Gaining an Understanding of the Nature of the Subliminal Consciousness

Western psychology is in its infancy as a science. It is, as is all mental knowledge, a form of ignorance, seeking and grasping for knowledge, while not actually able to see the entire picture nor understand the complexity of all the elements that go into human psychology. Thus, Freud gained a partial understanding of how unrecognised complexes, arising in many cases from trauma or childhood experiences, or natural drives hitting up against cultural taboos, can influence the way people react to various events or circumstances. He posited that there was a subconscious level that stored these complexes which could be triggered by some external pressure or stimulus. Much of what he discovered related to sexual energies, which is understandable given the deep-seated taboos associated with sex and the suppression of sexuality in Western culture. His answer was to have a client undergo psychoanalysis, which would unearth these hidden complexes and thus allow them to be remove. The problem with this approach, however, is that simply raising up embedded complexes, without providing a power greater than mental will to address them, in many cases simply creates a lot of confusion and a chaotic reaction for the client.

C. G. Jung went further in exploration of the unconscious levels and determined that there were actually universal archetypes that humanity shared, which would arise within an individual based on their specific cultural background and training, but which expressed what might be called ‘universal’ aspects of human experience. He believed that bringing these to light would help an individual understand more clearly the motive springs of his reactions and recognition of the deeper meaning of life, while at the same time, moving somewhat beyond the fixation on the individual ego and its experiences and traumas.

In each case, however, we see that the exploration is primarily going into the lower levels or planes of consciousness without recognising the fact that consciousness extends beyond, as well as both below and above those levels within which the human individual habitually responds. Thus, much of the entire field of consciousness was left unexplored. Belatedly, some modern day Western psychological researchers are beginning to explore the idea of superconscious states and expanded forms of awareness, which promises to help Western psychology move toward the more complete understanding provided by yogic psychology and expounded in great detail by Sri Aurobindo. There is an increasing recognition of levels that are unable to be directly perceived by our external surface consciousness but which nevertheless impinge upon and impact who we are and how we respond to our lives. These levels, subliminal to our external senses and mind, are the subject of intense interest at the moment.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “… the subliminal in man is the largest part of his nature and has in it the secret of the unseen dynamisms which explain his surface activities. But the lower vital subconscious which is all that this psycho-analysis of Freud seems to know, — and even of that it knows only a few ill-lit corners — is no more than a restricted and very inferior portion of the subliminal whole. The subliminal self stands behind and supports the whole superficial man; it has in it a larger and more efficient mind behind the surface mind, a larger and more powerful vital behind the surface vital, a subtler and freer physical consciousness behind the surface bodily existence. And above them it opens to higher superconscient as well as below them to lower subconscient ranges.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of the Being, pg. 64