This article dissects that return. We will navigate through Freud’s id, Jung’s shadow, the rise of digital performativity, and the artistic movements that dared to show the unshowable. Finally, we will explore what the "NEW ((NEW))" indicates: a contemporary revival of raw instinct as a form of resistance. The Tripartite Soul (Freud Revisited) Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche divided the human mind into the Id (primary instincts), the Ego (reality principle), and the Superego (moral censorship). The Id is the reservoir of primal drives: hunger, rage, sexuality, and self-preservation. It operates on the pleasure principle — seeking immediate gratification without concern for consequences or social norms.
Thus, the "return" is a rebellion against platform capitalism as much as against morality. Jung and the Shadow Integration Carl Jung argued that repressed instincts do not disappear; they form the Shadow — a unconscious dump of all that is unacceptable. A person who never allows their primary instinct to surface becomes brittle, passive-aggressive, or explosive. Jungian therapy does not aim to remove the censor but to unblur the Shadow in a contained way. To say "I have violent fantasies" without flinching is already a mini-return to primary instinct. The Catharsis Hypothesis Aristotle’s catharsis suggests that viewing unblurred instinct in tragedy (murder, incest, revenge) purges those same instincts in the viewer. Modern studies confirm that suppressing emotion increases cortisol (stress hormone), while appropriate expression — even raw anger in a safe space — lowers it. The "non flouté" is thus not a pathology but a physiological necessity. The Risk: Regression vs. Return A crucial distinction: return to primary instinct is not the same as regression . Regression is losing ego control permanently (psychosis, antisocial personality disorder). Return, as used in this new context ((NEW)), implies a voluntary, temporary, conscious descent into the Id. It is the shamanic journey, the primal scream therapy, the punk rock mosh pit—a structured unblurring. Part IV: Cultural Expressions of the Unblurred Instinct Cinema: The Unrated Cut Films like Irréversible (Gaspar Noé), Salo , or A Serbian Film explicitly explore "instinct primaire sans censure." But even mainstream cinema flirts with it. Consider the one-take kitchen fight in Eastern Promises — naked, brutal, un-choreographed. Or the orgasm scene in Last Tango in Paris , improvised and visceral. The "unblurred" in cinema strips away dialogue and music, leaving only bodily truth. Literature: The Nouveau Roman and Transgressive Fiction Georges Bataille’s Story of the Eye is a textbook case: desire without moral filter, where bodily fluids and taboo acts are described with clinical precision. More recently, Michelle Tea’s Valencia or Dennis Cooper’s The Marbled Swarm reject linear narrative for instinctual bursts. The new wave (the ((NEW)) marker) includes autofiction that refuses to blur traumatic memory — Annie Ernaux’s Simple Passion is a masterpiece of unadorned obsession. Visual Art: From Bacon to Abstraction Francis Bacon’s screaming popes are non flouté agony. Hermann Nitsch’s blood rituals are non flouté sacrifice. And in 2024-2025, a new generation of digital artists on platforms like SuperRare or Foundation is creating "IRL filters" – deliberately uncensored animations of bodies in states of raw need. The ((NEW)) signals a rejection of NFT sanitization; they are returning to the grit of analog. Part V: The Paradox – Without Censorship, Is Instinct Still Instinct? A philosophical twist: Instinct, by definition, is pre-reflective. But the moment we say "I am going to return to unblurred instinct," we are already reflecting. The censor is still there, just pointing its finger elsewhere. True primary instinct cannot be willed; it erupts. This article dissects that return
We cannot live in primary instinct alone — the Ego and Superego are not enemies but tools. But we can integrate the unblurred. We can make space for the scream, the grab, the run, the tear. We can, as the French theorist Georges Bataille wrote, "communicate" through the violation of our own boundaries. Thus, the "return" is a rebellion against platform
Below is a long-form, in-depth article analyzing this concept from multiple angles — psychological (Freud, Jung), sociological (digital age censorship), artistic (cinema, literature), and spiritual (authenticity vs. repression). This is written as a serious essay for readers interested in human behavior, creative expression, and existential authenticity. By Philippe Verneuil, Contributing Philosopher violent language is shadow-banned
However, interpreting the core concept: (Primary instinct without censorship) and "Retour à l'instinct primaire non flouté" (Return to unblurred primary instinct) points to a deep psychological, philosophical, and artistic theme.
"Without censorship" means deactivating the Superego's function. In a healthy individual, the Superego blurs, delays, or transforms these impulses into socially acceptable behavior. But the fantasy of "unblurred instinct" is a return to a pre-Oedipal, pre-linguistic state where reaction precedes reflection, where a growl is just a growl, and where desire is not negotiated — it is simply acted upon. The term non flouté (unblurred) is particularly visual. In media, blurring is used to hide nudity, gore, or violence. Psychologically, blurring is what society does to raw emotion: we "soften" anger into passive-aggression, lust into flirtation, fear into anxiety. To return to the unblurred is to refuse translation. It is the difference between a cry of pain and a clinical description of pain. Part II: The Historical Censorship of Instinct 1. Religious and Moral Frameworks For millennia, organized religion acted as the primary censor. The Seven Deadly Sins are, essentially, a list of primary instincts: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride. To be civilized was to suppress. The monastic ideal of chastity, silence, and obedience was a direct war on the Id. 2. The Victorian Legacy The 19th century perfected the "blur." Etiquette manuals, rigid gender roles, and a public/private split meant that instinct could only exist in darkness. Freud’s patients suffered from hysteria precisely because their instincts had been so thoroughly censored that their bodies rebelled in symptoms (paralysis, tics, fugues). The unblurred instinct was pathologized as "madness." 3. The Digital Blur (Today) Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube use algorithmic blurring. Explicit content is pixelated, violent language is shadow-banned, and emotional authenticity is often punished (while performative rawness is rewarded). The new censorship is not moral but commercial: raw instinct doesn't sell ads. A genuine scream of grief is less profitable than a curated story of overcoming grief.