You know about the conscious mind and the sub-conscious mind, but what about the super-conscious? What is the superconscious what is the link between the superconscious and our intuition? What is the oversoul?

 

I was first made aware of the superconscious through Tarot.  As you may know, I love collecting Tarot cards, and I have been using my time during lockdown to really learn the meanings and connections behind each card.  The Hierophant is seen as the ruler of the 3 Worlds which is signified by the 3 tiered robe and 3 tiered crown.  Those worlds are the conscious, the subconscious and the superconscious.  He is seen as the all knowing spiritual teacher so he has a pretty good understanding of knowledge and experience relating to these 3 worlds. 

So what is the superconscious and the link between the superconscious and our intuition?  What is the oversoul?

What is the superconscious?

The superconscious is a state of heightened awareness.  It is a state of true wisdom that involves being guided or making decisions based on your intuition rather than emotion or reason.  The superconscious mind is said to rest above the subconscious and conscious states.  If you try to actively delve into your subconscious, you often have to do so during sleep or hypnotherapy etc.  The superconscious however is able to accessed without having to achieve a relaxed state.  In fact it is said by many that reaching the state is the opposite and can be an energetic and peaceful state many use.

It was French professor Professor Jules-Bois that theorised the superconscious was the 'exact opposite' to the subconscious.  He referred to it back in 1928 during a series of lectures as 

the exact opposite of Freud's subconscious mind and is the faculty which makes man really man and not just a super-animal

He thought of it as a state of higher consciousness and is responsible for our inspiration, our intellect and our moral values.  So if it is the exact opposite of the subconscious as defined by Freud, it is important for us to understand what that is subconscious is.

What is our subconscious?

The human mind is said by some to be broken into 3 categories: The conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the unconscious mind.

Sectioning the mind off is something that was first made mainstream by Sigmund Freud. It is something that is disputed within psychology as it cannot be scientifically proven. It remains theory, and a popular one at that so that is what we will work with for this article. The conscious mind of course is what we are using in our day to day life and most importantly we are aware of it. The conscious mind is defined by many people with the word 'awareness'. We are aware of our thoughts. The conscious mind is however somewhat limited. Can you remember what you did last week? Can you remember what you did last year? Can you remember what did 10 years ago? Your conscious mind needs some help to access this information, so it looks to your subconscious for help. Your subconscious mind has limited access to these memories. More often than not, they are short term memories. It however can retrieve them from your unconscious memory which can remember all of these events with complete clarity. The unconscious mind stores your deepest memories. The unconscious mind holds your beliefs, your fears and your emotions. It uses your subconscious to communicate these to your conscious mind, which influences how you live your every day life. Put simply:

Conscious – defines all thoughts and actions within our awareness.
For example, the beauty and pleasance of the smell of a red tulip
Subconscious – defines all reactions and automatic actions we can become aware of if we think about them.
For example, our ability to drive a car: once we get skilled we stop thinking which gears to use, which pedals to press, or which mirror to look at, yet can always become aware of what was done once we think about it.
Unconscious – defines all past events and memories, inaccessible to us no matter how hard we try to remember to bring things up.
For example, the first word we’ve learned to say, or how it felt to be able to walk on our own.

The job of your subconscious to ensure that you react, think and live your life according to your belief system and the things that make you...... well you! Your subconscious mind does not think for itself, it is merely the hub of accessing information. It obeys the instructions that your conscious mind tells it. It is your subconscious that makes you feel fear when it is confronted with something it knows scares you. It your subconscious mind that makes you feel happy when you around something that it knows you like. It can also react when it experiences something unknown by making you feel anxious or uncomfortable. Your subconscious is almost one big comfort zone. It all has to do with the information that is sitting in your unconscious mind which is where it draws this information. It is why we talk about unconscious bias and the effect it can have on paranormal investigating. You may not think you are being influenced, but your experiences from the past are subconsciously influencing you thanks to your unconscious mind. You may think you are in control, but it controls how your body reacts. Your conscious mind has no say in how your subconscious reacts. There is work you can do such as hypnosis and saying affirmations and generally changing your mindset, but it doesn't happen overnight. The older you are, the more memories and information you have stored and the harder it can be to change the way your subconscious thinks. Ever heard the phrase 'Set in their ways?'. That is your subconscious at work.

So in theory, the superconscious allows you to bypass all of this by tapping into what Professor Jules-Bois is your true self.  You are not controlled by what is considered to 'animal instinct'.

Image Source: https://www.independentfemme.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-superconscious-mind/

How is the superconscious different?

Superconscious is reaching a state where you can essentially ignore these things and focus on your intuition or your gut.  A lot of people believe that there is a link between this and what we call a 'collective consciousness', a unifying source of energy, knowledge and spiritual enlightenment.  Here instead of your using your subconscious, you are 'tapping in' to what is considered to be divine knowledge. 

Professor Jules-Bois also stated back in 1928 that this was indeed not a new concept that he had discovered. 

The oversoul

The oversoul is considered as another name for the superconsiocus.  The concept itself was theorised by famous philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1841.

The Supreme Critic on the errors of the past and the present, and the only prophet of that which must be, is that great nature in which we rest, as the earth lies in the soft arms of the atmosphere; that Unity, that Over-soul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other; that common heart, of which all sincere conversation is the worship, to which all right action is submission; that overpowering reality which confutes our tricks and talents, and constrains every one to pass for what he is, and to speak from his character, and not from his tongue, and which evermore tends to pass into our thought and hand, and become wisdom, and virtue, and power, and beauty.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Essays, First Series 1841

You can view the full archived essay here: https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/oversoul.html

Some believe that all forms of consciousness do not conform to the laws of space and time.  If our subconscious has the ability to access information from our unconscious mind and it is not bound by time, is that maybe how people get visions of the future?  Where does the superconscious fit into this?  Are people with psychical abilities more aware or more in tune with their superconscious?  Many spiritual people will argue that anyone is capable of accessing certain abilities, so maybe the oversoul or the superconscious is the key here.  Embracing and acknowledging this could mean that we are more tuned into our own intuition which could then lead us down a path where we may potentially have a better understanding about how it is we are able to have supernatural experiences.

We live in the lap of an immense intelligence that, when we are in its presence, we realize that it is far beyond our human mind.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Essays, First Series 1841

Carl Jung believed that the superconscious could not simply just exist on its own, it has to work with the unconscious.

No matter how far that “super-consciousness” reaches, I’m unable to imagine a condition where it would be completely all embracing, i.e., where there would not be something unconscious left over.

To assume something which is beyond human grasp is a prerogative of faith .

It belongs to metaphysics and not to science, as it is beyond proof and experience.

Carl Jung letter

To W. Y. Evans-Wentz 9 February 1939

C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. 1: 1906-1950

Intuitive thinking

A gut feeling is a type of instinct or intuition that has no logical rational basis. When we feel an emotion for example, it is a reaction to your brain processing information. An emotion gives us a feeling in relation to this information. Sad news makes us feel sad for example. A 'gut feeling' is also a response to the brain processing information. In fact it goes even further. Scientists claim through research the brain not just processes information, but it predicts it. It is what is called 'predictive processing framework.' The brain will compare incoming information and current experiences against information stored in your subconscious based on previous experiences and will predict what might happen next. This in some ways can also lead to an irrational fear. If you are someone for example that has had a past trauma, it would be no surprise for you to react with fear if you are confronted by signals that remind you of what happened. For example if you had an accident in water, seeing water would make you scared and your 'gut' would tell you to stay away from water.  A gut feeling at times is also described as a form of intuition. It is just knowing what is going to happen. While some people believe they have a psychic gift that allows them to pick up on these things, Science tells us that everyone is actually capable of intuition in some capacity. Often these feelings, emotions and predictions are made from the brain processing information and comparing it to what is in your subconscious. The brain has made it's decision so to be speak, but you are not consciously aware of it yet. Intuitive thinking is described as a very fast process and again it is something that happens on an unconscious level. Intuitive thinking is thought to be quite reliable as it is judging a situation based on your own experiences and comparing them to what is happening now. An important thing here which I will expand on a little more below is that once your experience in a particular area increases, your brain has more of a reference point and your intuition actually improves.

Should we trust our gut when it comes to paranormal investigating?

There is no black and white answer here, but the above shows us that there really us some merit behind trusting your gut. Now we know that it works on the basis of how much a person has experience in a certain area. This is where education becomes really important when it comes to the paranormal. If you are well educated about certain things and even if you are person that thinks critically and rationally, your experience will tell you unconsciously if there is something irregular happening based on things you have experienced before. An example I will use is Black Rock House. I go into that house several times every month. Most times I am walking around in the dark quite comfortably. There have been some very odd occasions where I have opened the door and felt scared. Things just didn't feel right. I couldn't figure out why because it is something I do all the time. Why suddenly was I losing my nerve? Could it be that my brain was looking at the situation and something was different. From all the times I have been in the house before, perhaps my brain noticed something a little different. Something wasn't adding up so it told me to be on guard. The same can happen when you meet someone.

You know how sometimes you meet someone and the seem really nice but for some reason your gut is telling you there is something not right here but you can't figure it out? It is quite likely that your brain has noticed some characteristics that have raised alarm bells based on your dealings with similar people in the past. This is why when you get these gut feelings about people, you are usually right.

There really is something to listening to your gut. While you can't use this as 'proof of paranormal', you can definitely apply it to certain areas when it comes to investigating the paranormal. Even using it as a reference system by understanding how it works. It is your brain telling you that something is different than it has been before. It is up to you to determine what that is. At the end of the day, you know yourself, you know your body and you know how you react to certain situations. I think using your gut along with a bit of rational thinking can serve you really well when it comes to investigating the paranormal. Not everything is paranormal and it may take the rational side of the brain to realise that, but sometimes things happen that we can't explain and usually your gut knows why. It is seeing something different that we are not conscious of. I have spoken so many times about our subconscious and it's potential power. We don't even know what information is stored in there and what it is capable of. We know that in some ways it can act as a warning system. I definitely feel it is worth listening to from time to time.

States of mind it seems are often debated because they cannot be proven on a scientific level.  Maybe it is one of those things that is not meant to be.  Much like the paranormal for example, I doubt we will ever Scientifically prove that it is out there, however many of us just know that it is.  We trust our gut.

If you like this sort of content, this philosophical approach is something that we used a lot in Supernatural Synchronicity series.

https://llifs.com.au/shop/books/supernatural-synchronicity/  

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