The unconscious that can talk back

[richard hurst]

The idea of the unconscious section of our mind is not new in any sense, from Freud’s early and groundbreaking analysis of the Id the Ego and the Super ego. Brought to us the landscape of the hidden worlds of the unconscious through treatments, dreams and the Hypnotherapy that may have been the real breakthrough to actually knowing there is one. In my surmise of the unconscious is that it may be directing our conscious states or influencing them in differing degrees. It may in fact be blind, but have a voice you might say. Those nagging thoughts we all have but cant quite put our finger on the answer. Or those emotional days when were up and down but don’t know why. There is a case possibly to say that the unconscious is actually talking to us, in a low frequency just below the perception of the waking mind. Whispering to us hidden thoughts and feelings directing our lives subtly or in some cases destructively.

From its early beginnings in man where we were animals and food shelter and warmth were its talking points. Not much has really changed. Unless of course our desires are now couches, fridge freezers TV’s and skiing holidays. Our basic needs have evolved within the G8 countries we live more complex lives than ever before. But had the unconscious evolved with it. I think so, as we got smarter possibly so did it . Learning new ways to reach us. Evolving as we do every day, changing learning talking.

If anyone’s got a view on this would love to hear it.

[dave marshall]

Hi Richard,

I think it depends on what you think the unconscious mind is before you can explore your question with any confidence! Your experience of those inner voices with depend on your beleifs about the mind itself.

I beleive that the mind/soul/personality are the same thing so the voices that I listen out for come from myself and other 'people' in reality that I can tune into or who are tuned into me,

dave

[Mark Lapierre]

Freud's divisions of mind are useful constructs, but the reality of our mind and brain is far more complex than he lead us to believe. If we think of the unconscious mind as separate from our conscious mind, or as having intentions distinct from our conscious thought processes, we're not truly understanding what the unconscious mind is. It's a label applied to all of the processes which occur in our mind which we don't consciously attend to. Some of that activity is orchestrated, some is the result of relatively simple, predictable chains of activity.

Richard, your description of the unconscious mind seems to almost personify it. I feel that's an approach which will lead you away from the growing knowledge we're gathering about what's really going on under our skulls.

Yes we do have desires and drives which manifest in ways which aren't verbalised thought. But they're our own drives and desires, not the whisperings of some mysterious hidden entity which just happens to inhabit our mind. I think I agree with the core of what you're saying, but I think the analogy you're presenting creates an image not unlike a split personality.

Of course I suspect many people will have a completely different opinion to me too.