The Self-Conscious Mind, the False Ego, and the Most Basic Form of Ignorance

What we call the mind is three-fold in nature, as three aspects that systematically birth each other as outgrowths, all of which perform different functions as a unified being within a multi-dimensional reality. These three aspects of the mind are what we call the higher, superconscious mind, the middle conscious, self-aware mind, and the lower subconscious mind. The Superconscious mind exists in a unified state and contains both aspects of the middle and lower mind within it in a latent and potential state as a “seed” that it projects into a lower, parallel plane, which serves as a form of ovum. Each aspect of itself, contains the whole of creation within it, and as it births the Conscious aspect of itself into the subtle or Astral Plane, it contains the subconscious within it in seed form, which is then projected into the lower region of the same plane, where it contains the entire blueprint for manifestation within it in what’s called the Astral or Etheric Body.

The Conscious aspect of the mind acts to birth the subconscious as it descends into material reality as the intelligence that constructs and then inhabits the body, which contains the “seed” of the self-conscious mind, which is then birthed while in the body through a natural process of growth and development. We are born into life with a subconscious mind that contains the latent potential of the self-conscious mind, which doesn’t begin forming until the age of 7 or 8, and becomes fully active between 14 and 28. The self-conscious mind is what most think of when we use the term mind, which is the self-aware, thinking aspect of our mind that thinks in verbal terms forming our internal dialogue, which comes as a conversation we’re always having with ourselves. The conscious mind, for the most part remains almost completely unaware of the subconscious mind, which thinks in experiential terms as imaginary, sensory realities, and is the aspect of the mind that is fully awake throughout the entire life span of the body and operates all biological systems of the body, without ever resting, sleeping, or turning off, unlike the conscious mind. When we go to sleep, it’s only the conscious aspect of our mind that shuts down while our subconscious stays fully active.

The self-conscious mind is what we call brain consciousness which is the aspect of the mind that’s self-creating, and being born within the body, becomes identified with it, forming what’s commonly referred to as our false ego. This forms the basis for the most basic form of ignorance, which comes as a form of mis-identification, because it’s almost completely unaware of it’s own true origins. It’s self-aware in terms of it’s own personality, body image and perception of the outer world formed through it’s own mental paradigm and physical senses, and thinks almost exclusively in materialistic terms, while remaining almost completely unaware of the subconscious aspect of the mind which forms its true inner nature and is what serves to sustain it in a material form. The subconscious mind, which is the primal consciousness that fully manages the body while interacting energetically with the outer environment, is what structures and develops the brain and nervous system out of which “self-awareness emerges”, giving it life, yet the conscious mind fails to recognize this fact because it doesn’t have a direct awareness of the subconscious mind, and so perceives itself as being independent of both the subconscious and higher consciousness of it’s true soul.

The conscious aspect of the mind is the part of us that’s “self-creating”, and due to arising out of the personality of the body, while mistakenly becoming identified with the body, renders itself mortal and temporary in nature, because it’s dependent on the body in order to know who it is, and the image it forms of itself as the body, dies with the body. This false-identity is the aspect of the mind that’s often referred to as the ego, when it should more accurately be called the false ego, because the soul develops and bonds itself to whatever it associates and identifies with, and is not only what spawns the body-brain identification, but has developed and formed itself through many identities and multiple lifetimes. Just as the subconscious mind is the same aspect of the mind we share with the plant and animal kingdom as a form of mass, shared, or collective unconsciousness, in humans, we have a higher capacity through the conscious mind that imbues us with the ability to shape our own identity by creating an image of ourselves, and thereby determining our own destiny as a form of co-creation within the material world. Through this ability to self-create and become an individual, we also form a part of the mass or shared consciousness of the creative, spiritual realm.

Ignorance is formed from a basic lack of true self-awareness, where our mortal aspect fails to comprehend its twin aspect, which is immortal, divine, and self-determined, and perceives itself instead as independent of its subtle, spiritual, or unconscious aspect, which is actually what birthed it as a means of being able to “experience itself”, and serves to sustain it throughout its lifetime. When we identify with our body and material existence through a basic form of a lack of awareness, we perceive death as an annihilation of the self, because it’s the death of our brain and body as our outer awareness. If however we recognize the other aspects of ourselves which are subtle and subliminal in nature, and we identify instead with our divine, spiritual nature, which inhabits and gives life to our body, we become immortal because this aspect of our consciousness exists independently of the body and when it departs from the body, causes it to die. The body is only alive (operating as a biologically active system) when the spiritual soul is inhabiting it.

The subconscious is directly correlated with the physical body and is the aspect of the mind that governs and operates the entire material plane as the offspring of the conscious mind, providing it with the material construct and outer garment necessary for experiencing itself, and remains within the material plane when we die. It’s only the conscious, self-aware, self-creating part of us that’s immortal in the sense of transcending the body and remains fully intact after departing the body on a higher, purely mental and energetic plane. This is the aspect of ourselves that gives life to the body, whose only purpose is to provide our higher mind with a vehicle for expression. The self-aware, conscious aspect of ourselves is birthed into our material body by the higher consciousness (from a purely spiritual plane), and is the immortal aspect of the self, and what forms the life of the body, and expresses through the body in a completely natural and automatic fashion as the most prominent use of will, that’s the natural expression of the Higher Will, being acted out without resistance of any kind, and is what establishes the personality of the body as the accumulated experiences acquired through various identities from previous lifetimes, as the souls karma that forms the paradigm of the mind and gives it all of its natural perceptions and tendencies.

Karma is the natural paradigm of the soul as the mind (vibratory frequency), and forms our natural disposition, temperament, talents and developed abilities, tendencies, thematic perceptions, and natural behaviors as our personality, which are reactivated, brought out and expressed through our formative conditioning that sets the outer stage and mental state to continue creating our life through the same patterns as we left off in the previous life. The soul develops through accumulated experiences (which are all self-created) through many perspectives and life conditions, circumstances, and situations, that are integrated and harmonized to modify, develop, and reform the paradigm of the mind, and becomes the memory we continue living out of as a means of creating ourselves by way of our own self-created experiences (interpretations) that form the evolutionary growth of our soul as our eternal and immortal self.

The conscious mind is simply the identity formed and taken on in this lifetime as a body within a certain set of conditions and circumstances that form the basis for our life situations, which we use to create our experiences out of. The conscious mind is the material mind in terms of its limited awareness (located within space and time) as the body. When it wakes up and recognizes that it has multiple aspects as states of being, and the subtle, intuitive communication as feelings and mental impressions coming from an internal and invisible realm of pure consciousness that its always engaged in talking to and with, it can then choose to align itself with its whole self as the expression of the divine will that created it. Through alignment with all aspects of ourselves we can become aware of why we’re the way we are in terms of our karma as tendencies and psychological patterns that we’re always in the process of repeating, we can act in our own life to resolve patterns by first becoming aware of them, gaining self-realization around them as our own creation, and then act willfully to transform perceptions, direct our thoughts and become conscious of our behaviors, in order to break old patterns, and form new ones that are more creative, productive, and healthy. Through self-awareness and active use of our will, we can become conscious creators and act to facilitate our souls growth in an intentional and deliberate manner, instead of continuing to live out unconscious patterns that are degrading to the souls evolution and keep us attached to lower forms of expression that ultimately prevent us from ascending to higher levels of self-expression. The conscious mind, through its current identity has the power of choice and free will to actively make changes and reprogram the subconscious mind by embodying new qualities that create new types of experiences of itself, but of course it has to realize it has this ability and begin actively participating in its own development instead of living its life in a predominantly unconscious, disconnected and haphazard manner.

Dr. Linda Gadbois

Transpersonal Psychologist, Personal Transformation Coach, and Spiritual Teacher