Is there really conscious and subconscious mind?

[Hansu]

Lately I have been deconstructing my thoughts and trying to see what they really are, and as a result I have began doubting if there is subconscious and conscious mind altogether

When I have an impulse for food or alcohol, they are really really easy for me to spot. Why? Because a second or two before I get that impulse, a vivid image flashes before my minds eye. When I want greasy food like McDonalds, I see my local provider flash in front of my eyes. Then I focus on my thoughts, a second or two later the impulse hits me, I feel the impulse, feel the need to get McDonalds, deconstruct the thought as impulse, become aware of its root cause(s) and immediately lose my hunger for fast food.

But a few days ago, I was not aware of my impulses. I was not aware that when I focus, almost every thought have a vivid mental image linked to them that flash during or just before that thought. I thought they were in my subconscious mind! I thought I cant see them!

Is subconscious mind just a bunch of thoughts you are unaware of? Is it just a fancy term for thoughts that are really hard to notice, but which you can if you focus enough?

Edited March 19, 2019 by Hansu

[Bluebird]

The map is not the territory. The subconscious mind runs deep, and the divide between subconscious and conscious is not so clear. Besides, how would you know the difference?

When subconscious enters awareness you could say it "becomes" conscious. Beliefs/imagery/archetypes/impulses/thoughts/memories/perceptions all exist subconsciously and consciously. 

To me subconscious mind is everything that makes up "YOU" and "your" experience (ego) that you have not yet consciously identified. This includes perceptions. 

[Markus]

@Hansu The subconscious is processes happening within you that you can't decipher or even notice. You could say there's a surface level of conscious thoughts, and many more subtle layers underneath that.

[LastThursday]

My belief is that the unconcious mind is just a label slapped on to concious experiences that can't be explained. Have a thought about murdering a friend? Hmmm. Where did that come from? The unconcious mind of course. Nope.

The bottom line is, everything happens in conciousness. There is literally nothing outside of conciousness. It simply doesn't exist. The thoughts of McDonalds don't 'come' from anywhere, they simply appear in your concious awareness - that's it.

After some thoughts appear in your mind several times, you join them together into a story, which you use to 'explain' why you're having the thoughts.

It's a bit like the following scenario:

You meet someone new. You like them and get to know them over time. Because you like them, you see them regularly. You become great friends. Then one day you realise you haven't seen that friend in years. You knew that friend for ten years.

Good story eh? But if you deconstruct it, perhaps you only directly interacted with them for say 1000 hours, about 40 days. You just filled in all the blanks and expanded that to 10 years.

We're constantly making up stories and 'filling in the blanks', to make our conscious experience seem sane and stable. It is not.

[Hansu]

13 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

After some thoughts appear in your mind several times, you join them together into a story, which you use to 'explain' why you're having the thoughts.

It's a bit like the following scenario:

You meet someone new. You like them and get to know them over time. Because you like them, you see them regularly. You become great friends. Then one day you realise you haven't seen that friend in years. You knew that friend for ten years.

Good story eh? But if you deconstruct it, perhaps you only directly interacted with them for say 1000 hours, about 40 days. You just filled in all the blanks and expanded that to 10 years.

We're constantly making up stories and 'filling in the blanks', to make our conscious experience seem sane and stable. It is not.

I got to experience a glimpse of this as I realized that I don't have a food or alcohol addiction, but I have a childhood vow that if I have money, I MUST go to the store. As soon as I began to work on my "I must go to the store" vow, my food and alcohol addictions vanished.

All my life I was told that these addictions come from subconscious, a place I cant reach, and all my life these addictions came from my own conscious mind. I thought it really was food and alcohol addiction, but now I realize that my mind simply took "You must go to the store and...  Buy food and alcohol because you are __________" and filled the blank with a bullshit excuse for hurting itself.

I feel like this is some of the most important basic things of self-help/spirituality to understand and be aware of, but I dont recollect reading about this anywhere. Have I just been blind?

@Markus

This makes sense. As long as you dig deep enough and look for the things, you'll discover them.
For me, term subconscious is practically dead now. Its like a term you throw around so you have an excuse not to probe and question your mind and thoughts

[LastThursday]

6 minutes ago, Hansu said:

Have I just been blind?

Hopefully, you are less blind now.

The thoughts themselves are neither good nor bad, they're like clouds in the sky. It's how we choose to react to them that's important. The reaction is normally caused by the stories we tell ourselves. If we are aware that we actually have a choice, and we drop the story, then that can be curative. Sometimes it's better to let the thoughts come and go, like waves on a beach - and instead just sit there and enjoy the sunshine.

[Joker_Theory]

This is just a theory that i want to throw out there and don't say this is true cause i just don't know. I got this from watching Leo's videos and contemplating on it.

"Subconscious mind" is the God head/God/self/formless/consciousness/you/me/everyone/everything...and is eternal. also, It's not yet manifested.

"Conscious mind" is "subconscious mind" without the God head aspect cause the God head is manifesting the consciousness in form and not eternal.

Both are one and not separated but looks that way cause we are not conscious of it on the other side so to speak

Something like that.

[tsuki]

On 19.03.2019 at 5:18 AM, Hansu said:

Is subconscious mind just a bunch of thoughts you are unaware of? Is it just a fancy term for thoughts that are really hard to notice, but which you can if you focus enough?

Well, my view of this thing is that subconscious mind is not something that you are conscious of. It is a theory made by psychologists that observed tons and tons of patients with various problems and connected the dots. These theories were then extrapolated to the whole of humanity and are accepted now as common sense. I'm tempted to say that it is not really possible to work on your subconsciousness unless you know what to look for.
Why? Because it is subconscious.

On the other hand, if your observation skill increase, some of the stuff that had been subconscious before, may surface in your conscious experience. But at that point - it is no longer a part of your subconscious. This is when you can address it directly.

There may be techniques that work with whatever is subconscious for you, such as meditation, kriya, reichian therapy, etc. These techniques however are something that one needs to sort of 'believe' in to even try and stick to long enough to see the benefits. I'm not a huge fan of that, but I get that I'm probably missing out a lot. With these techniques it's more like fishing than actual work because you kind of never know what you're going to get. It's like throwing a dynamite down the toilet to have something to clean.

I may be confusing the subconscious with the unconscious though. I see the former as something between unconscious and conscious.

Edited March 20, 2019 by tsuki

[Hansu]

12 hours ago, tsuki said:

I may be confusing the subconscious with the unconscious though. I see the former as something between unconscious and conscious.

Ill be looking up this

[Naturalist]

Conscious mind is akin to a flame that is the visible part of a fire.  Whereas, sub-conscious mind is just like the heat energy in the process of combustion.