"The desire for the object can be used to mask the desire for the obstacle,"

writes Adam Phillips.

"When we unpack the obstacles [...] --
when we think of them as the way rather than as something in the way --
we find them full of the unusual and the forbidden.

If I know what I want by coming up against what prevents me from having it,
then there must anyway be a wish for obstacles as unconscious mnemonics of desire."

* * *

So when I continuously reach toward my desire but an obstacle blocks my way,

perhaps I should consider that I have a subconscious desire for the obstacle instead?

I need to unpack indeed.