‘Can You See Me?’ Psychoanalysis and Soul-Blindness

In the epigraph above, Jimi Hendrix's poetic alter-ego expresses skepticism in regard to being seen and heard. Does he pose a question: “Can you see me?”; a demand: “Can you see me!”; or perhaps a plea: “Can you see me…please”?

It occurs to me that these three interpretations of “can you see me” share the following common feature: the idea of a field

of interaction (psychoanalytic matrix) between two subjects or souls (analyst and analysand) where the relationship between them has become occluded, insecure, or anxiety provoking and that is in need of further psychic interpenetration or clarification. Whether “can you see me” is a question, a demand or a plea, there is an interruption between the two people and a corresponding reaction that brings to light that which separates them.

There are many things that can interrupt a relationship and separate two people: a highly idiosyncratic or idiomatic turn of phrase, or a linguistic intonation; a whole language itself; gender identity; a way of interpreting, or looking at, a specific event in the world; a dressing style; a historical, cultural or personal past; the meaning of a favorite song or dance or bodily gesture; the color or shade of a body and the socio-political history of the construction of the meaning of such color or shade of the body (call it race); a social class and its history of struggles or oppression or of being oppressive; an unbalance of power; a trauma; a ritual; a rite of passage; a religious belief; a different idea of what it means to heal or grow.