TAD, Tad DeLay, Sclerocardia, Cathexis and Events of Repression and Anxiety

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomypathy (ARVC) results from derangements in cellular and electrical structures in cardiac muscle. The heart quite literally hardens as its normal myocardial cells are replaced with fibrotic, fatty infiltrates. One of the minor diagnostic criteria is a Terminal Activation Delay of greater than 55 milleseconds (TAD > 55ms). If we think of cathexis as any focal investment, such as saturated phenomena or charged meanings (charged particles) attached to items in the symbolic register, we effect change and charge at a distance: when the symbolic and imaginary realms are so charged with content something is let loose or perhaps discovered within the Real itself, such as when anxiety is discovered in the pre-linguistic domain of the Real upon reflecting on the ripples on the surface of the symbolic.

Electric charge (the cathectic accumulation of charged particles such as ions) in biological systems lead to action potentials and the performance of work in the enfolding and unfolding of depolarizations and repolarizations of excitable tissue, such as heart muscle or the brain. The surplus of charge, whether configured in tissues of the body electric or psychic energy, push reactions in one direction or another. Surpluses of charge or meaning share in their properties of excess, which insist on their moments.

Do not expect a review of Tad DeLay's warmly and enthusiatically written nexus of psychoanalysis and theology, God is Unconscious, any time soon. I'm afraid the book, slender in appearance but dense in substance, requires living with it for a while; therefore a review in this blog will be a tad delayed.  But DeLay has digested Lacanian psychoanalysis in a manner most palatable, and even a cursory reading (NOT recommended) gleans a healthy dose of how Lacan's registers of the Real, Symbolic and Imaginary conspire to betray the play between anxiety, repression and the (Big) Other. The Delay of God is Unconscious is poised for the Cloud, with its rhythm of folding, unfolding and folding together. Truth be told, everyone likes a (really) good conspiracy theory.

Anatomical sclerocardia and its attendant dyscrasias are difficult to treat, and treatments focus on preventing sudden cardiac death. At the nexus of psychoanalysis and theology, metanoia remains challenging but amenable to manipulation. Still, a broken heart can mimic ARVC, and a change of heart often beckons from the dyscrasias of the Lacanian trinity, the Cusanian-Deleuzean manifold, or from Galen's humors, which may or may not have anything to do with jokes and their relations to the unconscious. After all, not everything is spooky, just most things; not everything that has yet to unfold is repression cutting a gap in the Real.

Sometimes we just need to take a deep breath in the Cloud.