The Unconscious mind
By
Jimmy Henderson
(MA
(psychology) CHRP
‘The images of the unconscious place a great responsibility upon a
man. Failure to understand them, or a shirking of ethical responsibility,
deprives him of his wholeness and imposes a painful fragmentariness on his
life.’
Carl Jung
Carl Jung
The unconscious mind is usually only considered as
being involved in the regulation of bodily functions such as
digestion, breathing and heartbeat. However, research has shown that its
functions extend into all areas of human life. For example, there are constant
communications between unconscious and conscious processes which are most clearly noted during dreams, visions and
meditations, but which can also be detected using various forms of biofeedback.
Such communications can also enter normal awareness under certain subjective
conditions and are usually considered as moments of intuition or inspiration.
Most of the processing of sensory information takes
place at
an unconscious level and in most cases one is not even aware of the profound
effect of subliminal mental programs or ‘schemas’ on one’s perception and
thinking. These schemas have developed from one’s past experiences over the years
and research has shown that they act
as a filter for all incoming information, usually passing only that which
conforms to one’s current thinking and beliefs. In other words, some sensory
(perceptual) cues can be distorted or even blocked by the subliminal content of
one’s own unconscious mind.
Furthermore,
it is a known fact that the unconscious can also control the flow of sensory
information where there is the danger of a possible emotional or psychological
overload. This can be clearly seen in cases of persons ‘shutting down’
following exposure to a highly traumatic event. Metaphorically, the unconscious
mind can therefore also be seen as a ‘guardian’ and ‘protector’, filtering and
regulating one’s inner experiences in accordance with one’s state of
psychological or emotional readiness and even one’s moral or religious
convictions. For example, someone
who has not included the possibility of transcendental experiences in their
belief system is unlikely to ever recognise such an experience, as any cues
would probably be ignored or even excluded at an early (subliminal) level.
Programming
the unconscious mind
During
human perception, receptor organs combine with mental processing to encode
sensory information from the environment and recode it into recognizable shapes
and forms, and the resulting images that one sees are actually reconstructed in
the mind.
New
methods of mental programming (such as NLP), have shown that it is possible to
further refine one’s perceptual ability in order to translate more subtle
bodily sensations and feelings into visible images and impressions. This
ability of the (unconscious) mind to translate cues from one sensory mode to
another has been noted in psychological research as ‘synesthesia’, but is
considered rare.
However,
case studies have revealed that, with special training involving the repetitive
association of cues with impressions and symbolic interpretations, almost
imperceptible changes in the environment can be perceived in the mind as
colours, shapes, forms and even humanlike figures. For example, the sensory
cues associated with feelings of danger could give rise to impressions of
‘spikiness’ and ‘thorns’ and a feeling
of comfort or safety may spontaneously produce an impression or even a brief
image of ‘bubbles’ or ‘cotton puffs’.
Deeper unconscious programming would involve working directly
with the subliminal programs or schemas already mentioned, specifically those which
contain the fundamental core beliefs which govern one’s perception of self, the
world and reality. This implies that, in order to increase perceptual
sensitivity, one would have to alter or modify the content of these schemas or
self-imposed ‘rules’ at an unconscious level. Fortunately, cognitive research
has also shown that although they are extremely resilient, it is indeed possible
to do this by exposing oneself to novel and radical thoughts and experiences
which will challenge this existing schematic framework, forcing it to loosen
its grip and to expand in order to accommodate these new experiences.
Unfortunately,
or perhaps fortunately, this requires a powerful state of mind in which one has
total control over one’s thoughts, emotions and perceptions, and is best
accomplished during conditions in which the unconscious mind is open to
suggestion, such as occurs during meditation. An example of this deep
reprogramming would involve combining visualization with meditation to create pseudo-realities into the mind involving complex and bizarre
dramatisations, such as a visit
to a strange planet with zero gravity in which rocks are floating suspended in
the air. This would radically challenge one’s current beliefs, thinking and
understanding of reality, even more so if one is able to accurately reproduce
an experience of interacting with this (mentally created) environment and be able
to shift one’s perception back and forth between the world of floating rocks and
everyday reality.
Personal case
studies have revealed that this is indeed possible, and although it can
initially cause some confusion, one’s experiential framework eventually expands
to accommodate these radical inner experiences, introducing the potential for a
deeper perception of reality.
Jimmy Henderson is a metaphysical teacher and
the author of a number of books and articles on inner self-development. He has
an Honours degree in philosophy (Metaphysics) and a Masters degree in
Psychology. He is also a Metavarsity facilitator and based in Durban, South
Africa. His books ‘Multi-Dimensional
Thinking’ (2007) and ‘Multi-dimensional
Perception’ (2010) are available at Exclusive Books as well as on
Amazon.com and Kalahari.com and can also be ordered via his website www.jimmyhendersonbooks.com
