The Nature of the Subconscient Level of Consciousness in Man

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European culture takes credit
for discoveries that it makes,

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despite the fact that societies
in other parts of the world have

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long known about these things.
Thus, Europeans discovered

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America while disregarding the
fact that it was already

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populated with numerous tribes
of indigenous people and had

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been visited by Scandinavian
Vikings much earlier than the

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European discovery.
Similarly, European

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psychological researchers have,
over the last 100 to 200 years,

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discovered the existence of a
subconscious level that is the

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storehouse of memories, traumas,
experiences, et cetera, which

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can trigger habits, complexes,
traumatic reactions, or

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unexpected uprisings or
outbursts of feelings, emotions,

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or responses that were outside
the awareness or control of the

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conscious mind.
An entire science of Western

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psychology has arisen, with key
proponents such as Freud

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fixating on the role of embedded
complexes in developing the

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personality and life experience
of individuals and the ability

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of dreams to provide clues to
what is taking place in this

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subconscious realm.
CG Jung went further by showing

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that certain archetypal
experiences were actually part

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of a collective unconscious that
could arise across numerous

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individuals under a variety of
circumstances.

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Some researchers began to
experiment with ideas such as

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operant conditioning or
Pavlovian conditioning by

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attempting to train or influence
the subconscious elements of the

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being to respond automatically
to certain externally generated

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stimuli.
And more recently, many have

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touted the idea that through the
use of subliminal suggestions,

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sleep, induction of information,
and the power of affirmations,

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substantial changes can be
affected in the subconscious

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level and thus lead to powerful
results for the external life

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and personality.
All of these things, however,

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have long been known and
described in one form or another

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in ancient cultures that have
focused on tapping into the

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expanded ranges of consciousness
outside the conscious waking

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level that we utilize as we
operate in the external world.

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In particular, various yogic
disciplines have developed forms

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of this knowledge and put much
of it into practice.

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Sriorobindo in particular
codified this into a clearly

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defined overview of the various
levels of consciousness in man,

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and he has described the
subconscious level and its

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action at some length,
Sriorobindo notes quote.

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We mean by the subconscient,
that quite submerged part of our

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being, in which there is no
wakingly conscious and coherent

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thought, will, or feeling or
organized reaction, but which

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yet receives obscurely the
impressions of all things and

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stores them up in itself.
And from it too, all sorts of

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stimuli of persistent habitual
movements, crudely repeated or

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disguised in strange forms, can
surge up into dream or into the

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waking nature.
For if these impressions rise up

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most in dream, in an incoherent
and disorganized manner, they

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can also and do rise up into our
waking consciousness as a

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mechanical repetition of old
thoughts, old mental, vital and

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physical habits, or an obscure
stimulus to sensations, actions,

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emotions, which do not originate
in or from our conscious thought

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or will, and are even often
opposed to its perceptions,

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choice, or dictates.
In the subconscient there is an

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obscure mind full of obstinate
Sanskaras, impressions,

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associations, fixed notions,
habitual reactions formed by our

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past, an obscure vital full of
the seeds of habitual desires,

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sensations, and nervous
reactions.

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A most obscure material which
governs much that has to do with

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the condition of the body.
It is largely responsible for

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our illnesses.
Chronic or repeated illnesses

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are indeed mainly due to the
subcontinent and its obstinate

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memory and habit of repetition
of whatever has impressed itself

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upon the body consciousness.
But this subconscious must be

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clearly distinguished from the
subliminal parts of our being,

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such as the inner or subtle
physical consciousness, the

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inner vital or inner mental, for
these are not at all obscure or

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incoherent, or I'll organized,
but only veiled from our surface

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consciousness.
Our surface constantly receives

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something inner touches,
communications or influences

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from these sources, but does not
know for the most part whence

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they come.
End Quote Reference Sri

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Aurobindo and the Mother, The
Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter

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2, Hidden Forces within pages 35
to 36.