The interface: A bubble of awareness

Continuing with the initial consideration of conscious, subconscious, unconscious. Probably as we go along we will loop back from time to time and modify or even appear to contradict previous definitions. Remember, everything depends upon how it is seen in context. As context changes, so will the subject of inquiry seem to change – and the mind that inquires is a part of the context.

So. when you see the 3D world as being a suppressed level of consciousness – a trance-like state, as we said –  everything, every relationship, everything constructed upon these relationships, necessarily changes.

  • Society in general takes for granted that it is conscious, that the world is as it appears.
  • Religions are founded on intuitions that this 3D life cannot be explained on its own terms but must be a part of something greater. But every religion decays.
  • Periods between religions tend to think that functional atheism is the only way to see the world that makes sense. In practice this means simplifying life by ignoring anything – no matter how common, how pervasive – that doesn’t fit into a scheme that sees 3D as self-evidently complete.
  • Sigmund Freud punches through the crust of his society’s assumptions by demonstrating that life’s underpinnings are not rational but have a life of their own.
  • Carl Jung, on the African plains, observing herds of animals, is struck by the thought that none of nature is conscious of itself. He thinks this is humanity’s functions: to become aware.

So in proceeding, we are going to describe the 3D portion of reality as being, in effect, a trance state, functioning as if what it is aware of is all there is. Obviously this is an unstable situation. “What consciousness is aware of” fluctuates, or perhaps grows, or shrinks. As it does, the rules of the game will appear to change. People at different levels within the overall trance will live in different worlds, in effect. You know this from your experience, but this is why you live in different worlds.

Now cite Dirk’s question 10.

[What exactly are the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious? Do these relate partly or mostly to structural parts of the brain, such as the left and right hemispheres and the primitive brain?]

You see that what he is citing as conscious, subconscious, unconscious is not quite what we just described. This is because he – acting as local representative of your society for the purposes of this exposition – poses the question in the context of 3D as you experience it, and we initially respond in the context of All-D. This is a deliberate strategy on our part because, again, 3D cannot be understood if examined strictly as its own context.

So now let’s reexamine the three states within 3D life remembering that 3D consciousness may be described as a very specific state that we are calling a trance state. Remember, too: As above, so below.

Now strictly within the 3D life you lead, what does it mean, conscious, subconscious, unconscious? It means this. You function as an individual “bubble” of awareness, relatively separate from all your fellows. This condition which is taken for granted in 3D life is strictly the result of the conditions of the 3D trance. You see why we began by defining consciousness within the larger context?

If we look at 3D mental life as a particular subset of the mental life of All There Is, we can remember that when we examine it, we are examining only a subset, not the entire thing.

Yes. And why is that desirable?

Didn’t you say we can’t understand 3D in isolation from its larger context?

Yes. But to keep that fact actively in mind require reminders.

So. Within 3D life, you have your conscious state: awareness of the world around you insofar as various “externals” have risen to a certain threshold.

You have your subconscious state, which may be seen as awareness of the aspects of the world that have not crossed the consciousness threshold. You perceive, but you are not aware that you perceive.

And you have your unconscious state, in which you are unconscious of the 3D world, to the 3D world, but not of course to yourself. You continue to work the machine, even if you do not communicate.

Notice, these are not alternatives. All three go on, all the time.

I don’t see how you can say that. When we are conscious, yes, I can see that other things are also going on subconsciously, maybe even unconsciously. But how can you say that we are always conscious, even when we are not?

Yes, this may take some explaining. We thought it would be obvious, until you pointed out that it is not.

Each of the three states takes place (in the 3D context) within the 3D trance-state. That is, all three are logical subdivisions of the same logical subdivision at a higher level. Just as you can’t be in height and depth without necessarily being also in width, so you can’t function in a subdivision of a state of being without partaking in all aspects of that subdivision. The elements of your life don’t cease to exist just because you cease to be aware of them, or because you think of them as disconnected.

The three states we are considering are relative terms, relative to each other. You already see that concurrent with consciousness are subconscious and unconscious processes, necessarily. Well, look at unconsciousness, remembering that from our point of view it is a matter of communicating with the “external” 3D world.

Oh, I get it, I think. If we consider our mental lives from the inside, we could say that the conscious is fully communicating with the world around us, subconscious is interacting without communicating necessarily, and  unconscious hasn’t much to do with the 3D world outside our own body.

Yes, that’s the idea, but that last isn’t quite right. Unconsciousness seen from inside the mind means disregard of anything outside the mind, including the body. The autonomic systems are kept going by the subconscious mind, not the unconscious.

Then can you give us a better sense of the unconscious mind?

We will go into this at greater length. For now, let’s say it is the part of you that never forgets that the 3D is a trance state, a focused subset of a greater consciousness.

So what seems like the least is in fact the highest.

As Dion Fortune said, psychology has hold of things from the wrong end, so of course everything will be valued wrongly.

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