Trying to make sense of this reminds me of reading monad tutorials. To dense with references (self- and otherwise) and analogy for me to make sense of.
It's definitely possible I'm just not smart enough to understand this, but how does one go about learning to comprehend stuff like this?
If you want to read Russian literature, you don't have to be Russian ('but it wouldn't hurt!'), you have to want to read Russian literature, i.e. learn the language and have sufficient interest in the material to seek out enough context to understand it.
Unless of course you simply want to be seen as the type of person who reads Russian literature, in which case thelastpsychiatrist.com is probably better for reading...
The style is one of the appeal (without being the totality of it - I definitely would like the straigth version as well).
Personally for instance, I read "Shame & Society" once, found it fascinating, but couldn't really pinpoint what I had learned, so I re-read it and took notes, as well as try to summarize and articulate the big points and how they related.
It's definitely possible I'm just not smart enough to understand this, but how does one go about learning to comprehend stuff like this?