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Obsessional neurosis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the neurotic question asked in the key of death.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) places ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the Other in the keeping of a dead man — best of all the father, who by dying becomes the absolute Father.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the inability to desire without destroying the Other — and so a lifelong manoeuvre to protect the Other from one's own desire.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) spoils ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠every object by the mark of its origin: what the obsessional desires must arrive as contraband.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) plays ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to an invisible spectator in the box — the master who cannot be seen or see himself — to whom it is united by death.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a fortress built to disguise, displace, deny, divide and subdue aggression — a defence staggered like Louis XIV's military fortifications.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) denies ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the Other's desire by insisting on the impossibility of the subject's vanishing — and needs fundamentally to stand in the Other's place.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠waiting for the Master to die: watching the game from the place of the Other, the obsessional risks nothing, and death is present only in jest.

Obsessional neurosis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an architecture of contrasts: rancour that never blocks generosity, inconstancies of mind that hold up unbreakable loyalties.

An Obsessional neurosis (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠frantically active in order to prevent the real thing from happening: he talks without pause so that the analyst never gets to ask the question that truly matters.