Originally Posted by
ReadyAndAble 
The Beast is a metaphor. It's a construct to aid in the identification of thoughts, right?
No. The Beast is absolutely not a metaphor. It is
the name that AVRT gives to addictive desire, or at least the perverted survival drive that generates addictive desire. We can all agree that addictive desire is very real, I presume?
The Beast of AVRT is no more a metaphor than "cat" is a metaphor for a furry carnivorous mammal with four legs and a tail with the ability to purr. It is simply
the name given to a
very real entity/phenomenon.