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UNDERSTANDING OUR CONSCIOUSNESS
Before we can become aware of the mind, we need to examine
the mind itself and understand how it works.
Lower Consciousness
We operate in our daily lives through our survival
instinct (fight or flight) so we use lower consciousness
for this purpose. Lower consciousness consists of the 6 senses:
seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling and thinking
(the mind). These senses determine how we feel from
moment to moment – whether we feel distress or feel
happy.
The good or bad feeling doesn’t just happen by itself.
The mind must have input so it can react and generate a particular
feeling. The input comes through our 5 senses of sight, sound,
touch, taste and smell.
Let’s use an apple as an example:
When you see an object (using sight sense),
there’s a contact between you and the light, and it
reflects the image of the object back to your eyes. The image
then appears in your mind. The mind labels
this image and gives it a name called “apple.”
You grab the apple (using touch sense) and
take a bite into it (using taste sense).
After tasting it, your mind generates a response
“I like it” (produces a positive feeling) or “I
don’t like it” (produces a negative feeling).
The information about the object and the emotional response
are then stored in your memory.
So, the mind has to go through this process each time to
generate a good or bad feeling.
1. Get input from the senses (sight, sound, touch,
taste or smell). What am I seeing, hearing, touching, tasting
or smelling?
2. Identify and label the description to the object.
Give the object a name.
3. Judge or evaluate the object. Is this object,
person or situation good or bad?
4. Generate an emotional response – “I
like it” (produces pleasurable feeling) or “I
don’t like it” (produces unpleasant feeling) in
regards to the object, person or situation.
5. Store the information and emotional response in
memory.
Over time we collect tons of data (experiences) in our mind
and form habits based on what we like (pleasurable experiences)
and what we don’t like (unpleasant experiences). These
habits become your behavioral patterns.
This process forms your personality, your perception of yourself,
perception of others and perception of the world (your outlook
on life). It's your belief system.
The sense of self is also known as the “Ego.”
Click
to See Large Diagram of Lower Consciousness/Ego.
Example of Mental Database |
Contact/Input | Identification | Action | Judging | Reaction | Memory/Behavior |
My eyes made contact with an object. Eyes see shape and color of the object. The info is sent to my mind. | My mind identifies the object as "purple food." |
I picked up the food and ate it using my taste sense. |
My mind judged the food. | The mind didn't like the food so it produced the feeling of displeasure. | My lower consciousness stored info about the purple food and my negative reaction to it.
Behavior: I now stay away from eating purple food.
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Question 2.
Now that you have read about lower consciousness. Can you
give some examples of your own mental processing? Please list
the things (people, objects, situation) that are causing you
stress. For each one, include the mental processing steps
like the example above:
1. How did your mind receive the input?
2. What did your mind label or identify the people, object
and/or situation as?
3. How did your mind judge the people, object, and situation?
(positively or negatively?)
4. What kind of feeling did the mind generate as a response to the people, object, situation (pleasure or displeasure)?
5. What is the negative emotion that's being stored in your memory?
Copy and add Question 2 to your "Awareness_Training" file,
then write the answers and save it on your computer.
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