MOVEMENTS WITHIN THE REALM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

These words—subconscious, conscious and super-conscious—need definition; they are spoken about so glibly and mean different things according to different schools of thought. 

The term ‘subconscious’ is used to signify the entire instinctual life of the personality nature, all the inherited tendencies and innate predispositions, all the acquired and accumulated characteristics (acquired in past incarnations and frequently lying dormant unless suddenly evoked by stress of circumstance),  and all the unformulated wishes and urges which drive a man into activity, plus the suppressed and unrecognised desires, and the unexpressed ideas which are present, though unrealised. The subconscious nature is like a deep pool from which a man can draw almost anything from his past experience, if he so desires, and which can be stirred up until it becomes a boiling cauldron, causing much distress. 

The conscious is limited to that which the man knows himself to be and have in the present—the category of qualities, characteristics, powers, tendencies and knowledges of all kinds which constitute a man’s stock in trade and of which he is definitely aware or of which the psychologist is aware. These are displayed in his window for all to see, and they make him what he apparently is to the outer onlooking world. 

The super-conscious are those potencies and knowledges which are available but which are as yet uncontacted and unrecognised and, therefore, of no immediate use. These are the wisdom, love and abstract idealism which are inherent in the nature of the soul but which are not yet, and never have been a part of the equipment available for use. Eventually, all these powers will be recognised and used by the man. These potencies and realisations are called in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by the interesting name of “the raincloud of knowable things.” These “knowable things” will eventually drop into the conscious aspect of a man’s nature and become an integral part of his intellectual equipment (as he aspires in his life). Finally, as evolution proceeds and the ages pass away, they will drop into the subconscious aspect of his nature, as his power to grasp the super-conscious grows in capacity.

This outline gives a wonderful insight into the various states of consciousness and of those movements that are taking place within the consciousness of humanity as a whole. It describes simply the causes and effects of perception at any point in time.