Neon Genesis Evangelion is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and Tatsunoko Production, and directed by Hideaki Anno. While a direct translation of the japanese name translates to new century gospel, or gospel for the new century, the english title has connotations that imply something closer to creation of new gospel, or new gospel of creation. Implying that a large aspect of the show is to be a kind of postmodern take on religious questions.

Evangelion is known for being a heavily thematic series, relating heavily to psychological themes (especially freudian or jungian ones) intermixed with religious ones, and even the addition of some more generally philosophical ones. It draws heavily on the theme of evolution and its ties to religious transcendence as seen in movies like 2001, which it heavily draws from, referencing a large amount in the series. It adresses questions not only about your place in the world, and the realism of its difficulties for the individual, but how these thins relate to larger questions, and how those questions will change over time.

Many people consider that the religious references may just be window dressing for the more psychologically oriented plot due to author statements that it was not an explicitly chrstian story, but the religious elements while not being meant to express an explicitly abrahamic dynamic are used to convey various concepts such as the jungian relationship between psychology and spirituality as well as some of the existential questions that would be posed in a world where people had systametized their understanding of the religious dynamic of the world, thus demystefying it. Many of the kabbalic symbols used match closely with their lore based counterparts, implying more direct inspiration than many recognize. Something that will be gone into below.

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Philosophy

Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German pessimist philosopher best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and Representation. In this work, he characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind and insatiable metaphysical will. This will is the fundamental nature of what kant called the thing in itself, the fundamental basis of the world. He did not literally believe it was just a will, but since the will was its most developed aspect a term like “force” would sound too impersonal. The idea of will being seen as a continuous concept with force.

Schopenhauer equated the will to the hindu idea of brahman, and in general was heavily influenced by hindu and buddhist theology. To him, the will is a fundamental universal thing. And the idea of individual egoes that show up in individuals is not a true metaphysical distinction, but a construct that we have that gives us personal identity. Even though we are ultimately in a sense just a small aspect of the will. He believed that this will, called the will to life was irrational, and that its cravings that make it cling to life were the source of human suffering. In this sense he is echoing the buddhist philosophy that suffering is born from that which makes you cling to your individual existence.

To schopenhauer, we should not desire individuality, since it is in life we find suffering, but by denying individuality we can overcome our will, due to erasing our desire for and compliance with individual impulse. Though he believed that life was suffering, he did not think suicide was a solution, because it could not fundamentally harm the will that composed you. But that only certain practices such as asceticism and art or logic which could help one understand the world objectively and externally and as such override immediate impulse. This being because it was overpowering the blind impulse in a sense, either via overriding it with logic, or temporarily calming it.

Schopenhauer was the creator of the hedgehog's dillema, which is a metaphor about the challenges of human intimacy. It describes a situation in which a group of hedgehogs seek to move close to one another to share heat during cold weather. They must remain apart, however, as they cannot avoid hurting one another with their sharp spines. Though they all share the intention of a close reciprocal relationship, this may not occur, and for reasons they cannot avoid. Both Arthur Schopenhauer and Sigmund Freud have used this situation to describe what they feel is the state of the individual in relation to others in society. The hedgehog's dilemma suggests that despite goodwill, human intimacy cannot occur without some degree mutual harm, and that this harm is the cause of tension and dissatisfaction.

Schopenhauer is one of the inspirations for parts of evangelion, though Anno admits that his knowledge of him was not large when beginning the series. The most obvious part is the hedgehog's dillema, referred to explicitly to highlight the problems with existence and intimacy. This dillema characterizes a lot of the show, due to many of the problems faced by the characters being grounded in the nature of relationships, and the necessarily imperfect way they are undergone due to the nature of individual existence.

Another sense in which the series relates to schopenhauer is that humanity in the series is described as emerging from a kind of primordial unity in a way reminiscent of schopenhauer, with your individuality being a thing tenuously held together. And when they are born into individuality, so begins suffering that stems from their individual human will. It encompasses aspects of his pessimistic philosophy by saying that your individual will will always bring you to causes of dissatisfaction and loneliness that must be overcome. Similar to schopenhauer, seele takes the perspective that individual existence is a bad quality and source of suffering, seeking to find a way to overcome this. The organization wille in the reboots is most likely also named after schopenhauer's use of the term.

The show actually inverts this similar to the way nietzsche did, saying that rather, you can be life affirming and affirm your will. Nietzsche himself wrote in response to schopenhauer, saying that the thing to take from the will is not to reject it, but to affirm it, living life in a maximal way. Nietzsche also focused largely on the idea that spiritual beliefs and seeking to escape reality were both similar forms of being life denying, and that one should affirm one's existence in the world instead. Which ties to the ending and the contrast between individual existence and leaving it to merge with god. Though since the show does not directly reference nietzsche, it is unknown whether this is a deliberately or incidental reference.

The show provides a solution to some of these problems in the depiction of kowaru. Who shows that one way to overcome them is accepting being vulnerable. In the end, this is depicted in a literal way, where kowaru willingly gives up his life for shinji. And his open and sharing nature was shown to be some of the happiest moments shinji had had in the entire final segment of the show. Though kowaru notes that there can be no perfect solutions, since the individual by its nature is fundamentally alone. And so the sadness of isolation can never be permanently erased while people maintain individuality. Though the show despite its pessimism and cynicism does ultimately take a hopeful tone, with the movie ending with a statement about how anywhere can be made into a paradise if you have the will to live.

Existentialism

Existentialism was a philosophy that sought to ground the individual as its center. The individual here meaning not just the idea of humans, but the tangible living individual. This was presented in contrast to prior western philosophies which often tended to take as their primary focus the idea of some type of absolute or fundamental building block, positing humans in relation to this. With the inversion here being that existentialism takes humans as the primary starting place. It is generally presented as a first person philosophy that understands meaning in light of something that is created through your actions rather than an external thing thrust onto you. Existentialism highly values the idea of authenticity for this reason, and the idea of livng in tune with your meaning as it means to you and is relevant to your life. In its modern sense it was seen as starting in its proto form with the philosopher soren kierkegaard.

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. While he believed in god, he posited that even the existence of god is not sufficient to give meaning to human existence, but rather that meaning is created through human action and orientation. And that ultimately it falls on the individual to decide how to react to this idea of god. he upheld as a high virtue something he calls the knight of faith, which is an individual who has placed complete faith in himself and in God and can thus act freely and independently from the world. Later writers expanded exstentialism into a nonreligious direction, such as nietzsche and sartre.

Kierkegaard is referenced directly in evangelion, naming one of the episodes after his book the sickness unto death. The sickness unto death describes a kind of spiritual death of not embracing one's self. Which is a description he uses for despair. Despair obviously being a central theme of the series, manifesting in shinji's response to events at multiple points. Existential despair has connotations beyond that of regularly disapproving of your life condition. It has an added connotation of despair of even knowing how to find meaning or purpose in life, or in a breakdown of your self identity nd understanding of who you are as a person and your place in the world.

From shinji's perspective, not only is he unhappy, but he is uncertain of what he even wants, and what to work for. This leads to him often going through the motions of whatever he is pushed to do, even admitting that he plays violin because he was never told to stop. He relies on others to tell him what to do to avoid making decisions for himself. And in the end he finds himself unable to even care about making the decisions because he no longer has passion for any outcome he sees in front of him.

In an existential context this living of life by the external standards of others is known as bad faith. Bad faith is the phenomenon in which human beings, under pressure from social forces act inauthentically, complying with what is expected of them rather than living for themself. Bad faith does not necessarily imply an attept to decieve, so much as a lack of actively living and acting as one's own self identity in terms of one's own values. While existential writers place high value on the idea of living authentically, some later writers such as poststructuralists or various ethicists called into question the degree to which authenticity is even possible, or always a good thing. But nonetheless a degree of understanding of its importance is still generally valued n philosophy.

This idea of existential despair in the show is not presented as a weakness only, but also tying to the reality of shinji finding himself in a situation much over his head. This ties to the larger themes of existentialism in general. Existentialism focuses on the anxiety that stems from the realization of choice and the fact that you have to make your own decisions and find your own meaning. That there is no telos in reality to tell you inherently what to do, and regardless even if there was the choice is ultimately yours whether to follow it. Despair is often tied to this idea of choice, and the alienating nature of realizing that you don't know how to respond to it.

This concept of radical freedom is a cornerstone of existentialism. Even if there is someone you trust telling you what to do, you are still ultimately the one responsible for choosing to follow them. At any point there are endless decisions you can make, and anxiety is the result of this uncertainty. Evangelion too has a focus on the reality of ambiguity about choices, and the characters having anxiety as a result. This radical freedom is not presented as a totally optimistic value, due to the responsibility it implies of having to live for yourself and aknowledge the infinite choices you can make.

Kierkegaard talks about three different kinds of despair. Two of which are that of not embracing one's self, and that of doing so. Shinji reflects the former, hating his own identity and place in the world. Asuka represents more the latter, being vain and prideful, which he described as not understanding the dependence one has on love. Ultimately, at the very end of end of evangelion, both are shown to slightly improve from their conditions. With shinji when offered with a choice to leave behind the sense of self that burdens him ultimately begins to see value in it. And asuka who despite her vain life ultimately shows a form of compassion for him after returning for one of the first times. By no means do those facts mean that they solved their problems, or aren't in for more difficulties ahead. But it reflects both moving more towards a realistic self image.

Anno states that one aspect of the show is the questions over how humanity would react or move on if it were to know and discover the reality of god for real. In the show it highlights how this happening would in a sense work almost to demystify the idea of divinity, turning it instead into another tool to be utilized by humanity. Seele sees the goal of rising to divinity as a collective of humanity to be a valuable goal, but nothing about the existence of this possibility makes it a fundamental meaning of life, rather than something one can simply work towards. Kierkegaard did not think it was possible to prove the existence of god. Instead saying one must make an existential leap of faith towards belief. But he said that even if one accepts the existence of god, that alone doesn't inherently give you meaning.

This depiction in the show is in a way an interesting inversion of what nietzsche calls the death of god. The death of god to nietzsche is the point at which people stop relying on religion to be able to give them meaning in life. A kind of symbolic death of god at the point at whch it is realized that god cannot be counted on to exist. The show interestingly inverts this. Since it shows that the nature of the somewhat transcendental underpinnings of the world as something that are now understood in a somewhat scientific light. But this leads to a simialr lack of fath in it. Since it comes to no longer be seen as something that can inherently give value. Seele seeks to unite humanity with god. But this goal while it may or may not be good is not an inherent meaning for life. It falls on the human individual to make sense of their place in the world, rather than rely on the divine to answer those questions for them.

Value theory

Value theory or axiology is the philosophical study of what types of things are valuable. Valuable in this sense means not what tangible things people find value in, but the more direct concept of what type of thing or experience is valuable in and of itself. The main form of value theory being morality. Interestingly however, evangelion has a rather smaller focus on normative ethics than it at first might seem. Generally when a character makes a decision the show is not trying to pronounce an explicit moral judgment on it, even when it is presented as a bad decision. But rather uses them as a psychological study showing the unfolding of the world itself, and the connotations of being someone who makes an unwise decision. In the end the world is one that is presented as morally grey. One in which instead of giving set answers to its dilemmas ts goal is to tell you that no such being handed of the truths in life is forthcoming, and that you are responsible for those decisions yourself.

Certainly even in light of this there are various ethical concerns you could bring up, such as the ethics of some of what nerv does in its goal of defeating the angels, or even whether it was right to fight them to begin with. Various aspects of the story do have interesting moral or value-based connotations you could write about. But this will focus on the most relevant central one that the show brings up itself. Namely the question of human instrumentality, and whether it is a good thing or not.

Now, first one has to focus on what the show itself says about it. The movie tends to view it with skepticism. Though the show presents it in a slightly more ambivalent light, albeit still seemingly rejecting it. In the movie, it is used as a metaphor for the concept of not facing your life, applied as a choice to shinji. And the plot ultimately resolves with him rejecting it. The movie seems to support his decision, but it is not presenting his decision as definitively correct per say. Because at such a time he is not presented as someone who was entirely in their right mind, nor his decisions as a definitive statement of the ideal outcome. And he even says that he will likely question whether he made the right choice in the future. Interestingly, it also seems to imply that most people after experiencing instrumentality reject a return to discrete individuality.

In order to assess what the value-based connotations of it actually are, one has to make sense of what is actually happening. Human instrumentality was a process based on uniting all souls together. The basis of this was that it would overcome human limitations such as loneliness, and the suffering that stems from it. Although all souls are united in a sense, whereby the barriers between them are diminished, they do still retain self identity to some degree, enough to talk with eachother as their own self. It is not literally compressing everyone down to a single mind with no division so much as erasing the firm barriers that exist in everyday life. While that is what it means in terms of identity, additional descriptions of why to do it involving it being the next stage of evolution, and of manifesting god are also given.

What exactly the psychlogical connotations are for what it means to undergo it are left ambiguous past this point. While it implies a complicated internal process and development of identity, we are not shown much beyond the chaotic visions of shinji and then a few conversations he had before rejecting it. So it gives little information to go on to determine many of the long term connotations of existence in that state.

If we want to make a comparison, first we need to look at the benefits it is implied to present. One goal of it is that it effectively erased certain kinds of suffering from the world. The suffering of loneliness and division were implied to be overcome. Some additional forms of suffering that it did not address, but which would also have been overcome due to it are everyday sufferings that stem from health problems, or starvation or related issues, or resource based issues in general. Since all humanity is now fueled by the power of god, and no longer relies on distinct bodies or resources, the problems that come with bodily existence no longer apply either.

An additional benefit is the implied intimacy that comes from humanity now being linked in a way that transcends loneliness. Many forms of value theory hold certain forms of relationship value to be inherently valuable to experience, independently of the happiness or preference satisfaction derived from them. And this is a format that highlights those values heavily. To have a heavy benefit of intimacy that you don't have to fear losing.

Now when looking at individual bodily existence in contrast to third impact, one of the points made is that the feelings and tone of intimacy that comes from individual existence may have a different kind of value. A presented benefit of this is a kind of value of autonomy. Both in terms of responsibility for fostering intimacy yourself, as well as for your life in general. And the ability to be recognized as a distinct being from others. On the concept of intimacy, while individual existence will have less overall intimacy than the state humans exist in under instrumentality, the connotations of it are different due to the kind of autonomous striving for it that one has. And so the question is raised as to whether this makes it more tangible or meaningful if it has to be struggled for. Noting that in many cases in this struggle it may not even be achieved. Shown in that the first thing shinji does on returning from instrumentality is to almost kill asuka.

The same concept of autonomy can also of course be applied to tangible concerns as regards things like work and resources. If humans have individual existence, now they are no longer fueled by the power of god, and have to rely on individual resources, and the striving it takes to get them. This can lead to suffering, sickness, and starvation. But the question is whether those risks are acceptable in terms of upholding the value of the individual path and struggle. Noting that in many cases the failures result in even cases of death.

There are of course various interesting ways to approach this question either within or external to the issues raised by the show. A large aspect of the value theoretical question being raised is the comparison between an ensured better outcome versus a dynamic journey of accomplishment. Are relationships more meaningful because they had to be strived for? And even if so, is the smaller degree of them present in the world still worth it? Is life more meaningful because of the dynamic change that it implies? When we address questions like this, while the show does not directly appeal to philosophers to give context to the question, on the one side we may have figures like consequentialists or schopenhauer or dharmic philosophers saying that human instrumentality is a good thing, and on the other side, figures like nietzsche, or christian philosophers or kantians who might focus on the idea of rational autonomous humans saying otherwise. Although even in such a case there is obviously nuance, since there are a lot of questions of value theory that can apply even within specific traditions.

An additional interesting question to ask relating to it is the specifics of those who suffer. Even if one was to say that it is better to have to struggle for individual relationships and a life position one can raise the issue that this is the voice of the privileged speaking, and that it is only those who succeed who would take this stance, and those with a worse position who would reject it. This being highlighted in the movie itself in that it was shinji's unhappy state in normal existence being used as something that would hopefully lead to him wanting to stay in a state external to it. The show however does have shinji, who is himself in a bad position and none too eager to stay there being the one who decides to remain individual however. So it also shows how even some who are themselves in a bad position assert this individual aproach.

The movie does tie instrumentality to a life denying attitude and the idea of running away from reality or engaging in escapism, as a type of metaphor. However, while that works on a meta level as a metaphor for disregarding your actual place in the world, it is a more dubious case internally to the story, where rather than a fantasy it is a real thing they are capable of doing. Though the in story connotations were not so much the idea of engaging in fantasy so much as rejecting your place in the world. And in a large sense for shinji it was also about self hatred, and the desire to be free of “himself.” And so in a large way the moral or value based connotations of the events were in fact glossed over, since it was less a story of morality and more one of the personal journey of an individual, and where his choice to go with individuality came from a larger acceptance of himself.

Again though, in the show, instrumentality was not depicted with as dark of a tone. And while shinji seems to still reject it, or at least part of it, the connotations are left more ambiguous. With the focus just being more on self acceptance, and resolving internal issues without reference to whether it is done in the ordinary way versus a surreal one. And even in end of eva, shinji's rejection of it is tenuous, with him considering that he will have self doubt about whether it was good to do so. So there is a lot of room to approach it from various angles.

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is the movement or philosophy that relates to the idea of a need to actively protect the environment from damages. There can be a variety of reasons to do this, ranging from because it is necessary to uphold it in order to sustain civilization to the idea that one should do so for its own sake. This is an aspect of evangelion, although it is not heavily focused on. In the series they highlight how the south pole was turned into a lifeless wasteland, and in the reboots they show it happen to first the ocean, and then later much of the land. With kowaru talking abut how humans try to adapt the world to themselves rather than trying to adapt themselves to the world. Little is gone into these lines of thought besides a general highlighting of environmental concerns as a detail though, and so there is not much to say about their depictions of it.

Philosophy of identity

Philosophy of identity is the philosophy of finding out what relationship each thing bears to itself, and how ts identity is preserved over time. While this overlaps with concepts like psychology, and the idea of forming your identity as a person, it is a little different of a topic. Being about the metaphysical connotations of what makes you yourself, and makes you continue to be yourself as a whole. Understanding this (or not) may even effect your own sense of self identity. With Shinji in the final episodes of the show saying that he doesn't even know what it is that makes him himself.

The idea of philosophy of identity might seem like an abstract question that its hard to understand the connotations it has for everyday life. But there are some practical applications where different theories can give tangibly different answers. Such as whether a transporter that broke down your body and used your shape as a code to reform a new identical one was really you transporting, or merely creating a copy of you. Different questions can give different answers, and even imply different connotations of how you might want to relate to someone, questioning the degree they are someone familiar to you.

There are various possible things to focus on as the relevant fact of identity that continuity is grounded in. The biological approach focuses on you being the same organism. The brute physical view extends this further by focusing on being the same physical object in general. In contrast, the psychological view focuses on having the same mental content. A different variant of that line of thought is the narrative view. Which holds that you are not pure psychological content, but rather a narrative or story that makes sense of events into a cohesive whole. And so it is a self told story told about your existence that constructs this narrative allowing for continuity. There are also views that say that it is some further unknown fact, or some combination of the above, being the closest continuer of various properties.

Classical conceptions of the problem of identity tended to presuppose that one of these answers would provide a singular explanation for identity, and that people were discrete selves explainable by one of these, and the issue was merely to find out which one. However, over time the idea of the discrete self has been deconstructed. And it has been considered that the answer may be a combination, and that identity in the normal sense isn't even a direct connotation for continuity. One modern reaction to that is the idea of bundle theory, the idea that people are a bundle of properties, and that there may be more than one kind of continuity, although some may be more important than others for making sense of identity. Interestingly, while this idea is semi new in the west, versions of it had existed in the east for a long time. Another such idea is open individualism, which in a related sense holds that individual things don't have their own discrete identity, because everything is continuous. And discrete identity is a constructed illusion of part of the whole.

Other issues of philosophy of identity involve the concepts of fusion and fission. Namely, how to make sense of how identity is preserved under such cases where there is a radical shift that involves having to make sense of which of two things is the original, if not both. Or whether a resultant entity that is the combination of many counts as all of them, or something different. Classical western philosophy of identity with its idea on discrete selves had more difficulty making sense of these questions. Which is why the further back you go, the more the idea of the ship of theseus was seen s a devastating issue to wrestle with. But modern conceptions of identity tend to provide a more firm basis to approach these questions. Due to seeing the need to hold to the idea of discrete identity as in a sense a pseudo problem.

Evangelion has a large focus on the concept of identity. Although since this aspect blurs together with the psychological aspects sometimes it is not immediately recognized. A recurring question that comes up in some of the dream sequences is the question of “what am I?” You are told that everything is a description, or merely a shape, rather than your true self. Everything is an identifier to use for recognition. That there is little difference in the sense of how you see yourself and how others see you, both being a subjective construct. But both the interpretation you have yourself and that others have of you is a true version of you, due to this same fact of you being a construct. And in some sense how you are defined is this sequence of relations. In a sense though, it also downplays the question. Shinji asks whether something is his true self or his fake self. And is told that you are you. As if the attempt to seek a deeper answer to this question implies looking for something that you are unlikely to find. In the classified information it outright says "People are people because they think of themselves as people."

You also get an example with rei. Rei looks at the many versions of herself, noting that they all bear her name. She asks how it could be possible that they all share an identity. And what it is that makes them in any sense the same, if anything. And is told that what makes this true is not any deeper fact, but merely that that is how they are recognized. And that the being known as rei ayanami was created by the relationships they share with others. The show expands on this by saying that people's identity is in a sense literally created through these relations. That you create others as they create you. Saying that what forms your shape is your mind and its interaction with the world that surrounds you. As such there is a sense in which someone identical taking the same role is literally in some sense bearing the same identity. Though it recognizes distinction between them as well.

Looking at these various lines given to characters it is definitely taking a strong leaning to the idea of the self not being a strong substantive metaphysically discrete thing, but rather in a sense a construct that is formed through self identity. This is said most simply when after thinking it over shinji says “so what I think is me is me.” From this we get the idea that it is leaning in a sense towards a narrative criterion of identity. But without distiction between whether it leans more towards a bundle theoretic or an open individual based approach. Or even distinguishes between them. Though its talk of boundlessness does imply languae that leans more towards the latter. This diminishing of the question takes the idea that identity is not substantive in the way we might think, but is based on and created by paradigms of action as we move through life. And that concerns over finding a deeper substantive truth can distract from the immediate sense of living.

Something like this is even said directly when you are told that A person's truth is so simple that most ignore it to concentrate on what they think are deeper truths. That in essence a person's identity in a large way is a surface level relation formed and distinguished heavily by interaction. And so there is no deeper true self. This does not necessarily imply that there is no continuity. But that identity is not what matters. the show even considers people as having more than one identity. Where the magi are designed based on different aspects of a person that function differently and overlap. Veering into the idea that the different parts of your internal self may not even be that different than the distinction between you and others.

The idea of there being no fundamental true self is also highlighted in the time it shows the alternate universe in the original episode 26. Shinji realizes that his current self is just as ephemeral as this alternate self. There there is no true fundamental version, just contingent unfoldings that are based on situation. While that statement also has psychological applications relating to outside influence and choice, and how your life develops, it is also presented as a philosophy of mind concept whereby it relates to the subjective and ephemeral nature to the answers of these questions.

An interesting fact about the idea that identity is a construct tied to your relationships is exemplified to some degree with the angels, who while they are shown to have some degree of intelligence, the degree to which they have any self identity or view themselves as a single thing is left ambiguous. Both times a direct conversation with angels happens, rather than showing a distinct self they reflect the self of the person talking to them back onto them. And in only one of them was the reflected self actually expressing the thoughts of the angels, rather than mostly just those of the human. Misato questions whether angels even know what a human mind is, implying a fundamentally distinct mode of thinking for these beings which generally exist without interaction. And in the reboots, you see one angel that has several bodies on it, implying that it makes no distinction between whether it is one or many.

This is tied to something called the social or relational model of personhood. Which argues that something that helps define individuals as a specfic self with a self identity is their relationships to others. If no one else existed there would be no reason to think of the concept of a self that distinguishes you from others. Likewise, there would be no reason for language and so it would be difficult to even conceptualize a form of thought in words. Classical western philosphy tended to concieve of individuals as things that exist in isolation, but modern philosophy tends to take a more relational approach. Something that was shaped in part by eastern philosophy.

Fusion is presented as a relevant concept too. An angel tries to fuse with rei, and seemingly takes on part of her identity. But the most relevant part is in human instrumentality. Where all humans fuse together, and rather than fully fusing their identities simply start to have fuzzy edges so that they blur together. But the questions of identity are bought up in terms of maintaining yourself when this overlapping occurs. Something that in the end shinji considers a threat to both his and the identity of others, and so rejects instrumentality.

One question brought up as regards instrumentality in the movie of course is the concern whether the changes your identity undergoes are sufficient enough to take issue with it even upholding entirely your personal identity as a person. While it does show that to some degree identity is preserved, shinji also takes issue with it in the movie, being concerned that some releant aspect of identity is lost as well, and that he wishes to see people again as they were. Though it is left ambiguous to what degree this potential change in one's identity exist or is a relevant category. Whether it is a meataphysically large one in a meaningful sense versus shinji himself merely considering even small ones to be a shift he rejects.

Transhumanism

Transhumanism is a philosophical movement that advocates for the transformation of the human condition through some form of advanced means or technology. What the goal is, and what aspect is being transformed can be a variety of different things based on the reasons it is being undertaken.

Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations as well as the ethical limitations of using such technologies. The most common transhumanist thesis is that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into different beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the current condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings. One thing of note is that once technology is good enough people might seek to do this en masse, and so concerns are raised in what ways if any it should be undertaken, and with who in charge.

Evangelion does not explicitly focus on transhumanism for much of the show, with the advanced tech being used to design things that humans make use of rather than change humanity itself. But the ending with third impact had a much larger transhumanist element. Seele posited that humans as they were were the end of mankind's evolutionary potential in the ordinary sense, and so further developments could only be brought about by their own hand. They wanted to unite all people together into a super being in order to overcome certain issues with individual human existence. And so transhumanist themes and concerns over human evolution get brought to the forefront later on.

The human instrumentality project is a very particular transhumanist goal that involves humanity all being linked through a group mind. The creation of a group mind over humanity is one transhumanist idea of linking people's minds, which can be done for various reasons ranging from the reasons offered in the show to other ones such as faster sharing of information. What makes this form more peculiar however is that it is not merely creating a group mind, but having humans give up distinct bodily existence entirely, in favor of becoming more tangibly part of it. Calling to mind the transhumanist religious ideas of tielhard de chardin, who believed that humans would one day transform themselves into nontangible (though still technically physical) forms, and ultimately unite into one being that both preserves individuality, yet has perfect unity. Himself even equating this to divinity. When human nature is changed so much that it barely resembles their original self, humans are often referred to as post-humans by transhumanists.

Rejection of transhumanism, or skepticism towards it is known as bioconservatism. At the end of the show this evolution was rejected in favor of maintaining ordinary human existence. However, the show is not necessarily showing a rejection of transhumanism as a whole, but rather of a very specfic variant of it. One that specifically has to do with the idea of linking people in a super integrated way that could risk being a threat to the idea of their discrete self identity. This focus was taken due to that specific approach's relationship to psychology so as to create a kid of contrast between hive mind logic versus that of individual existece. And so that was gven priority over other concerns.

However, one side aspect is shown in that gendo seemingly intends to take the power of god for himself, so as to reunite with his wife, and be able to keep himself from ever losing things again. And seemingly would restore other humans to individual existence. While his intentions are not given as much focus, his attempt to evolve himself alone for these reasons is another transhumanist element. Though one that the show views with skepticism, seeing it as tied to an obsessive form of clinging.

Moral fallibilism

Moral fallibilism is a subset of larger concepts of epistemological fallibilism. Fallibilism is the philosophical doctrine that absolute certainty about knowledge is impossible, or at least that all claims to knowledge could, in principle, be mistaken. This does not necessarily apply to all possible knowledge, but different variants hold it as true for different things. Unlike Skepticism (the doctrine that true knowledge is by definition uncertain), Fallibilism does not imply the need to abandon our knowledge, but rather that there is always an acknowledged difficulty with considering it absolute. It is an admission that, because knowledge can always be revised by further observation, then whatever we are taking as knowledge might possibly turn out to be false.

Falliblism is a common position in moral epistemology, the study of how it is we come across moral knowledge. Moral epistemology has the difficulty of trying to make sense of moral knowledge in general, as well as how humans can come about it, and what constitutes good evidence. While most ethicists consider that at least some moral leanings are loosely good enough to constitute real knowledge, there is the difficulty that it may be difficult in practice, if not impossible in principle to ever reach a strong consensus. Because while we can experience value, and morality is seen as tied to it, it is not particularly clear in what sense it is tied, or how to make use of this connection information-wise.

The show dives hard into fallibilism in terms of its moral dynamic. Rather than providing form answers to dillemas, it uses them more to focus on how the individual characters think about them, and the reality of the fact that there is an unavoidably ambiguous aspect. Some of the ambiguity and stress faced by the characters comes from the place of simply not knowing what they should even do. This is exemplified most clearly in end of evangelion when at the end of the world a character asks if they did the right thing up to this point, but was answered with a statement implying that they have no idea. Anno even said that one reason that the angels are so amorphous and ambiguous is because in real life who or what is the enemy is ambiguous. And so the struggle being hard to make sense of relates to real life moral struggles.

Another relevant aspect of this element of moral fallibilism is the idea of learning from your mistakes. A large theme of the show is the fact that in light of this ambiguity, you will make mistakes. And people may end up harmed by them. This is not meant to say that the mistakes therefore don't count. But to acknowledge the difficulty, and show that it is possible to try to improve after. Misato later in the series talks about how her life involved a series of making the wrong choices, but that she learned each time she did. Highlighting the reality that ambiguity doesn't have to be defeatism. Noting of course also that lack of knowledge is not the only issue. Another is simply not doing what you think you should out of lack of willpower.

Moral fallibilism is not meant to be as extreme as skepticism. It does not deny that people can in a pragmatic sense gain moral knowledge. Just that from where we stand there is no clear and perfect answer. The ambiguity here is highlighted in the show itself. It shows some of the darker things that nerv did, such as the remains found in the eva graveyard. But leaves you to consider whether these things were justified for the sake of protecting humanity. Notably, since humans ans angels were at odds, it leaves it ambiguous whether protecting humanity was even a good thing, versus whether angels surviving instead was just as good. Though in that case, the larger amount of humans does make it seem like that option is superior. And of course, the show never quite takes a firm definitive stance on whether human instrumentality was a good thing.

Realism

One thing that the show is known for is a more realism based approach that highlights certain situations in a more grounded rather than idealist light. Rather than being a show about distinct and identfiable good versus evil or with a narrative in which certain characters and their actions are defined as good, the fallible nature of the characters is used to highlight the ambiguities in reality. And certain things that in other forms of fiction might work out despite the dubious nature of them due to the narrative itself are revealed to not end with that kind of path here.

This tone of psychological realism undermines narrative conventions that are popular to anime, such as the kind of infallible heroism that is generally designed to facilitate self insertion. The heroes of many of these shows are often generic types meant to represent the everyman, but whom ultimately in the journey are filled with intense courage and end up rewarded, win out, become a true hero, etc. But the truth is that war is a much darker situation than much fiction depicts it as, and if a child soldier were forced into it this would be even moreso. Evangelion is trying to ask what would really happen if a young boy were forced to fight in strenuous situations against horrifying things he couldn't understand, and with the future of the world at stake for him no less. The answer which is implied to be much darker than is often shown. Near the end of the show, shinji rather than becoming more confident in many ways becomes more terrified due to the additional trauma he keeps experiencing.

In addition, his intentions are much more down to earth than that of many main characters forced into the role of hero. He never expresses any self identity as a heroic figure, and never really frames what he is doing in terms of saving the world. He does what he does out of a misplaced desire for validation, and attention from a father who paid little heed to him. Asuka also is implied to not really have heroic concerns, but rather ones of self aggrandizement. And rei doesn't have much in the way of persona reasons at all, instead doing what she does merely because she was created to and does what she is told without questioning her role (at least until end of evangelion). In terms of their role as audience stand ins, these deconstructions of heroism are none too flattering, and show the harsher light of the nature of battle. They are introduced into this fight without even really knowing the intentions of who they are working for, or having more than a rudimentary understanding of how genuine the intentions of those in charge are.

Another interesting thing the show does is deconstruct some of the idealistic aspects of relationships that are common in other fiction. In a lot of fiction it takes this tone of love conquers all, or treats a hero taking grave risks in order to protect someone they care about as a morally good thing even if it is the world that is put at risk. But in the reboots, the second movie ends with shinji putting the world at risk to save rei. Only to have it turn out that he not only failed, but that this actually ravaged the surface world, turning much of it into an uninhabitable wasteland. In general, the show highlights that any type of heroics are not enough to guarantee a good ending. And the tone it takes on love is not an idealistic one. With concerns being raised about how close you can even be with a partner. This draws from anno's own life, who admits difficulty in understanding the opposite sex. Something reflected in concerns brought up by the charcaters themselves.

Likewise, the relationships in general in the show are all depicted in a more cynical light. In the end, it implies that shinji is likely to end up in a relationship with asuka despite the dysfuctional way they have been relating in the latter parts of the series, and even somewhat earlier on. Misato's relationship with kaji is shown to be imperfect, with her being embarrassed to be seen going back with him due to this fact, but said relationship in and of itself does not end especially badly, aside from that he dies for unrelated reasons. Gendo's obsession with his wife also ends badly for him, as does both ritsuko and her mother's obsessions with gendo.

Another idea common in fiction is a kind of emphasis on the idea of the unlimited potential of the human will. Something that allows them to beat tremendous unrealistic odds. In end of eva this too is shown in a darker light, since asuka is faced with a high amount of enemies that she has a revelation and seems to be likely to be on the verge of beating with this kind of willpower only for it to ultimately not go in her favor. With it being revealed after the fight that even the enemies she thought she beat were still active, and just temporarily down. Even earlier in the series, sudden attacks often entirely wipe out the characters showing an error in the fiction based heroic idea of certain people being effectively invincible. This cynical view on the will is even reflected in charactres who seem resolute changing their mind. Like shinji coming back to pilot again after the point he is described as the most confident he had ever been when rejecting doing so.

Psychology

General

Psychology is one of the cornerstones of evangelion, being in a large way the primary focus of its themes, and made more personal due to the heavy amount in which it draws from anno's own life and psychological struggles. It makes a lot of references to freudian psychology, as well as some to jung. But also has a lot of generalized psychological content outside of that. While there is probably a near unlimited amount of things you could write about relating to this subject, this will limit itself to some of the most relevant.

An important cornerstone for understanding evangelion is the fact that the characters are meant to be read primarily through a psychological light. The show tends not to try to make explicit points about who is right or wrong, even if certain scenes convey an idea that some people are more right than others. Rather, what the characters do, and why is meant to be interpreted through an individual lens, focusing more on the nature of being done by imperfect people. What does it mean that they in particular chose to do what they did, and what does it tell you about either them, or more generally, how to interpret the psychological ramifications of the events in general? By extension, an important thing to note is that most of the characters are heavily flawed. They have various failings, with the show not implying that these are not unique cases, but rather that common failings are a reality of people in general.

Another important basis for understandng it is that in a large way it is meant to be the story of the internal world of anno the creator. Even when discussing the reboots he says that the story is the story of him, and so since he is still alive the story is ongoing. He describes the major characters as each embodying an aspect of his personality. With shnji being the closest at the time of life he began the show. And so it helps to see the different characters as if embodiments of different psychological slants, many of which he had experienced at somepoint in time.

An important psychological cornerstone of the show is the theme of loneliness and isolation. It describes that when people exist as individuals they exist in a state of alienation not only from other people, but even in a large way from themselves. The latter being shown in their lack of understanding of their own actions, such as shinji reacting harshly when faced with some of his own inner thoughts. And it implies that people are struggling against this, with this being the default state. People desire companionship, but the show highlights that there is a gap between people that makes this difficult to achieve. This also manifests not only in a desire for intimacy, but also for respect and appreciation.

Many of the characters are in a state of isolation such as shinji seeking the parental approval that he had never gotten. Something expressed most directly in end of eva with a surreal dream sequence of him acting out when other parents come to pick up other kids and he is left alone. The show uses the hedgehog's dilemma to highlight that despite this desire for intimacy people generally naturally keep eachother at a distance that can make this difficult to achieve. Shinji's loneliness is exacerbated in that he can't even find companionship in the other eva pilots, since one is cold and one dislikes him.

This desire for affection and appreciation is also highlighted as a source behind why people act out. Asuka has feelings of needing to receive approval, but has difficulty being intimate. Her entire identity is invested in the idea of being seen as impressive. Something that starts falling apart when she realizes that shinji is seen as better than her at being a pilot. And collapses even worse when she stops being able to pilot at all. Even gendo is shown to be so obsessed with the idea of his wife that after losing her his entire plan shifted more towards getting her back, and being able to prevent himself from losing anything further. Something that harmed his relationship with shinji and other people in general, and in the end led to him dying alone and unappreciated. With even shinji never finding out that gendo in the end felt sorry for what he did to him.

The show expresses this idea of loneliness and desire by using a quote saying “There is always a void, a part that has been lost in our hearts. That is what gives rise to the hunger in our hearts That’s why you’re going to bundle all human souls together,” This has to do with a psychoanalytical concept called lack. Lacan describes lack is the property that gives rise to desire. People's goals are defined by a discrepancy between themselves or their position or nature, and something they think can fulfill this. Here, the focus is placed on a lack of intimacy. A constant need to have this lack fulfilled contrasted with the reality that doing so doesn't last forever.

The themes of loneliness and desire for acceptance being tied to parents is also a repeated one. Shinji's relationship to gendo. Asuka's to her mother. Misato to her father. Ritsuko to her mother in a way, which even ends with the computer based on her not working for what she wanted in her final moments. It is a recurring theme that shows up several times. Not all of these situations explicitly imply the parents making a specific obvious mistake that led to their problems. But it shows how people's state is heavily affected by where they come from. And so people emanate from eachother in a kind of chain that has reverberating effects. This not being just parents though of course, but all interactions.

Concerns over the nature of intimacy are tied to hesitation or self doubt. It describes people as unwilling, or to some degree even unable to show their true selves to others. This is tied to some degree to self doubt over one's own identity, and a lack of understandng even of themselves. The idea of concern over who you are, and the reality of showing this to people. Highlighted by gendo in the end saying that he didn't think he deserved to be loved. A tangible thing in the show used to highlight this idea is the idea of the at field. Described as the light of your soul and a sacred territory which none may enter. Being a metaphor for the barriers we use to keep people at a distance. And of course even when facing yourself, you may reject what you see, like when shinji is forced to face his own thoughts when absorbed by leliel.

Self doubt and self hatred are however their own theme in evangelion. A large focus is spent on the idea of feeling worthless, or not considering yourself valuable except in certain contexts. And that if you invest your entire identity in one thing you do, that if that is taken then you will lack a concept of identity. This is shown with various characters, but most explicitly the eva pilots. Asuka's identity is tied in being the best in a way where she feels she lacks value as an individual without it. A major aspect of the show being the idea of self acceptance. Shinji is pushed to accept human instrumentality because he hates his own existence, but comes to reject instrumentality on accepting it. This tying to both a more life affirming view in light of suffering as well as becoming more self accepting.

This also leads to a theme of being in conflict with yourself. Various charactres have an internal conflict between different things they want to do. Or even converstions internally about different things they believe. This being represented most clearly with shinji inside leliel talking to another version of himself. But it is also expressed in a more benign way with the design of the magi system. That was based on different aspects of a person which shows that even your own internal workings can have parts that function differently, and are in conflict. This reflecting the real psychological fact that you may have different competing drives at once, and either be given anxiety over the nature of having to choose, or doubt yourself no matter what choice you might make.

The show also depicts projection. Which is the psychological term for describing things about yourself as if they were properties of someone external so as to subconsciously distance yourself from them. Asuka's obsession is with always being the best, but she accuses rei of many of the things that are more accurately a description of herself. Not only does she accuse rei of trying to be the best, but also insists that she looks down on the other pilots. Unlike shinj who is candid about how low opinion about himself much of the time, asuka refuses to face this, instead putting on an elitist front. This also belies her having a superiority complex, which is an attitude of superiority which conceals actual feelings of inferiority and failure.

This is also in a way a deconstruction of the idea that shows up commonly in fiction of main characters suddenly being better than everyone else without trying. Unlike asuka who spent years trying to become the best pilot, shinji just kind of stumbled into the position and suddenly ended up much better than her. In a situation where people who were dedicated longer to something are suddenly shown to be less impressive at it, a negative response would likely result. Her breakdown is not something that only manifests later on, but you see her comparing herself to shinji and being concerned over being the worse pilot from early on.

A major tie together of these themes is the idea of running away. Anno himself considered himself to have run away from reality for years leading up to making the show. And so in a large way it was also meant to be a depiction of him working through his problems. The themes of running away tie to not only relationships, but responsibilities, and even from facing yourself. Shinji not only considers running away at various times in the series, but his affirmation of individual existence is presented as a choice not to do so. and that his desires that led away from individual existence were another form of running. This carries over to the idea of suicide, which is briefly shown in the show as a form of escapin life. But it is not pronouncing judgement on it so much as showing the mentalities that lead to that kind of psychology.

A meta aspect of this is the escapism that is often tied to certain types of media. With the reboot movies going more meta. Aspects of the movies reflect some of the negative reactions of fans, and the fact that many of the turned eva into a source of the same escapism it was designed to help people overcome. With the movie bringing up the idea of the curse of the eva that keeps people from aging implying an obsession fans have with the franchise not moving on. And kowaru addresses the audience indirectly by talking about how you suffer because you can't handle change. With him adressing the life denying aspects of this, by saying “Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world. It’s just like you.”

Another focus on psychology that the show has crosses over with philosophy of mind in that it focuses on the tangible construction of your mind's properties as well as your concept of self identity. It highlights the reality that there isn't necessarily any true central version of you on a psychological level. And how different outcomes could easily exist. With shinji reflecting on this in the final episodes as he sees an alternate universe. As such, an attempt to find your real fundamental self are bound for failure, because the self that you live and he unfolding of it is the relevant self to you. This is exemplified in the different conversions in the original final episodes that are ultimately compressed down to a simplified statement. “what am I? Where am I? Is this me? My true Self? My fake Self?” responded to with just “You are you.”

The show also describes how psychologically you are reflected in others. It says that you create others as they create you. And shinji raises the concern that in a world with only himself and no interaction there would be no way do distinguish him from nothing. This has to do with how self consciousness and self awareness as an identity are reflected and developed in a way that involves group settings. This being a major tie to the themes showing the reflection between interdependence and independence. The fact that people are tangibly reflected in others being shown in that in his internal monologues his thoughts about himself are often shown being expressed as if by other people. Sine your internal self awareness is heavily shaped by this idea of the other, and their gaze of you.

The theme of people mutually creating eachother is not merely touched on, but is actually central to the development of shnji's character. Many of his character shifts are based heavily on his reaction to other characters. He goes from quiet and passive and aloof at the beginning to acting more like he has a place after becoming more relaxed at misato's apartment. He starts to learn more empathy when he cares about and saves rei. He starts to get more aggressive and stand up for himself more when interacting with asuka. Each stage showing a different level in his development. These developments are not all necessarily only good. But they show how external situations, and especially people are a major driving factor in your own development. Ultimately his original defining relation to other characters that sets it all in motion is the separation anxiety from losing his parents. Something referenced by name in the ost.

This also gets into the show's exploration of the idea of alien psychology. The angels are a foil to humanity because they are designed to be somewhat self contained, whereas humans are not. As such, their psychology is so different that misato questions whether angels even know what a human mind is. In the second movie you see an angel have many small bodies on it, and in the first one of them seems to be a swarm. So the angels existence at times even deconstructs the distinction between one or many.

An important thing to note is that its not clear that angels all even have a concept of self identity in the way humans do. In the episode where shinji is absorbed by leliel, he is seemingly contacted by it, but the contact took the strange form of leliel reflecting back on him shinji's own shadow, which spoke to him his own thoughts. Which was such an abstract form of comunication that after the fact they were not clear it was even an attempt at one. This shows the interesting fact that not only does the angel take on shinji's identity to reflect it at him, but that it seemingly added little identity of its own during this conversation. Showing that it has no stable self identity that it uses for communication, due to not being a thing that generally does so. And also Leaving it as a totally surreal scene that makes it ambiguous what the angel even thought it was accomplishing or learning. The philosopher wittgenstein describes something like this with his famous quote: "If a lion could talk, we would not understand him."

The alien psychology does get used later on with the second to last angel that tries to merge with rei to highlight a very human feeling though. It describes a feeling of pain that rei recognizes as loneliness. Noting that it could not identify its own emotion. Difficulty identifying and understanding your own feelings is something that is a common experience, especially in people who have certain issues like having been abused. This showing that even angels can get lonely despite their more solitary existence. Assuming that the feelings were that of the angel, rather than combined with that of rei.

Instrumentality itself of course is also a form of alien psychology, because not only are people's minds now linked in a way that makes them more connected, but the nature of what their lives would be like is now totally changed. This overlap is implied to make people more understanding, and by extension decrease loneliness and spite. But as the scenes involving it are meant to be surreal, it does not go deeply into the idea. It is based heavily on mystical ideas of loss of self identity to merge with god, but mixed with psychological reflections on the pain of individual existence, and a hypothetical mode of being that lacks it.

In general, the surreal dreamlike aspect of the show kind of relates a lot to the idea of it being an expression of the unconscious, and the disordered chaos that underlies the ordered structured world. This being somewhat literal in how anno describes the intention of the show. Certain parts of it are more literally this than others, like the end of the third reboot movie which comes off heavily like as if it were an expression of a mental breakdown. Something that in a sense is somewhat literal, considering that after making it anno said he was unable to go on and make the final movie, only coming back to it after a long break.

Freud

Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. While he is considered the father of modern psychology, the ones who draw on him more are moreso clinical psychiatry which is more practice based rather than theoretically based. Freudian interpretations of media are also common in terms of making sense of its psychosexual imagery.

Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques related to the study of the unconscious mind. This is often based on the idea of issues that stemmed from one's childhood, and which created lifelong unconscious issues. Psychoanalysis is a controversial discipline and its validity as a science is contested. Nonetheless, it remains a strong influence within psychiatry, more so in some quarters than others. The rise of freud and psychoanalysis led to the much larger understanding of how much people were influenced by the unconscious.

Popularizing the idea of the unconscious in psychology was one of freud's primary contributions. While philosophers and a few writers had utilized the concept before his time, it was never given an explicit scientific treatment, and his work gave rise to the focus on doing so. This revolutionized psychological practice by beginning to make sense of the fact that the ego is not the sum if the mind, but rather it has additional aspects controlling its action that are unseen. Freud himself believed that human action was in fact heavily controlled by the unconscious, with the conscious in many ways being a reactive force manifesting out of it, rather than the sole seat of action.

Freud is a major basis for evangelion, with freudian terms being some of the most explicitly referenced alongside the kabbalah. However, the surreal nature of some of the events as well as anno's reluctance to describe the meaning in detail in interviews leaves it ambiguous how literally this is meant to be taken, versus the degree it is neo-freudian reinterpretation. Even in addition to the concepts referenced outright, many additional concepts are referenced in the sountrack.

One of the primary freudian concepts is the division between the id, the ego, and the superego. In this sense, the id is meant to be the pleasure seeking aspect that calls you to indulge. The superego is the part that focuses on external social rules and the idea of conscience. And the ego is a mediator between them to dictate your action, and is the seat of your self identity. To freud when you are born only the id is dominant, with you lacking any concept of self identity or purpose outside of pleasure seeking. But gradually the other structures emerge from this.

While the ego and superego are partially conscious, he saw the id as entirely unconscious. This ties to the evolutionary history and development of the psyche, with the id being the most primal aspect. Certain detrimental outcomes can come from a mind that is too focused on prioritizing the id or superego. The id is described as following the pleasure rinciple, while the moderating ego is described as following the reality principle. The term pleasure principle shows up in the name of one of the songs on the ost.

Some have hypothesized that shinji, asuka, and rei are meant to correspond to the ideas ego, id, and superego respectively. Rei is totally compliant person whose identity revolves in being compliant in the system in which she finds herself. Asuka is impulsive, focusing entirely on personal interests often to her detrment. Anno has said that shinji in a way represents himself. And so this formula can be meant to express as an author avatar the idea of different aspects of the psyche pulling in different ways. And the dissociation that stems from them. Though whether this was an explicit design from the beginning is left unknown. Note that the superego does not de facto want you to do morally good things, since the social order it pulls you towards could be any number of things.

One major freudian element in the show is highlighted in how much freud emphasizes that the seemingly incoherent behaviors people often engage in have their basis in unconscous desires that they don't fully understand themselves, and so how even if they are intelligent they cannot necessarily entirely control. Many of these unconscious desires which stem from events in our past, and have a heavy id based element. Lacan described this by saying that while we tend to think of our conscious as in control, in many ways the unconscious is and the conscious mind is a passive observer of much of what goes on. Evangelion highlights these aspects of characters being bound by unconscious drives that push them around in that you see the kind of confusion characters have about their own actions at times, later being literally faced with their unconscious in some cases.

Another major focus of freud is the idea of psychosexual imagery, especially in the context of dreams. A major part of psychoanalysis was the interpretation of dreams. He believed dreams to be in part a form of wish fulfillment, though which aspects of them were was ambiguous because he also beleived that parts of them were merely random thoughts. Freud believed that many things in dreams were meant to represent genitalia, such as upright structures or spears stabbing representing penises. And that this could be used to make sense of the patient's desires. These freudian conceptions of psycho-sexual imagery being a common occurence in media that draws from freudian ideas.

Evangelion in particular is heavily filled with sexual imagery, most of which are either vaginas, either independently or having sex, if not as something shaped like one, in many cases in end of evangelion actively just depicting them as appearing in random places such as lilith's forehead. This conveys a sense of the fact that sexuality pervades everything and is tied to the influences of and interpretation of all action. Some other examples shows up such as in the design of certain angels like shamshiel, or the way eyes are often drawn. This also ties to the fact that parts of the show or movies are presented as with a kind of surreal or dreamlike quality, or as if it were the unconscious manifesting itself openly.

Surealism as an artstyle is heavily based in freud. Freud's work with free association, dream analysis, and the unconscious was of significant importance to the surrealists in developing methods to liberate imagination. Surrealism is meant to be a kind of expression of the chaotic unconscious into a tangibly visible form. Evangelion likewise carries on this trend, with its surreal imagery being openly stated to be a direct expression of the mind of the creator. With him even going on to say for the reboots that since evangelion is his mind, it is never over as long as he is still alive. The new content being a reflection of a new mind state.

One major aspect of freud's psychology is the idea of the life drive or eros and the death drive, or thanatos. The eros is fueled by sexual energy he called libido, and in contrast the death drive is fueled by an energy called destrudo. Although the death drive's energy was not named until later by someone other than freud. Freud conflated sexual energy together with the entire life drive because he believed that in a large sense physical stimulus in general are all continuous with and a form of sensuality. He described the life drive as comparable to the word love, including in its more sensual uses. The death drive is heavily also used to describe self destructive impulses.

While many later therapists have argued that freud was mistaken in thinking that people specifically all contained this degree of self destructive impulse, it is occasionally used to highlight explicitly self destructive behavior. In evangelion it is referred to directly. Libido and destrudo seem to be tangibly measurable forces, with the psychograph being something that can measure them. This actually plays a large role in the ending where under the influence of his destrudo, shinji with his self hatred and desire to erase himself was being used to give rise to a world where he isn't burdened by individuality. With his change in heart coming from his realization that despite his out of control emotions that in the end he wanted to preserve certain others who meant something to him.

This is actually a very important piece of information for understanding the ending. Since while the idea of merging everyone into one was not meant to be death per say, being some type of surreal transcendence that was meant to call to mind the ending of 2001, in the context of the show one basis for desiring this is implied to be a form of either self hatred or hatred of the conditions of one's life in the world. And so a desire to flee from this reality. This is presented as one reason one might desire the loss of individuality. Though seele in contrast was presented as desiring this for other more affirming rather than self destructive reasons. Although even seele used the language of death to describe it.

One of freud's major uses for these concepts was the idea of psychosexual development. Freud believed that while society repressed this due to it being a taboo, that infants do in fact have a form of sexuality, due to the continuity of all physical drives or sources of pleasure with sexuality. He believed that infants went through a succession of stages of development that if the developments were not handled properly would lead to problems later in life. One of these, the oral stage, is referenced in the name of one of the episodes. The one in which shinji disappears into unit 01. This title likely implying that he needs to forego clinging to his comfort and mother who resides within the eva in a similar fashion as infants get weaned from breastfeeding.

One of the more controversial aspects of this is the oedipus complex. Freud believed that in a sense children were attracted to their opposite sexed parent, and saw the same sexed one as a rival for affection. And that this is part of a normal means of development. This concept has been heavily called into question, with many even within freud's own tradition saying that it is not a useful concept without so much reinterpretation that it barely counts as the same concept. Although some do note that your parents are often used as a model for what sgnificant others are supposed to resemble. But this theme is a major aspect of the show. With shinji being attracted to rei, who is not only a clone of his mother, but who he even describes as coming off like one to her. And his actual mother's soul is in unit 01, which is something he gets more time with than gendo, who ultimately dies without fulfilling his goal of reuniting with her.

Freud also talks about people having a desire to return to the womb. The womb represents a period where all of people's desires were continually satisfied to freud. And once we are born, we enter into a state where this is no longer the case. And much of what people do is seen as tied to a drive to return to what they see as this kind of archaic lost state. Instrumentality is described as people returning to a primal womb in this sense. On in which they are no longer forced into a world to experience dissatisfaction. Expressed also in the literal sense of literally returning to the inside of lilith. In the show thi is mixed with a kind of heavenly afterlife state. This conflation of heavenly ideals with the idea of returning to the womb being a common concept in freudianism.

Some other terms that show up are ambivalence and introjection. The former, while now a more well known word, was originally a psychological concept relating to mixed feelings towards something. And shows up as the title of the episode where shinji has to fight the corrupted eva, relating to his mixed feelings on doing so. The episode introjection is the following one where he gets absorbed into the eva. And is a term for when you appropriate characteristics of another person into your persona, such as if they have ore desirable characteristics. Though in the episode, the term is seemingly being used for more tangible physical things that are going on.

The term Infantile dependence also shows up on the ost, which is the subjugating of a person to their parental figures, usually his or her mother. This usually occurs during the early states of life when a child is totally dependent on their parents. This original dependance and the gradual development away from this identity relates to a large part of the story in general, which ties to shinji's identity and place in the world. He defines himself heavily at the beginning to how gendo thinks of him, and has a subconscious clinging to a mother figure. But by the end is left without these in a ind of depiction of beginning to move past it.

Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. His work has been influential not only in psychiatry but also in anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy and religious studies. Among the central concepts of analytical psychology is individuation—the lifelong psychological process of differentiation of the self out of each individual's conscious and unconscious elements. Jung considered it to be the main task of human development. Jung differed heavly with freud in amny areas, leading him to move past the freudian tradition, and found his own school. One area where he differed heavily with Freud is that while freud saw psychology as a nonreligious thing, jung viewed it as a way to integrate religious views with science. Seeing people's internal experience of divinity as tied to true facts about the world.

In terms of evangelion, the more direct references seen in the show are to freud rather than to jung. However, certain aspects of jung do show up in it. One thing that anno kept going back to referring to is the idea of the shadow. In jungian psychology the shadow is the aspects of yourself that you deny. To contrast your persona being the aspects you identify with. In a meta sense he at times relates these ideas to himself. Saying that gendo was in a sense like his shadow. But it also shows up in the show itself when shinji is absorbed by leliel, he speaks with a form of himself that comes off like a shadow of himself. Telling himself the things he knows, but does not want to accept.

A large aspect of jungian psychology is the idea of facing your shadow. The shadow may appear in dreams and visions in various forms, confronting the dreamer. Although jung warned that dreams are not necessarily puzzles to be solved, so while dream interpretation is useful, it is not easy nor perfectly reliable. When the active persona breaks down in some sense, this can lead to people being faced with their own negative aspects, and struggling to accept them. Which can lead to negative emotions or a breakdown of their sense of self. But this can lead to healing once they come to terms with the shadow. And the goal then is to understand awareness of the shadow as part of the self, but without identification with it, and without incorporation of its negatives into an active part of the ego.

From this angle, many of the surreal scenes during third impact could also be said to be variants of the idea of facing a shadow. But where the shadow breaking through is mixed with the self doubt of thinking that your shadow self is also how others see you. Which is why self doubt manifests in the forms of other people in those scenes. Although since those scenes have a variety of purposes all of them may not be about the shadow per say. Another important concept for jungian psychology is the idea of anima and animus. Which represents the repressed feminine side in males, and vice versa. As such, these internal characters shown in the final episodes can also be used to embody aspects of the internal psyche of the one thinking, reflecting internal alternate perspectives. One aspect of the show being a kind of large scale societal repression of the feminine nurturing aspect in general.

Another important jungan concept is that of the archetypes. Jung considers that humanity collectively has something called the collective unconscious, which is similar patterns in the unconscious of different beings. He sees that within humanity certain archetypes exist to embody different ideas, and that these can manifest in more tangible forms in your psyche. Two major archetypes are the father, associated with being stern and in a position of authority, and the mother, being anurturing figure. In this sense, evangelion in a way uses the characters themselves in the role of these archetypes, to convey a kind of primal unconscious view of the psyche. Something that is very literal in that anno's goal was for it to in a sense be a manifestation of his inner mind.

For jung, a primary focus of the goal of psychology and spirituality is the concept of indivduation. This has concepts of self actualization that stem from your ego emerging from a primal lack of a self identity. In a sense this is a goal of balance, harmonizing the conscious and unconscious as well as understanding both yourself as an individual and your connection to others.

Interestingly, jung would talk about individuation in religious terms. God symbolizes unity. And the devil symbolizes disunity. But the influences of these archetypes must both be utilized within you. Since it is the devil figure that helps you assert your individuality. But too much in that direction causes you to become selfish and lack an ordered perspective. And in contrast, the god figure emphasizes morality and harmony, but also a lack of identity. And so too much focus on it can make one not understand their own place in the world.

The degree to which this was a direct influence on evangelion is of course ambiguous. A major aspect of evangelion does tie to this aspect of forming a self identity. And in the story, what they call god does function as a kind of point of loss of identity. In many ways, one of the largest Jungian influences is the using of religious symbolism to express a psychological story. It was jung who first popularized the notion that spirituality is in a large sense the internal story of the psyche. Which in your own unconscious lives an expansive inner world. And so spiritual symbols have to be understood in terms of their psychological meaning. Jung himself considered kabbalic symbolism a useful means to express this idea of individuation, (though admitted that he himself did not know enough about it to write on sufficiently) due to its focus on emergence from the ein sof. And evangelion uses primarily kabbalic imagery for just that reason. Though due to anno's secretive nature it is not sure how much this specific use of kabbalah was directly tied to jung versus independently came up with as an idea. More information about the kabbalah in the below section.

Psychograph

The psychograph was a pseudoscientific phrenology machine, invented and marketed by Henry C. Lavery in the early part of the 20th century. It claimed to mechanically discern a subject's aptitudes in a number of mental faculties by measuring their head, with five different scales for psychological qualities it claimed to rate them on, ranging from deficient to very superior. While the machines were often used as a novelty, at the time they were invented interest in phrenoloy was already falling out of favor due to the rise of more empirically based scientific psychology, and so it never became a particularly big interest.

in evangelion, a psychograph seems to be a machine that can be tangibly used to measure a person's current psychoogical state, mainly used on the pilots. it has a measurement scale with the words libido and destrudo on it, referencing terms from freud. The psychograph in the show bears little resemblance to the real world counterpart however, being about their current mental state, rather than about a baseline set of capabilities.

Religion

Postmodern religion

Evangelion is of course heavily saturated with religious themes and imagery. The religious themes of evangelion begin in the title, the japanese version of which translates to something like new century gospel, or gospel for the new century. So the title alone read literally calls to mind the idea of a new kind of gospel that reflects modern understanding. One which is a kind of postmodern take – that of being a new version of a religious story. The English title replaces the word century with the word for genesis. Which gives an idea of a new creation. The themes of a new creation being echoed many times in the series, such as with the later title of death and rebirth given to the teaser movie, and end of evangelion ending with symbology of a new adam and eve. The show delves into a lot of the trends associated with modern takes on religious values.

Evangelion seems to take a kind of religious naturalism view. Religious naturalism is a perspective that combines a naturalist worldview with perceptions and values commonly associated with religions. The characters who are considered in the know in terms of the events do consider them to have religious significance, with seele even engaging in group prayer. But everything that takes place is implied to be part of, or at least continuous with the natural world. This does not however deny the existence of spiritual elements. Souls are described as an existing thing, though their makeup is left ambiguous. And alternate dimensions of reality to some extent are able to be interacted with. The chamber of guf does seem to be a higher order of existence. But one which is seen as not necessarily totally unrelated to the natural, but continuous with it.

The basis of religious naturalism is that one's religious experience should not be focused on the idea of an existence outside of reality, but instead grounded in one's tangible experience in this world. This does not necessarily deny a kind of transcendental power of being underlying reality, but focuses on the idea that the internal causality of reality is a closed system, and one which your meaning in existence, and associated divine qualities are to be experienced in a sense immanent in reality. In the show this is expressed in that while the bodies of beings like the angels and adam are alien in nature, they are still seen as operating in a sense as tangible natural beings. Ones that can be studied scientifically. A term for the idea of something that is not supernatural, but operates as if by an alien and perhaps higher nature is preternatural. A further element of this religious naturalism is seen in the end of end of eva in which he affirmation of individual existence rejects even the transcendental enlightenment they were being offered.

This tone also takes on a kind of religious transhumanist tone. Where transcendence is tied to evolution, and is something that achieving in a tangible sense is based on human sciences. It calls to mind the works of tielhard de chardin who saw humans as eventually going to use technology to transcend their human bodies, unite together and eventually rise to a state that is equated with god. But where the technological aspects are given true spiritual significance, with the spiritual values being presented as something immanent in the material world. While the show makes no direct mention to tielhard de chardin, it does commonly reference the works of arthur c clarke, who heavily drew from him, even including a similar variant of this idea of transcendental unity in his stories. Something that became an inspiration for the idea of human instrumentality.

This transhumanist tone relates to how the word god is actually used in the series. In the series the concept of creating a god is brought up multiple times. And the use of the word god itself has a kind of ambiguous state, sometimes being singular and sometimes plural. God in the singular sense seems used as a designation of the state of beings of sufficient power, who bear the gifts of both angels and mankind. Which in the show is reached via human endeavor and technology. But seele still views something about this state as inherently sublime, talking about the concept of blasphemy in terms of the wrong approach to it.

The more relevant sense however is when god is used in the singular sense, seemingly associated with a state that seele beleives it can unite humanity with. The singular use of the term implies the word as designating a kind of universal property that is being tapped into. One that has to do with the anti at field, and the unbounded ego that humanity can share in, which in a sense allows them to experience a sense of beng one with everything. The kabbalic symbolism can imply a kind of panentheistic perspective of this manifestation of “god” being in a sense a manifestation of properties of a larger ineffable reality. Especially considering its ties to the chamber of guf. But the series does not expand the line of thought far enough to clarify.

Another idea closely related to the transhumanist religion is the idea of techno-animism. Techno-animism is the crossover between technology and religion in a sense that allows technology to be seen as items of religious significance. This has a large foothold in japan where the animist views allow any item to have the potential to be seen as religiously significant, which allowed easier integration of technology into the religious paradigm. Evangelion was one of the first major anime to bring this idea into the mainstream, blurring the lens between technological and spiritual aspects. Similar concepts would later show up in games like xenogears and chrono cross, and even western movies like the matrix.

The show also delves into religious existentialism, and explicitly references the works of one of the first explicit religious existentialists, soren kierkegaard. One of the cornerstones of religious existentialism is the denial of an idea of a tangible obvious telos or end for humanity built into realty. Classical religion tends to posit a specific end you need to reach built as a narrative into reality itself such that you need to follow it. But religious existentialists often tend to deny this, placing more emphasis on your ability and need to make choices, and a personal responsibility for choosing. This emphasis on choice does not necessarily deny that some choices are better than others, but it takes away the teleological focus, making it something you have to choose and discover for yourself. While early religious existentialists tended to be christian, arguing merely that god's existence was not enough to inherently supply meaning to humanity, later ones were often more constructivist, saying that human choice can alter the religious paradigm. Which is closer to that of the show.

These existentialist themes are at times in conflict with a kind of quasi fatalistic atttiude presented as experienced by some characters in the series. The dead sea scrolls are used to predict the future, giving a kind of tone of a specific unfolding of the world, or destiny it is moving towards. But despite this, the ultimate emphasis of the series is ultimately brought back to your own choice. With ths fatalistic tone being something that one must overcome. This destiny is not a fatalistic outcome, but something that can be in a sense overcome to some degree by asserting your place in the world. And in a sense is more of an illusion born from the incredibly advanced ability to make predictions that the first ancestral race used to construct the scrolls. Different forces, be they human or angel are vying for power because there is no predetermined outcome. With this concept of fate and prophecy being more a highlighting of the limitations of freedom, and the reality of a tension you must overcome while aknowledging its binding limitations on you.

Another focus of the show s the idea of postmodern religion, which is a challenge to the idea of religious truths being seen as universal rather than a reflection of certain cultural perspectives which cannot be challenged. Postmodern religious systems of thought view realities as plural and subjective and dependent on the individual's worldview. Postmodern interpretations of religion acknowledge and value a multiplicity of diverse interpretations of truth, being and ways of seeing. There is a rejection of sharp distinctions and global or dominant metanarratives in postmodern religion and this reflects one of the core principles of postmodern philosophy. A postmodern interpretation of religion emphasises the key point that religious truth is highly individualistic, subjective and resides within the individual. Being similar in concept to religious existentialism.

This concept of different truths being brought up in the very end of the original series, with shinji being told that there are as many truths as there are people who live them, but there is only one truth that is your truth. And is also tied to the reality that while they are interacting with beings who have powers they classify as in a sense divine, that the reality of how one needs to view these things is seen as ambiguous, and something that is in a large way set by those in power whose paradigms you follow.

Transtheism

While many view evangelion's religious content as extraneous to the central narrative, especially due to an interview that talks about how the show does not have a christian message, the religious paradigm is actually fairly central to the events. Not only because of the kind of jungian overlap between psychology and religion, but even on a more metaphysical level. In an interview for animerica, it describes evangelion by saying "Anno says the new offering from Gainax will consider some of the ultimate questions posed by science fiction, and, indeed, philosophy, such as: What is the nature of evolution? --- What is humanity's relationship to his or her God? Does god, in fact, exist? What does it mean for the human race if that question can be answered definitively?"

This sets the tone for what exactly is happening in the show. When watching it it is easy to gloss over the religious terminology as a mere addon or metaphor. But the truth is that many of the characters who are in the know see what is actually happening as having a kind of at least quasi religious signifiance. In the classified informations, it describes seele by saying. "Upon acquiring the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls, Seele turned once again to a creed that, up to that point, they had considered naught but the pipe dreams of their ancestors. By putting the miracle of divinity, in the form of prophecy, within their sights, they restored the faith. Their dogma is the Path to Adam Kadmon — that is, the approaching of a divinity both ageless and undying." (Note that this description applies for the original story, and the reboots have their own canon and backstory).

Seele was described as an esoteric secret society born during the medieval dark ages and originally a religious order. Presumably one that had a somewhat christian basis, due to the christian symbolism for god that they used. But what their original beliefs were were unknown. The kabbalic light that the events are presented in implies that they may have had some kabbalic influence also. Over time their group had become more secular, until the discoveries of the 1900s restored the religious dynamic. Though what their original beliefs were was unknown. They did not have near absolute control over world affairs until the mid 1900s.

So these facts taken together imply that the internal logic of the series should be viewed as if through a lens that actually were presented as at least in a sense a kind of theism. The characters are not merely referring to aliens with religious terminology as a vague metaphor, but because they were actually dealing with things which are of a semi transcendent nature, and can be viewed as continuous with the ideas found in religious dogmas, albeit in a more grounded religious naturalistic sense.. Especially since they can access the chamber of guf, a seemingly transcendental dimension that stores unused souls. Though like the interview points out, a cynical take on human science can desacralize how these things are seen, viewing them more in light of a tool for human use.

However, and important thing that is that not every character in the show has the same perspective. The show, as well as the supplemental materials highlight that much of what is talked about s from the perspective of the one talking. And there is ambiguity 