Being Unconscious as a Way of Life

In my last and other blogs, I wrote about "consciousness." In this blog I want to ruminate on the degrees to which many of us are unconscious for much, or all, of our waking lives.

The Unconscious, (or Subconscious) in Psychiatric terminology, refers to the information which is hidden/suppressed from our conscious awareness. (While "the unconscious" is the currently preferred terminology, from my research I have learned that the founding, "fathers" of Psychiatry and Psychology used the terms interchangeably.)

What our Unconscious actually contains, is not only suppressed/repressed, and/or forgotten, information, but information stored through our Awareness System--a record of everything we have experienced throughout this life, as well a record of all our prior history.

The type of unconsciousness I am addressing today, however, is our general lack of awareness of our own existence, sensations, thoughts, and surroundings, the actual opposite of what it means to be conscious.

This state of affairs is a result of the fact that, most of our lives, in the Western World, we have been Programmed to ignore and discount anything and everything that does not fit in with Consensus Beliefs about Reality. As I have written about in previous blogs, the pressure to conform what one experiences as Reality, to that of one's social environment, (what our culture/family accepts as Reality), is enormous. As a result of this pressure to conform, much of our actual Reality, on a day-to-day basis, is suppressed--shoved into the Unconscious.

In order to survive, we turn off our awarenesses, (our Unconscious Awareness System, however, is recording everything constantly; this has been established, through brain research). In effect, we are, essentially, "sleep walking" through our lives. We no longer have conscious awareness of our own existence, sensations, thoughts, and surroundings, let alone an accurate memory of what we have experienced throughout our lives.

Our lives are generally lived in habitual behavior, and established patterns, within an established social group. Seldom does anyone examine or question her/his day-to-day patterns of behavior. As a general rule, it takes some kind of outside event--illness, loss of a job, a major move, personal loss, or some kind of paranormal event--to shake a person awake. Generally, when such changes happen, individuals do their best to re-establish "normality" in their lives, (go back to sleep).

Other people wake-up when they can no longer ignore that their lives and relationships are a shambles. Questioning what they believe, and how they themselves have contributed to the personal disaster that is their lives, is usually not even considered as a course of action. Not a small number choose to die, instead. Others turn to work, TV, Video Games, alcohol and/or drugs to put themselves back to sleep.

For these reasons, as well as others, discovering what we believe about ourselves, and our learned patterns of how we relate to other people in our lives, is a priority, if one wishes to change their lives.

I have recommended writing in a Journal, as a way of self-discovery. In my last blog I recommended two systems which can actually change ones brain waves. The second, Centerpointe Research Institute system actually has changed the lives of many individuals in a positive way, as well as being an easy way to achieve success with meditation. (Again, you can learn more about them at: http://www.centerpointe.com/about/

There are a tremendous number of self-help sources available, but one must make a major effort in this regard. It must be kept in mind that most of the psychological resources have been developed through the training, and, thus, Belief Systems of others, no matter how well intentioned they may be.

I have reached the end of today's blog.

Shirley Gallup