What I have put down here are some of my stray thoughts on the Subconscious Mind and how it controls our behaviour.
The Hardware and Software in Humans
Physically, all human beings have more or less similar constitution. Everybody's body and brain is made of the same matter. What is different is the thinking - the thoughts that come to everyone every moment are different. The thoughts, feelings, emotions are different - things which are not physical entities.
In a way, like computers, man has two basic constituents - hardware and software. Hardware is the physical matter of which his body is built; the software is the bundle of thoughts, emotions, feelings, and complexes. The hardware is more or less the same for everybody, but the software is dependent on his background, life history and experience. Since no two people can have exactly the same experiences and surroundings in life, no two softwares are ever equal. It means that every man basically has the same constitution physically, but is mentally different from the other.
The software is dependent on his past history and experience. At the same time, the thoughts that now come to his mind are in turn dependent on his software. The software is different because the experiences in everybody's lives are different. Some experiences in our childhood create some fears and complexes in our software. As the software is different and software decides today's thoughts, the thoughts which come to two different persons on the same stimulation or in similar situations are different. For example, if a person has inferiority complex, a remark from another person will immediately give rise to a thought that it was an attack on his person, whereas the same remark may not give rise to the same thoughts and reactions in another person who has no complex. The reactions of the two persons will be different because of the different thoughts that were sparked off. So it is the thoughts which are sparked off at the instant of an action or a provocation that make the reactions different. I am sure the cricketing greats like Gavaskar and Tendulkar, while hitting a shot do not think of anything but only concentrates on the ball – and that makes them great players
Software Makes all the Difference
I remember an instance narrated by my friend relating to a training programme that he had attended. The trainer asked any one such participant to come forward who thought that he or she was incapable of catching the ball. The trainer then threw the ball to the lady who had volunteered and predictably enough, she dropped the ball. Then the trainer asked her to watch the spin of the ball as he threw it to her, and to see whether the ball was spinning right or left. Surprisingly, the ball was in her hands as she told him which way the ball was spinning. She could now catch the ball - when she was asked to divert her thoughts and attention to see the direction of spin.
In the first instance when she was asked to catch the ball, the thoughts of her inability to catch the ball filled her mind. When she was thinking 'how will I catch the ball, will I or won't I, what will happen if I drops it?' and so on, she dropped the ball and when she was busy watching the spin of the ball and as a result unable to have such thoughts, she was able to catch the ball.
The next time, when she was busy watching the spin of the ball, the thoughts were different. She was therefore in a different state of mind and a different Energy State. And she succeeded in catching the ball.
Every person has the same potential. If one can dissociate the software from the hardware, then all humans are alike. But software is very deeply ingrained into the subconscious, and it is not so easy to change it.
It is not possible to change the software, but one must try to dissociate it with his new thoughts.
Some might argue that man is different by his genes and chromosomes. Man's ability might differ slightly by his chromosomes, but he makes himself more different and able by his software.
However hard one tries it is not possible to change the software (i.e., the complexes, emotions). But fortunately there is no need to try and change the software. One does not have to try to change it. All that is required is only to notice what is in the sub conscience, experience it, notice what happens inside oneself and automatically it will disappear. For example, if you are in an unpleasant situation any time of the day, go back home, sit down in a relaxed mood and recreate that unpleasant situation by imagining oneself in that situation. Then observe what happens inside the body, what thoughts come to mind, what feelings and emotions are there, what sensations are there in the body. Experience the unpleasant situation fully and do not try to ward it off. This exercise, quite often, helps bring to surface certain things which are deeply ingrained into the subconscious.
One may say, what is the use of knowing what is in the sub conscience? Often, one is driven by his sub conscience and he does not know why he behaves in that manner. This leads to a considerable amount of mental fatigue. I can share my own experience. I used to sometimes think that I play so many games; I learn a new game so fast but why is it that I do not have mastery in any game? When I did some introspection, I suddenly realised that my idea of "looking good" was to be able to play a lot of games. which meant that I learnt a lot of games because that way I looked good to myself. I always admired someone who appeared to be knowing so many sports. Subconsciously, simply playing the games satisfied my main aim of looking good and there was no need to master it. My subconscious desire was only to be able to play games and never to master it, so I would never really try to be an expert. Hence it is said that we always get what we TRULY desire. The truth is that we always get what we SUBCONSCIOUSLY desire. Quite often, we do not know our subconscious desires. Trying to be what one is not gives a lot of mental fatigue whereas spontaneous actions are never tiring.
Examples of How the Software Drives our Life
Other examples of how our subconscious desire drives our life into involuntary actions -
- A father wants his son to do very well in the exams. The son who hates his father and subconsciously wants to hurt him fails in the exam. He feels bad having failed, but subconsciously, he is happy having hurt his father. He may say that he studied hard and wanted to pass, but really, in the heart of hearts, he never wanted to pass.
- There are several examples of children who have ruined their lives and taken to drugs because subconsciously, they wanted to hurt their parents, take revenge for something, however illogical it may be.
- Desire to win sympathy as 'someone who gave love but did not get love', or 'someone who sacrificed' leads to making one's own life miserable and being mistreated by people, because although you suffer, you also win as your subconscious desire to win sympathy is fulfilled.
We often say that some people never change. Man's software cannot change as his past cannot change. But it is possible, though difficult to delink the present with the past, so that the past does not influence one's actions today. Only then can his actions change.
copyright © 2004 Prem Kamble