"Paidescendo no paraíso": uma investigação sobre o pai e a religião na teoria de Freud e Lacan.

This paper addresses to the link between religion and the father, more specifically, the proximity of the God's image to the image of a father, elucidated by some texts of Freud and Lacan. According to Freud, what makes a person looks for religion is the feeling of helplessness experienced during the childhood, which is inherent for every human being. He shows us how religion uses this fact, bringing the image of the father to the spotlight of his reflection. If we think about the father in psychoanalysis, it is essential to use the Lacan's contributions, that points to the pluralization of the Name-of-the-Father which allows multiple meanings acting in a specific situation, and each individual is responsible for his best choice among the father's roles. The father, for Lacan, becomes like a node that joins the records Real, Symbolic and Imaginary. Through the concept of sinthome, Lacan emphasize that the father must show his faults, providing his children of going beyond it. However, this situation is only possible if the child sees the father as a standard to be followed or improved. It is what the religion does not allow to happen; it only offers a perfect Father-God to the individual. As the paternal reference has been weakened in the current family settings, the image of an unfaultable father is what a neurotic searches. Though, it is not possible for the father to be the peacemaker wanted by the neurotic because of his failures, which are related to the unbearable lack of assurance. So, the individual has a challenge: sets himself free of the effort of re-establish his father, accepting his faults and standing by him but not serving him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]