Some people talk about the unconscious or the subconscious and make it sound like a thing.
In reality, it’s fluid, simple, and also infinitely complex.
WHAT DOES IT REFER TO?
It refers to anything in us – dynamics, emotions, thoughts, wishes, needs – we are currently not aware of.
What we are aware and unaware of changes with the situation and over time, and has layers and aspects to it.
A COMBINATION OF DIRECT NOTICING AND MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS
When we say we are aware of something in us, we typically mean we are aware of a combination of two things.
We refer to a combination of direct noticing and mental representations of what we notice.
We notice something in us – sensations, thoughts, and a combination of sensations and thoughts and so on – and our mind creates mental representations of it. We also notice mental representations of behavior in certain situations, and patterns over time, and make make stories about those too.
We create labels, stories, and so on in order to make sense of it.
So a small part of it is a direct noticing of the sense fields, and a big part of it is stories. And that’s not wrong. It’s innocent, natural, and it helps us orient and navigate.
GOING IN AND OUT OF AWARENESS
We can be aware of certain things in us. Then not pay attention to it or forget about it for a while. And then be aware of them again. (Or not). It’s often fluid.
For instance, we may be aware of anger and something in us trying to push that anger away. That dynamic colors our perception and life. Sometimes, we may not be aware of it. Other times, we may be aware of what’s happening, at least to some extent.
It may be relatively easy for us to notice in some situations and more difficult in the heat of the moment in other situations. Going from not noticing to noticing may happen in a moment.
UNAWARE OF CERTAIN LAYERS AND ASPECTS
We may have some stories about something in us, but not have other stories that show us other sides of it or point to something more essential about it. We are aware of some layers and aspects of it, and not others. There are always more layers and aspects.
For instance, we may be aware of anger about a situation and not yet be aware of fear behind and fueling that anger. We may also not be aware of the situations, often early in life, that created that pattern of fear.
We may be aware of some stressful stories, and not yet be aware of underlying stressful stories that the more surface ones depend on. We may be aware of being angry at someone, and not the underlying stories of lack.
WHEN IT STAYS MOSTLY AT THE STORY LEVEL
We may have stories about dynamics in us and, for instance, not take time to rest in noticing and allowing the sensations components.
It stays mostly at the story level. It may feel safer to something in us, and we may have dynamics in us protecting us from meeting it more directly. (Until we are ready.)
CHRONICALLY UNAWARE OF CERTAIN THINGS
We may be chronically unaware of certain things in us.
Most likely, we all are unaware of a huge amount of psychological dynamics in us, even if we spend decades exploring it.
ACTIVELY IN DENIAL
We may be chronically in denial of certain things.
A part of us may be aware of something in us. We don’t want to be aware of it. So we tell ourselves stories pretending it’s not there.
We don’t want to know what we know.
SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS
This has social and ecological aspects as well.
We are embedded in larger social and ecological systems.
Our larger self is, in a very real sense, humanity as a whole, Earth, and the universe as a whole.
We can be aware of these connections and our larger self to varying degrees, and also be aware of our role and impact on the larger whole to varying degrees. (We can likely only scratch the surface on the specifics of these impacts, but we can be aware that there are significant impacts.)
MISSING OUR MORE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE
We may be aware of psychological dynamics but not our more fundamental nature.
We may not have consciously discovered that our more fundamental nature is what allows and forms itself into our field of experience. The consciousness and oneness we may not be consciously aware of itself, and of itself as all it has ever known.
Even here, there are degrees and changes.
The oneness we are may notice itself in some situations without being consciously aware of what it is it is noticing. It may notice itself more clearly for a while and then get distracted by its mental field again.
There are also apparently infinite (?) layers and aspects of our more fundamental nature that we can become aware of and sometimes forget.
AN ADVENTURE
It’s a kind of infinite adventure to explore all of this.
Most likely, we can only scratch the surface and new and different things will reveal themselves to us. (And sometimes be forgotten.)
That’s all part of the adventure.
A SIMPLER WAY TO TALK ABOUT IT
To me, talking about the unconscious seems misleading. It makes it sound like a thing, something mysterious, and relatively solid and unchanging. (Unless we put a lot of work into it)
This is why I usually don’t talk about the unconscious. I prefer to talk about being aware of something or not, how this changes between situations and over time, and how new things keep revealing themselves to us. (And are sometimes again forgotten.)
Image created by me and Midjourney
INITIAL NOTES
“The unconscious”
- Is not a thing
- Is just anything that we are currently not aware of
- Always degrees + changes
Some people talk about the unconscious or the subconscious.
That makes it sound like a thing and something more or less solid. In reality, what it points to is far more fluid and dynamic.
…..
It refers to anything in us – dynamics, emotions, thoughts, wishes, needs – we are currently not aware of.
And what we are aware and unaware of is always in flux and has layers and aspects to it.
…..