The conscious and subconscious

[windtraveler]

I dont see much going on in this section of the Drugs-forum, so...

One of the topics that i enjoy most, the human mind. (Very complicated but highly simplified here of course.)

In Psychology, our minds consist of three distinct but heavily overlapping sections: the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious.

The conscious is, obviously, made up of what we are aware of-- our rational thought and analysis, our easily remembered memories, and our personalities.

The subconscious is that which lies beneath our conscious minds, which some think may not be accessed. It is our habits (habits of thought and action), our memories long forgotten or repressed, the undercurrent of hidden thoughts, emotions, and moods, and the conditioning by society that each of us undergoes while growing up, all of which greatly influences our actions and conscious thoughts. Dreams, according to theory, and which i believe, come from this realm.

The unconscious is the part of the mind shaped by our long evolutionary history. It is impersonal.

It is not so much the subconscious that fascinates me, but what lies beyond it. In the years that i have been exploring it with meditation practices and entheogens, i have seen so many different things, and yet i feel i still have experienced so little of it. I have found thoughts beneath thoughts, and many more beneath them. I have found the fear of death when i thought i had none. With and without chemical help, I have found visions of otherworldly creatures, of earthly goddesses, of various ordinary faces and gestures, of locations that i have never visited, of moments and places long forgotten, of early childhood happiness and innocense, of pain thought to be since gone, and thoughts and emotions that i once thought only psychopaths and people in 'nut houses' harbored. I have even seen what lies beneath the human intellectual mind, when the slate is wiped completely clean.

I wonder what would happen if the line between the conscious and the subconscious were blurred and completely broken. I suppose if the ammount of material gushing from unawareness to awareness were too much for the individual, they may no longer be able to function in society, i.e. a new regime of insanity takes power. Some days i feel like i will inevitably join their ranks on the very edge of society, if i havent already.

But if it happened to the right person at the right time, after wading through the mess of the once subconscious matter, he or she may become "enlightened," "awake," or "living in the Kingdom of God." There would no longer be a subconscious. Would this person even dream at night? Would this person be whole at last, the Son of God, the Living Buddha, Muhammed the Prophet? And would this person be prosecuted and stoned to death? Would this person be born again into the Garden of Eden, to be like a child with new eyes upon the world? Is this possible and is this what they call enlightenment?

I know i'm using religious undertones here, but its the only thing i have to express some of these ideas, plus i want to elicit thoughts from others as to what they have found and what they think, but steer clear from any religious discussion at the same time. I dont consider anything above to be wholey or even partially original.

How have psychedelics,hallucinogens, deliriants, and other drugs helped in your own explorations? Feel free to elaborate on/correct/hypothesize/explain in clearer terms anything above.

[soer]

if the lines were crossed, could the "unreal" things that happen in dreams happen in this world? and, if so, would these things happen to only the ppl who have merged the boundaries?

[Solidly-here]

Conscious mind ... and everything else.


I was born with a conscious mind. But with that came a lot of other minds. The following is Buddhist psychology.


The country I live in has its own power in my consciousness (its values, morals, aspirations). In the U.S.A., for example,there is a driving force to get all the goodies (and crush the competition). I can either take-on that perspective at any given moment, or NOT. I can choose to ignore that, and live my life in spite of it.


The city I live in has its own personality. The neighborhood I live in carries the combined energies of the people who live there. These energies (individually and collectively) have the power to shape my perspective on what is happening ... in my life, in my country, in my world.


My family upbringing initiated many, many ideals, rules, confusion about what to do. I can either hold onto all of that, or I can Let Go of (at least) some of it, and live my OWN life, as I see my life to be.


My actually living through my life (so far) has added many layers to life: If I do THIS, that will happen (even though it's not always true) ... I want to live as a GOOD Christian (0r, Jew, or Buddhist, ...); but, what does that exactly mean? End of the Buddhist lesson.


There are 100 different ways (Filters) to see life at any given moment (Great, Un-fair, thrilling, boring, ...). At different times, I see life through different "filters"; right now, "Great" (oh good, hold on to that one). Another time, Life is "Un-Fair", why did that happen? (oh good, soon I will not be still feeling this, and move on tomy next thought, and then on to my next thought).


The so-called Unconscious Mind, is everything else that I'm not currently thinking about (in my conscious mind). I am glad that I have this unconsciousness, or else I would be thinking about everything, every minute. It allows me to focus-in on what is happening right in front of me.


What is different when I am tripping is: I can try-on one Filter after another. All of life is THIS. Then: Oh, I see, life is about THIS. It gets me a chance to experiment with parts of my Unconscious Mind that I usually don't have access to.


Then, if I am lucky, I can re-create that Filter at another time, and "play" with it. If I am REAL lucky, then I can incorporate that Filter into my everyday life. Poof. Now part of my Unconscious Mind is conscious ... what a wonderful life.Edited by: Solidly-here