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3. ‘Always Be Drunk:’ Remedy or Illusion in the Face of Existential Emptiness?

In Get Drunk, Baudelaire urges us to embrace perpetual drunkenness – whether by wine, poetry or virtue – to escape “the horrible burden of Time.” In describing these escapes, the poet reveals, with unsettling lucidity, the psychic strategies we deploy in the face of the void.  

In The Spleen of Paris, Baudelaire advises the reader to “always be drunk. That’s it: the only question. In order not to feel the horrible burden of Time, breaking your shoulders and bending you toward the earth, you must get drunk without ceasing. But on what? On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish. But get drunk.”

This work profoundly influenced the modernist movement. It is characterized by a feeling of disgust for the world, an existential malaise that Baudelaire calls “spleen.” Baudelaire’s anxiety is far from foreign to us when he describes the flight of time as a destructive force that crushes the individual, “breaking your shoulders and bending you toward the earth.” His recommendation can be read as a prophecy of current psychosocial tendencies.

At first glance, Baudelaire’s call to “always be drunk” could be interpreted as an encouragement to satisfy the id’s constant quest for pleasure in order to escape the constraints and anxieties imposed by a reality so unbearable that our psyche is compelled to engage in any passionate pursuit that allows for liberation from suffering and existential drabness. Whether it is the thirst for power, obsession with self-image, compulsive consumption, or the quest for oblivion through various drugs or the digital world, these “drunkennesses” reflect a deep desire to escape existential malaise and to find forms of intensity or consolation, however fleeting.

The thirst for power is a particularly pervasive and widespread form of intoxication, especially in politics and economic models. It can be understood as linked to an aggressive drive to control others, like a child attempting to recreate a feeling of omnipotence to immediately satisfy their needs. The acquisition and exercise of power can inflate the ego, generating a sense of superiority and invincibility. However, the frustration of not being able to exercise the desired absolute control induces such psychic tension that an individual may feel compelled to resort to compensatory mechanisms like projection – attributing one’s own aggressive desires to others – or rationalization, justifying dominating behavior as necessary or legitimate.

Contemporary politico-economic society, with its intrinsic power dynamics, fosters the intoxication of power. Political and economic systems operate on competition, the pursuit of leadership and the exercise of influence. Political discourse itself is often centered on themes of domination, ascendancy and control. This emphasis on power and the ability to influence can resonate with the unconscious desires of individuals seeking control and recognition, fueling a politico-economic drunkenness where domination and manipulation become ends in themselves.

Narcissistic intoxication can also be sought through excessive investment in one’s own image, seeking admiration from others to reinforce fragile self-esteem. While moderate narcissism is necessary for building a reassuring sense of identity, excessive intoxication with self-image may reveal a fragile ego, dependent on external validation for self-worth, eventually leading to manipulative behaviors and a lack of empathy. However, this intoxication can only ever be temporary, as it relies on others, making the individual vulnerable to criticism and the loss of self-confidence.

Social media platforms, in particular, offer an easily accessible stage for self-promotion and the pursuit of external validation. The ability to curate an idealized self-image and to receive “likes” and admiring comments strengthens exaggerated narcissistic tendencies and encourages an intoxicating self-focus in the digital sphere.

Drunkenness in material or food consumption is another sought-after form of intoxication. Consumerist culture has mastered the art of exploiting unconscious desires and the frustrations born of existence by associating product consumption with emotional benefits, creating brand identities that resonate with the aspirations and unconscious fantasies of consumers. Sophisticated advertising strategies exploit emotions, cognitive biases and identity aspirations to create a sense of urgency and incite purchases by targeting unconscious desires and promising happiness through potentially addictive consumerist behaviors. It is not uncommon for promoters to declare, for instance, that buying the latest smartphones at launch – or any other type of substitute product – constitutes a kind of modern therapy!

Psychoanalysts like Erich Fromm were early critics of the alienation inherent in consumer society, where individuals become commodities themselves and consumption becomes an end in itself, detached from the actual utility of objects.

Drugs, alcohol and their derivatives represent another form of intoxication, one of which Baudelaire himself was an intense user, ultimately leading to his premature death. Psychoactive substances are often used as a means to anesthetize painful feelings, to reduce anxiety and to silence the wounds gnawing at the psyche as well as the lingering effects of trauma. The pursuit of this drunkenness quickly becomes an addictive behavior – a compelling need to repeat the experience that provides immediate relief from the pain of existence.

The final form of intoxication Baudelaire advocates is drunkenness through virtue. How should we understand this notion, which seems like an oxymoron? In reality, it only appears so. This idea can be understood as a quest for mystical ecstasy, a state where the experience of virtue transcends its apparent aspects of rigor and constraint to open a door to the ineffable. Lacan developed the concept of jouissance as a coalescence of pleasure and an excess of pain. Within this framework, virtue becomes an object of desire that, despite – or because of – its prohibitions, produces a desired drunkenness. Thus, the tension created by the passionate adherence to a virtuous way of living can provoke a transcendent experience, where the rigor of morality itself becomes a source of ecstasy.

Baudelaire’s poem stands as a powerful artistic expression of the tragedy of the human condition and the infinite quest for meaning in the face of our fundamental incompleteness. The very act of seeking intoxication, in its various forms, reflects a profound human desire to transcend the limitations and fears of existence – a desire that aligns with Lacanian understanding of lack as the driving force of human vitality, even though the attempt to fill this lack remains, in many ways, ultimately a futile endeavor.