The Shadows of Totalization, Part XVII
I make these assumptions: 1) there is an unconscious; 2) though there has been an age-old recognition of what we would call unconscious phenomena (e.g. dreams) our concept of the unconscious is radically different; 3) our concept of the unconscious is specifically rationalized, or somehow “scientificized”, deliberately, and in fact, that’s the point of our concept of the unconscious….to be a strangely hybridized formation between rational and irrational, the scientific and the artistic, between the passionate and the neutral, an intimate connection with “the body” and an observation which could be taking place next to the body, or on the opposite end of the universe, for all it would matter.
During the early charting of this territory, the researcher maintains a steely resolve to be true to observation, to go to where the data will lead. I wish to note here my absolute admiration for the courage and determination of these early explorers, but even in the beginning, their explorations are markedly peculiar. Rather than venturing into a “dark continent” (NB: though the unconscious is often depicted as a “dark continent” this depiction is “darkly continental”) the explorers don’t go beyond the end of the street—they slip into thickets in the neighborhood vacant lot, into the interstices of hedges which separate yards, up into the branches of solo trees standing in the middle of lawns, down shallow tunnels dug behind the house—in the manner of children who both play and rehearse. (Can one rehearse the role of explorer? Not the role played by one or another explorer, but of exploration?)
They venture into what I think is the obscured obvious, or the known unknown, or the obvious obscured, or the passionately disinterested, or the disinterestedly passionate, and follow animal tracks there, which lead them—nowhere? Everywhere? A new place? An old place revisited? Carefully, determinedly, loyally, meticulously, these researchers follow the trail of their data, right into the very “stuff” of care, determination, loyalty, meticulousness, and “data”—and what happens then? Does the world dissolve into an abysmal hole, do old truths stand reconfirmed, or are new spaces opened for the first time?
During the early charting of this territory, the researcher maintains a steely resolve to be true to observation, to go to where the data will lead. I wish to note here my absolute admiration for the courage and determination of these early explorers, but even in the beginning, their explorations are markedly peculiar. Rather than venturing into a “dark continent” (NB: though the unconscious is often depicted as a “dark continent” this depiction is “darkly continental”) the explorers don’t go beyond the end of the street—they slip into thickets in the neighborhood vacant lot, into the interstices of hedges which separate yards, up into the branches of solo trees standing in the middle of lawns, down shallow tunnels dug behind the house—in the manner of children who both play and rehearse. (Can one rehearse the role of explorer? Not the role played by one or another explorer, but of exploration?)
They venture into what I think is the obscured obvious, or the known unknown, or the obvious obscured, or the passionately disinterested, or the disinterestedly passionate, and follow animal tracks there, which lead them—nowhere? Everywhere? A new place? An old place revisited? Carefully, determinedly, loyally, meticulously, these researchers follow the trail of their data, right into the very “stuff” of care, determination, loyalty, meticulousness, and “data”—and what happens then? Does the world dissolve into an abysmal hole, do old truths stand reconfirmed, or are new spaces opened for the first time?
posted by Yusef Asabiyah at 12:49 PM
2 Comments:
I think it was David Cooper of the Anti-Psychiatry movement in the 1970s who called the unconscious something like ”our private, underdeveloped third-world” which is the suggestive metaphor that came to mind when I read you post. This dark continent is understood not only as unchartered, as you note, but also as a vast potentiality of experimentation with riches yet to be mined and simultaneously as having the potentiality of a black hole. Now, Cooper would of course insist on its becoming-revolutionary as well.
Your interpretation and creation of the unconscious turns it into metaphysics, it seems to me. Whether this might be helpful or not remains to be seen. The fact that you don’t fall into the psychoanalytical trap of treating it as “an enemy” could be promising. It might as well be the production of desire.
The role of the “scientific” explorer is interesting, driven as they seem to be by alluring fear and “brave” data-driven timidity. What they are seeking is the visible as explorers do, basically following sightings while getting lost in the dark.
You are, of course, familiar with Deleuze’s harsh indictment of the unconscious in psychoanalysis. He, in fact, responds to your post in his “Four Propositions on Psychoanalysis” (in “Two Regimes of Madness” (2007) p. 79 – 88)
Orla
"The role of the “scientific” explorer is interesting, driven as they seem to be by alluring fear and “brave” data-driven timidity. What they are seeking is the visible as explorers do, basically following sightings while getting lost in the dark."
Basically, this is my point.
However, the whole interest is to go beyond this point and try to understand the how and why and wherefoe of brave data-driven timidity, the how and why and wherefore of following sightings and thereby getting lost in the dark.
--Yusef
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