The Power of the Unconscious

Just how powerful is your unconscious mind?

Perhaps before I try to answer this I should clarify what I mean by "unconscious".  It is everything in your mind of which you are not conscious.  Some people try to call this the subconscious mind, but that is not the true term.  "Subconscious" is a part of the mind which is accessible, but of which you are not aware at the time.  Another way of putting this is that it is the "non-mindfulness" part of your mind (if you are not familiar with this term, I will be producing an article about Mindfulness later this year).  For example you may be so used to walking from your home to your office that you do so automatically, without being aware of the journey at all.  This is the subconscious mind controlling your journey.  The unconscious mind includes this, but also includes parts of your mind that are not normally accessible at all.  You may be completely unaware of what is happening in your unconscious mind, but it is still happening.

To a degree, I tend to follow Jung's view of the unconscious mind.  That is, we have both a personal and a collective unconscious.  In our personal unconscious are our personal memories.  Things we have thought about and that are now permanently a part of us but of which we are no longer consciously aware.  In our collective unconscious are what you might think of as cultural "memories" and even memories going right back to the origin of mankind.

But the unconscious is more than just memories.  It is a real force.  Restricting it to just memories is missing the real power of the unconscious.  It includes what Hindus and some Buddhists refer to as "Atman", an absolute and essential "self".  The true self.  What Paul Brunton referred to in his works as the "Overself".  Almost God-like.  In fact, I believe it IS God expressing Himself through us.  When we sit in silence, listening for the voice of God, we hear that voice.  It comes from within, and yet it is all powerful and not really "within" at all.  It is not restricted to the "archetypes" of the collective unconscious, as Jung called them, but is really the power of the entire universe.

The Overself is the perfect being you are intended to be.  Somewhere along the road you lost that perfection, but it is still there within you waiting to be found again.  Hidden in your unconscious mind.  All the personal development work you do is really one small step in that journey to finding and releasing the Overself that is right there waiting to be released.

So how powerful is your unconscious mind?  The answer is, it is all-powerful!  There is absolutely no limit to its power - or rather the only limits are the limits you place on it yourself.  Keep going on your personal development journey, knowing that the power of the universe, or the power of God, is waiting for you and helping you to reach your goal!