The eyes never lie, chicos. The Imaginary, however, can be deceiving. The reason why French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan warned us not to be misled when interpreting dreams. Proposer of the return to Freud, Lacan had an outstanding consideration of the father of psychoanalysis’ work, and perhaps the most attentive read of Sigmund Freud’s very words, which allowed for a sharp comprehension of the findings they conveyed.
Most of the time, Lacan seems to have, through sharp observation, simply acknowledged what Freud had expressed – to the letter. At moments, however, such sharp observation allowed for taking things to a yet sharper comprehension. This occurs with the interpretation of dreams.
From Freud’s rich findings on the formations of the unconscious – such as the classic, well-known “Freudian slip” – and Lacan’s own additional studies of linguistics, he comes to affirm that “the unconscious is structured as language”. Inspired by Saussure’s linguistics, he comprehends how signifier and signification are articulated in the human psyche, and how Freud’s free association method for accessing the unconscious operates along the signifying chain, the chain of signifiers. That is: how signifiers, such as phonemes, connect to one another; and how following their clue may reveal the actual signification imbedded in the unconscious.
Whilst Jung describes the “collective unconscious” as a level of consciousness, Lacan enlightens: the unconscious is collective. This foundational level that contains the very structure of our individual psyche is, indeed, collective. Be it the depth and power of ancestry, be it the shared language through which we come into existence as humans, be it the mystery of Desire that calls us forth into life, the unconscious is, in itself, a collective fabric – and is structured as language.
Being a Lacanian psychoanalyst and a lover of words, I cannot refrain from listening and reading what words present so generously if we only pay attention. Thus, the art of psychoanalytic interpretation is not really about inferring, but about listening and reading as truth transpires through the signifiers. Therefore, one must not be allured by images, but rather pay attention to the words and phonemes they may deliver.
Words, phonemes, and how they articulate meanings – call it, as a wise man from the forest taught me way before Freud and Lacan, the mystery of words. You may know the mystery of a word by simply paying attention to it.
Moreover, how much of a culture is revealed by its words and the meanings articulated by its signifiers. Language shapes culture and is shaped by it. That’s part of what makes language learning so fascinating, of course. Each language is a whole… world. And that brings us to our topic: world – in Russian.
How do we say “world” in Russian? Мир (mir). Mir is the most commonly used word to say world in Russian. Interestingly, this word happens to have another meaning to it, too. It is written exactly the same: мир (mir) also means peace.
Thus, when we say world in Russia, we also say peace. When we say peace, we also say world. The Russian culture conceives the world as peace, and peace as possible for the world. Truth be told, no matter how “terrible” the Western narrative tries to paint Russia, the nation does not have a record of starting many wars, but rather of getting into them to either defend itself, or defend its friends.
Friend – another interesting word in the Russian language. Friend: друг (droog). Friends: друзья (droozia). Friendship: дружба (droojba). Well, and what is the Russian word for the other, as in another? If we are to refer to another human, how do we say another in Russian? Другой (droogoy). Another and friend have the same root, sounding quite similar. In fact, the word another, Другой, contains the word friend, друг, in it. The other in Russian is, in principle, a potential friend.
But there is, yet, more to the world in Russian.
Another word for world in Russian? Свет (sviet). Свет (sviet) means world. It has, nonetheless, another meaning to it as well. And it, too, is written exactly the same: свет (sviet) also means light.
Свет – light, realm, village, community, world.
Мир – peace, realm, universe, world.
I swear, I don’t mean to go woke or new-age here, but… There you go, it is what it is: in Russian culture, the world happens to be conceived as peace and light.
Western cynicism has a real hard time grasping such reality beyond the margins of its shallow partner in crime, wokism. Nevertheless, in Russia, this reality is conceivable – not merely as an idea, but also as experience.
We addressed the other. But what about I? The word for saying I in Russian is я (ya).
“Я is the last letter in the alphabet!” – Russian mothers tell their children when the kid is being too self-centered and demanding, as in repeatedly saying I want this, I want now, I, I, I..!
Я does happen to be the last letter in the Russian alphabet. Last letter? Western fearsome emphasis on individualism might find this a horrible place to be! But, mind you, it is no mediocre position. Every writer knows the last phrase or word can be even more important than the first. It sets the tone that will echo while all that came before is being assimilated. To be the last is a highly polite, noble, heroic place to be. It means you can hold the door for the whole alphabet, and the whole alphabet has got your back. And with the letter Я begins the word язык (yazihk), language – we are back to the start.
No wonder the Russian language, русский язык, is one of the foundational languages of the multipolar world coming into existence. It allows for conceiving a meaningful place for я (ya), for the individual subject, backed by the whole collective of letters; a friendly place for the other; and a world meant as light, a world meant for peace. The contribution of the Russian World is Russian Peace.
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Note: 2023 is the Year of the Russian Language as the language of interethnic communication for CIS – Commonwealth of Independent States.
Photo: full-disk image of Earth from Russia’s Elektro-L satellite n.1 (NTsOMZ).
