Connection
Of the connective synthesis of production (and… and… and…): the chain of free associations is not simply a representation of an underlying dynamic, a metaphor for latent peculiarities, or a symptom of as yet undisclosed conflicts and possibilities.
In its vagaries and detours, this chain is a machine whose flow is recorded and consumed by an ear, be it that of the analyst or the analysand. It produces an effect, an impression, and an experience that, in turn will engender further associations and impressions.
To speak of psychoanalysis is to speak of a journey along a complex and multi-layered network of such chains. At best, and though the analyst may be familiar with the terrain, it is the analysand who also steers the process, decides which nodes or junctions to traverse, or, better still, which nodes or junctions to create in order to traverse. The analyst has no way of telling in advance how the adventure will unfold, let alone end, for it is the analysand’s as well. The couch disencumbers both from some of the weight of identification.
I close my eyes as my analysand’s sounds become my images, thoughts, intensities, not so much of where or what she’s been but of what she is now making of where or what she thinks she’s been. It is not she that I see through her words but what she produces in me, which is not entirely me. What I say, if I say anything at all, and what I do not say, what of all that I do not say she chooses to hear, may or may not link up with what she already sees, thinks, and experiences. The flows of words, hers and mine, are products that not only record (speak) pre-existing, and hence consumable (heard) identities, understandings, and affects; they also produce further associations and understandings.
