For several months now I\u2019ve been developing a kind of low-grade epiphany that re-cognizes the unconscious mind as partaking of two levels—one is the ordinary muddle of conflicting desires, immature modes of adjustments, unrealistic expectations, and other elements I discuss in the section called \u201cfollies\u201d on this blog, but also another hardly appreciated by Freud and most other psychological theorists: I\u2019ll give it the term \u201cmeta-consciousness\u201d—that is a category that includes dreams, psychic phenomena, synchronicity, archetypes, other stuff that can\u2019t be described in ordinary language. <\/p>\n
There is a word, \u201cepiphany,\u201d that describes the experience of \u201cit all comes together! I see it now!\u201d that can accompany the feeling of being \u201cborn again\u201d or, for some, the distinctly unpleasant experience of tumbling into paranoia. It reflects the mind\u2019s extraordinary ability to find meaning in what had been confusion. The dynamics of \u201cgestalt\u201d psychology and the psychology of illusion partake of this process, but it is still not well understood. I think epiphany relates to that part of the mind that I call the \u201cmeta-conscious function,\u201d a function that may well operate far more rapidly and with far greater complexity than can even be imagined by the ordinary mind. <\/p>\n
The idea that our own most clever thinking can be far out-performed by other mind abilities is difficult to appreciate. Saying it another way, it\u2019s hard for consciousness to recognize any consciousness greater than its own. Not impossible, but difficult. Or, as a saying I heard goes, \u201cA pickpocket at a convention of saints would only see their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure whether this meta-conscious mind function operates as a product of the human brain—brain that manufactures and then directs the transmission of ideas—, or perhaps the brain is only acting as an antenna that picks up the far more powerful capacities of \u201cmind\u201d at other levels of existence! Is such a concept even plausible? Not in terms of the dominant 20th century world view. (However, there have been thoughtful people who have hypothesized that the mind in some states operates this way; it\u2019s not just my own idea.) <\/p>\n
But consider: Ordinary dreams sometimes become quite extra-ordinary: They are able to create the most vivid and compelling scenarios, often of levels of complexity and beauty that could not be replicated by the finest human artists. Might this be part of the meta-conscious mind? <\/p>\n
Epiphany in another sense might be an intensification of the capacity of mind to tumble into gestalts of meaning, to discover significance in patterns\u2014perceptions, previous knowledge, the writings of others, remarkable coincidences, etc., \u2014that, when intensified\u2014as the meta-conscious mind can do\u2014leads to whole new theories, breakthroughs, insights, enlightenments (and that\u2019s the good stuff)\u2014it can also lead to the most fixed of delusional systems (on the bad side). <\/p>\n
I\u2019m musing on this idea and whether the meta-conscious mind also overlaps with what many folks call \u201csoul\u201d or aspects thereof; or with psychic phenomena, and so forth. I\u2019m pretty sure this term also overlaps with or describes what has elsewhere been called the \u201cadaptive unconscious\u201d by Timothy D. Wilson in a book I read a few years ago titled \u201cStrangers to Ourselves\u201d (2002, Belknap Press of the Harvard U. Press). <\/p>\n
I am also caught in the paradoxical position of experiencing a slow epiphany (or is it an epiphan-osis?) about this \u201cmeta-conscious mind\u201d notion in which a great swath of previously unclassified ideas seem to be organizing themselves into a meaningful pattern. The paradox is that the pattern I\u2019m talking about is this whole idea of the meta-conscious mind\u2014my term\u2014and one of its features is that it compellingly perceives all these various elements as partaking of the same underlying dynamic. In paranoids it all confirms the core delusion. (E.g., \u201cSee, that. too, that proves it!\u201d). In paradigm-shifting geniuses, again, a wide range of data become rearranged to confirm the new theory, which is then validated by scientific experiment. That happens some of the time. <\/p>\n
Far more often, though, epiphany leads only to personal eccentricity, often harmless, but sometimes leading to the dynamics of cult leadership! Reading about eccentrics and cult leaders, how their compelling ideas would gather steam, so to speak, and become convincing at times to a few or many others\u2014this too made me wonder about this dynamic. <\/p>\n
It seems to me\u2014though I also question what seems to be falling into place as things \u201cseem to me\u201d to be reinforcing this new notion\u2014that what we\u2019re talking about, the meta-conscious mind, also partakes of inspiration, that sense of flow, of the ideas just flowing\u2014or actions\u2014and some composers, improvisational musicians, actors, artists, etc.\u2014all are drawing on a source of not just ideas but also a quality of enthusiasm that seems nigh-inexhaustible. What\u2019s this about? <\/p>\n
Enough for now. Perhaps it\u2019ll pass, but at present it\u2019s kind of exciting, opening to new horizons. Some writers whom I had held at a distance as a little too \u201cfar out\u201d now seem less weird. I sort of see their point of view, at least to some degree. It\u2019s a fascinating trip. More will be written on this over the next few weeks as the process develops or withers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For several months now I\u2019ve been developing a kind of low-grade epiphany that re-cognizes the unconscious mind as partaking of two levels—one is the ordinary muddle of conflicting desires, immature modes of adjustments, unrealistic expectations, and other elements I discuss in the section called \u201cfollies\u201d on this blog, but also another hardly appreciated by Freud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-follies","category-psychotherapy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}