What is the Subconscious Mind?
The subconscious mind and it’s effect has always been something I’ve been interested in to a certain extent. Most of what I’d learned about it for a long time was just high level organizational routines, rather than anything truly definitive, defining, or measurable. Although I could hardly do anything but support the idea that positive thinking tends toward a more productive experience, most of it was limited in it’s abiltiy for demonstrative argument. I.e. It was basically just “This is true! Because it is! Why are you doing it wrong!” Which simply doesn’t make for very productive reasoning. So aside from experiments, reading, and the occasional recommendation of better ways of thinking, I didn’t devote a tremendous amount of resources to it.
Somewhat recently however, while studying psychology, I learned several important things which tie in quite well to the idea of the subconscious mind, with physiological components and methods of action and reaction that seem to allow for a much better potential understanding. So I thought I’d share them.
First, I’ll start with things that aren’t based on supposition and conjecture, which always seems like a good way to begin. We’ll start with neurons. They make up 10% of the mass of the brain, and are the cells that actually do the things the brain is typically known for(like thinking, remembering, deciding to spark activity in the body, etc..) The rest is made up mostly of glial cells that make sure the neurons have all the energy and nutrients they need and take care of all the little minor aspects of maintenance so they don’t all crisp up and die on you.
Your brain isn’t the only place you have neurons though. Most obviously, they extend through the spinal cord, and make up your central nervous system. It doesn’t end there though. The delightful little things are actually quite prolific, extending out from your spinal cord throughout your entire body in order to monitor, control, and pass messages along the peripheral nervous system straight to where they need to be. This whole structure is actually based on different types of neurons, Motor neurons, Interneurons, and Sensory neurons. The motor neurons pass messages straight to your muscles to get them to do what they need to do, the sensory neurons are the bits that gather data from the outside, and then interneurons, that make up the bulk of the brain, spinal cord, and all the pathways involved. Basically, motor neurons talk to muscles, sensory neurons listen to the environment, and interneurons talk to each other.
I should also note here that reflex actions, e.g. your knee jerking when hit with a hammer, actually don’t involve your brain at all, but rather, the messages pass straight from the sensory neurons to the spinal cord and back to the motor neurons, allowing rapid reaction time in situations where it counts, like when you decide it would be a really cool idea to see what a hot stove feels like.
Now for the supposition and conjecture.
Reflex actions can be controlled. Through training, it is posssible to recondition your reflex actions into more useful ones, or eliminate undesirable ones entirely. This demonstrates that the nervous system(independant of your brain) can in fact learn.
In addition, the same neurons that make up your brain(interneurons) also exist throughout your entire body, passing messages along the entire chain from the tip of your toes on up to your nose. Being as these are the same types of neurons, and that the reflex system(that doesn’t include your brain) can learn, it would seem reasonable that the neurons throughout your entire body can learn, and if they can learn, they likely possess all the same faculties that the brain possesses, albeit in a less centralized fashion.
So, just where is thought? Who’s making the decisions? From where comes the internal monologue?
Here’s mine. Thought, consciousness, and what is generally accepted to be the “you” that is under your direct control, is manifested by direct communication between parts of the brain that devote themselves to such communication. Everything else, all the other parts of the nervous system that have more specialized jobs to do still has all of the same faculties as the parts that do the monologuing, they just don’t contribute to it directly.
However, though these neurons do not directly contribute to the monologue, they do receive the messages from the chatterbox that is your mind. Also, while the rest of this system may remain silent, it is still *you*. It has your goals in mind, it listens to you, and it strives to follow your plans, what you believe, and what it is told.
Now here’s the fun part – Every single system in your body is controlled by these silent neurons, acting as best it can according to the interests of the chatter that you fill yourself with.
In case you haven’t figured it out. I’m positing that your subconscious mind exists throughout your entire body, everything that isn’t directly in control of what you might generally term to be “you”. I’m also asserting that your subconscious mind listens to you, very intently, and with full confidence, as though you were a celebrity in your very own internal world.
There is lots of information floating about on how to get the subconscious to do as you want it to, and being that it controls your emotions, your hormones, your reflexes, your metabolic state, and various other handy little incentives to make things run smoothly or not so smoothly, it is obviously a good idea. The simple matter of it from this though, is that what’s really important is that you make your thoughts clear. Plan thoroughly, don’t contradict yourself, be positive, and make sure every aspect is known, so that when it comes time for some aspect of your subconscious to make a decision that could lead you one way or another, it knows which one you want it to make.
