Changes

The [[imaginary]] is one of the [[order|three orders]] that [[structure]] [[human]] [[existence]], the [[others]] [[being]] the [[symbolic]] and the [[real]].   [[Lacan]]'s [[concept]] of the [[Imaginary]] first appeared in his [[{{Y}}|1936]] [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|paper]] "[[The Mirror Stage]]".   The [[imaginary]] arises from the [[infant]]'s [[experience]] of its [[specular ego]].  In the [[mirror stage]], the [[child]] [[identification|identifies]] with the [[specular image]], and this inaugurates the series of [[identification]]s that will consturct the [[ego]]. The [[child]] is literally [[captivate]]d by a [[specular]] [[other]] thanks to an [[identification]] which is also an [[alienation]]. The [[imaginary]] is thus the realm in which [[self]] and other merge, and in which [[identity]] is grounded in a mere [[semblance]] of [[unity]].   The [[imaginary]] is not a [[stage]] which is overcome or transcended, and is a cosntant [[presence]] in the lives of human [[subjects]]. It arises with the [[mirror stage]] but extends far into the [[adult ]] [[individual]]'s experience of others and of the [[external ]] [[world]].