How is the mind divided?

NLP Hypnosis Centre - Olivier Hidalgo - Hypnosis - Meditation - NLP - Reiki - Ho'oponopono

How is the mind divided?

Let’s talk about the scientific aspect and the mystical aspect.

To begin, let’s clarify that the mind is not divided. That the divisions are scientific models to understand but not divisions in reality.

In scientific terms we speak of “conscious and unconscious” or “conscious, subconscious and unconscious”.

Conscious is all that we realize we are doing. Some suggest it is approximately 10 or 20 percent.

Subconscious is everything we do automatically. Our habits, beliefs and when I say beliefs I do not mean religious beliefs but everything that we believe to be true. It also includes all the things we have learned to do, such as driving a car. A lot of what we do automatically, including things like biting our nails for example or the way we get dressed.

When you learn to drive a car, everything is done consciously, until you have done something so many times that doing it becomes automatic, done by the subconscious.

There is a very important point here. The subconscious does not distinguish between true or false. It does not distinguish between right and wrong. If for example who taught you how to drive taught you to put your hands in a certain way, when the process becomes automatic, you will put them that way whether or not it is the right way or the most effective way to handle.

The Critical Faculty or Critical Factor.

The Critical Faculty is the border agent between conscious and subconscious. It is who decides that we let go into our subconscious.

Now the decision of the Critical Faculty has more to do with familiarity than with truth. It has much more to do with what we were taught as a child, as a teenager, as an adult. It has to do with what we believe to be true regardless of whether it is or not.

The Critical Faculty learns by repetition, like in when you learn to drive a car. Learn by authority as when a father tells his son that he is useless, that he is useless and that he will not succeed in life. Or as when a religious leader tells you that his truth is the only one. Or when you learn to smoke and someone you trust tells you that the cigarette relaxes … and when you smoke it relaxes you, although the cigarette does not contain any chemical components that relax.

The unconscious is the part that takes care of all the automatic activities that keep us alive, such as the beating of the heart, breathing and digestion.

In hypnosis for example you work with the conscious, and mainly with the subconscious, but you are never unconscious.

One reason why it is important to understand the above is for example if we want to change a habit.

We can certainly change a habit using only willpower, but it becomes easier if we can convince our subconscious that the change is beneficial for us.

For example, if you have a belief in your subconscious that when you quit smoking you will gain weight, and you do not want to gain weight. When you try to lose weight using diets and using will power it will be difficult because your subconscious does not want you to gain weight… and therefore it will make it difficult for you to quit smoking.

On the other hand if you use techniques that access your subconscious, such as hypnosis, and convince your subconscious that quitting smoking is not going to gain weight and at the same time give suggestions to your subconscious of how to eat to maintain an ideal weight. Then it will be much easier to stop smoking.

Speaking of science, much progress has been made in terms of what we know about the mind, but certainly there is still much to learn and to that we must add the knowledge of the physical part, the brain.

From the mystical and esoteric point, some speak of superconscious, or of universal consciousness, or of cosmic consciousness. These concepts refer to the idea that there is a level of consciousness that binds us to all human beings. A level of consciousness where there is information available for anyone who achieves it. Of course there is no scientific evidence of the latter but I think it is important to include it here as it is a very interesting concept to study.

This concept of superconscious is mentioned in many religions, mystical and esoteric organizations. For example, in the Catholic Church there is talk of “The Communion of the Saints”. Obviously the description, concept and conditions to achieve this consciousness is different in each religion, or mystical organization.

Blessings and Peace Profound.

Olivier Hidalgo

NLP Hypnosis Centre.

London, Ontario. Canada

www.nlphypnosiscentre.ca