What is left of an individual or a society without the desire to be something else?

What is left of us without the aim of being better, but an everlasting present with no horizon or expectations?

What is left for a donkey that pulls its cart if it does not believe in getting the carrot that dangles in front of its eyes?

What makes people leave the comfort of their homes to encounter risks in the search of something concrete, seeking the fulfilment of their illusions, fantasies and desires?  

An answer to this last question is to try to satisfy our imaginary Other by converting ourself into the idealized object that such Other is apparently expecting, such as to be president, a loved one or just a good or bad person.

Otherwise, it could be to continue offering to the Other something that is supposed to be important for him or her, like the symbolic object that someone looks for, like a grail, a trophy or a fortune. Any object can fill this role, the only important thing is that it is desired by our Other.

In turn, we can also see that “the object is the cause of the desire” (Lacan, 2004: 114), because the object is also the medium that the desire needs to be present, because it seems that the desire will disappear without bodily form in an object.  

©Sebastian Guerrini, 2009