The fascination of returning to the One

In this lecture delivered to the Groupe C.G. Jung colloquium on “Les puissances de l’ombre” (“The powers of the shadow”), Claude Balier develops an original hypothesis regarding perverse behavior. He examines it as a fascination with the return to the One; i. e., the return to a state where subject and object are still undifferentiated and form a single entity. Considered in this light, the purpose of the perverse deed is to do away with both subject and object, both executioner and victim, simultaneously. Balier bases his hypothesis on the concept of the “recourse to the act,” which he opposes to acting out. Recourse to the act is a release of energy devoid of representation, whereas acting out originates in a fantasy scenario which is usually unconscious.