Enter the Void and Jouissance

People talking about past lives and the idea of reincarnation against the backdrop of Epicurus and his idea of the morality of the soul lead to some interesting differences in ideas. The way we interpret the soul leaving the body also varies from person to person, even if we believe that the soul doesn't leave the body we still have the idea of some sort of "other" within the body. I recently watched this movie called ENTER THE VOID directed by Gaspar Noe, the director of IRREVERSIBLE, which gives a live account of what it like when you die, your body leaves your soul, and eventually you posit yourself back into being via conception.


ENTER THE VOID (trailer) This movie is on NETFLIX instant streaming, so do yourself a favor and watch it. I promise you haven't seen anything quite like this movie.

Anyway, another idea that was bounced around in class was the idea of there being a sort of pleasure in pain. We can see how being wrapped up in the drama of life can lead to pleasure for some people, but ultimately this pleasure becomes an either greater pain or a fracturing of pleasure. This notion can be found in Lacan's idea of Jouissance, or painful pleasure. This can be demonstrated in simple cases such as surplus-enjoyment leading to commodity-fetishism leading to relationships being mediated by material goods...simple. Jouissance flourishes outside the boundaries of the pleasure principle, which we could view as the state of static pleasure. The pleasure principle is the law that commands the subject to 'enjoy as little as possible'. Jouissance comes into the picture when the subject begins to transgress the prohibitions of the pleasure principle and goes beyond. Once you go beyond pleasure you find yourself in pain, but being wrapped up in your own "symptom" you continue to suffer in this state of jouissance deriving suffering as satisfaction.