C Is For Conscious

The English word “conscious” originally derived from the Latin conscius (con- “together” + scire “to know”). It is interesting to note, though, that the Latin word did not have the same meaning as our word — it meant knowing with, in other words, having joint or common knowledge with another.

There was, however, a Latin phrase conscius sibi, which translates literally as knowing with oneself or sharing knowledge with oneself . It had the figurative meaning of knowing that one knows, as the modern English word “conscious” does.

We all have a conscious mind, a mind that knows. According the Freud, the conscious mind includes everything that is inside of our current awareness. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about in a rational way.

It is the conscious mind that governs intentionality and controls our voluntary thoughts, actions, and processes. Sounds pretty important, doesn’t it? Well, it is. The conscious mind is like the captain of a ship. The captain charts the course and signals orders to men in the engine room who control the machinery that makes the ship go.

The captain is the master of the ship and everyone else follows his orders. Likewise, your conscious mind is the captain of your body, your environment, and all your affairs.

But the conscious mind does have its limitations. For instance, the conscious mind represents only 10% of your brain power. Only 10%! The other 90% is your subconscious.

Also, your conscious mind tends to be narrow-minded and short-sighted. The conscious mind can juggle only 7 or so bits of information at one time. You have probably experienced information overload at one time or another. This happens when too much information impinges on your conscious mind at one time. As a result, your conscious mind can become befuddled or forgetful.

Speaking of forgetful, your conscious mind is only aware of the now. That is why we say that the conscious mind includes everything that is inside of our current awareness. It has no memory and no concept of the future. It works linearly, dealing with one thing (or seven things) at a time, then going on to the next now.

Thoughts are the language of the conscious mind. Thoughts are the way in which the conscious mind communicates with the physical processes of your body, with other people, and with your subconscious mind.

I just scratched my nose because my conscious mind became aware of an itch and signaled the thought, “Your nose itches” to my hand which responded, like an obedient sailor, by rising and scratching my nose.

I just finished a conversation on the telephone because my conscious mind became aware of the sensory input of the phone ringing and the voice on the other end of the line. That voice shared thoughts with me and I shared thoughts with the person on the phone.

Your subconscious mind receives thoughts from your conscious mind and takes the orders you give it based upon what your conscious mind believes and accepts as true.

This means, among other things, that you can take the negative scripts and self-limiting beliefs that have been stored in your subconscious (where memory resides) and expose them to the cold, hard, now-centered analysis of the conscious mind, and expunge them because they are no longer true (if they ever were) and your conscious mind does not believe them.

It also means that you can use the conscious and subconscious mind together to control your emotional response to the situations and circumstances in your life and to create the kind of life you want to live.

You see, your emotions are the subconscious’s bailiwick, but emotions are triggered by your thoughts, which are controlled by your conscious mind. If you control your thoughts, you can control your emotional response to them.

By the same token, if you control your emotions – if you ramp up your positive emotions and play down your negative emotions, you can control your thoughts.

To use a non-nautical metaphor, think of the subconscious as a garden. Thoughts are seeds. If you sow good thoughts, you will harvest a good crop. If you allow your garden to be overrun by bad seeds, by weeds, your crop will be a disaster.

The Bible puts it this way:

“whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” PHIL. 4:8.

Perhaps the Latin conscius expresses a deeper understanding of the human mind than our usage implies. Maybe the Romans knew that the mind works best when the conscious and the subconscious mind "know with" each other.