The Unconscious

Our mind has many layers; the two main layers are the conscious and unconscious. The conscious part, according to Raj Mansukhani, is the thoughts, whishes, desires and intentions we are actually aware of. The unconscious is its opposite. Sigmund Freud made the unconscious popular. According to Freud, the unconscious is a repository of thoughts, feelings, wishes, and desires which we are not willing to admit to ourselves.

Not only is unconscious a repository of our “hidden selves” but it also processes hundreds of thousand information. Our unconscious has what is called our adaptive unconscious, this helps us most especially in times of danger. Like what is described by Mansukhani, it guides us to stay away from a dark ally. Suppressing our unconscious can lead to mental disorders and personality quirks. This explains the phenomenon of the dual personality and those who are brought to the mental hospital.

Socrates said Know thyself, but knowing our true thoughts, wishes, desires and intentions would take a long time. I think that we must not control what our unconscious dictates us. We should follow what the unconscious says, after all, the unconscious contains all our thoughts, wishes, desires and intentions that we are not willing to admit to ourselves. We must therefore, reflect on the things that we really want, no matter how embarrassing those things might be for us. If we suppress our real thoughts, feelings, whishes and intentions, we might loose our minds. I think his is what happens to people who have dual personality; they have repressed their unconscious to much that their real selves wanted to get out of its shell so badly.

Knowing our own unconscious would enable us to discover our own selves. It would take a long time to know what we are hiding from ourselves, but it would take to a realization of who we really are.

picture: iceberg (http://processcoaching.com/images/Iceberg1.jpg)
the iceberg methapore, in which the tip of the iceberg (those that can bee seen on see level) is the conscious part of our mind