Thursday, May 10, 2007
Today, a curious msn nick sparked off an mini epiphany of sorts.
"Does yearning = missing?"
Without the use of a dictionary, i begun an evaluation of the chain of signification that is attached to each individual word. Yearning seems to be filled with sexual undertones, hinting subtly at possession and latent with expectations. Missing on the other hand seems more emotional, hopeful and almost devoid of expectations.
I yearn for your touch.
I miss your touch.
While seemingly synonymous, the implied meanings within each are almost diametrically opposite. This is one thought experiment that i have never undertaken, but after my brief training in Lacanian psychoanalysis, i conclude that the structure of language is from where we derive meaning. The study of signifiers over signifieds. Truly there can be no fixed and constant meaning attached to these words, unless one is a purist who yields all form of intelligent thought to a dead book or words. These two words are after all means of expressing a certain desire and emotion, thus the chain of signification carries on, and so does this blog entry.
I treasure the word miss over yearn. I know what it means to miss, especially to miss unconditionally, without expectations, it creates great passion and energy but it also destroys and annihilates. Missing someone is powerful, i breaks you down and reconstructs for you your missing love subject. This would lead on to Freud's papers on melancholy which i shall save for another day.
Languages is fluid, yearn and miss have no clear cut boundaries, and they refuse compartmentalization. Your choice between these two words when expressing yourself to a loved one ultimately depends on his or her individual chains of signification. As you have seen, miss, to me, is granted meaning based on my own experiences, bittersweet memories.
Two. The Magic Number.
Not many have the Ultimate Signifier to unlock that number's meaning to me at this moment. Through the Ultimate Signifier of religion, science and such, one can understand everything but know nothing.
Posted by Jo