Fragment 7
The desire to disappear completely - Kafka once said, “I am not interested in literature, I want to be literature.” For Plato this was the task of all philosophy, to stage an inner death, what in Lacanian psychoanalysis is called a “symbolic death.” When you feel so overwhelmed and overstimulated that you risk going numb, that’s when you feel the need to escape yourself the most. It’s a desire to be untethered from the world, a need to come back to your senses. We all need this kind of relief, now that a creeping sense of feeling unreal and alienated has become a symptom of modern life. This is what philosophy provides, a way to disappear completely so as to come back to our senses.
How much I can relate to this. It is interesting how many situations, personal or societal can trigger such response. Fight or flight. As I get older the reset comes faster, my skin is thinner…. I need a withdrawal from the news, social media, my family.
A cabin in the woods…..should be my refuge, where I hear just the morning doves coo.
Your exploration of numbness and the journey to feeling again is beautifully articulated. The contrast between existing in that dull ache and truly experiencing emotions - joy, grief, calm - shows how profound the transformation from disconnection to presence can be.