Subconscious Simplicity/Complexity

Sunday 12 Aug 2012

It often surprises me to witness the simplicity and lack of guile that the sub-conscious mind has. I see it in the day to day hypnotherapy work I do when the sub-conscious minds of my clients is opened and accessed. My clients will often present because they have a hunch that something unseen may be lurking deep in their sub-conscious. Something that may be working to stymie or thwart them from doing or achieving what they want to. They are invariably right.

In a good Hypnosis Training Academy, a very large part of what is taught relates to being ethical and careful with the suggestions you leave in an open unguarded subconscious mind. The hypnotist needs to be mindful that the subconscious can accept and make literal interpretations of something that is said to it. In normal situations our conscious mind will be there to monitor what it allows in and will reject or qualify anything that it sees as unwanted or dangerous for the sub-conscious operations of its host. Paradoxically though, the conscious mind is following instructions from the sub-conscious. It can be a catch 22 situation. Indeed it is for this reason that clients will often seek out hypnotherapists for help.

They want to discover what it is that is blocking the way in their unconscious mind and have it removed.

We have long realised that the conscious part of our mind is but a very small part of what it is that makes us who we are. The subconscious part of the mind is like the bottom two thirds of an iceberg. It is huge and it unconsciously drives most of our conscious life. We are all captive to our subconscious minds and it is a fascinating and illuminating exercise to peek into it. 

As I mentioned at the beginning, I see our sub-conscious as simple and childlike without guile. It is also creative and awesome. No doubt we have evolved to where we are today because of the balance between it and the conscious limits that are in place to protect us as humans. We know not to put hand on a hot surface, we know we cannot fly off a cliff like a bird, we know we cannot breathe underwater. Subconsciously our mind might tell us we can do things like this but the conscious mind keeps us safe from these dangers and “immature” constructs. It is definitely a blessing but it can be a curse when it blocks our progress.

I will try to illustrate the complexity at play in thinking about this process using a story from a remembered past life of one of my clients. She presented with anxiety and anger and wanted to understand why it was a part of her makeup. This discovery would no doubt help her find ways of alleviating this stress.

As the trance took hold she first saw a group of Gorilla’s in Africa. Not too much emotion here. Then she was transported to camp in Africa with armed men going about their work. She started to see she was involved as a captive in a “Gorilla war operation”. At this point she was in the story physically, emotionally and intellectually with a palpable fear that ended with her death, so from the hypnotherapist’s point of view, this was a rich vein. It was the start of a process to develop a more meaningful and helpful perspective so that this tension could be released. Notice how she came to the memory through the image and metaphor of a Gorilla. A literal interpretation combining Gorilla’s and war. Something we all know about!   This lady was a peace loving woman who abhors war, but non-the-less saw this narrative inside herself. It made sense to her, and she was able to gain a new and better perspective on herself following the session. The letting go process had started.

For those people who are used of looking at their dreams, you will notice that the Gorilla group’s literal part in being the key that opened up the story of the gorilla war camp is a very familiar process. It displays the often bizarre but ultimately understandable way we dream. Simple and sometimes strange metaphors often keep our “unfinished business memories” labelled. Nothing is lost until we let go!