On the Elusive Nature of Being Human, and on our Search for the Absolute:

We exist in the space between the internal landscape of desire, lack, and often trauma, and the external world of social structures and systems. Woven into this dynamic is the enduring human quest for the absolute, for something that transcends the limitations of our everyday existence. This yearning, often expressed through religion and spirituality, shapes not only our individual lives but also the very fabric of our psychology, culture, and politics.

We are, as the fragments collected here suggest, beings marked by a fundamental incompleteness, a sense that something is always missing. This lack fuels a desire for wholeness, for a connection to something larger than ourselves, be it God, the universe, or a sense of ultimate meaning. Religion, in its myriad forms, has traditionally offered a framework for this quest, providing rituals, narratives, and communities that address this existential yearning. But the sacred is not confined to formal religion. It can be found in art, in nature, in human connection, in the pursuit of knowledge – anywhere we glimpse, however fleetingly, a sense of transcendence.

This quest for the absolute translates into the realm of contemporary psychology often as the search for self-actualization, for meaning and purpose. It underpins our motivations, shapes our values, and drives us to seek fulfillment. Psychoanalysis, particularly in the Lacanian tradition, thinks differently: it recognizes this fundamental lack and sees it as the engine of desire, the force that propels us through life, forever seeking a wholeness that can only be reached in delusionary fantasies or collective ideologies. The unconscious, in this view, is the realm where this yearning for the absolute is most powerfully expressed, often in disguised and symbolic forms.

In culture, the quest for the absolute manifests in our art, our myths, our stories. These cultural products form the traditions that hold our collective hopes, fears, and aspirations. Cultural production reflects our ongoing struggle to make sense of our place in the universe. The poignant image of "baby shoes, never worn" is not just a personal tragedy; it resonates with a broader cultural understanding of loss, potential, and the fragility of all life. It's a secular artifact that still touches the sacred, in the absolute loss that makes its mark on every human life.

Politics is also deeply influenced by this human yearning. Ideologies, both religious and secular, often tap into our desire for a better world, a utopian vision that promises to fill the void, to create a society where the lack is finally overcome. Political movements, at their best, can inspire collective action towards a more just and equitable future. At their worst, they can become rigid dogma, seeking to impose a singular vision of the absolute, often with devastating consequences. The desire to be a part of something bigger than oneself can make people susceptible to the lure of false absolutes, as we have seen so many times in history, and as we can see today in many places. 

We are, however, not simply passive recipients of these cultural and political forces. We actively negotiate them, reinterpret them, and find our own unique ways of meaning. We adapt religious rituals to our personal needs, we find spiritual solace in secular pursuits, we resist the dominant narratives and create our own spaces of autonomy within the everyday. Like walkers in a city, we chart our own paths through the labyrinth of modern life, finding moments of transcendence in the most unexpected places. Sometimes these places become established spheres of transformation, like the "Burning Man." 

The human condition, then, is a dynamic interplay between internal and external forces, between lack and desire, between the mundane and the sacred. The quest for the absolute, for something that transcends the limitations of our everyday existence, is a fundamental part of what makes us human. It shapes our psychology, fuels our cultural expressions, and drives our political aspirations. And it is in the space between, in the art of making do, in the interplay of resistance and adaption, that we find the most enduring expressions of humanity. The lack we experience, and try to fill, is not just a void, but the very space where our humanity unfolds.