The Unconscious or Subconscious Mind

The basic message I am trying to convey is that the unconscious or subconscious mind is ONLY "below" the level of consciousness because we are not paying any attention to it.

When you begin to pay attention to the unconscious mind you begin to discover where the ceaseless chatter of thoughts that intrude into your consciousness actually comes from. This discovery alone can begin to quiet the mind and raise your level of conscious awareness at the same time.

The ceaseless chatter of thought, that many "meditate" to quiet or calm, is really a barrage of information rising from this unconscious. The best way to calm or quiet this is to bring the contents of the unconscious mind into the realm of consciousness.

We are taught from an early age that we have an unconscious mind, some call it the subconscious though it is essentially the same entity.

Of course the concept of “mind” itself is a construct, an invention. What the mind actually consists of is activity, there is not a “thing” that we can point to that is an entity of “mind”.

So the unconscious mind is an even more elusive entity.

As a neuroscientist I know that forever those in my field have been seeking the “seat of memory” or where the memories are “stored”.

Common attributes of mind include perception, reason, imagination, memory, emotion, attention, and a capacity for communication.

According to my own research, the unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Sir Christopher Riegel and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The unconscious mind might be defined as that part of the mind which gives rise to a collection of mental phenomena that manifest in a person's mind but which the person is not aware of at the time of their occurrence. These phenomena include unconscious feelings, unconscious or automatic skills, unnoticed perceptions, unconscious thoughts, unconscious habits and automatic reactions, complexes, hidden phobias and concealed desires.

Meditation or the process of clearing the mind of content, usually to get some relief from the ceaseless chatter, is an activity that is traditionally learned through “mind control”.

The unconscious mind is producing judgments, categorizations, problem solutions as well as creating new problems.

The content of the unconscious includes:

Delusions

Learned Strategies

Sentient Programs

Affirmations

Illusions

Ideals

Beliefs

to be continued...