Id
Many of the things that Sigmund Freud said have been discredited, but one thing that is still generally accepted among even psychologists, even them, is the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. In oneself it seems fairly impossible to separate, observe, and analyze these things. So one may as well not try. Instead this same one (perhaps even you) would be much better off to notice these things with say one's nephews, ages one and a half and three and a half or so. One might observe, if one were so inclined as to take a glance, the interraction between these two very different animals. The youngest (the Id) emulates the older (the developing Superego) as they play.
Observation: They play with a crooked kind of logic. The Id following the Superego in his playful rompings throughout the day, wanting to be a part of everything the older one does. They roll around each other inside of a small plastic car. And here one might see a split. Here, stuck in a car, clowns rolling about playing with each other beyond the lights of the Big Top, the youngest is involved in the play gleefully partaking and crawling about in this tiny car, crowded in with the older. The older, smashed in just as tightly, swims around just as happily, but with care. This is why he swims; because he understands that he must, because he has taken to asking a very important question (this will be discussed; let us just observe for the moment), because he doesn't want to hurt the Id. But Id, he doesn't swim. This is why he doesn't swim; because playing encompasses his awareness, because his only concern is this moment and this want, because he hasn't learned to ask the important question. They play, in this teeny tiny show, drawing from each other, dancing with each other, fighting with each other. Skip a few beats... The older now has the little car tipped on its side, it's really becoming a fiasco now, the leg hole in the bottom has become a convenient portal from which the clowns may extract themselves when they so desire; oh the stage tricks. The older leads the way, with the youngest distracted by this and that and whatever, he beckons to the youngest, appealing the Id to emulate the exidus or entrance. It is clear that the Superego has made a decision, has tallied what should happen and decided on the coarse of action as one that should be taken (not one you, you one will not be taken anywhere). Here is the Superego, just as Freud suggested, making a conscious decision to ignore its own wants in order to consider the future need and wants of the Id. That is to say; the older understands that the youngest will most likely want to emulate his actions once they have been observed and has used this foreknowledge to predict the wants of the youngest. When they are together all this is readily available to one's eyes (yes your one's eyes). The Id simply reacts, it crawls in and out, it makes split second decisions about this and that and whatever. The Superego calculates, thinking ahead, observing this consequence or that. And they don't notice, they just play, someone else has to see all this, say an uncle. The interaction of the two together is more important for its contrast value at this point, then perhaps for its own sake.
Consider the two apart, not too far apart, still in the same house, mostly still inthe same room (their interraction will become improtant again). The older is in the living room, sitting on the couch, engrossed in the several thousand pixels beeming at him, keeping him in a very stable position for a while. Leaving an observer, say that same uncle, to watch the actions of the youngest in an independent capacity. The youngest, left to his own devices, can be quite a terror, his family might insist on calling him a goober at these times. He runs toward a pulled out chair, the Id driving him on impulse, his only direction to fulfill the next immediate need. He loves to climb this one (not you one, Id one) and a pulled out chair is just the kind of gratification that he really enjoys. He gets up on the chair and scans the table for anything that might satisfy the next impulse; this or that or whatever. Immediately the choices start to dwindle, because an observer, say the uncle, begins to remove items from reach making them impossibilities for instant gratification. The way this is done is this; when the Id sees something it desires, the observer must notice by seeing which piece of forbidden fruit is being reached for, then the observer must be quicker than the Id and remove it from reach. This goes on for piece after piece, impulse after impluse, race after race until something bad happens. The bad thing that happens is this; the Id has a particularly powerful pull towards some certain thing that it simply cannot be allowed to have. The hand, controlled by the Id, reaches out for the item, the observer's hand counters by moving said item out of Id's reach. But the impulse was unusually strong this time and gratification must he had. Id reaches out farther, Id climbs onto the table, Id does whatever it must to obtain saftisfaction. The ever present observer must keep the item safe, must prevent it from what seems sure to be destruction. The observer plays his trump card, his avce in the hole, his size and strength; he removes the Id from its position atop the table, moreover from its position on the chair. But the Id will not be stopped, legs spur into action driving back to the pulled out chair. The observer is ahead of the game now however, he pushes the chair into place, making it unclimable. This stops the Id's outward action, but internally the need for gratification continues to burn and frustertation is released in the most pure way; wailing cries of dissatisfaction. Something must be done, the youngest musn't be allowed to cry so. He is smothered with attention, with attempts to ease the smoothe his mood, with attempts to instill and satisfy new desires so that the old one is forgotten. Here, were an observer to watch closely, say a certain uncle, they might ask themselves that all important question (we will deal with it later still) and find the answer to be that the outburst of the Id is contagious, that desire begets desire, that want instills want. This is easily understandable if one (yes you one) were to give such things careful consideration.
With all of this going on just in the next room the older cannot help but be distracted from the beeming pixel changes and comes to see, and perhaps participate, in all the commotion. About this time the youngest has been satisfactorally quelled and is ripe and ready for more fun. But this is no longer Id's story, this is Superego's story and how Superego manages to work the way he does. It must be understood that when speaking of the older, the Superego, it cannot be described as fully controlling, the older's own id wins its fair share of battles still. If it didn't it might be appropriate to call him the oldest. Terminate digression. The older wishes to play and it just so happens that the older wishes to play with something that the younger is currently playing with - isn't that always the way of things. The older, being older and being bigger, takes what he wants from the youngest, his own id's drive for satisfaction winning this battle, tearing it from the smaller, weaker hands, dominating. But this time Id is easily distracted by some new want and saunters off to satisfy it. However in this case a separate observer, say a parent, say a grandparent, say an aunt, say whoever besides the uncle, decides that the youngest should indeed continue playing with the toy and, being bigger and stronger, takes it from the older and gives is back to the youngest. Here an observer, don't say the aunt, don't say a parent, don't say a grandparent, say previously mentioned uncle, might watch the Superego in glorious work. The older's id wins out for a moment and he grabs at the toy now taken from him. The parent, grandparent, whoever says no, they say the youngest was playing with this, they say let him keep playing with it. And the Superego, oh the wonderous Superego, it asks the important question, the question that drives it to understand more and more, that pushes its control through calculation and prediction. The Superego asks the eternal question, it asks "Why?" A discussion is had, and the Superego attempts to understand and maintain control as it processes these things. Where is Id in all this? Probably disguarding the much argued over toy in favor of yet another impulse to be satisfied - isn't that always the way of things. But it is of interest to note that there are moments where the youngest does not give up the toy so easily. In these times he screams hints of his own developing superego, just on the fringes, an actor standing off stage waiting for his que. The youngest lets the hints of an ego out at these times, noting his own desires, as of yet unable to control them. The youngest, in these times, he yells "Mine!"
Thoughts: Why is so important in all this. And if that were to be said without explanation, without answering why it is so important, it would be unsatisfactory, unnobtainable, unfulfilled, everything the id hates. The id is satisfied in a new way through the superego, quenched more than utterly fulfilled. Being able to ask why and to understand the reasoning as sound in some way makes this possible. This is extraordinarily improtant to note, because without being able to process and make sense of the why, its usefullness dwindles. The id (as hinted at) feeds off of the rising of other ids; to cry makes one cry, to laugh makes one laugh. The id is a fire, collecting and massing itself whenever possible. How is it extinguished? The superego acts as a fire-pit, containing the blaze, feeding it steadily and controlled, allowing it to burn but not spread. This can be seen particularly well in the actions of a certain three and a half year old nephew.
Final Observation: The youngest sits at the bottom of the stairs, satisfying this and that and whatever. The older is playing close, interracting sometimes, playing alone others. The two interract some more and there is some playful scuffling. The older is involved, not paying enough attention, and pushes the youngest with unintentional force so that the small head smacks dully against a step. All the observers, the parents, the grandparents, the aunt, even the uncle cannot help but hear the cries of pain that come next - isn't that always the way of things. But if the uncle were to glance in the direction of the Superego, he would see a site as it battles against the older's id to keep the fire from raging out of control. He would see the Superego covering his ears, walking away, shock and dismay filling the eyes. The uncle might even be compelled to comfort the Superego and answer the unspoken question, "Why wasn't I more careful, why did I hurt him, why did I make him cry?" The answer is that things will be alright, that the older was a little too rough with the youngest, that the older has to be more careful. When the older sees that the youngest is okay they again play.
Final Thought: It is answering the whys that must be done so well. It is in the answers to why that the superego feeds itself and learns control over the id. Answer why carefully, as best you can, always.
posted by David Fuchs (Greg Goble) @ 9:42 AM
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