, Livre II.’ 1978. Paris. Seuil. (pg. 198).
