subconscious and conscious

The subconscious is a term that many people use and also psychologists, yet there are quite a lot of diverse meanings. It makes sense, though, to define the subconscious in the simplest way. It should simply refer to a realm of mind that is below consciousness, or in other words, referring to dynamics of the mind that we are not conscious of. This should not mean, though, that the conscious mind has no access to this subconscious realm, nor that the subconscious stuff is permanently hidden from consciousness; rather, the subconscious is simply the part of mind that one is presently or even normally not conscious of.

In this subconscious realm are routine habitual patterns, strategies, beliefs, and thoughts, which are analogous to computer software micro-programs that are triggered into activity by corresponding stimuli. For example, program X is set off into activity whenever stimuli Y is present, and this stimuli might be an actual activity from others or it might be a conscious request we make. Subconscious activity always has an automatic characteristic. It already has a definite and fixed pattern, which comes forth in basically the same way every time. This is an advantage for consistency and reliability, but only if the pattern is actually useful or ideal. For example, there is a great advantage in survival and in achievement because of our mental ability to subconsciously react automatically with a consistent, reliable, dependable, successful strategy or pattern of response. This could be a subconscious pattern of behavior, or a worded belief, or an instant idea-solution (as when someone says they have a cold and you instantly say ‘garlic’, or some other instant solution-advice we automatically give to others). However, it is problematic when the subconscious automata is not actually useful to our success. For it may be consistently reliable in what it delivers, but this pattern may be a poor repeating failure.

We usually think that thoughts are only conscious thoughts, but we also have subconscious thoughts and also subconscious emotions, of which we are not conscious yet they nonetheless are in mind. Subconscious thoughts are not out-right existent; they are analogous to potentials or programs at-ready to work. Yet it is still pragmatic to label some thoughts as subconscious, since they are already packaged and ready to come into consciousness. They come into consciousness as pre-packaged and quickly delivered. The same is true of beliefs; in fact, all beliefs are subconscious. We don’t regularly ponder consciously on our beliefs; our beliefs rarely are considered consciously. They just are. We just have beliefs; and these are held in the subconscious mind. Of course we can conscious know our beliefs, and also think about them and even change them; but a belief is a pattern and these are in the subconscious.

Yet all of these subconscious thoughts and beliefs, and also our subconscious patterns of response, were originally created by the conscious mind. There is some original creativity in the subconscious, as we can observe in dreams, yet whatever happens in the subconscious is founded upon the thoughts, ideas and emotions experienced in the conscious realm. That is, the subconscious is basically created by the conscious mind. The subconscious is basically a recording of what goes on in our conscious mind, and the subconscious plays this back when something like the original stimuli returns. So, whatever emerges from our subconscious (the thoughts or emotions that suddenly arise) are mostly repeating playbacks of previous conscious stuff. Mostly, we are repeating the same thoughts and emotions, as recorded in the subconscious and emerging from there, and reinforced as an automatic pattern each time it is repeated.

Our memory is subconscious; an essential feature of the subconscious is memory. Yet we usually regard memory as just receptive and passive, a recorder of things. But in this hidden part of mind, that we are calling the subconscious, it is dynamically active, or in fact it is re-active. It is the larger part of our mind, sub-conscious to us, that is so often bringing memory and reactive patterns of thought, emotion and behavior into conscious reality. It is our data storage, plus the response programs already created which have become repetitive and automatic.

If we understand the positive purpose of this subconscious, then we will understand where it can go astray. It’s like a computer; it can be quite useful because of its automatic repetition based on instructions, but it can also be quite restricting to our progress because of the very same reasons – that it is repeating patterns automatically, spontaneously.

Although, the subconscious can be creative, meaning that creativity can emerge from our subconscious. Painters, musicians and writers all experience new creativity emerging from their subconscious; however, whatever emerges is based only on what has been planted there from past thoughts and emotions. Predominately, this creativity of the subconscious is a shifting around of what is already there, like moving around parts of a picture until something better happens to appear. Yet of course it is the conscious mind that has to make a decisive discernment about the usefulness or value of whatever emerges from the subconscious. Whatever emerges is not necessarily gold, as it were, just as every dream conjured from the subconscious is not necessarily a wisdom solution to anything. Mostly, dreams reveal our repetitious belief and reactive patterns; that is, they reveal pictures about how we presently are mentally and emotionally.

Like searching for a word to use – our subconscious mind plays forth a bunch (like a thesaurus) and then conscious mind decides which one is best to use

Positive and correct thinking will be recorded and then become positive and correct patterns of thought. Positive and correct thoughts will often emerge from the subconscious into the conscious mind. Even the energies and circumstances around us will tend to manifest in a more positive and correctly working manner. Conversely, negative and incorrect thinking will be recorded and then become negative and incorrect patterns of thought emerging from the subconscious into the conscious mind, and the energies and circumstances around us will tend to manifest in a negative and incorrect manner. What we think, or the quality of our thoughts, gets recorded and repeated in the subconscious, which makes our present thoughts very important. Its like karma in our own mind. Also significant is how the subconscious contents and patterns very often determine what goes on in our lives and around us.

We should also realize that some of the content going into our subconscious is from others and even from general humanity. A part of our self is continually sensing energies and picking up on stuff from others and all around. Luckily, most of this stuff from the world around us is filtered by a protective shield of our subconscious, which only lets in what is deemed acceptable as decided consciously by us. Unfortunately though, many people are open to negative and even harmful energies, because they have not with certainty decided to ignore and disregard these negative energies. This is why it is obstructive to our spiritual path to open ourselves to everything. In this world we need some degrees of discernment and protection. If we decide this consciously and intentionally, then our discernment will become regular and automatic in the subconscious, thus protecting our subconscious mind from negative energies and attack.

Still, our subconscious can be vulnerable, and realize that this vulnerability and what it allows in is below our conscious knowing – it is happening subconsciously. Consider the child (and realize that everyone is still a child in some degree). Children are most vulnerable to receiving energies, thoughts and emotions from others, and this enters into the subconscious mind (and also into the sub-conscious emotional body). In psychology this is called introjection, and later it manifests as projection [beliefs or feelings about others that is actually from our own subconscious – what is in us]. Which means that we take in, we receive and accept, various energies, thoughts or emotions from others (directly as from parents, but also pervasively from the group or culture surrounding us).

A child cannot really change this tendency to take in the energies and emotions of others, especially those close in their family. Then their subconscious will automatically play back, imitate these patterns. This is generally called psychological conditioning and imitation. Children tend to practice normal behavior, and they learn what is “normal” from parents and teachers. The best solution to these potential problems is for children to have a diverse social environment, so that their “reality” is not merely confined to a narrow social pattern of behavior. The other solution is for parents and all people to realize a special responsibility in how they interact with children and be careful what influences they are open to. But as adults we need to protect ourselves as well, though as adults we can do this consciously and intentionally.

The subconscious is, fundamentally, a deposit-storage of our experiences and impressions, as well as thoughts and emotions from our conscious life, and also from energies received from others around us. Then, all this form patterns, habits, and automatic reactions. All of this becomes the subjective background of self. The subjective reality we live in, or that which we call our self, is only portionally conscious; or in other words, we are conscious of just a small portion of our whole subjective self, the whole of our mental and emotional being. So, very much of our mental and emotional being is sub-conscious. And this content of our subconscious enters regularly into our conscious experience. The greater portion of our individual self is hidden from consciousness, like a submerged underground realm, and it rarely ever emerges to be consciously known, though whatever is subconscious is potentially accessible to consciousness.

So, there are energies, thoughts and emotions entering our consciousness from others and the world, but also from our subconscious; either coming from the objective outside or the subjective inside. However, there is a third possibility. Energies, thoughts and emotions can come into our consciousness from an intuitional realm, which is different than the subconscious. The intuitional realm comes to us from outside what is presently part of our mind, but it is not the same as the spatial world around us. It seems to come from within us, but it is not merely our repetitious subconscious depository. The intuitional realm is part of who we are in a full spiritual sense, but it is beyond our present personal self.

Essentially, the intuitional dimension of Being brings direct knowing of our potential spiritual qualities and also a knowing of cosmic truths. Intuitionally, we see into the truths of our self and of the cosmos and also of the whole divine purpose. This is different from our subconscious because it is a fresh new knowing, rather than the mere repetitive played back thoughts of our subconscious. When the intuitional realm enters in our present consciousness, we realize truth in a direct, immediate way, and it is not merely from our past conditioning nor a repetition of already ingrained beliefs. One sees directly and freshly into the reality of self and world.

Symbolically speaking but also metaphysically as well, intuition comes from above, while the subconscious is under the ground. In shamanic symbolism, the subconscious is called the underworld or lower world, while the intuitional realm is called the skyworld, the heavens, or the higher world. The middle world, or surface world, is our present conscious experience. In the subconscious are the hidden roots of our present thoughts, emotions and behavior; and these roots developed from seeds planted from our past thoughts and reactions. The subconscious holds roots seeded from our past. The intuition, conversely, is like the future coming to us. It is new and fresh, new insights and fresh energies, which come from Universal Mind. It is our connection to the Infinite and the Absolute Mind, the very Highest, which can be called the Superconscious.

Thoughts and feelings come into conscious mind either from the subconscious, or from the intuition, or else they are in direct response to present phenomena.

Emotions also linger in the subconscious, which are the emotional patterns recorded from our conscious life and still alive in us, though now below consciousness.

Next we need to consider the subconscious mind. This is the part of mind that records what goes on consciously or in our experience, and it also mechanically functions in a patterned way. So, the subconscious mind can be divided into a memory component and a mechanical component. What happens in the conscious mind or in conscious experience is thus recorded in the subconscious mind. Or another way to explain this is that conscious experience soon becomes sub-conscious. Conscious experience and thoughts seem to pass by, but this does not disappear completely. Rather, it goes subconscious. In fact, thoughts may come into conscious mind from the subconscious, and then pass again back into subconsciousness. The subconscious will collect (record) conscious thoughts and experiences, and then it will give those back into conscious mind when future conscious thoughts seem to relate. And because the subconscious is composed of memories, or past thoughts and experiences; it follows that whatever comes from the subconscious are patterns from the past, and the functional activity of the subconscious is a patterning of behavior based on past patterns.

The subconscious is like a power of repetition. It is like a software program that repeats itself. It is very consistent; it will do things the same every time. That is good, but only if the program works well. A repetition of successful performance is good, as we see in trained athletes, but poor behaviors and habits can also be repeated just as well by the subconscious. Imagine having a computer or robot that can be programmed to repeatedly perform in the same consistent way. This is great if we get it doing things in good ways, but not so good if the repetition is consistently makes problems. So we want to get the subconscious working in a repetitive mechanical pattern that is helpful in our conscious lives. We have use the conscious mind to get the subconscious mind on track repeating patterns that are useful and helpful in our lives. And if we discover un-useful patterns being repeated, we should make some efforts to change these, which we can do by the power of conscious decision and concentrated thought.

One needs to remember that the conscious mind ought to be in charge; it ought to be making the decisions, and it needs to take this responsibility, because the subconscious is just mechanical and can do nothing more than loyally repeat patterns or thoughts which the conscious mind created or which was conditioned by social experiences. So the subconscious can be a great power for a successful life, if it is directed and programmed well, which is done by deliberate conscious positive thought. Remember that you, the conscious part of self, are responsible for training and programming your own subconscious, so that its repetitive patterns will work well to manifest your decided goals.

Similar to the subconscious mind of each person is the greater Subconscious Mind of Nature. This is comprised of the forces at work in nature, which is synonymous with what are called the laws of nature. The actual physical forces of nature do not need to be discussed here, because any good science book will do this. Rather our unique interest here is in regards to metaphysical forces or laws having to do with mind affecting manifestation. For example, what we think, or the patterns of our usual thought, becomes part of the great Subconscious Mind whereby the forces of that Mind begin to manifest that thought. People have called this the power of thought, and this power of thought is not merely confined to our self but involves a greater field of manifestation as well.

In other words, our thoughts begin to take shape in the world. Our thoughts do not necessary complete themselves in the world, but they at least begin to take shape and they certainly have an effect. Of course, not all thoughts can actually manifest, since other people tend to have their own thoughts that happen to counteract ours. False teachers have said that every thought will manifest in the world; so to make something happen all one needs to do is to think it. This is partly true in the sense that all thoughts have some effect, but it is ultimately misleading because the thoughts of one person may be counteracted by opposite thoughts of others, and the great Subconscious Mind does not play favorites. In order to really manifest something we need to get more and more people believing in and agreeing to our thought.

At this point let us be reminded about where good ideas and right ideas come from. They originate from Universal Mind, the Divine Mind. We happen to meet up with these ideas, or in a sense they enter into us. But the Universal Ideas are general rather than specific. So we each have to make these universal general ideas into practical specific ideas. We do this with the power of our own creative intelligence. On the one hand, our conscious intelligent mind has to intuitively receive the best universal ideas, the divine ideas, the higher ideas or vision. On the other hand, our conscious intelligence has to creatively transform these general ideas into more specific, concrete and practical ideas. This could be called creative mind.

Now going back to our understanding of the subconscious mind, we do not want our subconscious mind to merely lead us at all times. The subconscious probably already does lead us far too often; or in other words, too often we are merely acting and thinking under the power of the subconscious mind, and thus merely repeating patterns of the past. But do we want to always be repeating the past, or always thinking and being the same? This would seem to be a bit depressing, especially if those patterns were not really useful for a more productive and enjoyable life. So at some point we have to consider the following question: Are we going to just let our subconscious mind determine our thoughts and actions, or are we going to tune into a higher source of thought and begin living at a higher level of being? If we remain under the power of the subconscious, letting the subconscious mind repeat itself over and over, then we will become no more than robots. Alternatively, if we want to be real conscious beings, we must take charge of our mind. Decide thought. Create new thought. Don’t just live by past thought. Make new. Help create reality. But this also requires that one receptively intuit the truest and best ideas from Divine Universal Mind. Ask who am I really, and what is this world meant to be. What is the ideal and what do I love?

There does seem to be a creativity mode of the subconscious? Creative thoughts coming up? How to explain this.

The subconscious is also involved with filtering and interpreting information gathered from the senses. Filtering is a process allowing some energies in but not others. There is a huge amount of energies going on all around us in our daily lives. Some of this is positive but some is negative, some is useful for knowing but some is not. If not for our filtering faculty, we would be overwhelmed with too much sensory information for our recording faculty and response faculty. Our filtering ability keeps the amount of dealt-with information to a useful minimum. Our daily conscious mind can receive and deal with just some of what the world is sending us, but our subconscious can handle more. Yet of course, the subconscious needs rules to apply in this filtering process. This means that each filtering system has its particular rules for determining what kinds of energies to regard as significant or not. These rules are set in place by our beliefs, intentions, and patterns of reaction that have become subconsciously routine.

Interpreting the information is related to filtering. Interpretation is the mental process of forming a belief about the meaning of outer events, words, or emotional energies. Interpretation is the making of meaning (or finding of meaning) from what is received. But interpretation is not an exact science; it is somewhere between fact and opinion, and interpretations can be quite incorrect at times, even delusionary. But each person has to just do their best in this. For example, one can only do one’s best in interpreting the meaning of what people are really trying to communicate or the intention of someone. It is not often clear and without ambiguity. So, each mind has its own patterns and rules for interpretation; such that X means this, but Y means that. These patterns and rules for interpretation are subconscious, just as beliefs. However, consciousness has the power to introspectively see such things.

Clear the adverse or incorrect subconscious content by allowing it into conscious mind, but with the added conscious light of intellect and dedication to a higher purpose, so that we can determine erroneous beliefs and unhelpful negative thoughts, and thus be able to dismiss them from our acceptance.

Also note that the deepest essence in us is our inner Divine Seed, so this is actually at the very Core of oneself and buried most deeply in subconscious -- so this too subconsciously works (to some extent)

One very simple yet profound spiritual practice is transcending automatic consciousness, or freeing oneself of this automatism, and instead be presently conscious. In fact, we might as well say that automatic consciousness is merely semi-consciousness, while the practice is to be truly conscious. Automatic consciousness is not bad; its actually useful for a lot of practical purposes, so we can allow ourselves to be in this mode. But present consciousness is undeniably a higher mode of being. This is seeing what is, as it is, without prejudgments or preconceptions about what is or about what ought to be. It need not be an effort to do this; rather, it can be a relaxed inquiry, an effortless inward gaze. And this is the true meaning of purity, that is, pure consciousness to see clearly what is as it is. Such is the higher and pure mode of spiritual practice, which is both outward and inward consciousness. The outward is in relation to the world; the inward is in relation to our own true being.

The inward consciousness is both allowing and perceptive (introspective) of whatever is here going on and whatever arises, yet without prejudgments or preconceptions. One will perceive what is here and arising, but even more important than what we perceive is how we perceive, and this practice is to have a purity of inward perception. It may be that one perceives clouds or distress, for example; but what if our perception is cloudy or distressed? Clouds or distresses found inwardly are important to notice, and hopefully these can be cleared, but even more important would be to keep clear the perceptive lens itself. So rather than worry about the inward stuff, first take care to clear the perceptive lens, so that present consciousness is pure and clear, and often when this becomes clear the other stuff clears as well. First eliminate the cloudiness of perception.

These clouds of perception are usually thoughts and emotions coming forth to be heard or known, and until we fully understand these they are not yet fully ‘processed’. This is why we need to meet these consciously, and then they will be cleared. If thoughts or emotions are not recognized or not understood, they continually re-arise until they are. Again, the aim is to have clear consciousness. Then, when these re-occurring thoughts and emotions are accepted and understood, the next clearing is to do with our preconceptions and pre-judgments about what is. This layer of thought/emotion is even more insidious, subtle, and subconsciousness. But this is the final obstacle to pure present consciousness, to see clearly what is as it is, both outward and inward.

Also important is our attitude of allowing, to allow all of those parts of oneself to be known and heard, rather than repressing them or pushing them down. Allow all parts of oneself to self-express, though to practical we cannot simply allow every single thought or impulse to act out. We need to do the inward work first before unleashing our behavior onto the world. But with this inward work, allow each part, each feeling, each thought to be heard. Don’t try to kill of anything, nor push it down back from being conscious. It won’t go away anyway, so might as well consciously acknowledge what is here and get to know it.

The path, then, is to integrate the variety of self, and in this way there will be transformation. It has to begin with love and integration, not dismissal nor suppression. The path is love, and this includes our own self. Love all parts of your self; especially the stupid parts or those dumb faces, or all those aspects of self that we judge negatively.

There is really nothing ugly in oneself; only the perception can get ugly, only the judgment.

Many desires in any one person, and sometimes these are competing desires – or they don’t realize how to work harmoniously with the other desires.

Integration of desires occurs when we first give freedom for all desires to be accepted, acknowledged and understood. Listen to all desires, without any pre-judgments or pre-resistances. This is respect. Give all desires an opportunity to be heard and understood. This doesn’t mean that every desire is allowed full expression, but at least considered. It’s like considering all the ideas of everyone in a room, but without commitment to fulfill every idea on the table. Next, with rationality discover the root of each desire; for if the root of a desire can be known, then this has more chance of being fulfilled than the surface desire itself. Next, find the commonality of these root desires, so that more than one can be expressed in a single activity. This is called synthesis.

Here is another model of life that can be useful to work with. This model relates to life in general and also with human psychology. First of all, we divide life into mind and matter, or mental and physical. Each life, even at the plant level and even at the simple organism level, is part physical and part mental. The physical part is the manifestation, the body and activity of the life form, and the same can be said of the human physical part. The mental part is the awareness, the sensory experience, and the intelligence of this life, or of this human being. These are mental aspects of every life. Consider your own self, first. You have an awareness, you have a sensory experience of the world, and you have intelligence which includes ideas, thoughts and plans. Awareness is like the very substance of mind, sensations and intelligence are its basic abilities, and the content of our awareness forms our sensory experience and also our thinking about life. So, we have divided into these basic aspects: awareness, sensory experience, and intelligence. Other lives, we argue, also have these aspects of mind; that is, we propose that all life forms have at least some small degree of awareness, sensory experience, and intelligence. Though it is probable that only humans have ideas, unless we grant that other lives might have very simple ideas.

Now, one more aspect of mind will be added, which is decision. This can easily be acknowledged for humans, but it can also be acknowledged for other forms of life. Decisions are being made all the time by animals. To agree with this universality of decision, it should be noted that we are speaking about decision in its most elementary sense; that is, decision is merely the need and ability to choose one path over another, and so a decision could seem quite mechanical if it is done routinely and according to need. For example, we might agree that a simple animal or even a plant could be making a decision to move this way and not that way, but this decision might be routinely made according to strict and fixed criteria based on its physical needs. Each life has an evolutionary developed intelligence about what it needs and how to get this need fulfilled, so the life intelligently moves to meet its need; and we can call this intelligent movement its decision, even though this might well be automatic and without any time to deliberate or weigh various alternatives. We ourselves often make decisions spontaneously and guided by an automatic or instinctual intelligence, without deliberation. These are still called decisions. Anyways, the debate about other animals or life forms having similar abilities as our own is much a matter of semantics. At least we might agree that humans have these aspects of mind: awareness, sensory experience, intelligence, and decision.

Now, we will divide mind in another way. This other way of understanding mind is not in competition with what was said above; rather it will complement the other model of mental aspects. In this next model we will distinguish three different kinds of mind, or levels of mind. Let us consider the first two levels. These are called conscious and subconscious mind. There is already much written about this, so we will keep this brief and essential. Conscious mind involves four aspects: 1) being here consciously present right now, 2) intelligent thoughtful deliberation, 3) emotional and sensory experiences, and 4) making decisions.

Being here consciously present, or present awareness, is the essence of conscious mind. The three other aspects are about what happens in our conscious mind. The second aspect we called intelligent thoughtful deliberation, though some people might be skeptical about how intelligent our thought is at times. Nonetheless, all thought and deliberation involves some degree of intelligence. In the third aspect of emotional and sensory experiences, this is a lot of what we daily experience. And finally we all make decisions with at least some degree of conscious mind. Decisions might be about the future, as in making plans or deciding what we will do next month; yet nonetheless, decisions are made in the present moment, and if they are made tomorrow, they will be made in tomorrow’s present moment. Decision is intrinsically related to will, or the power of will, or will-power. Essentially, human will is the power to make decisions, and ‘will-power’ is the added ability to complete those decisions.

The subconscious mind is underneath the conscious and is hidden from view. The subconscious works on its own, without any need of conscious decisions. It makes its own decisions based on the needs and the factors known to it. Most of our intelligent thinking is actually going on in the subconscious, and much is being ‘figured out’ in the subconscious; for it is kind of like our own personal computer. One important thing to know about the subconscious is that it works in a routine, mechanical manner; kind of like the computer that gets things done. Though a possible problem is that the subconscious follows patterns of the past, or it tends to routinely repeat past patterns, so it fosters habits, whether good or bad habits, good or bad patterns. And as such, the subconscious is reliable, but it is also more difficult to change, or say re-program. Thus, another important thing about the subconscious is that it can be re-programmed or re-patterned. The subconscious needs to become our helpful consistent tool, or computer mind, but we have to consciously program or train it, and then it work consistently and reliably for us.

One more note is that, although we have said that the subconscious is hidden from conscious view, which it normally is, it is possible to consciously witness the subconscious at work. It is like looking into the sea or a lake; you can see into the upper parts of it, but the lower parts remain hidden. It is like seeing into how our mind is working – how it is working unintentionally or automatically. This is a power of the conscious mind – to watch and study the subconscious mind – at least to some degree. And this gives our conscious intelligence the information needed to make new decisions and new re-programming of the subconscious.

Finally to say is that other forms of life have much more subconscious mind at work in relation to conscious mind. Some humans have very little conscious mind at work, but they function quite well in society with their subconscious. This is even more true with other animals and plants; for they function for the most part subconsciously. And the last final thing to mention is that subconscious mind is the level closer to manifestation. It is closer to structure and physical form; while conscious mind is more in the realm of immediate possibility and potential. So, the subconscious works out its patterns into manifestation, while the conscious mind is meant to make immediate and new decisions, as well as to have immediate present experience of life.

The third level of mind is called Superconscious Mind. Superconscious is like the subconscious because it is usually hidden from conscious view, but it is hidden because it is a vaster intelligence than conscious mind can normally access. It is the Greater Intelligence, or Divine Intelligence. It is within and permeating all lives, but it is rarely realized and rarely applied. It is beyond ordinary conscious mind, but it is available to conscious mind. In other words, conscious mind and Superconscious mind can somewhat merge, connect, or unite. Superconscious is the Higher, Greater Intelligence; which conscious mind has capacity to access and realize. Or conscious mind can actually enter into Superconscious Mind. Again, this is the Universal, Greater Intelligence, which for us is often known as spiritual guidance. This Higher Mind knows the whole Divine Purpose of life, and it also has a working Plan for our development and evolution. Additionally, it is called Superconscious because it is conscious in its own realm; in fact, in this realm there is more consciousness than we could ever know. It is not an Unconscious, though it is most often unconscious to us. This Superconscious is the Divine Mind, the Great Knowing Mind of the Universe. So may we be guided by the Superconscious Divine Mind, and may we consciously realize all Truths, all Intelligence, all of Life’s Purpose, and realize a Higher Plan for manifestation. OM.

Superconscious needs to pattern itself into subconscious, to bring Heaven on Earth, yet this requires the intermediating work and presence of conscious mind.

A different model of the human mind, or psyche, yet still compatible with the other, uses the term Unconscious which has meaningful correlation with Superconscious, as later will be explained. Unconscious is capitalized in order to emphasize it as a proper name and also its central function in the model, and to avoid any implication that it just means being unconscious. The Unconscious is similar to a realm or place, but not like a physical place. It might be better described as a part of the whole psyche, or mind. Essentially, it is a source, a source of symbolic imagery, creative inspiration, and our deepest human drives. The Unconscious is the Depth of mind/psyche, which is mostly unconscious to us the deeper it goes. That is, the deeper parts of this Depth are less conscious to our wakeful experience. Thus, the deeper the Depth, the deeper it is unconscious.

From our wakeful conscious viewpoint, where are the sources of inspiration or stimulation? Either from the outer world coming to us from our senses, or from an unknown depth within us. Note that before a creative urge or inspiring idea comes into consciousness, or into conscious mind, it is unconscious to us. So this is a reason why we call this mysterious realm within us, where from our deeper urges and inspirations emerge, the Unconscious.

It is not as though there is nothing there in this Unconscious. We cannot call it a Nothingness. For if this is a primary source of inner drives and inspirations, then we cannot merely call it an unconscious nothingness. Rather, it should be called the Unconscious Depth of our psyche, which holds (or has attributes of) our latent potentials, aptitudes, capacities, including our most fundamental human (transpersonal) qualities, drives and creative will. We also can call these inner human potentials our spiritual potentials; that is, we need not make any distinction here between human and spiritual. In fact, we can assume that whatever is most deeply and fundamentally human within us, and seeking to emerge from us, is truly the spiritual within us or the Divine in us. This speaks to the truth of our inherent divinity, and that God is within as well as all around.

Thus, we have a great Unconscious Depth within us, which is the same as our Spiritual Depth and the same as our Human Depth. Within this Depth is a great reservoir of potential qualities, capacities, aptitudes, inspirational drives and will. Within us, though as yet unconscious, are a multitude of ‘being-potentials’, or ways and qualities of being, which can also be called human archetypes.

Remember that all of these are transpersonal potentials and energies, and what distinguishes us as unique individual persons are the unique combinations from this common transpersonal reservoir of the human Unconscious. So our Unconscious Depth (of mind/psyche), especially at its deepest and original source, is really Transpersonal rather than distinctly personal. In other words, our deepest Depth of being is not really different from others at all, but rather it is common to all.^¹

Our human psyche is organic and its process of becoming is also organic. Our psyche is in process of becoming, or in process of emergence. Now if we study ourselves or if we study human psychology, we evidently notice processes of development. That is, the psyche or self is developing, and I can say that I am a developing human being. I could also say that my personality is developing, though as we grow older it does tend to become more fixed or stable, whether this is a good thing or not. Now how does the self (or person or personality) develop?

We have a simple model to help understand this. On one side of our conscious-knowing self is the outer world, including other people and the surrounding environment, and this brings energies and influences to us, which we process and which influences our unique personal development (our developing personality or self). But if our model stopped here, then personality influences and self development would only come from outer sources, and it would be as though the outer world completely developed the self, for there would be no other sources.

So in a true and useful model, there is another side, another source of influence, which is from within the self and which is already latent in us. This is, of course, our Unconscious Depth, or it could be called our Organic Unconscious. So from this organic depth of who we are, or of who we can potentially be, is the other side of influence, the inner side, the energies and influence which come from within, from that which is already latent and potential in us.

But this latency, or potentiality, is not merely passive. It is true that to much extent we need to draw it forth, like recognizing who we can be and developing this. But our Unconscious Depth is also active, and not merely passive. In this sense, it is an active creative influence; for it has an active power to come forth from its unconscious depths into wakeful consciousness and eventually into expression or activity.

Thus, there is a directional movement of energy and influence from within us to our surface level of self awareness and knowing, which then comes into a process of personal integration and development. We can think of this as influencing energies coming from the center depth of our self, seeing our self as a circle, while outer influences approach us first on the surface level of our self circle. Thus in this model, if we can see our awareness or present experience as on the surface of this circle, our Unconscious Depth is in that circle and emerges from within, while outer influences from the world come to the circle’s surface from the outside.

As already mentioned, our Unconscious Depth is like a vast reservoir of potentials. But it can also be understood as our true Human Seed of being, and in this organic Human Seed is our whole Unconscious Depth. It is organic because it is already here in us and it is the truth of our being. It is also our Human Seed, which begins as unconscious and un-actualized. But also it is organic because it is actively emerging. That is, our Depth has its own active life energy, and as an active creative energy it is always seeking to emerge into consciousness and into activity. Thus, the Unconscious is seeking to emerge into our waking consciousness and express itself emotionally and physically. It is seeking to come outwards from within, into consciousness from unconsciousness, and into actuality from potentiality.

From pure Unconscious, from pure Seed, the inner energies enter into an intermediate level of symbolic imagination.^² The creation of symbols, images, and ideas from our symbolic imagination is something that happens in this intermediate level of mind/psyche. The next level of mind is rational explanation, which is a level we are more familiar with.

So let us explore some explanation of the symbolic imagination of our psyche, which functions to create symbols, images, and ideas to represent of our self seeking to emerge from our Unconscious within. These truths and qualities could also be called our being-potentials. Through the symbolic imagination is how these being-potentials are first known in the mind, while the next level of mind is explanation. But the level of symbolism is not merely a stepping stone to explanation; that is, we shouldn’t reduce the importance of symbolism to a mere infantile or premature stage of rationalism. Because the symbolic imaginative level of mind and its formulated symbols have special powers. Both religious and esoteric teachings have recognized the potency and efficacy of such symbols, sometimes known as religious symbols, sometimes known as mythological symbols, and sometimes known as occult symbols.

Many symbols, images. and dreams from the Unconscious function to develop our self-understanding, help integrate us into a more comprehensive wholeness, and also have unique powers to bring about transformations in self and the world.

Here we will call them spiritual or psyche symbols. Some are, of course, more significant than others. Some could be called universal symbols, or symbols common to all human kind. While other symbols might be more culturally specific. But many of these symbols coming from our pre-rational mind have special powers, both psychologically and metaphysically; that is, both in relation to our own minds and in relation to physical manifestation. For these symbols of self and truth have an organizing power in our psyche, and they also have a manifesting power. They can be used in occult magic, but predominately they are useful in our own self-understanding and in the harmonious ordering of our psyche.

As said, the symbolic realm of mind can be divided into universal and cultural. A third subdivision would be the personal realm. These all include symbols, images, and pure ideas before they are explained by our rational-thinking level of mind. Though these distinctions do not have concrete boundaries, since some symbols border on being universal or cultural. It all depends on where the symbol is created. Imagine a circle with a center point and the circle has three shells. The center point is the infinite space of being-potentials, the Human Seed, the Soul, the Atman, the Source of our creative will. This actively emerges outward from center to periphery. Yet these energies, or these being-potentials, must pass through the three shells of the circle. The innermost shell is universal mind, or the fundamental human level of our psyche. The content here is universal symbolism, that is, symbolism essentially knowable to all human beings, without any cultural prerequisite knowledge. These are the fundamental symbols (and modes of experience) that are metaphysically and organically natural to mind. These symbols are basic to reality.

Next is the cultural level of symbolic mind. It is here that we find a dialectic flow between inner-to-outer and outer-to-inner. The source for cultural symbolism as created by our symbolic imagination is the precedent universal level. This is important to acknowledge. The universal being-potentials are seeking to emerge into this ordinary physical world, but they have to pass through these levels of mind, so they have to get through the cultural and then the personal. Now in the cultural level the being-potentials or truths of our human self have to be clothed in some way. They cannot just exist in their previous essential nakedness or pure fundamental structure. So they get clothed in the cultural level by cultural clothes. Of course this is metaphor. So, images and experiences as found in a person’s cultural existence seep into the Unconscious, into the circle, and these bring cultural clothing to the act of symbolic imaginative. We are speaking here more than about memory. It is obvious that cultural myths and symbols are recorded into people’s minds, and then remembered. But we are speaking here about the actual creation of such myths and symbols; whereby the creation requires a dialectic flow, as an emerging flow comes from the universal essence within and a submerging flow comes from our outward cultural experiences. These energies and images meet to create new cultural symbols and myths.

There is a similar dialectic flow at the personal symbolic level. Personally experienced dramas and emotions submerge into the unconscious mind, which are then used by our symbolic imagination to create personal symbols, but also the emerging universal energies (moving outward from the center of being) meet the submerging energies, and the result of our symbolic imagination is a synthesis of these converging flows.

Throughout the psyche, there is an ongoing dialectic flow between depth and surface; that is, between an actively emerging human essence and the experiences of a cultural and personal existence. One is moving from inner to outer, while the other is moving from outer to inner. They meet in the symbolic imagination, in the middle of mind, as it were. Thus, the symbols, images and other pre-rational content of our Unconscious are formulated from this dialectic interaction. A good metaphor for this process is the clothing of our essence. Essence emerges and clothes are provided. Man emerged naked from a his bedroom where he had been sleeping, and his girlfriend quickly supplied the best appropriate clothes from their collection, so that he would succeed well in his business and also make a good impression to her parents. The symbolic content of our Unconscious, as we discover it, is partly due to our pure human essence and partly due to the existential stuff we provide from our cultural and uniquely personal experiences. This then becomes content for our dreams and also psychologically influences in our lives.

How the symbolic imagination expresses human needs, urges, qualities, relational ecological truths, and spiritual modes of being.

Fundamentally, the dialectic flow is between Depth and surface mind. The Depth can be called the Spiritual or Human or Essence of the Unconscious. The surface mind is our wakeful working conscious mind. The innermost Essence moves outward to the surface, bringing its universal spiritual qualities and wisdom. While on the other end, contents from the surface conscious mind move inward into the Unconscious, bringing experiences and images from its existential environment. These two directions meet in the middle between Depth and surface; whereupon the surface provides clothing and shape to how the inner Truths are known and eventually expressed.

Personal experiences settle into the sub-conscious (or in this context, the Unconscious), and they meet and mix with the fundamental Human qualities that are emerging outward from the Unconscious Depth.

Thus, in effect, what is consequently experienced, or what is finally realized through dreams and intuition, is a kind of personalization and culturalization, or coloring and clothing, of the Human Essences and Spiritual Truths as they emerge from the Unconscious Depth. Some of these realized symbols or intuitions are closer to being universal, some closer to being merely cultural, and some closer to being merely personal. Thus, we must discern between universal, cultural, and personal symbols and dreams; although the dividing lines will be somewhat fuzzy. The universal symbols are inherent potentials in everyone, while cultural symbols are best understood by those in that culture, while personal symbols are uniquely idiosyncratic or we might also call them accidental since they have come about by the accidents of a personal existence. But even these personal symbols, images and dreams might have interpersonal relevance; in fact, cultural symbolism and myth has to be based on some collection of personal experiences.

The dialectic between Depth and surface is also a relation between conscious will and thought with Unconscious energies.

Our conscious relation to our Unconscious Depth, and what is emerging from this Unconscious, is quite similar to the relationship of mystic to God, or religious devotee to their Lord. In fact, it is fundamentally the same; just the model and language is different. The relationship has to involve Trust. I need to trust God, which means to have faith in God’s goodness and wisdom and that God is on my side. Likewise, I need to trust in my Unconscious; meaning that I have faith in the goodness and wisdom of my Unconscious, and that what is emerging from deep within is for the better good and bringing this person called me into a greater harmony and wholeness. I have to trust in my Unconscious, the hidden nature of myself, just as I have to trust in the Great Unknown, or the Great Mystery of God. Can I trust in my own Unconscious? Can I trust in my own Organic Depth? This is fundamentally a spiritual trust, is it not? It is the same as trusting God within.

Secondly, I need to be present and receptive to what is emerging from my Unconscious. Trust and receptivity, both are needed. I need to be receptive, because without receptivity I will learn nothing from what is emerging from within me; instead, I will ignore the inspirations, feelings and symbolism coming from within, while insisting that my surface conscious mind supremely knows what it is doing and where it is going. The surface ego might think that it doesn’t need any help from within, but then it misses all of the great wisdom seeking to emerge from within us. The smart person respects what comes from within, is receptive to it, and learns from this.

[From the Unconscious comes the voice and symbols of wholeness, healing and guidance. ]

Yet, what emerges from the Unconscious is not always universal-spiritual, nor is it always helpful. This is because personal stuff also emerges, and some of this is personal repressed content. This is nonetheless important stuff to deal with, but it is not necessarily guiding or healing. More often it’s our stuff that needs healing, or needs resolution, or some kind of transformation. It needs to come up from the personal level of the Unconscious (which is more often called the subconscious) and into the light of consciousness, and then we may need help from deeper levels of our mind to heal or transform this. This personal work is quite a large topic, but it is mentioned so that one does not forget about these kinds of energies. Not all that comes from within is always purely spiritual or healing or full of goodness. There is also this unredeemed personal stuff, some of which might be previously repressed emotions, desires and reactions. This repressed content area of our Unconscious is called the shadow are. What is good, though, is that it emerges back into consciousness, so that it can be healed or transformed. Thus, it is a blessing that such content emerges; as long as we deal with it intelligently, rather than either identify with it or push it back down once again out of conscious awareness.

So there is a work that conscious mind can do with emerging content from the Unconscious, which is called processing. Processing work is needed with all kinds of emergences. It is needed with universal, cultural, and personal contents. The first step in processing is acknowledging and accepting what has emerged, whether it be from the deep universal level or from the personal shadow level. Thus, whether it is glorious and inspiring, or troubling and negative, we must first acknowledge and accept it for what it is. This is like a greetings and a welcome. Hello and welcome; no matter who it is or what it is. Then, the second step is how to deal with it. We have acknowledged, accepted and welcomed whatever emerges into our conscious mind from our own within; but now what? This next step is discernment. It is a question of what value is it, and what can I do with it. This requires the rational mind. If we discern that the emergent content is deeply universal or spiritual, then we might open our mind to how this can guide us or bring a greater wholeness to our life. If we discern that the emergent content is merely personal, then we still have to decide what use it is. Or, we might discern that the emergent content is in need of transformation. ….. (this pertains to the 3 levels of uni, cultural, personal)

Processing work is part of the dialectic between Unconscious and conscious. Our conscious welcome of the Unconscious and receptivity to the Unconscious, and then our response to this content, is the dialectic role of the conscious. So what is going on in processing work is a kind of dialogue between Unconscious and conscious mind. This could also be called a dialogue between emerging (from the Unconscious) energies and qualities of our whole self and the organizing, controlling ego. But please note that the ego (in this discourse context) is not less than spiritual. Rather, the ego is a necessary function of our humanness. It is who we most are. It is who you identify with. In other words, that very sense of you own self and who you are right now is the ego-self. For the ego is our conscious will, our sense of self-identity, the organizer, the leader, the head manager, the conscious thinker, the one who hurts others and gets hurt by others emotionally; in other words, it is me, it is you. But this is just one pole of the whole self. That’s what the ego-self often forgets. The ego-self is so much who we consciously are and so very central and significant, and without the functions of ego (as just previously noted) we would not really be human. Yet, let us not forget that there is a vast and mostly unexplored under-depth of our self, which is the rest of our wholeness. Our ego is not our Wholeness. Our Wholeness, or the rest of our self, is unconscious, unknown, not yet realized. Thus, we call it our Unconscious Depth of self. In other words, the rest of our self (besides what we presently know as our self) is Unconscious. The deepest parts of our self are potentials, awaiting to be realized and actualized. While the more surface levels of this Unconscious are personal repressed contents, which is the shadowy stuff that we really don’t want to consciously acknowledge or admit about ourself, which happens to the very stuff that needs healing and transformation – which cannot happen unless we consciously deal with it.

Spiritual meditations are distinct from ordinary workings of the mind. Pre-spiritual (ordinary) mental activities are of two basic types. Most often they are desires and reactions which come automatically from the personal subconscious. Or, the mental activity is an ego-controlled deliberate mental activity. The ego controlled mind is a higher type of mental activity, which might involve deliberate thinking, planning, or even self-reflection. Yet any ego activity is hampered by its limited perspective and limited knowing, and also by its inability to realize Higher Purposes on its own accord.

Spiritual meditations, on the other hand, break apart automatic patterns of mind and do not allow forces of the personal subconscious to dominate our experience and our lives. Also, spiritual meditations transcend ego activities, taking us to a higher level of mind beyond both automatic forces and conscious ego-control. Spiritual meditations connect and attune the mind/heart with our deeper spiritual self and Higher Purposes (which are only realized by spiritual meditation). Spiritual meditations are deliberate, conscious and intentional. They are not merely letting the mind wander wherever, nor allowing mind to be taken over by any thought or inner guide that comes along. It is not a passive activity, though it does involve a deliberate receptivity, but a receptivity to only the highest or deepest or most profound. It is deliberately intended to connect and attune with the Highest, Deepest Truth and Purpose; but another type of spiritual meditation deliberately and intentionally observes (objectively, without identification) the ego at work, in how it seeks to control and organize everything, and also observe how forces and patterns emerge from the subconscious which seek to dominate experience and basically take over. If one can truly observe extremely well, one might even see how the ego tries to control, repress, re-channel these subconsciously emerging automatic desires and reactions. The ego is like the civilized king trying to oppose a takeover by wild nomads or trying to strike a deal with them. And the ego is often just trying to drive the car in a practical way. So the ego is not a bad guy. The ego is you, it is me, it is the conscious thinker, planner, organizer, manager of all these diverse energies and forces that come from inside and also from the outer world. Yet the spiritual mind transcends this ego and gives knowledge beyond the ego limitations. Spiritual meditation does not allow the ego to control in its usual way, and thus experience can transcend ordinary ego experience. Spiritual meditation also does not allow repeating subconscious patterns (called samskaras) to rule the mind and our behaviors.

[ Remember that a large portion of the ego is hidden from conscious view, which is not the ego of the moment but is the underneath roots of this present ego. That is, whatever we experience presently as our self, which is our ego, is not all of it, but only a part that we are now focusing on or that is now emergent. Most of our ego-identifications and patterns of control are submerged, while only some of this is present at any one time in conscious experience. ]

1 The western mythology of each person being distinctly different from others is a mistaken view at its core, though it is valid at surface levels of personalities, and this unrecognized commonality of each human being might be a cultural presupposition leading to aggressive and insensitive attitudes towards others.

2 Explain why I’m using symbolic imagination vs creative imagination …. (creative imagination is a larger concept)