The Structure of the Unconscious Mind

Behind the thinking mind is the subconscious mind. Below the subconscious mind is the unconscious mind. It is the view of many psychologists and philosophers that buried in the subconscious and unconscious mind are answers to all of our questions. According to the Platonic “Doctrine of Recollection”, man already knows everything that he has to know. Discovery is just a matter of recollection of this knowledge. Even according to Swami Vivekananda the Law of Gravitation was already in Newton’s mind waiting to be discovered or unveiled. The falling of the apple was just a suggestion to Sir Isaac Newton.

So it is clear that all the answers to mankind’s questions are already in the unconscious mind waiting to be uncovered and unveiled. So how did all these get into the unconscious mind? Human beings have evolved over a million years. Each of us has probably several billion ancestors. The human mind has evolved from its earlier primitive state to its current refined state.

Our ancestors, the homosapiens, must have had primitive minds with simple needs like eating, sleeping and procreating. As man evolved there were more interactions at various levels and the need was not just a matter of survival. Man started to have complex social interactions which resulted in new ideas and thoughts. Man developed a complex value system with different virtues and vices. There must have been many who were intelligent who must have wondered about the structure and the mysteries of the universe. What has happened to all these ideas, thoughts and experiences?

All these complex ideas, thoughts, visions and insights are frozen in time and passed from generation to generation in the sub-stratum of the human mind, namely the unconscious. All the great learning, insights and philosophical thoughts of our forefathers are buried deep down in the strata below the conscious mind. So all the learning of the billions of our ancestors are passed down to us. We only need to know how to unlock this rich storehouse of infinite knowledge.

In fact the Atman or the Personal Soul, referred to by the Indian mystics, which is supposed to be infinite, all knowing must have referred to this unconscious mind. The Brahman or the Universal Soul according to Hindu philosophy must have referred to the collective unconscious.

What man has to learn is to be able to tap this infinite storehouse of knowledge in the unconscious mind. We must discover the key to unlock the mysteries of the unconscious mind and most of our questions about the mysteries of the universe will be answered.