8.021 It is alongside this look
that the "is of identification"
of the there behind the There
precipitates a further adoptive
identification of the complete
{f}Other-object as (an)Other form
of the Self creating
in the process
yet another object for the Psychical
and Physical Circuits of Exchange
8.022 Immediately following
this
identificatory act the "is of predication"
qualifies the adopted Self as the one
capable of "being
it" for any locally
available on looking (m)Other
or {f}Other In other words
it is at this stage Lacan's
Mirror Stage that the
little speechless one flips
completely from the primordial
state of being the whole World
into
the dualistic one of having a
World a (m)Other and {f}Other
containing World and
having a Mind a Self
constructing Mind
8.023 Evidence for this
catastrophic split can be
observed at first hand
by
lovingly placing a coloured
spot on the forehead of any
eight-month
old child and
sitting them in front of a mirror
At
first there will be no response
Their solipsistic state of Primary
Narcissism
remains blissfully intact
intact they are and remain
the There
in which mirror images continually
just register as
patches of colour
8.024 However generally by eighteen
months most children will have
undergone that skandalous dualistic
split in which they become captured
by their
own image in the mirror
and thus are able to wipe the
coloured spot from their
own forehead
8.025 From that point
on the little in fans no longer
secure in the thought of being
the whole World suffers the
consequences of having a World
and having a Self an adopted
alienated self built on the
Images of a (m)Other
and {f}Other pair