Name of the Father, when doctor says "No"
When you go to the doctor, that person may answer your question with a “no” When your Father first spoke to you, according to psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, you realized that there was one Other than you. The symbiotic relationship with your mother was interrupted. This is the point at which what Lacan says is “the Name/No of the Father” This segues into the notion or idea of a hierarchical set up of relationship and helps in understanding what stands between us and accessible knowledge that can be legitimated. What becomes apparent in a hierarchy is that there is a top middle and bottom. At the top is what Lacan calls the Master Signifier, the determiner of the narrative which we call life.
Doctors, lawyers, priests, pastors, all are Master Signifier and designate truth. If you ever speak to/with any of these they almost immediately take on the role of the expert. Before you get a word out you will find yourself being instructed. It is as if there is a certain space or insecurity or control that is felt to be filled or fulfilled. I am sorry, but I do not need lectures and explanations on what I know and do not need someone to spoon feed me words of wisdom. If you are confronted by or in conversation with one of the Master Signifiers, please be kind and let them know that they do not have to be in control. The Significance of a matter and understanding of it does not need to result in usurpation by a Master Signifier. Be bold with what you know and stand-up and talk-back to these individuals about what you know; do not stand corrected. Take courage, be strong, and see the salvation of the Lord.
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