In German, the same word, Shuld, means debt, fault, guilt and they can be used interchangeably. If their relationship is an obligation with another, who is the other? The debt generated from generation to generation is bequeathed as a testament to the offspring, and thus links the origin with the existence, as a subtle link between the living and the dead. It marks, as pointed out by Freud (1914), the division of the human between their two struggling needs: that of being for themselves their own end and that of being a link in a chain to which they are subject by their affiliation (parentage). If the payment of the debt chains the offspring to a particular destination written beforehand, the debt means a fault, as a guilt, which generates dependency and submission. If guilt is the driving force of the debt, it can be assumed as the key to liberation, i.e. to pass on what was given by the previous generation and change it into something new: to do the transmission transgression.
Keywords:
guilt, fault, debt, trauma, truth, transmission.
Cecilia Lewintal leave a comment
