Failure means not reaching the object, defeat in achieving a goal, losing an external possibility, and so on. Failure always occurs at the level of reality. It is symbolizable—meaning it is painful, but it can be mourned.
Kabul 24: Betrayal of desire means retreating from the point where desire is engaged and choosing security, approval, and comfort instead of desire. Here, the subject has not been defeated; they have abandoned themselves!
The suffering arising from betrayal of desire is enduring, cyclical, and nameless.If you try and fail, you experience failure. But not trying means refusing to take the risk of desire and preserving a good image in the eyes of the Big Other.
Later, you will not suffer from having failed, but from having betrayed yourself—and this suffering returns in the form of guilt. An inner voice tells you: You knew what you wanted and you didn’t do it!Psychoanalysis does not say you must necessarily realize your desires.
Psychoanalysis asks you not to retreat from your desires, even if you fail, even if you do not reach the object, and to remain in the position of desire.
This suffering is tragic but not paralyzing.Procrastination and constantly postponing tasks are usually regarded as weaknesses of will or time management. People call the procrastinator lazy. But from a Lacanian perspective, delay is often an unconscious decision.
The subject prefers to betray their desire rather than face failure.In procrastination, the subject says: Not now! I’ll do it better later! The conditions aren’t right yet! But the structural truth is: If I enter the field, my desire will become manifest, and if I fail, I fear becoming disillusioned with my desire.
Thus, delay means maintaining a safe distance from desire—at the cost of the subject’s gradual erosion.
Delay is more painful than failure! Because in delay, the subject witnesses their own betrayal every day; there is no event to mourn, no ending occurs.
Failure has an end, but delay is an endless suspension.This is where Lacanian depression enters—not as a lack of energy, but as the freezing of desire. Delay is an attempt to avoid the guilt of failure, which leads to the production of a deeper guilt: betrayal of desire.
This is the suffering that has no name, yet it devours the subject from within.Consider this question:When someone constantly postpones a task, what do you think they fear more?
External failure, or the revelation of their own desire?
