Theory Of Mind

Mind is a ball of energy all around our body, the center of which is the pit of the stomach.

This mind is divided into:

1. The Conscious Mind (10-12 %):
   • It is like the CPU of a computer with current rules of life
   • Its functions include thinking, finding logic, feeling, analyzing, deciding, implementing decisions..., controlling voluntary body movements
2. The Subconscious Mind (88-90 %)
   • It can be compared to the hard disk of a computer
   • Basic function includes storing information and controlling involuntary body functions
   • Approx 9 times bigger & 6000 times more powerful then conscious mind.
   • Divided in two parts:
     • Modern Memory (All current life experiences)
     • Primitive Mind (All past human life experiences)

3. Critical Filter

As we start growing, we receive information from

• Body
• Environment
• Conscious Mind
• Subconscious Mind and

Based on this information a critical filter form which is partially in the conscious mind and partially in subconscious mind. It is unique & this is where duality comes into play for a child i.e. the child now see things in opposites: good-bad, right-wrong, like-dislike & so on. The critical filter can also be called our Belief System.

This area of the mind, developed from birth to approximately 8 years. This is where we analyze information based on socio, economic, education and religious conditioning. Before this Critical Area of Mind is developed, everything we experience just is.  We accept it all as Truth.

So the critical filter once developed acts like a guard at the gate between the Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind. It has the power to accept or reject suggestions from entering the Subconscious Mind. It has very good intentions. Its job is to protect us. Because change is viewed as a threat to our nervous system, any suggestion that does not match the existing programming automatically gets rejected. That is how it accomplishes its goal of protecting us.

The Structure of mind:

1. Conscious Mind
2. Critical conscious mind
3. Critical subconscious mind
4. Modern Memory
5. Primitive Mind

How the mind works?

Processing of Information

The Conscious Mind retains and remembers the information, events and feelings of only the last hour and a half ie just 90 minute. Which is then transferred to the critical conscious mind. The new rules created based on the awareness are a part of conscious mind.

The Critical Conscious Mind contains memories of approximately the last 24 hours or till we sleep, post which the information is transferred to critical subconscious mind.

The Critical subconscious Mind first analyzes and then releases the information, or message units, into the Modern Memory Area of Mind. This occurs when sleep takes place or when consciousness is in abeyance, as in the hypnotic, meditative state. When you sleep, the accumulated message units are immediately dropped into the subconscious mind.

The Modern Memory is a part of the subconscious mind. It holds memory from conception to the present. If the Critical Area of Mind accepts information, it becomes a known in the Modern Memory.

Known is something that has been learned or experienced before; you understand it and are comfortable with it. An unknown is just the opposite. Because it is strange to you, it creates psychological and physiological reactions that are unfamiliar. These reactions threaten the body and the brain and the resulting fear brings pain. The known gives pleasure only because of the absence of pain. It will be accepted by the Subconscious Mind because it has been experienced before. A known can be a negative or a positive. It might not be a pleasurable experience but it represents pleasure because it is known. Motivation comes from knowns in Modern Memory. These positive and negative  known experiences create your lifescript.

The Primitive Mind is a part of the subconscious mind. It includes all primitive memories, including past life experiences, genetic heritage and evolved learning and conditioning. It operates the survival mechanisms of life triggering the fight/flight reaction when needed. It also controls the autonomic nervous system which operates the automatic functions of the body such as heart beat, respiration, digestion, cell reproduction, growth and healing.

Thus the subconscious mind contains the experiences of (current and past) life.

Rules & Experiences:

Rules & experiences are like the two wheels of bicycle of life. As long as there is co-ordination between the two life is smooth and there is no problem. And all problems at some level are caused due to the conflict between the rules & experiences. As with awareness we are able to change our rules but not our experiences which are protected by the critical filter.

Decision Making:

Whenever there is a need to make a decision, the conscious mind first looks at the rules and then compares the rules with the experiences. If the rules and experiences are leading to the same decision then the mind acts upon it but in case there is a conflict between the rules & experiences then the conscious mind first tries to stick to the rules but over a period of time generally the experiences win as they are stored in subconscious mind which is 6000 times more powerful then the conscious mind.

Examples:

1. Smoking:
   Rule is No Smoking and Experience is pleasurable. You want to quit smoking but the experiences stop you from quiting.