THE FIVE FINGERS OF SOCIAL DESIRE
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ideas, language, and abstract conceptualization must also integrate an ethical
associative moment: Through thinking assodatively as well as differentiatively
we give ethical coherence and unity to our thoughts as well.
While we may derive differentiative desire from the idea of association,
differentiative desire also incorporates the idea of sensual desire. The ‘sensual
moment’, we could say, is retained within differentiative desire. Although
reason and sensuality are dualistically portrayed as ‘opposites’, theoretical
engagement is often an intensely sensual event. As sensual, embodied beings,
we may appreciate moments of pleasure that emerge as we articulate an
elegant, well-crafted idea or argument. Sitting among friends, rapt in stimulating
discussion, we may almost burst with the new idea percolating inside us. What
could be more sensual than the great “ah hah!” that emerges from our throats
when we finally grasp a new idea?
This ‘sensual momenf surfaces within the act of artistic creativity itself.
The artistic, creative impulse represents the desire to engender meaning and
form that express something distinctive about the self or about the world.
Differentiative desire represents the desire to use our senses aesthetically to
express what is deepest within the human imagination, what tingles along the
tips of our fingers. Few recognize the creative impulse to be as vital as the
desire for sexual or sensual fulfillment; whereas it is expected that even the
most ‘average’ person can achieve sensual fulfillment, it is rarely expected that
each can achieve creative satisfaction through artistic expression. Creativity is
reserved for the elite, regarded as a mere ‘creative means’ to an end that is
generally quantified in terms of an economically valuable elitist ‘producf.
However, the creative impulse need not constitute an instrumental means
to an end. Creativity can represent a two-fold end in itself: the expression of a
self, and another’s recognition of this self-expression. In addition to yearning to
creatively differentiate the world, we also long for the world to differentiate us,
to distinguish us within the grand mosaic of life itself. In this way, the
experience of both creating and being recognized brings fullness to creative
self-expression. However, it is not necessary that our creativity be recognized
as ‘superior’, awarding us social status, power, or profit. Rather, the acts of
self-expression and recognition can be sufficient in themselves. While we long
to be recognized as a part of an association, we also long to be recognized as
distinctive within that association. In a free and cooperative society, creativity
would become a dance of self-expression and recognition, reinforcing our
sense of distinctiveness, community, and shared meaning.
Differentiative desire is the yearning to discover what is most distinctive
about ourselves on an individual, community, or regional level. It is the desire
to maintain and further elaborate personal and collective identity. And once we
have identified what is most distinctive about ourselves, we often yearn to