Preface
Now what I’m about to say will befuddle and confuse most of you, ……. and at first you won’t believe me …… because you may have never ever heard or read anything similar before now.
Your conscious mind …… did not see …… what you are now reading on your PC monitor.
And that is because your optic nerves transmit two (2) channels of streaming video which they received via reflected/radiated light that entered the pupil of your eye, passed through the lens and struck the back of your eye. These inverted images are then transmitted to your subconscious mind which combines the two and with only the center portion of said image being in focus. If reading, only the word or portion of word that you are concentrating on is in focus. Everything else that you can detect in your “view”, …… on the monitor, off the monitor, up, down, left or right is “out of focus”. You know it is there ….. but you can’t see it plainly.
Your conscious mind is permitted to “see” this image …… but it “sees” this image right-side-up. As you read each of the words in this sentence, as you are (hopefully) doing this very second, …… your subconscious mind is “telling you” everything you need to know about each word, selected from a “list” of everything that you previously learned about said word (its meaning, pronunciation, usage, etc,) and thus permitting you to easily Newsvine read this paragraph.
Now, did you notice that “interrupt” that confused your subconscious when it encountered the word “Newsvine”? Now be honest, tell us what your subconscious “told you”. Didn’t it make you back-up and try figuring out what it was doing there in the middle of that sentence?
If your ears pick up the sounds coming from another room in you house, ….. how do you consciously know it is your spouse talking rather than your dog barking? You can’t see what is generating the noise. How do you know it is even your spouse that is the person talking, you can’t see him/her?
If you can’t “consciously” see …… what is causing the noise …… how do you know for sure, …. exactly, … absolutely, ….. positively …….the source of said noise?
The answer is a simple one. Your subconscious mind has thousands of different “sounds” and what each one is ……. stored in your “memory”. And when your ear picks up a sound ….. your auditory nerve transmits that sound to your subconscious mind, which also tells your conscious mind, but it also attempt to match it to one of the “stored sounds” and if it finds a match …… it will inform your conscious mind what produced the sound. If your conscious mind is asleep when the sound is heard ……. your subconscious mind will make a determination of its importance ……. and will “wake up” your conscious mind if so warranted.
A simple “Time to get up honey” will not arouse one from a deep sleep on a Saturday morning …… like the loud sound of “FIRE” will.
Introduction
The human mind is a mysterious thing which even we humans have not figured out exactly how it functions. It is not a physical thing but more like an electrical thing such as the “program code” that controls the operations and functions of a Personal Computer (PC).
I will attempt to describe my View of How the Human Mind Works using terminology, components and functions that many people are now familiar with, …… the Personal Computer (PC). And one should remember when reading the following that it is general overview of “how things work” and/or “how things might probably work” and is intended to present a “different perspective” than what is generally believed.
Given said, the human mind can be described as being similar to the Control Program (CP) and the Application Programs (APs) that functions within a PC. As can the human body be described as being similar to a PC System with equivalent Input/Output (I/O) channels. Humans have sensors and muscles, a PC has options and peripherals. Our eyes are like a video camera, our ears like a microphone, our vocal cords like a speaker, our muscles like the mechanics of a printer or factory robot, etc. And our information storage is like a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a disk drive and we call them “memory” or “memories”.
The words “mind” and “brain” are oft times used interchangeably but in reality the brain is a physical entity and the mind is the brain’s “program” that controls the different functions and operations of parts of the body. Humans have two (2) minds, a conscious mind and a subconscious mind. Now I said “parts” because the brain does not control everything. Our brain is only part of our Nervous System which also includes the brain stem, spinal cord and nerves.
Our nerves are like electrical wires and cables that transfer information back and forth between all parts of the body and the spinal cord, brain stem and brain. Just like the wires and cables that connect the Processor Card of your PC ……. to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer, etc.
The human brain is equivalent to ….. the processor chip(s) (Intel, AMD), the ROM memory, the RAM memory and the disk memory of a PC. A human’s subconscious mind is equivalent to a PC’s Operating System (VISTA - MS-DOS) and the conscious mind is equivalent to the Control Program (MS-Windows).
In the Beginning – PCs and People
PCs are born on a factory assembly line, ……. humans are born from their Mother’s womb. Both have the attributes that will permit them to “grow and survive”, both require a Control Program and Application Programs to function properly ……. and thus permitting them to “get started” on their journey through life. But now the big difference between the two is, …… the Control Program and the Application Programs for the PC is “loaded” or “installed” in one fell swoop before it leaves the factory floor and the PC has no control over what is being loaded into it.
But not so for humans, they are born with a limited but primitive Control Program that is capable of modifying and expanding itself based on the data or information that it receives via the body’s sense organs. As the Control Program becomes more complex it creates/generates Application Programs for managing the sensed data and to control and manage the “action” of various muscles associated with seeing, arm movements, leg movements, talking, etc.
Thus, a human’s Control and Application programs are “a work in progress” and are “loaded” or “installed” in bits n’ pieces, …… and this process is called “nurturing”, ……. and requires years and years to complete. In essence, humans construct, build and/or assemble their own “personalized” Control and Application Program that best suits their environment because their environment pretty much dictates the data that is used to generate said.
Thus, the first few years of nurturing “sets the stage” for all future nurturing because said earlier nurturing created the Control and Application Programs that permits said nurturing.
Thus, humans are ……. a biological self-programming super computer. They are what they were nurtured to be.
Industrial Robots and Humans
I am sure most everyone is familiar with "industrial robots" that are employed in manufacturing. These are mechanical devices that are controlled by a computer and are used to perform repetitive processes on an assembly line such as painting, drilling, packaging, etc.
Now consider a really complex Industrial Robot that has "sensors, components and appendages" for ..... seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, generating sounds and controlling the movements of its appendages. For this Robot to function properly it must have a computer and a Control Program that can “read data” from its sensors ……. and issue “control commands” for the movement of its appendages.
Said Control Program can only read the sensors and move the appendages …… but it doesn’t know what to do with the “sensed data” or how the appendages should be moved. Thus, an Application Program is required for doing a specific job. If the “job” is to paint an item, then a Painting Application Program is loaded and executed which tells the Control Program what to do with the “sensed data” and how to move the appendages to perform the work. If the “job” is to drill holes in an item, then a Drilling AP is loaded and executed by the CP. And that Robot “has no choice”, it must accept the new or revised “program” and do what it tells it to do.
Robots are similar to humans, ……… because humans also have a Control Program and Application Programs for performing different tasks and jobs. They are similar to robots except when it comes to “downloading” (nurturing) their Operating Program. A human’s “computer” is their brain and it is programmed in bits n’ pieces and takes several years. And the human mind has the unique ability ....... after the first few years or so of being “programmed” ......... to accept or reject whatever it wants to. The human mind can MAKE A CHOICE. And of course, said choice of “accepting and/or rejecting” is controlled by …….. their previously nurtured program(s).
Thus, …… you are what you are nurtured (self-programmed) to be.
And only that person themselves ……. can make changes to their own “program”, ...... which is not easily done except when there is a dire need or reason to do so. For instance, consider a food type that you have an “extreme dislike for the taste of” …… and try to re-program your “mind” …… to “really love the taste of it”.
Nurturing
The nurturing (programming) of humans begin at birth or shortly thereafter. This nurturing process is accomplished via their sensory organs which are the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the skin. And this is a very slow process for the first year or so after they are born because a baby can see ……. but it doesn’t know what it is seeing. It can hear sounds …… but it doesn’t know what those sounds are. It can smell odors …….. but doesn’t know what those odors are. It can feel pain or when they are touched by something …… but they know not the cause of the pain or what touched them.
Babies have vocal cords and dozens of other muscles that they have very limited control over because ……. they have not programmed themselves to control them. They do have an inherited program that permits them to cry when they are hungry, feel pain or when they sense their parent or guardian “is afraid”, …. shows fear.
The early nurturing of a child is a slow “trial and error” process of repeat, repeat, repeat ….. because the child doesn’t know what it is learning. It is constantly receiving information from its senses and must learn to sort out what is important and store said in their memory. Not only that, but data links between all associated sensed information must be established and or revised. For instance, a child can sense the touch of its mother, sense her aroma, hear her voice and see a visual image of her. All this different data is stored in the child’s memory and regardless of the sequence or time this data is received and stored, ….. it will all be linked together to form a “composite picture” per say. And from then on, if the child again senses any one of the four (4) aforementioned, it will trigger a “recall” of said “composite picture” or parts there of.
Another example of this action is: someone calls you on the telephone, you say “hello”, they say “hello”, you recognize the voice, …… and “bingo”, ….. all sorts of information about that person is “recalled” from one’s memory. Said "recall" is the transferring of recorded data from one's "permanent memory" to their "short-term memory", from their sub-conscious mind to their conscious mind.
Thus, the human brain/mind consists of four (4) separate entities, which are: permanent memory, short-term memory", the subconscious mind and the conscious mind. The subconscious mind being the dominant and controlling part of the mind and conscious mind being the subservient part that one uses for thinking, reasoning and decision making based on parameters, prerequisites and guidance that are determined by the “wiring” or programming of the subconscious mind.
The obvious and primary proof that one has a subconscious mind is one's experience of "dreaming". The conscious realization of participating in a "bogus" live-action video being generated by one's subconscious mind. And the fact that all data from one's senses (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) is filtered through one's subconscious mind and the conscious mind is only made aware of the "results" of said filtering. And "the proof is in the pudding".
When one is awake with their eyes open, their two eyes are transmitting two (2) channels of INVERTED "live action" video pictures via their optic nerves to their subconscious mind, which combines said two (2) channels into one (1) visual image or picture, edits it when necessary by adding or deleting data and then permits the conscious mind to "view" it ..... while at the same time interpretating what the object(s) is that is in focus and informing the conscious mind what it is. And at the same time interpretating any sounds being heard by one’s ears and informing the conscious mind what it was that created said sound(s).
Concerning the afore said visual image, a curosity question is, does the subconscious re-invert the image or does the conscious mind actually see it inverted? In actuality it matters little given the fact that the subconscious mind tells the conscious mind the orientation of the visual image based on the balance mechanism located in the inner ear?
Now the aforementioned “recall” of memory data can be initiated via at least three (3) methods:
1). One (1) of your (5) senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling) detects a stimuli and transfers it to your sub-conscious mind …… which it “checks out”, …. and if relevant, ….. “Posts it” to your conscious mind and/or to your muscle neurons.
Your “eyes” see a friend …. and your “vocal cords” say “Hello”. You hear your child’s voice among a group of kids scream “DADDY” … and bout every muscle in your body will “react” before you get a chance to “think” about it. You hear a loud noise and you will “jump” before you even consciously know what caused said noise. Smell rotting flesh ….. and you will puke n’ gag before you can control it. The subconscious mind reacts to the sensed data before the conscious mind is informed about said sensed data.
Recall of stored data is also effected when one is consciously trying to get their eyes to focus on an object or partial object that they do not recognize. In this case the subconscious will retrieve “similar data from memory” and attempt to “fill in” the missing part(s). Like when one is driving down the highway and sees in the far distance a couple little connected “bright orange” humpies barely protruding above a building or some trees. And “BINGO”, the big orange “M” of a McDonald’s restaurant appears in their conscious mind. And when one sees a shadow or a blurry object, maybe several different “thingys” will be recalled and they can then consciously pick one or “make a guess” as to what it is. Per say, “Well it looks like so-n-so.”
2). The 2nd method is when the conscious mind is “thinking” about something and “Posts” a request for “data” that is recorded somewhere in the brain. If the sub-conscious mind can locate said “data” ….. it will “post” a copy of it to the conscious mind. If it has trouble locating said, like when someone asks you ….. “What is that fellow’s name?” …… and you first have to reply …. “Just a minute, … I’ll think of it.” ……. and pretty soon , … BINGO, …. that name materializes in your “conscious mind” …….. and you then reply … “Charley, …. his name is Charley Brown.” And sometimes that response might take hours or days before it “pops up” in your conscious mind. The subconscious mind never sleeps.
3). Now this 3rd one is the “weird one” ….. which most people don’t understand, don’t know what causes it and …… don’t know how and/or are incapable of controlling it. This method is when the sub-conscious mind is a “thinking” about something ….. and “posts” info or data to the conscious mind ….. for SEEMINGLY no reason whatsoever. Meaning, your senses didn’t “sense” anything …… and your conscious mind didn’t request anything. Like when one hears the words to a “tune” that keeps popping up in their mind but they don’t know why. Per say, “those little voices that talk to people.”
Now this 3rd form also occurs when one is awake, …. but most always only involves “thoughts”, … meaning no sights, sounds, smells or tastes. Feelings yes, because one often hears one say “I just got a feeling that ….. ”.
Now most everyone experiences another form of this 3rd method quite often, but for the most part, …. treats it as a curious but normal thingy, ….. which they sometimes talk to others about …. but more often times they won’t. One form of this is called “dreaming” and if it is a truly scary dream it is called a “nightmare”.
Dreaming and REM sleep
Now “dreaming” occurs when one is sleeping and the Professionals refer to it as the REM phase of sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) because it is characterized by the darting of the eyes under the eyelids. Now one is only aware of their dreaming if their sleeping is disturbed during said REM phase. A noise, a smell, a pain or being touched can cause one to awake. It is the controlling subconscious mind that puts the conscious mind to sleep and it is the subconscious mind that wakes it back up whenever it receives a stimulus from one of the senses that the conscious mind needs to be made aware of. When this happens the conscious mind is also made aware of the content of the “dream” and thus one remembers it. But dreams are quickly forgotten unless one “talks or thinks about them” shortly after they wake up.
Now there are 3 or 4 theories as to the cause of REM, and of course, I have my own. And it is my opinion that REM is caused by that same portion of the brain (subconscious mind) that directs eye movement and focus when one is awake. The conscious mind does not control eye movement and focus. It posts a “request” to the sub-conscious mind by “focusing” on the mental image and the subconscious signals the eye muscles to constrict or relax thus causing the eye to move in its socket and the lens to change the focal length so as to correctly view the actual visual image. But this conscious action that directs eye movement is relatively slow and which I will call SEM (Slow Eye Movement) because if one moves their eyes too quickly or moves their head too quickly their visual picture becomes a blur, is distorted and out of focus. And the reason this occurs is that the lenses of the eyes do not have time to refocus before they transmit another image and the fact that said two (2) visual images takes time to transmit through th optic nerves and are changing too quickly for the subconscious mind to combine the two and/or to compose a new single mental image for the conscious mind to view.
And this same action occurs when one is “dreaming”, ….. when their sub-conscious mind is retrieving bits n’ pieces n’ parts of pre-recorded data from memory ….. and mixing, matching, manipulating, making up and composing “live action video” pictures of false visual data and “posts” it to one’s conscious mind’s memory area, …. the same at it does when receiving the two (2) channels of “live action video” from one’s Optic nerves via their eyes …….. and one’s eyes are being directed (REM) to move as if they were focusing on the “dream picture”.
But dream sequences occur very quickly, like at “warp speed” or “fast forward”, meaning they are compressed into a very short time frame relative to one’s equivalent conscious actions. In that said images are recalled from memory no reformatting or composing is required. Said difference being comparable to “uploading” and displaying a photo via E-mail verses retrieving and displaying a photo stored on one’s PC’s hard drive. And if said dreams are occurring “rapidly” and the eyes are being given false “motion” commands to focus on the primary subject in one’s dream then that explains the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) when one is dreaming.
And said false “live action video” dreams also includes “sounds” and ”feelings” to accompany said action. But now I do not ever remember experiencing or being told about “smells” being included in one’s dreams.
Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers dreaming. And those that do remember dreaming only remembers a portion of their dream(s) and usually only for a short time. And one can see “plain as day” and hear “clear as a bell” everything that is happening in their dreams. And one sometimes listens to people talking, and sometimes talk to others, in their dreams.
So the question is, …… how is it possible for one to be “seeing” and “hearing” what is happening in their dreams …….. if one is sound asleep in a dark room with their eyes closed and there is no one around for them to be talking to or to be talking so that one can hear them?
The obvious answer to all those questions is quite simple, ….. and that answer is: one’s conscious mind can only see, ….. hear, ….. smell, …. taste …. and/or feel ….. what one’s subconscious mind permits it to see, ….. hear, ….. smell, …. taste …. and/or feel.
One’s conscious mind does not “see” what their eyes see (or hears what their ears hear, etc.). One’s eye(s) transmit “streaming video” via their optic nerves directly to their subconscious mind which it then combines the two (2) video streams via editing, adjusting, inverting, converting, associating, etc. …… and then permits their conscious mind to “see” (or hear, or smell, etc.) the results.
And that is exactly what happens when one’s conscious mind experiences a “dream” ….. except that one’s subconscious mind is generating/composing/creating their “dream” from bits n’ pieces n’ parts of their stored memories. I mean like that dream that included that terrific looking person that one seen at the mall last week but with her/him walking around in their own living room or where ever. All dream are in effect “out of body experiences”.
Thus, if one has stored memories of a snake, ….. unexplained flying objects ….. or "spiritual entities", ……… their subconscious can at anytime it so desires, …. pick one of those out and insert it in “the picture” that it creates for their conscious mind to “see”. And those “thingys” can move around in that “picture” just like long gone old friends, good looking strangers or whatever …. moves around in “one’s dreams”.
Hallucinations
Dreams share many qualities with hallucinations. Dreams are the hallucinations we all experience. Thus, hallucinations are the same as dreaming except they only occur when one is conscious or awake and only involve a portion of what one is consciously seeing.
The fact is, dreams and hallucinations are the exact same things except that dreams are composed solely of stored memory data whereas hallucinations are composed of actual visual data and one or more objects retrieved from stored memory data and thus the big difference between the two is how one consciously interprets them. If one wakes up realizing they had been having a dream (their subconscious mind permitted them access to “view” the dream it was composing), then no problem, dreaming is a natural “thingy” that one does when asleep. But if one is awake and viewing actual visual data and their subconscious mind inserts an object from stored memory into that visual data it is presenting for the conscious mind to “view” we call that an hallucination. And that inserted object(s) could be a “moving” object or a stationary object. A “ghost” of someone, per say, that is walking around in plain view, but only in plain view of the person experiencing the hallucination. When this happens it usually scares the bejesus out of said person and/or they will claim they seen a vision, a miracle or whatever.
Thus, the difference between a dream and an hallucination is: an hallucination occurs when one’s conscious mind is “awake” and the subconscious mind screws up for whatever reason by inserting "bogus" data from stored memory into the actual visual image. Thus, the awake conscious mind thinks said bogus image is actually what their eyes are seeing and the person can not be convinced otherwise. People with really strong religious beliefs or people who are easily frightened are noted for seeing “things” that aren't really there.
If the subconscious mind can insert “characters” in the “live action” video it creates for one’s dreams, it can sure enough insert a “character” or object into the incoming visual data from one’s eyes.
And the simple explanation as to how one can “see” their dreams/hallucinations is the fact that one can not consciously “see” anything directly, even the two channels of streaming video being transmitted via their eyes and optic nerves. Said video is transmitted to the subconscious mind which combines them, massages them, edits them, stabilizes them, adds things, inverts them and then permits the conscious mind to “see” the results.
Our subconscious mind is ..... one powerful "realtime" video editor. Actually, my thinking is that the subconscious mind has several biological “virtual processors”, all operating concurrently for processing the sense organ data, conscious data, subconscious data, vocal data, stored memory data, etc. Just think of all the data that has to be “processed” and the muscles that have to be controlled if one was reading “out loud” the words written in this commentary.
One consciously “sees” what ever their subconscious mind permits them to “see”, nothing more, nothing less.
Religious and other beliefs
Most Religious (capital R) beliefs are nurtured in one at a very early age and are no different than nurturing one to understand and speak the native language of their parents. Thus, a nurtured Religion is not actually a “belief”, ….. it is a “programmed reaction” resulting from an external stimuli that one’s conscious mind really has no control over. One’s conscious mind has no more control over said “belief” than it has control over what their ears hear another person saying or their eyes sees that is printed on the pages of a book.
If said person speaking is speaking one’s native language or the book one is reading is printed in one’s native language, ….. then no problem, one’s conscious mind comprehends what is being said or being read because their subconscious mind interprets said and tells their conscious mind what it was. For the most part one’s conscious mind doesn’t even have to consider said “interpretation or translation” because it just “appears” in their conscious mind automatically via a subconscious function.
But if either is in a foreign language then “sorry about that”, their subconscious mind has not been “programmed” to do said interpretation or translation. And one’s conscious mind can’t do anything to change said unless it first decides to “make a change” and then effect a long, drawn out process (we call learning) of re-programming their subconscious mind to interpret/translate that second language.
And so goes ones Religious belief if their subconscious has never been “programmed” to consider a different Religious belief or any belief that is contrary to said Religious belief they were first nurtured to believe. On the contrary, their subconscious mind has most probably been “programmed” to have a per say “closed mind” to any “belief” other than what they were nurtured with. And there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about that except that person them self. And if he/she doesn’t want to go through the “learning” process to re-program their subconscious mind, “then sorry about that also”.
Everything a person learns today is highly dependent upon what they learned yesterday, and all the yesterdays back until the day they were first born. You are what you were nurtured to be by your environment.
(to be continued ……. someday, ….. maybe, ….)
Cheers