Subconscious and unconscious are often confused, but unconscious refers to unconscious psychological activities, so they are not exactly the same. The School of Communication Analysis (TA) doesn't talk about the subconscious mechanism at all, but only the unconscious. Bring unconscious emotions, thoughts, feelings and behaviors into consciousness to make changes.
Subconsciousness is defined as the psychological activity under the consciousness, while consciousness refers to the psychological activity of our rational behavior, including logic, analysis, planning and calculation. The functions of the subconscious mind include: controlling basic physiological functions (such as heartbeat and breathing), memory, emotional response, habitual behavior, creating dreams and intuition. These are just the functions that scientists can find at present. According to clinical hypnosis, the subconscious has six functions: instinct, memory, habit, emotion, energy and imagination.
What is the subconscious?
Freud compared the mind to an iceberg. A few of them surfaced, representing consciousness, while most of them were buried underwater. He believes that only a few people's words and deeds are controlled by consciousness, while most others are dominated by subconscious mind, and they are all actively operating, but people are not aware of it.
When a person is in a normal state, it is difficult to see the operation of the subconscious. At this time, dreams are the best channel to observe subconscious activities.
But in people with mental illness, we can see that the role of the subconscious is very sharp, such as unexplained anxiety, irrational desire, fear beyond nature, uncontrollable compulsion. Obviously, the power of consciousness is so weak that the power of subconscious swept everything like a typhoon.
However, the subconscious is not so negative, but it is easier to observe in patients. The subconscious mind has more magic and can be used by the conscious mind through learning.
The degree of a person's evolution is directly proportional to his ability to use subconscious power.
I will use Shojaei Asagioli's egg-shaped diagram, which is my favorite thinking structure model, to introduce the subconscious.
Shojaei Ou Li (1888- 1974) is a pioneer of transpersonal psychology. Based on his rich clinical experience and in-depth contact with oriental thoughts, he developed a system that integrated eastern and western psychology.
1. Lower subconscious
2. Intermediate subconscious
3. Higher subconscious
4. Consciousness
5. The center of consciousness, self
6. High-level self, transpersonal self, true self
7. Collective subconscious
(Note: The dotted line indicates that different areas can penetrate each other, for example, the subconscious content can enter the consciousness, and vice versa. Moreover, each region also has the possibility of expansion and contraction. )
1, lower subconscious
Subconscious is a world composed of instinct, impulse, drive and physiological and mechanical reaction.
The physiological functions of the human body need not be managed by consciousness. The body can breathe, the stomach can digest, the heart can beat, the pituitary gland can supervise the secretion of various hormones, and the immune system can automatically prevent bacteria and viruses from invading the body. All this was arranged subconsciously.
Therefore, although the low-level subconscious is called "low-level", its operation is actually very advanced and complicated.
Subconscious has been doing a good job in managing body operation and making great contributions to maintaining human health. People get sick, but they are usually disturbed by consciousness!
The low-level subconscious is an infinite memory bank, which stores all the memories of a person's life, big and small, and even the memories of many generations are safely preserved here.
The low-level subconscious is also the world of animals and instinct, the primitive and uncivilized part of human beings, and the source of crime and violence.
The lower subconscious contains all the depression that is not accepted by consciousness, thus forming phobia, compulsive thinking and behavior, delusion, hallucination and nightmare.
This part of the subconscious is not logical and rational, but in a strong, dynamic and secret posture, just like the high temperature and high pressure magma at the core of the earth surging day and night.
Freud's psychoanalytic theory, sometimes called "depth psychology", is particularly keen on excavating the lower subconscious. Freud once said in a letter to a friend, "I am only interested in people's basements." If the whole person only uses the low-level subconscious to interpret it, he will inevitably fall into a pessimistic tendency and a reductionist view. This is why even psychoanalysts have been revising Freud's theory. As Mr. Fang Dongmei said, psychology should have both depth and height. (Note)
Second, the intermediate subconscious.
Psychoanalytic school calls it "pre-consciousness", which refers to materials that are not usually stored in consciousness, so long as we recall, think and express them, we can mobilize them. These materials are located in the middle subconscious. For example, "What's your mobile phone number?" "What's the name of your senior one tutor?" "Who was your first boyfriend?" And so on. Before these questions are asked, the data is not in your consciousness, but stored in the middle subconscious. There is no gap between consciousness and intermediate subconscious, so it is easy to introduce consciousness through reflection, and sometimes a rhetorical question is enough. It is difficult to find things buried in the lower subconscious, which is the biggest challenge of psychotherapy.
3. Higher subconscious
When a writer is immersed in a disease book, his inspiration is endless, full of good sentences and meticulous words. Afterwards, even he was surprised: "How can I write so well?" Just like God's help, at this time, we can say that he connected the higher subconscious at that time and reached a situation that could not be achieved under normal circumstances.
Amir's secret diary mentioned: "One night, on the shore of the North Sea, I lay on my back on the beach and swam to the Tianhe River. At that time, I was like an expert in finding stars, with infinity! In a sacred moment, a trance-like moment, thoughts fly across the world, breathing the vast, quiet and deep breath of the ocean, and as clear as the sky-this is an irresistible intuitive moment. I feel as big as the universe and peaceful as God ... "At this time, we can say that Amir has connected with the higher subconscious.
Since German chemist Hoffman discovered benzene in 1845, many chemists have racked their brains to decipher its molecular structure. However, at that time, humans never thought that a ring-shaped molecular structure was possible, so chemists ran into a wall and gave up. 1865 On a cold night, the chemist Kukaili, who had been studying for many years, took a nap by the fire and fell asleep. Then, something strange happened. In his dream, he saw many atoms jumping in front of him, among which a group of atoms were arranged in long chains and twisted and coiled there. Look carefully again, ah! It's a snake biting its tail and spinning proudly in front of him!
Like being struck by lightning, Kukari immediately woke up and realized that the molecular structure of benzene was a closed loop, which no one had thought of before. No wonder all the experts who studied it from the old viewpoint of openness and refinement were rejected. Since then, chemical research has entered a new milestone because of this revolutionary discovery.
In the dream of seeing a snake bite its tail, Kukri realized the cyclic structure of benzene. At this time, we can say that he is connected to the higher subconscious.
Cool Wen Yi came to visit the famous Zen master Luohan Guichen, but nothing came of it. Before leaving, Lohan asked the cool Wen Yi: "You often say that the Three Realms are idealistic, so I ask you, is that stone in the yard in your heart or outside your heart? 」
Before enlightenment at that time, Wen Yi logically replied: "Since the Three Realms are idealistic, the stone is in the heart. 」
Luohan Guichen said with a smile, "You are a yogi, and you are not tired with such a big stone in your heart! 」
Liang Wen stayed there and didn't know how to answer, so he stayed with Luohan Guichen to meditate. After more than a month, he told Luohan Guichen what he had learned. Lohan's noble minister shook his head and said, "That's not how Buddhism works. 」
Cool Wen Yi said, "I met an iron wall, so I resigned. 」
At this time, Luohan Guichen said: "If you talk about Buddhism, everything is ready. 」
Now the cool literary welfare is enlightened.
At the moment he heard "everything is ready", we can say that he connected the unparalleled source of wisdom of the higher subconscious.
Many years ago, when I was sitting quietly, my whole body suddenly disappeared and merged into endless joy. Like a water molecule in the ocean, I merged with the universe, but I was clearly aware of my existence. At that time, I felt that the unity of all beings was so clear that human beings should love each other, and it was self-evident to forgive and love your enemies.
Although this wonderful state lasted only one night, it became the key to my future life direction. It can be said that that night, I opened the higher subconscious.
From the above examples, we can know that the higher subconscious is a world of inspiration, wisdom, intuition, insight, enlightenment, holiness and compassion.
Higher subconscious is equivalent to the word "super-consciousness" that I like to use. Under hypnosis, once the high subconscious is connected, it will produce many wonderful phenomena and amazing therapeutic effects. I believe that artistic creation, profound originality, breakthrough of advanced technology, change of personality, integration of ideas and skills, selflessness, selfless dedication, change of values, fraternity and dedication to lofty ideals all come from this.
Maslow said: "There has long been a' high-level circuit' in personality, just like the low-level subconscious, which manipulates our emotions. Peak experience, creative ability, aesthetic point of view and spiritual practice are all manifestations of these high-level abilities, and it is a natural trend to achieve a more explicit perfection than we do. 」
Four. The world of consciousness
The content of consciousness needs no explanation, it is what we directly perceive at the moment, such as feelings, thoughts, emotions, desires, images, impulses, memories, expectations, plans and so on. As the focus of our consciousness changes, so does the connotation. The world of consciousness can be expanded or shrunk, so it is represented by dotted lines in the egg-shaped diagram.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) the central self of consciousness
This self is the center of our current consciousness and self-identity. In the simplest terms, it is what we usually think of me. I like to use "self" to describe myself.
6. High-level self (transpersonal self)
Compared with the central self of consciousness, the higher self is the spiritual self and the true self. The former is the ego, and the latter is the ego. Self is the center of consciousness and personality; The higher self is the center of the higher subconscious, which contains a wider level. It is a great pity that most people live in the ego all their lives without realizing the existence of the ego.
High-level ego is the language used by Shojaei Ou Li. He sometimes uses words such as superego, true self, origin, core and peak to describe it. Other scholars and experts also have their own preferences to describe it. For example, Jung called it the undiscovered true self and the prototype true self, and Emerson called it the spirit of transcendence. Nowadays, many scholars continue to express the higher self in the words of Jung and Shojaei Ou Li, and describe it in lowercase.
In addition, countless religions and spiritual civilizations at all times and in all countries have also discussed the superego. For example, Buddhism calls it Buddha nature, reality and true colors, Hinduism calls it Brahma, and the new era calls it the higher self.
Seven. Collective subconscious
Collective subconsciousness refers to the existence that transcends the individual and enters the universe, as if all the experiences and wisdom of life are integrated here, including human beings and various animals and plants. If there are aliens, there will be life in different spaces. If there are all kinds of buddhas, gods, ghosts, elves and gods, they are all part of the collective subconscious.
Note: Mr. Fang Dongmei divides psychology into depth psychology (psychoanalysis), plane psychology (general academic psychology) and height psychology (transcendental psychology).
This article is taken from page 28 of the hypnotic Bible written by teacher Liao Yuepeng.