Re: I Desire
The question asked in the comment section of the post { I Desire } was:
"...who or what would you be if you were actually freed from all these "masks"? Who are we really without the personas we "put on"? In the end, I think we're a combination of all of those..........all those masks we create to protect ourselves. "
While we do construct masks to protect ourselves there are those ascribed to us by the outer world which we adapt for ourselves because they are used to define who we are. As such, we come to see our "selves" through the eyes of others and admittedly, we are a combination of all of these as you point out.
The desire however, of which I speak of is elusive/confounding yes. Lacan calls it a "'hole in the self' which the subject attempts to close through an endless, metonymic chain of supplements: the perfect car, the perfect boyfriend, a tenure track job, etc. But as soon as one supplement is acquired, desire moves onto something else. Desire is a (representational) itch that can never truly be scratched." { Explained fully here }
In this case its a desire nonetheless to know, to have, to do, to JUST BE--without the masks--one person rather than multiples.
Because its a desire, and because it is by its very nature fleeting, ethereal even, it denies us total satisfaction; by the time it even gets to that point, another desire manifests itself--the escape to some foreign land portrayed in painting for instance, after being tempted by its landscape or the lure of the painted nude who imposes himself in a certain window display in a prominent store in Manhattan--for "Art's" sake hmm...
