The Imaginary I

Bonobo’s “Noctuary”

My apologies for being away. 

My great escape, writing,

had to be saved for academic intentions,

seeing as reality just started to kick in…

…or did it?

I’ve been studying said “reality” and it seems as though I might be mistaken, for according to my recent homework:

“the human subject has no direct access to reality;

all transactions with the kind of objective world postulated, for example, by the physical sciences,

are mediated on the one hand by work of the symbolic order (production of signs), and on the other by the work of the imaginary (production of identity):

the real, in Lacanian theory, is a logically empty category.”

but Katy, you say,

what does this even mean?

Well, about that symbolic order…

we all participate in the acts of sign making— whether it’s speaking, writing, gesturing, dressing, or painting— everyday.




Every time, for example, you wave at a car that let you pass, it is assumed that you are saying “thank you”, as this is a sign agreed upon by society and borrowed by the individuals who live in it.





In the same way that we learn to understand pre-established visual signs, such as the waving example, we also learn to speak in pre-established systems of conversation.

Therefore, our subjective construction of “reality” is based upon these borrowed symbols, and even when we think we are in control of the way we see, speak, act or think,


we are conditioned to see, speak, act and think this way by a larger system in which we have been hard-wired.


We have no direct access to the actual objective world,

because we see it through a kind of pair of glasses with a prescription that has been chosen for each of us,

and we don’t always know the difference if what we’re seeing is blurry or clear.

The "I" that sees, speaks, and acts in a certain way is imaginary, for "I" do not actually choose how to see, speak or act. "I" is just how I explain it, how I gather all of these things that I see, say and do into one category, under one  umbrella that one can call "me" and "no one else,"

"an ‘I’ that looks out at the world from a central vantage-point, experiencing the visual field as a horizon always composed around itself.”

The concept of “I”, while seemingly personal property, is just as borrowed as the signs and symbols we use in everyday life. The word "I" can be used by anyone and everyone, given different definitions and have different functions.  To some, "I" means everything: to others, "I" can be my own worst enemy.





It’s just another sign, another part of language, a private concept that evolved from a public word. It has no direct relation to any objective reality, but acts as a flexible sign for what it could be.

You might think of this as depressing, that you no longer have autonomy of thought, conscious control over your individual decisions, that you can never know yourself. However, it can take another direction, and what I’ve resolved,




is since meaning is socially produced and shared,
you only can have access to the meaning of reality, and the consequential “I”, if you have access to other people’s viewpoints--

try on their prescription.


The key to understanding their prescription, or way of seeing, is through the agreed upon signs and symbols, be it their gestures to what stories they share and in what ways they express themselves differently than others. This sort of inspiration found in other people is the entry into finding the objective "I", the collective mind, and consequentially to recognize the dynamics of your own mind.

This also means that meaning is fluid, socially malleable and can be given different definitions at different points in time. Meaning naturally evolves, our concept of reality always changing.



Our opinions will transform when we reflect on them at different times in our lives, simply by which words we use to describe them to other people.








Reality, which means much more than we can subjectively comprehend, is inaccessible. Yet knowing this allows us to give it a more multi-dimensional consideration, a more fluid and flexible definition, something that we must share and express in order to understand.

(stellar photos by Pery Burge and Franco Rubartelli)

Some people take their expression…a bit too far? You decide where you cross the line:

The top 10 Illegal Baby Names, featuring Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, Woti (which means “Sexual Intercourse” in Malaysian), @, and more.


A town that has banned wearing Pajamas in public. According to head officer Williams, “Today it's pajamas. Tomorrow it's underwear. Where does it stop?"

seriously where does it stop..?

“Deviation from the social construction of visuality can be named and dealt with, variously, as hallucination, misrecognition, or visual disturbance.”

On that note, “Lords” by Nosaj Thing:

^{It looks like pink elephants on parade’s equally as twisted cousin. What did we watch when we were younger?}

^{Quotes from “Semiotics in Art History” by Bal and Bryson, ideas from Lacan.}