Subconscious and Conscious

DeAnna Willman photo provided by unsplash

Mark 9:23-24 “And Yeshua (Jesus) said to him, ‘If you can!? Anything is possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’”

In the last post we talked about the non-conscious and compared it to a very large warehouse where billions of bits of information are stored. We also touched on how what is stored there will influence what you will consciously think, choose, believe, and how you will behave. We talked about the number of times God told us to remember something. I mentioned that in the action driven language of Hebrew, to remember implies also acting upon what is remembered, unlike in conceptual languages such as Greek and English where it is more of a passive concept. In the brain, the act of remembering stimulates an active connection between the non-conscious and the conscious. To physically act upon that remembrance deepens that connection. That is probably why God gave us specific ways (actions) to remember the things He wants us to remember. How did you do on the “remember” challenge I gave you?

Today I will share a bit about the other two parts of our mind, the subconscious and the conscious.

The subconscious is likened to a filter or guard. Its job is to protect the conscious from information that may overwhelm or harm it. We have all heard of people who have gone through a serious trauma and developed amnesia. This is the subconscious in action, refusing to let the experience (thought/memory) pass from the non-conscious to be remembered by the conscious mind until the conscious mind is successfully able to handle and work through the trauma. Our God is so loving that He even puts into place within our minds processes that protect us from greater harm.

However, sometimes the sub-conscious will become cantankerous and simply refuse to let pass something that seems very simple. If you have ever had a “tip of the tongue” moment where what you are trying to recall is “on the tip of my tongue” but it is not fully recalled, you have perhaps experienced your subconscious working overtime at its job of protecting the conscious mind. (or what you are trying to recall was NOT made a permanent part of your non-conscious) Usually you find that the subconscious will eventually allow you to recall that memory in the early morning hours. It seems that the non-conscious can at times by-pass the sub-conscious during sleep. Or perhaps it has just finally convinced the sub-conscious that the information is not overwhelming or harmful to the conscious mind.

The conscious mind is active only when awake. It processes 2000 actions per second, (nope..still too fast for me to fathom!) You are aware of its working. It is in the conscious that you make your decisions, feel your emotions, choose how you will behave, and choose what you will do with information entering the brain.

Information entering the brain can be likened to what you would see at a construction site. There you find tiles, wood planks, nails, screws, wires, metal, dry wall, paint, pipes, and various tools. It just looks like a pile of stuff. Yet, the construction crew will build something out of that stuff. They can build a house, an office building, a restaurant, amusement park, hotel, etc… They can even build a prison. The options are limitless. But, how does the construction crew decide what to build? They follow a blue-print. They build according to the plans they have been given. The conscious mind is similar in that it is given a bunch of building materials- information that comes through the 5 senses, the spiritual realm, or the mind itself. Then, it builds according to a blue-print- the information brought up by the non-conscious. It can build a thought that is helpful, that brings good to self and others, or it can build a thought that is negative, harmful, or even one of bondage.

However, unlike the construction crew who are being paid to follow a specific plan, or they will be fired, the conscious mind can actually decide to deviate from the blueprint. The conscious mind can decide that the blueprint given does not benefit the person in mind, body, or spirit. It can decide that the blueprint does not bless others or bring honor to its Creator. It can decide to use the building materials in a different manner to better benefit itself by thinking a different thought rather than the one that the blueprint would have had it build.

We were given at conception, the power to determine what we will do with the information we will receive on a daily basis throughout our entire lives. HalleluYah! The conscious mind determines what is stored in the non-conscious mind. We have the power to determine what will or won’t be stored, what will or won’t influence how we will live, think, choose, feel, speak, and relate. (We are more than conquerors!)

Remember, quantum physics of the brain is information, consideration, choice, and consequence! Consideration and choice are active processes and they stand between information and the consequence.

Healing challenge: take note of how many times you have a “tip of the tongue” moment, or a moment when you forgot what you were “here after.” Consider, is your subconscious simply working overtime, were you simply not being mindful, or did you fail to make it a permanent part of your non-conscious? And give Yah (God) thanks and praise when that thought finally comes to mind!

Until next time!

Job 26:34 “Remember to extol His work, of which men have sung.”