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By the same token, this also means that, at the most fundamental level, man is only connected to his culture precisely because it stems from sublimations. We cling to our culture, not only because it is of vital assistance to us, but primarily because its sublimations allow us to deal with our desire. And this occurs not because sublimations give full satisfaction to our desire but precisely because they don’t; because they only keep us dangling, and delude us into thinking our desire will someday be satisfi ed. It is as if culture, precisely in its quality of sublimation, is able to lie when it comes to desire, enabling us to go on desiring in a more or less satisfying manner. It is as though, precisely in its capacity as sublimation, culture is able to tell us lies with enough imagination and promise such that we make peace with the discontent that haunts us.

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