INNER CONSCIOUSNESS/PART 1
LESSON 1.
INNER CONSCIOUSNESS
It was formerly taught in the schools that all of the
Mind of an individual was comprised within the limits of ordinary
Consciousness, but for many years this old idea has been gradually superceded
by more advanced conceptions. Leibnitz was one of the first to advance the
newer idea, and to promulgate the doctrine that there were mental energies and
activities manifesting on a plane of mind outside of the field of ordinary
consciousness. From his time psychologists have taught, more and more forcibly,
that much of our mental work is performed outside of the ordinary field of
consciousness. And, at the present time, the idea of an "Inner
Consciousness” is generally accepted among psychologists.
Lewes says: "The teaching of most modern
psychologists is that consciousness forms but a small item in the total of
physical processes. Unconscious sensations, ideas and judgments are made to
play a great part in their explanations. It is very certain that in every
conscious volition— every act that is so characterized—the larger part of it is
quite unconscious. It is equally certain that in every perception there are
unconscious processes of reproduction and inference—there is a middle distance
of subconsciousness, and a background of unconsciousness.” And
Sir William Hamilton states: "I do not hesitate to affirm that what we are
conscious of is constructed out of what we are not conscious of—that our whole
knowledge in fact is made up of the unknown and incognizable. The sphere
of our consciousness is only a small circle in the centre of a far wider sphere
of action and passion, of which we are only conscious through its effects.” And
Taine has said in connection with the same thought: "Mental events
imperceptible to consciousness are far more numerous than the others, and of
the world which makes up our being we only perceive the highest points—the
lighted-up peaks of a continent whose lower levels remain in the shade. Beneath
ordinary sensations are their components, that is to say, the elementary
sensations, which must be combined into groups to reach our consciousness.
Outside a little luminous circle lies a great large ring of twilight, and
beyond this an indefinite night; but the events of this twilight and this night
are as real as those within the luminous circle.” To this, Maudsley adds his
testimony, as follows: "Examine closely and without bias the ordinary
mental operations of life, and you will surely discover that consciousness has
not one-tenth part of the function therein which it is commonly assumed to
have. In every conscious state there are at work conscious, sub-conscious and
infra-conscious energies, the last as indispensable as the first.”
It is now known that "Inner-Conscious” ideas,
impressions and thoughts play a most important part in the thought-world of
every individual. Beyond every outer-conscious action there may be found a vast
inner-conscious background. It is held that of our entire mental processes,
less than ten per cent are performed in the field of outer-consciousness. As a
well known writer has so well expressed it: "Our self is greater than we
know; it has peaks above and lowlands below the plateau of our conscious
experience.” Prof. Elmer Gates has forcibly put it: "At least ninety per
cent of our mental life is sub-conscious. If you will analyze your mental
operations you will find that conscious thinking is never a continuous line of
consciousness, but a series of conscious data with great intervals of
sub-consciousness. We sit and try to solve a problem and fail. We walk around,
try again and fail. Suddenly an idea dawns that leads to a solution of the
problem. The subconscious processes
were at work. We do not volitionally create our own thinking. It takes place in
us. We are more or less passive recipients. We cannot change the nature of a
thought, or of a truth, but we can, as it were, guide the ship by a moving of
the helm.”
But, perhaps, the most
beautiful expression of this underlying truth, is that of Sir Oliver Lodge, who
says in his consideration of the subject: "Imagine an iceberg glorying in
its crisp solidity, and sparkling pinnacles, resenting attention paid to its submerged
self, or supporting region, or to the saline liquid out of which it arose, and
into which in due course it will some day return. Or, reversing the metaphor,
we may liken our present state to that of the hull of a ship submerged in a dim
ocean among strange monsters, propelled in a blind manner through space; proud
perhaps of accumulating many barnacles of decoration; only recognizing our
destination by bumping against the dock-wall; and with no cognizance of the
deck and cabins above us, or the spars and sails—no thought of the sextant, and
the compass, and the captain—no perception of the look-out on the mast— of the
distant horizon. With no vision of objects far ahead— dangers to be avoided—
destinations to be reached—other ships to be spoken to by means other than by
bodily contact—a region of sunshine and cloud, of space, or perception, and of
intelligence utterly inaccessible below the water-line.”
Dr. Schofield has cleverly and beautifully illustrated
the idea in the following words: "Our conscious mind, as compared with the
unconscious mind, has been likened to the visible spectrum of the sun's rays,
as compared to the invisible part which stretches indefinitely on either side.
We know now that the chief part of heat comes from the ultra-red rays that show
no light; and the main part of the chemical changes in the vegetable world are
the results of the ultra-violet rays at the other end of the spectrum, which
are equally invisible to the eye, and are recognized only by their potent
effects. Indeed as these invisible rays extend indefinitely on both sides of
the visible spectrum, so we may say that the mind includes not only the visible
or conscious part, and what we have termed the sub-conscious, that which lies
below the red line, but also the supra-conscious mind that lies at the other
end—all those regions of higher soul and spirit life, of which we are only at
times vaguely conscious, but which always exist, and link us on to eternal
verities, on the one side, as surely as the sub-conscious mind links us to the
body on the other.”
The late Frederic W. H. Myers, after years of
careful study and research along the lines of the "out-of-consciousness”
states, formulated a hypothesis of a "secondary self,” or as he called it
a "Subliminal Self,” which "self” he held possessed certain powers
which it exercised in a measure independent of the ordinary conscious
"self.” Perhaps the best explanation of his hypothesis has been stated by
Mr. Myers, himself, in his book entitled "Human Personality,” in which he
states: "The idea of a threshold of consciousness—of a level above which
sensation or thought must rise before it can enter into our conscious life—is a
simple and familiar one. The word Subliminal—meaning 'beneath the
threshold'—has already been used to define those sensations which are too
feeble to be individually recognized. I propose to extend the meaning of the
term, so as to make it cover all that takes
place beneath the ordinary threshold, or say, if preferred, the ordinary margin
of consciousness—not only those faint stimulations, whose very faintness must
keep them submerged, but much else which psychology as yet scarcely recognizes;
sensations, thoughts, emotions, which may be strong definite, and independent,
but which, by the original constitution of our being, seldom merge into that
Supraliminal current of consciousness which we habitually identify with
ourselves. Perceiving that these submerged thoughts and emotions possess the
characteristics which we associate with conscious life, I feel bound to speak
of a Subliminal, or Ultra-marginal, Consciousness—a consciousness which we
shall see, for instance, uttering or writing sentences quite as complex and
coherent as the supraliminal consciousness could make them. Perceiving further
that this conscious life beneath the threshold or beyond the margin seems to be
no discontinuous or intermittent thing; that not only are these isolated
subliminal processes comparable with isolated supraliminal processes (as when a
problem is solved by some unknown procedure in a dream) but that there also is
a continuous subliminal chain of memory (or more chains than one) involving
just that kind of individual and persistent revival of old impressions and
response to new ones, which we commonly call a Self—I find it permissible to
speak of subliminal Selves, or more briefly a subliminal self. I do not indeed
by using this term assume that there are two correlative and parallel selves
existing always within each of us. Rather I mean by the Subliminal Self that
part of the Self which is commonly subliminal; and I conceive that there may
be—not only many cooperations between these quasi-independent trains of
thought—but also upheavals and alternations of personality of many kinds, so
that what was once below the surface may for a time, or permanently, rise above
it. And I conceive also that no Self of which we can here have cognizance is in
reality more than a fragment of a larger self—revealed in a fashion at once
shifting and limited through an organism not so framed as to afford it full
manifestation.” We have given you the different views of these respective
authorities not that we purpose adopting exclusively any of the various
theories or hypotheses advanced, but merely that you may see that this question
of an "Inner Consciousness” is not a mere vague theory of certain mystics
and metaphysicians, but on the contrary is one that has attracted the
earnest attention and consideration of scientific men and careful investigators
along psychological lines. We shall have but very little to do with theories in
this book—the Facts of the subject concern us more earnestly.
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