By contrast, in his later work the problem arises because the real is only too present. The real corresponds to that which is outside the symbolic and therefore in the realm of death. In his early work, the real stands principally for trauma, where trauma is defined as a lack. In many ways the shift Žižek highlights between the early to late Lacan in regard of the real repeats this shift from the old to the new law (and so, unsurprisingly, Lacan’s work also becomes increasingly orientated towards Christian theology). For this reason, I view Christianity not as something which heals the sense of alienation or split that accompanies us in so many ways rather, it posits the split as such, only now from the perspective of excess. So when I speak of trauma as a positive thing, I do not mean it is positive in the crass sense that out of everything bad comes something good I mean that the very goodness of life offered in Christ-the prior affirmation of the material and spiritual excess of life-is more traumatic than its lack thereof.
The distinction here falls upon whether lack is predicated upon an initial scarcity or a prior plenitude.Īnd this is how theology introduces a new frame for thinking about trauma, because it thinks in terms of the latter, not the former. Aquinas seems to saying that under the new law the sacrament acts as a kind of defence against God’s plenitude, without which we would literally be burned by the intensity of his love. the Eucharist) under the new law, now that truth has been given in full? The answer is that after Christ there is a ‘superabundance’ of divine truth, so the ceremonial precepts act in the reverse: they are not established to maintain a link in a world otherwise beset by a lack of truth rather, the rites ensure that divine plenitude is received in proper proportion now that truth is given in superabundance. So the question arises, why then the need for ceremonial precepts (i.e.
Sacrifice was employed therefore to maintain a bond with God prior to the fullness of truth. sacrifice) under the old law? The answer he gives is that under the old law truth was deficient in the sense that revelation in Christ was still yet to be given. I take the view set out by Aquinas when he famously asks: why the need for ceremonial precepts (e.g. Marcus Pound (MP): My point is quite simple. Could you talk a bit about what you mean by trauma and how you see it other than simply an overwhelmingly negative and psychologically harmful experience that we associate with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? To begin to understand how psychoanalysis is a theological parody it seems important to understand how you use the idea of trauma in your book. The Other Journal (TOJ): One of the main arguments of your book, Theology, Psychoanalysis and Trauma, is that psychoanalysis is a theological parody, and that psychoanalytic intervention is a parody of the intervention of Christ.
0 kommentar(er)
