Very confused about this saying or what people mean by that when they say it.
In: 5
Think. Right now. Just choose something and think about it. Remember a song you like. Cringe at an awkward memory. Wrap your head around a math problem.
This is called “Conscious” thought. You choose to think it, and are aware of the thinking process.
How many things in your life do you NOT do that for? Do you spend every waking moment thinking about what your personality is? Remembering how to breathe? Processing every thing you visually see?
Several schools of psychological thought consider these things “Subconscious” thought, that is, things you think without choosing to do so. They believe that there is a second set of mostly automatic thought going on in your brain, all the time.
This subconscious thought, the “subconscious mind”, may contain a wide array of important things. Instinct, muscle memory, emotional processing, quite a bit.
Now let’s get to the main contention of your question. Quite a few people advocate for living life in a way that relies on subconscious thought more than conscious thought. This can be for many reasons.
Some people believe that subconscious thought is stronger (smarter) than conscious thought, so it’s a more useful tool for living. “Trust your gut”.
Some people believe that the subconscious is shared between humanity as a whole, in that all humans have the same basic subconscious thought patterns. This is the “Collective Subconscious” or “Jungian Archetype” theory.
Regardless, there is no clear answer to how accurate or good an idea this is. But the conscious/subconscious divide is a source of argument within a wide range of science, even today.
Latest Answers