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Why do we choose the cultural objects that we choose?

Anyone who reads this blog closely will have noticed my developing fascination with Christopher Bollas. His work leaves me with an eery sense that he is motivated by exactly the same questions which have always motivated me (albeit without the technological component) and that he’s spent his life trying to answer them in a psychoanalytical register.

Case in point: why do we choose the objects that we choose? From Forces of Destiny pg 37:

In the last week I have read certain books. Why have I read what I have? Why have I rejected certain possibilities? When I listen to a record why do I select certain pieces of music and reject others? When I go for a walk, where do I go? When I seek a night out, which form of entertainment do I choose? Do not these choices provide textures of self experience that release me to articulate some idiom move on my part?

The irony is that Bollas is providing me with exactly what he’s describing here: his work provides an object through which my existing idiom can be elaborated upon in a satisfying and productive way.

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