Embedded Subconscious Complexes and the Ability to Overcome Their Influence or Control

A large number of responses and reactions are embedded in the subconscious and unconscious parts of our nature. Some of these arise as a result of atavistic reactions that precede the human stage of evolution and have been carried forward, while others are embedded as a result of prenatal and early childhood experiences, and yet others get embedded through various life-experiences, particularly traumas, that we undergo.

Some of the atavistic responses include things like the “flight or flight” response, the establishment of ‘pecking order’ behavior and the expression of dominance and submission. The silverback gorilla pounds his chest and makes it clear to the others that he is ‘in charge’. This type of behavior can be recognised in human interactions as well.

The experiences absorbed in the prenatal period can also create embedded responses. Of particular note in today’s world, medical practitioners have identified the qualities of what is called a “crack baby’ who becomes addicted to drugs through use by his mother during pregnancy. The young child will have in most causes significant issues to overcome in life that came with him at the time of birth.

The early years of childhood also unconsciously absorb social behaviors and attitudes. We find that children who grow up in an abusive household will frequently become abusers in their turn as adults. The way that the family responds to circumstances has a subtle impression on the subconscious being of the individual and will frequently lead to surprising outbreaks when circumstances arise to trigger the reaction.

We tend to believe that these deeply embedded subconscious complexes are fixed and unchanging. Yet it is possible, through various forms of conscious ‘counter-programming’ to take up and change these reactions. The reactions provide a framework for the individual but they are not ‘destiny’. The individual may consciously work to transform the reactions and overcome these responses. The action to bring these things to awareness and consciously modify, change or transform these responses is what brings about the reality of change. While progress may be slow, and may span long periods of time, in the human time -scale, it nevertheless can and does occur. We see evidence of that in the type of changes in human interactions that are being noticed over time. Misogyny, racism, the tyranny of brute force, and many other deeply embedded reaction-states, while still existent across large segments of humanity, are slowly giving way to a more harmonious, unified and deeper understanding of human life and relationship to other beings and to the world environment.

The Mother notes: “We know by experience that if we go down into the subconscient, lower than the physical consciousness, into the subconscient and even lower still into the inconscient, we can find in ourselves the origin of atavism, of what comes from our early education and the environment in which we lived. And this gives a kind of special characteristic to the individual, to his outer nature, and it is generally believed that we are born like that and we will stay like that. But by going down into the subconscient, into the inconscient, one can trace the origin of this formation and undo what has been done, change the movements and reactions of the ordinary nature by a conscious and deliberate action and thus really transform one’s character. This is not a common achievement, but it has been done. So one may assert not only that it can be done, but that it has been done. It is the first step towards the integral transformation….”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of the Being, pg. 59