Before reasoning jumps in, the unconscious readily presents tone of decision based on likes, dislikes, preferences, attitudes and biases formed through our previous memories.
These days I dream a lot about shoes. Not that I am a shoe addict (I am definitely not a shopaholic), but one day I keep dreaming that I wear a fancy, high-heel shoe, which fails me just at the first traffic light, next day I dream a bunch of loafers and espadrilles and I wonder whether I should wear them and which one. Now, I understand that if such dreams happen as a series, it is about something that really matters to me. Also, I understand that these dreams are not about physical shoes, for in the unconscious different types of shoes would mean “different walks in life”. Rather than talking about shoes, the dream talks to me about the hesitations I am having right at that moment about which path I should choose and which ones I just can’t because of my life situation.
Photo: Internet
This is a very silly sample, but I think dream is the easiest way to make transition into the unconscious. Because dreams are our only direct contact with the unconscious, which talks to us through feeling associations. Down there everything is irrational. The heroes of the domain are feelings, emotions, instincts and urges that rule and decide everything, including our “rational” decisions.
Irrational “rationality”
To make my point, I’ll give some everyday examples. These examples are patterns of behavior, which we do repeatedly and mindlessly without giving much thought to how they happened.
For example, power of smell. When shopping, we tend to decide on a perfume that evokes some inexplicable warm and nostalgic memories. Over and over we return to give credit to our gut feelings and first impressions. Because after a long rational trial we realize they were right. Cases when our tongue pops out that most inappropriate thought that we were trying to hide a second ago. Many times when we do not like someone and block her at every opportunity. But when we want to judge our attitude, it becomes clear that our attitude has nothing to do with personality of that person. We do not like him/her just because she has something that we wish to have, or she reminds us someone we do not like.
The list may go on, this is just to show how “utterly irrational” motives form the basis for our “rational decisions”. These motives spring from deep down and act faster than our reasoning. Actually, they set the tone for our “rational” decisions. How?
It turns out, behind all these “machinations” is the mysterious unconscious, the master that cooks up all the moods, feelings, attitudes and prejudices which make up the “invisible base” for all the “rational decisions”. Then the consciousness brags about “being free”.
The Unconscious – Mysterious Master
Below the threshold of the consciousness, our little tiny dwelling, where we keep our thoughts and ideas neat and organized, lies the unconsciousness. In this ages old chaotic abode black is not black only and white is not white only anymore. Black is black and white at the same time. Duality of our worldly reality ceases to dictate life here, memories gain upper hand. They are lumped up together in vague shapes based on feeling associations (like in my dream – shoe is not only shoe, but representation of “walk” in broad sense). They prompt emotions, not reason. And memory is no joke.
Biologically we are wired to use impressions from previous memories as precursor to avoid dangers. This system has been in place for ages to guide us, animals with kind of complex emotional and feeling system. So, before reasoning jumps in, the unconscious readily presents tone of decision based on likes, dislikes, preferences, attitudes and biases formed through our previous memories.
The reasoning of consciousness is razor-sharp, is unicorn. However, its capacity is limited only to “reasonable facts”. On the other hand, the unconscious has a further reach. It perceives and registers everything else that is irrational and cannot be reasoned or arrived at by reasoning. Yet is essential to how we think, perceive, behave and experience life. Besides, consciousness is a comparatively newly acquired skill. It has kind of specialized in analysis of cold facts. By now it should be pretty much clear why our emotions and feelings become ruling force behind our reasoned and “rational” decisions. Reasoning is the most precious treasure of humankind, no doubt about that. However, the unconscious is the container of ages old wisdom and germs of future life. It rules our lives in ways that is beyond our capacity to fully comprehend.
Our lives wrapped in rituals
Do we ever look at our lives and wonder how much we have surrounded our lives with rituals while boasting our rationality? They are so ingrained in our lives that we even do not realize it. Celebration of birth, adolescence, graduation, marriage, funeral etc. I am not even getting close to the most important holidays that as a rule are religious meanings of which we mostly do not understand. Not to mention love and fame the Disney classics have harnessed just because they are based on fairy tales (the eternal stories of the unconscious). It is hard to accept that we are still busy with rudimentary play games of archaic man, but as it turns out we really are.
A bit further…
To dig a bit deeper, I am sure, like myself, there are many people who are just unable to give proper meaning through reasoning to obviously irrational language of religious texts. Especially, human-like personal Gods in Abrahamic religions. Where do they come from? From God? Then why God didn’t create just one prophet and one religion to save humanity from killing each other along the centuries in the name of sacred war?
Let it aside, when one reads lives and deeds of prophets, one realizes that they do not sound much different from schizophrenic hallucinations (judging by occidental medicinal lexicology coined by consciousness). I am referring to all envoys and saviors from Buddha to Jesus to Muhammad. So, maybe a change of perspective would solve this puzzle. Maybe their messages do not come from without, but spring from within, the depth of our psych. Interestingly, each savior is “adapted” and reflects traits of the local culture. Also, all the saviors are men. Even if there were a parallel life out there, the unconscious is the medium through which we would be communicated.
The Unconscious – Great Mother; The Conscious – Confident Kid
At some point in history the consciousness has differentiated itself. This divided our psyche roughly into two parts – consciousness and the unconsciousness. The first part takes care of our rational life and reasoning, our direct contact with the outer world. The second part is responsible for our basic instincts, memory deposit, our experience and feel of life through adding color and meaning to the gray reality of rationality.
Consciousness likes to separate, to divide until the last divisible particle to understand. It is like an over-confident kid who thinks he knows all and needs no advice. Everything that goes through the filter of reasoning loses color of emotions. Yet take away our feelings, emotions, fears and desires, what is there to live? Numbers and cold-faced calculations only? The cold fact that we were born to die after just couple of decades? Why even we are to live then? This is where the unconscious comes in. It is like a wise mother who sees the whole picture not parts.
Souls in Search
In other words, our lives in a sense are in darkness through which our souls are looking for their ways. The Unconscious, the container of innumerable years of memory is there to shed light to our ways through what we call traditional wisdom manifested in the form of religions, myths and fairy tales. But it doesn’t stop there. Its creative energy manifests itself in our quest to attain full potentiality of our lives, move forward and elevate our souls. We call it “fulfillment”. Yet such fulfillment is possible through bringing in terms these two separated parts of the psyche. Alienating any one of them would cost us a serious loss – either losing our ties with our inner guide or our physical contact with outer world.