ABSTRACT
The id is described as ‘the given background dissolving into possibilities’ (PHG, 1951: 378), but what does this mean in relation to everyday activities? As you focus on this book other possible figures are beyond your visual field whilst vague figures also hover on the periphery of your field of vision; all are potential figures of interest. For these images to sharpen and realize their potential interest would require a movement away from this book and towards them. Likewise, the self is a collection of potential figures that offer the opportunity for numerous and varied sharpenings of experience, but they remain only as potentials until a figure is selected and sharpened through the ego and personality functions. Consequently, introspection will reveal little information about the id, which manifests through behaviour. Id functions are most commonly seen in situations of relaxation and also at the start and end of contact experiences. To return to you reading this book, the desire to do so will have been held as background at the fore-contact phase of the gestalt cycle before, upon completion, receding into the background again as out of your awareness you assimilate the material at the post-contact phase of the gestalt cycle (see Point 13). Although an observer may see certain behaviours as they watch us during id functioning, they would not gain a sense of who we were.
