Re: Unconscious Processes

Douglas Eagleson said:
"When should the full potential for thinking be engaged? And I alawys
consider deep ,questioning pondering as the correct time to elicit the
aid of the odd and interesting, subconcious thoughts."

I absolutely agree with that.

I was reading a book by a Psychoanalyst who suggested that the
contemporary trend of the general public to reject Freudian theories
about the repression of thoughts and feelings that are too
uncomfortable or painful to deal with was not just a rejection of the
individual theories about particular unconscious conflicts, but a
rejection of the very idea that there even could be an unconscious.
This author's view then implied that the rejection of Freudian
interpretations by the general public was actually a way for people to
actively repress any possibility that they might harbor unwanted
thoughts or feelings. (That is my characterization of what he said but
it may not be exactly what he intended.) This then suggests that the
skepticism directed toward the Freudian views about the unconscious is
actually an all too vibrant example of repression. Although this is
certainly an interesting view, I think it is also an example of
circular reasoning.

While I think that a rejection of the theory of the unconscious is a
major mistake, I do not think that the unconscious is only concerned
with fundamental psychologically charged physiological reactions,
social conflicts and heightened emotional states. I think that the
conscious mind constantly creates and modifies semi-automated routines
to deal with all of the kinds of situations that are necessary for an
individual to react to. In this view the primary role of the
unconscious then is to hold automated and semi-automated responses that
were, for the most part, created and shaped by the conscious processes
of mind. But after an individual has habitualized a response to a
situation, the automatic thinking of the sub-conscious may become more
completely detached from conscious awareness. But this detachment is
not necessarily a symptom of denial (although in significant cases it
certainly can be), but a symptom of the infeasibility of maintaining
full awareness of the thousands or millions of automated actions and
ideas that are needed to work within a complicated process.

Douglas also said:
"SO keep trying to classify your relation with the unconcious thoughts.

It then becomes a rather Zen like examination of the inner self."

I doubt if these processes, and their relations with consciousness,
could ever be fully understood without a great many Zen-like insights.

Jim Bromer

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