SUBCONSCIOUS : THE LANDSCAPE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
Image: Michele Lamy photographed by Kacper Kasprzyk for Vogue Poland
Over the course of the next few weeks, we will explore Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, under a modern Benshen-esque lens. Though one might believe that wealth only equals money, “rich” expands beyond that: it means being able to create prosperity in your life, which can take shape in many different forms. Money is just one medium. Prosperity goes so far beyond financial gains and Hill, with his 13 Principles of Success and teachings on the Laws of the Universe, pioneered a unique roadmap to excellence and how to unlock prosperity—one that focuses on how to program our mental faculties rather than lean on external circumstances.
We like to think of the subconscious mind as its own universe—a microcosm of past patterns and future dreams, regrets and nostalgia, Visions in limbo, and everything in between. Liv, who’s on the Benshen Creative team (and the mystical Tomb Raider behind Psychic Landscape), spent her Masters program exploring the Jungian concept of the threshold between the conscious and subconscious mind. Here’s what she has to say about her lifelong pursuit in unpacking the human psyche:
“A major aspect of working with Jungian theory includes the imaginative bridge-building between our subconscious and our physical world, so that we’re able to articulate experiences and emotions that are otherwise difficult to comprehend.
Carl Jung refers to our subconscious as ‘the part of the psyche which retains and transmits the psychological inheritance of mankind.’ In other words, everything we know, everything we experience, is an amalgamation of the senses, recorded and stored in our subconscious. We are vessels of these experiences, full of possibility and intention.
Our subconscious can be accessed through dream analysis, active imagination, depth psychology and meditation. When we work with the subconscious, we reveal the source of our issue, rather than the symptoms associated with it that manifest in our conscious reality. Once identified, we have the potential to transform, resulting in healthier, more positive thoughts and behaviors.”
All to say, the subconscious is a powerful portal. Governing 97% of our mind, the subconscious is the driving force behind our conscious behaviors. The conscious mind— 3% of the puzzle—simply follows what it is directed to do by the subconscious, which stores all of our beliefs about ourselves and the world…many of which were developed by the age of 7 years old and shaped by those around us.
And while it stores many of our “shadows,” it isn’t a part of the mind that we can afford to neglect for fear of opening the mental Pandora’s box. According to Napoleon Hill, the subconscious mind acts as a critical link between our deepest desires and Infinite Intelligence (or god or the universe or higher source energy) to sync up and make shit happen.
Think about it: if 97% of our brain makes up the subconscious and is the driving force behind our 3% conscious mind, then in reality, it’s a very powerful tool; we just have to get it on our side. It is the home of our thoughts before they actualize: “Thoughts are truly things, for the reason that every material thing begins in the form of thought-energy,” he writes.
Luckily, there are powerful tools we can employ to navigate and thrive within this 3D inner world. In this newsletter, we discuss how to bring awareness and change to our subconscious programming, in an effort to break up with the patterns and habits that take up real estate without our conscious permission. As we actively clear the subconscious landscape of the beliefs that don’t benefit us, we make space for what we REALLY want, to draw ever closer to our dream reality. But first, we have to turn on the lights.
LAW No.11 | THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
- THE CONNECTING LINK -
“The subconscious mind is the intermediary, which translates one’s prayers into terms which Infinite Intelligence can recognize, presents the message, and brings back the answer in the form of a definite plan or idea for procuring the object of the prayer.”
—Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, 1937
Image: Aweng Chuol by Tanya Posternack for Double Magazine Issue 42
Take a moment to think about the times in our lives that something got us emotionally worked up versus a time where something of that same nature / texture didn’t faze our friends in the slightest. OR vice versa. Have you ever stopped to wonder, why does this move me and not them? Or why does this send them into a spiral and I don’t react the same?
Our reactions are built upon all of the experiences we've had up until this very moment, which get stored in the archive of our subconscious. Some of those reactions were learned by observing those around us during our childhood. Others are ones that we developed as a response to all the things life threw our way—both the good and the not-so-good. Over time, our mind becomes programmed, if you will, to react a certain way based on our past experiences rather than allowing us to act in the way we wish to.
Think of it like a computer; the computer arrives with certain programs and softwares, just like us. Over time, the softwares get outdated, starts to glitch, and needs an upgrade, just like us. This is where meditation comes is.
Meditation works the same way as Apple does when it asks us “do we want to upgrade our software?"; our daily meditation practice is literally a software update of the mind.
Sometimes, the programs of our unconscious serve us, like when we have powerful stories around money or have no problem calling in unconditional love. But more often than not, those programs leave us feeling less than inspired or empowered with ourselves and our lives. The beauty is that we have the ability to change that, and in turn, change the very world we show up in, every single day. When we meditate, we clean out the proverbial “bugs” and “software glitches”, i.e. old patterns and programs that we no longer wish to engage in and want to change.
Over time and with practice, we increase our ability to act when a situation confronts us rather than react to it. It’s our impulsive reactions that often get us off track vs. allowing ourselves the time and space to figure out how we want to respond. Think of the times when we’ve been too quick to spin a story about something or react to a situation without taking a moment to think about how we really want to engage with it. In those cases, it often takes more time and energy to do damage control, and that very same time and energy could have been channeled into something more productive. And of course, some of our patterns can be very old and deep, which is why we’re huge fans of therapy over here at Benshen.co.
We want to approach our subconscious with curiosity, love, and a whole lot of excitement over the idea that we do, in fact, have the ability to rewire our circuits so we can shine brighter than ever. When we bring in a proverbial flashlight and pan over the shadows in this multidimensional landscape, we can begin to foster self-sovereignty where there might not have been. We can take an objective lens and ask ourselves if certain patterns of behavior even align with who we are now or where we’re going...or if they simply keep showing up because that’s just what happened once a few decades ago. Ultimately, with a daily meditation practice, we can begin to release what no longer serves us.
EXERCISE: In order to break up with unnecessary subconscious programming, it's important to be open to rewiring the circuits in our mind and change our impulse to jump from A to Z. “Dealing With Your Own Mind” is a meditation that is very simple to do and only takes six minutes long. By inhaling long and deep through the left nostril and exhaling through the mouth, we can begin to calm the nervous system and the entire mind + body. Try it for 40 days, either practicing first thing in the morning to set the tone for the day or at night right before bed for a deep + restorative sleep.
HOW TO DO IT:
Sit in any comfortable position where the spine can be straight (either in a meditative seat on a cushion, sitting in a chair, or propped up in bed)
With your right thumb, close off the right nostril to inhale long and deep through the left nostril.
Exhale through the mouth.
Continue for 6 minutes.
To end, inhale deep through both nostrils…and then exhale through the mouth.
MUSIC: We love to listen to Delta Aura by Sunnia while doing this practice.
Image: Tsunaina by Markn
“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasure of life.
Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for.
That damned thing in the cave that was so dreaded has become the center.”
― JOSEPH CAMPBELL
The ultimate champion of the sub/unconscious, Carl Jung, said: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Inspired by this idea, we invite you to listen to This Jungian Life’s episode “Confronting Shadow: The Work of Self-Discovery” where a trio of Jungian analysts discuss how to empower ourselves through the information of our “dark doorway to renewal and development.” Think of the lotus flower, which grows in the depths of the murky swamp or the Phoenix rising from the ashes—there’s beauty in embracing the duality of our darkness and our resilience.