Psychoanalysis: ID - Monster Inside Us
Previously on Psychoanalysis... "Still of the same topic here, Freud further remarked that the poor ego, at its worst, acts with a role as a servant and has to do their best to serve for the external world, the superego, and the ID as their master. While this showed to be...
Hold on, is this some kind of anime episode or something? Never mind, this is hardly show about the last episode review you usually see on TV, my bad. Let me reformat everything at this point.
"There's a monster inside me."
Apparently, it is understandable for human beings to be a living and thinking creatures. But there are so many questions to this. One of them would be, what makes one to be so insane or to be precise, how would these people do such kind of crazy stuff for the sake of fulfilling this desire anyway? Without further ado, here is the answer:
It's merely a fantasy, such as meritocracy, for instance. Alright, I was just kidding. However, this still holds true, considering that meritocracy and lunacy are somewhat similar on that regard. But well, let me explain this monster in-details...
So, on this series, there were some intriguing bits whereas Meguru Bachira, one of the main supporting characters, said to Yoichi Isagi that he admitted of witnessing a monster which constantly played with him. And this made people who watched this show to be, well, questioning his, or maybe, their sanity. And here is the question, what kind of monster it was anyway or is this some kind of hyperbolic phantasm that crafted by a certain metaphorical lunacy as such.
Well, it couldn't be said he was lunatic, anime characters never are unreal anyway but it appeared that this linked to the previous topic that talked about Ego or, on that regard, the consciousness that has to do with the "sanity" as in, it makes sense of the world according to the principles of reality to make sure everything of their thought process follows the common sense of societal norms. In other words, it's the perception of self to rationalize the way humans perceive their own reality on that regard. But then, what is the relation between this rational part of consciousness to such kind of monster that lives inside us then? Freud did explain this "monster" on his psychoanalytic theory about, well, yet again, the iceberg. He stated that human has a desire to be something, which is the "Am". Therefore, if Ego, or the "I" has a role to control the consciousness thus make sense of reality, then the "Am" has a role to desire and fulfill human needs as their sense of identity, which is known as ID.
So, what is ID here then? According to psychoanalysis, ID is the sources of wants, needs, desires, and impulses of human beings. In other words, it is what humans want themselves to become. Therefore, if Ego is derived by the reality principle, ID is more derived by the pleasure principle, as this source of this entire psychic energy isn't affected by reality nor it knows what is good or bad, right or wrong, true or false and so on. It doesn't have logic, which means it simply follows what is pleasurable for themselves according to their own desire. Hence then, since the "I" or the self exists in Ego to create a structure of identity, the "am" or the needs exists to desire pleasure from the reality. Such kind of impulse can be seen as quite primal considering this form of unconsciousness doesn't have its own role of judgment and only pleasures themselves of what it feels good and comfortable to do on their own. Therefore, this ID remains to be instinctual, as it doesn't have any criterion towards judgment thus it can be argued that this allows human to have a sense of 'creativity' and expression in what they are doing as a person as this unconsciousness is related to memories and fantasy.
While "id" is in search of pleasure, "ego" emphasizes the principle of reality.
So, back to the first question or to be precise, doesn't that mean Meguru Bachira was lunatic enough to follow such monster then? My answer is "No." It cannot be said that someone who follows their instinct to be as such, considering that when such kind of impulse needs to be satisfied, such urge cannot be delayed anymore. And on that regard, Freud further remarked, "contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, is laid down in the constitution — above all, therefore, the instincts, which originate from the somatic organization, and which find a first psychical expression here (in the id) in forms unknown to us." And from this passage, it could be implied that ID had been inherited by human before Ego as the unconsciousness precedes the consciousness as the differentiated part of ID, in which it later develops as the structure of identity on itself. However, before the Ego was created, there had been a state whereas known as the "id-ridden" in which the mind of newborn child is the embodiment of pleasure as it moves on to what the organism needs. Hence then, every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. And when the id achieves its demands, humans experience pleasure and tension when it is denied. This also further implies that has ID no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle. However, it's about the matter of time when the ID is controlled by Ego and connected itself through the Super-Ego, as there would be a moment when ID left alone thus not dependent on such monster as a primal desire by the Ego:
"The ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world. ...The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions...in its relation to the id it is like a tug of war, which the ego has to hold in check the id to not let it loose; with the difference, that the teams fought against one other in equality, while the ego was against the much stronger 'id'." - Sigmund Freud, "The Ego and ID"
