Real
According to Lacan’s theory, the word “real” is connected and partly defined by the words
“symbolic” and “imaginary”. Real means essence of everything as it actually is. However, this cannot be grasped by the human mind because of the way human brain is set up. Since each person has a different perception of things and one person will never be able to see things exactly the same as the other, people have developed elaborate system of symbolic representation, used for understanding
and communication. According to one of the definitions from Merriam Webster, “real” means “precisely what the name implies”. However, names are simply elements of the system of symbolic representation.
As soon as something is interpreted through symbol or imagined by the brain, it stops being real because it has automatically became a part of subjective system of representation. Therefore, real is something that is a source of imaginary and symbolic, however it lies beyond the reach of human brain.
Modern technology allows people to go beyond previous limitations and discover information at new levels, like ultraviolet light. Also, machines are often the ones that manufacture the symbols. However, since machines have been created by people, they still interpret new information the way people set it up. This proves that even the machines cannot open real to people. Yet, real still exists as the base for everything else, but it remains unreachable to people, despite their notion that it actually exists.
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