ABSTRACT
At the origin, and as far as can be presently observed, every human being about to be born is loaned a provisional identity. This identity is embodied in the name he or she is given, as an invention, internal need, or generational obligation, parental fantasy or delusion. Both the person receiving and the person bestowing the name—and, with it, the provisional identity—are unaware of all this. Ultimately, the possibility of carrying out analytic work is linked to the mind’s capacity to suspend the acquisition of thought, judgement, and definition. This is a bit like repeatedly leaping into an apparent void—the void of the mind, the unknown opposed to the known. At the same time, the analytic function surely widens the scope of identity, providing the possibility for the ego to acquire new certainties from the experience of the relationship between the self and the other.
