You're irresistibly wrong

The cover of identity. It is the Post-Modern plague. The condition has existed since society formed out of chaos, but only in the last century or so has it ever been identified as a problem. And you should be aware. It is a problem.

Sometimes we go to great lengths to provide a cover and reinforce our identity. There was an Undergrads episode about it. He became the guy who wouldn't leave his room, and eventually he wouldn't leave his room to keep his cover, even though he did want to leave his room. The lengths we go through breaks all logic. Richard will sometimes lie just to maintain his cover. He's getting a lot better about it, but it's amazing. Partly it's also because other people reinforce our identity. Just this morning Nads said to me: "You like wine? Who are you? What have you done with my husband?" And in order not to disappoint others' conceptions of our identity, we try to keep it cohesive and intact. We don't know what will happen if people find out we're not always the same person, that you can't count on us to be the same person (at all levels) at any given moment. Unfortunately, our identity is fragmented. Lacan's theory. Good old Jacque.

What really worries me about his theory though (if it is correct) is this part that he calls the Real. The part that can't be represented through the symbolic order (ie, can't be represented with any tool we possess). This means that each of us faces the Real alone (as we can't express it), and I don't think everyone can do it.

Anyway, things are returning to a precarious equilibrium. I'm sleeping more soundly, Richard is returning to work, and Mark and Linda are hanging out again. Equilibrium is sneaky though, and life may be shaky before week's end.