Becoming Self-Aware: Spiritual Guidance is a Form of Hypnotic Suggestion

Posted On May 7, 2015 / Written by Dr. Linda Gadbois

By learning the principles of the mind involved in programming ourselves for certain types of experiences or as a form of ongoing storytelling that follows distinct themes, we can simultaneously realize that we exist in a primary state of hypnotic trance that connects us to multiple dimensions as inner and outer (parallel) and upper and lower (hierarchy). Through our self-conscious “thinking†mind, our subconscious “emotional-experiential†mind, and our higher “idea oriented†mind, when unified form holistic patterns that contain the full content of a living reality as a spontaneous unfolding that comes as a chain-of-association, where the subconscious exists as the passive and receptive medium between the other two aspects of the mind, where thoughts and ideas are readily taken in without editing or resistance and constructed into full imaginary realities.

 What ties the upper plane to the lower is the subconscious which accepts patterns as programming from the upper plane and develops them into a form of memory as an actual (imagined) reality. Likewise, the conscious mind which is the offspring of the subconscious mind and exists (lives and dies) fully within the physical plane, also has the ability to program the subconscious mind through “thoughts†that become the basis for imagined realities that create virtual memories as templates for producing outer experiences of the same nature. The problem is it often doesn’t realize that it has this power, and so its thoughts are usually controlled instead by the subconscious mind through emotional states, and replaces what has the potential to be “original thoughts†with thoughts that are based on a series of associated memories. So while the conscious mind has the ability to create by forming original thoughts that it gives to the subconscious to create new experiences out of, instead, it tends to spend its creative ability thinking about the past and creating variations of the same type of experiences.

 The self-conscious mind, which is the “local†mind identified with the body, birthed within this life and the conditions and circumstances of the body, is primarily held to the laws of the physical realm, and so tends to be logical, rational, and analytical, while lacking intuition. The conscious mind is also time bound (located) and spends most of its time distracted “in time†as thinking about the past, reliving memories over and over by bringing them into the present, or using the past to try and anticipate the future. The conscious mind is hardly ever present and therefore dwells in the imaginary realities of its own making that it uses in place of actual reality as a form of illusion or dreamlike state that forms a veil that conceals the true nature inherent in the “present†reality as objective, neutral, and non-personal. The conscious mind is the story-teller that reshapes objective reality into subjective experiences out of conceptualized representations that it then mistake’s for objective reality. It’s so caught up in the illusions build out of of its own memories, that it lives most of its life in a primarily unconscious, unaware, and delusional state. A true paradox, resolved only through awareness that brings self-realization of what we’re actually doing.

Even though the subconscious mind works out of memory, it exists outside of time, is always present, and perceives objective outer reality through actual emotions and sensations as a basic form of sympathetic resonance. It’s always interacting with other conscious energy in its environment, and though its programmed by memory to produce automatic behavior and regulate bodily processes in response to the information its constantly receiving from its environment, it doesn’t make up stories or think verbal, language oriented thoughts that serve to mask reality, and is always experiencing things as they actually are, instead of by way of a personalized perception (judgment) that distorts fact by telling a story about it that makes it mean something that transform it into a personal creation.

 The subconscious is therefore never the “creator†of memory that distorts outer reality, but is “one with†the outer reality and sensing it as it really is. The subconscious forms memory out of “actual†experiences that are then utilized for practical use by recalling them in the imagination giving it a response pattern as an instant perception that produces automatic behaviors as the most appropriate response (instinct). The subconscious doesn’t know the difference between a memory created from an actual experience, and one created by imagining an experience that elicits a strong sensory-emotional response. This is because actual memory is recalled in the imagination as a means of “playing or reading†it, just as an imagined experience is played in the imagination as an actual scenario or living reality.

Likewise, just as the conscious mind can give the subconscious a thought that it will turn into a reality as an imagined experience that converts it from a series of words into the native tongue of the subconscious as an archetype or holistic pattern that’s a universal memory, which can be introduced into the subconscious as a way of giving it a prime directive that it’ll convert into a memory which is recalled in the imagination and becomes the basis for producing a corresponding outer reality as a personal experience of that idea. The subconscious, which doesn’t think in terms of “stories†as reliving memory, and doesn’t “make up†the memory out of it’s own conditioning that it then uses to produce physical realities and regulate biological processes designed to maintain equilibrium between the inner and the outer, and the upper and the lower, is the “medium†which “receives information†as ideas and patterns, from either the conscious-thinking mind, or the higher-feeling mind as vibration that shapes light into realities by imagining them, is being programmed from outside its present state and readily produces the physical equivalent of the thoughts and ideas its given.

When directives come from the conscious mind as thoughts attached to intense emotions, born out of recycled memories from the past, they are often fragmented, sporadic, and incoherent. They lack consistency because they’re not based on the actual conditions and circumstances of the present, but an illusion that’s replacing them that are no longer real or alive except in the imagination. When ideas come from the higher plane of our spiritual parent, they are holistic, have all the components for producing a harmonious reality and are directly connected to larger patterns currently being played out on a greater scale as a cohesive orchestration that brings about synchronistic connections and opportunities necessary to fulfill them, creating a new pattern as a natural form of evolution. By creating experiences that grow and expand us into new experiences, we create new memories of those experiences that program and upgrade our existing mental paradigm to produce more of the same type of experiences as an outgrowth.

Spiritual guidance, working by way of natural laws that govern the mind, work through the induction of ideas as feelings that produce strong emotional imagery as dream-like, virtual realities that act as “memory†for the subconscious, which connects to that same idea in the external environment through resonance, and directs (influences) the conscious mind which forms thoughts of the same idea, creating a unified affect. When the three minds are resonating to the same vibratory pattern for creating reality in a harmonious and coherent manner, a quickening takes place, and things can come by what feels like magical means. Things come as a spontaneous series of synchronistic coincidences that systematically unfold into a whole new experience, which comes easily because there’s no resistance counteracting it.

 But what usually happens instead, because most people don’t understand the different aspects of their own mind or maintain an awareness of how they operate to produce their own life experiences, is spirit communicates thru feelings and mental impressions, that the conscious mind either ignores completely because it’s too caught up in its own illusion, or it resists by doubting it, arguing with it, or attempting to change it so it can keep telling the same story. If it doesn’t “fit into†our story, we change it so it does, distorting it. The subconscious mind is then caught in the conflict, one canceling out or contradicting the other, and so whatever one is more persistent or intense, wins out. Because the higher mind is not “of†the material plane and is “subtle†in nature and comes as intuitive notions or impressions around things, the conscious mind as the voice in our head usually wins out because its active on the material plane and is bound by the identity of its own creation, that determines what it can naturally align with and what it can’t. In order to tell a new story to create a new experience of ourselves requires surrender and self-sacrifice by the self-conscious mind of the identity and ego, which usually chooses to argue instead, and passionately defends its story while justifying its right to keep it. This self-made identity becomes the ego as the “false self†which creates itself purely by way of the physical realm and the story it tells itself about who it is and why.

The self-conscious mind, through self-realization and awareness, also has the ability to forfeit its illusion in favor of a new story that will evolve and grow it into new realities that offer brand new experiences that will transform and evolve the identity to a higher and new form of expression. But in order to accept the guidance of the Higher-self, we have to realize our story is a mere fabrication as a story we began telling ourselves in an attempt to make sense of things by making them “mean somethingâ€, that we then ultimately used as the basis for conditioning ourselves to that story. By giving up our story, we come face-to-face with our identity, and we realize that we don’t know how to tell another story. In opening ourselves to tell a new type of story we have to expose ourselves to being vulnerable and trusting that we’ll know what to do in a brand new situation, and embrace our creativity with a kind of enthusiastic anticipation of the possibilities.

By embracing and standing in our creativity, while fully sensing the insecurity it brings as a lack of “knowing†and reassurance that everything’s going to be alright, and stepping wide-eyed into the unknown filled with a sense of anticipation, and a deep seated fear we struggle frantically to manage by containing it, we can return ourselves from a stationary redundant position of habitual routines, to one of fresh newness and intense stimulation, that courageously encounters and resolve our fears, and as a result evolving us into more and more expansive forms of growth that force us from our prison of fear by willfully transforming our limited beliefs. It’s our beliefs about ourselves that confine us to a mundane existence of struggling and suffering to desperately maintain boredom out of fear of change. Change brings growth and stimulates new qualities in us that transform us from the outside-in, and from the inside-out. The Spirit, which is pure potential as consciousness that shapes reality (astral light) out of ideas (vibratory patterns), exists in a fundamental state of creativity as an evolutionary flow that moves spontaneously from one idea into another. No resistance or containing, simply a joyful expansion into new parts of itself that it comes to know for the first time in a fleeting moment of unfolding and enfolding.

 Spirit is always urging us to continue growing and expanding by returning our story to an evolving state of continuous growth and development. When we get stuck in redundant patterns and refuse to willingly move out of them through fear of not knowing who we are or if we’ll be okay, spirit is always gently prompting us to resolve patterns and reform into new ones. We often receive (are aware of) guidance at certain points, but are unwilling to utilize it or cling to the need to know how it will turn out before we’re willing to try, encountering first hand the very fears that limit us to those patterns that we consistently back-down to, each time, dying a little more, securing our prison wall formed of imaginary fears that only exist because of the power we give them in determining us. After denouncing creative ideas and refusing to act on them as the pathway to our destiny, we shut down communication, and resort to praying only in moments of desperation or mental anguish, and because we have become indifferent to the messages we receive as the answers that will require us to act powerfully in our own lives, we feel “no messages†are coming through, experience a form of disconnect, then imagine we’ve been abandoned by God. Usually, without ever realizing that it was us that first abandoned God and ourselves, all in the same act of choosing to ignore all the answers we don’t like, or that seem to difficult, and then resort to asking the same questions over and over, until we get an answer we want.

Guidance, both from above and self-directed, serve to program the subconscious by giving it a pattern as a potential reality to create out of that produces our life story and how we experience the events of our life. When our Higher Consciousness introduces a suggestion as a seeded reality into the subconscious, that’s realized by the self-conscious mind, which chooses to align itself to the idea of the Higher Will, forming a cohesive harmony by using it to tell new stories about things, wrapping our identity around it, dreams come true, life appears magical, and things naturally come about of their own volition. When we receive an idea that we feel is “in usâ€, engrained in us as a kind of imprint, the only thing that prevents it from coming to be, or makes it seem impossible or a struggle to do, is our own resistance to it. Our resistance comes by what we tell ourselves “about†it, about what it’ll mean, or about why we can’t do it, or because it conflicts with other areas of our life that we’d have to give up in order to move forward into it, and so on. By simply examining your own thoughts around an idea, you can see how or in what way you lack congruence and act in a roundabout way to counteract or sabotage the idea, and miss the opportunity to use it as a life-creation tool that its designed for.

All guidance is a form of self-guidance (Higher self), and all problems with utilizing our own guidance for ourselves is the struggle that takes place internally in response to our own thoughts being delivered from different perspectives. The Higher Self sees and is always working with the “big picture†and overall patterns that involve long-term outcomes produced by strategic intervention that benefit everyone involved; the subconscious mind is in the present moment and seeks only self-preservation; and the self-conscious mind is looking at the future from the perspective of the past and can only see what matches it, and is unwilling to consider anything that’s outside of its present scope and identity, and fears the idea of growth as having to encounter the unknown, requiring trust, faith, and believing that where you’re being led is where you really need to go and is what will provide you with the lessons you need to systematically overcome your perceived limitations as fear, insecurity, and uncertainty, and instead embrace your true potential as internal qualities still waiting to be born and actualized by way of the proper stimulation that only comes through real life events. The conscious mind sees itself “as†the body (ego), and changing its identity is perceived as a form a death. Spirit is always acting to facilitate our growth by overcoming our imagined limitations and habituated patterns of perception. It’s always urging us to break free from our own illusions that act to imprison us in a mundane reality of overwhelming self-imposed limitations born out of forgetting “who†we actually are. It urges us to step into a fearless state of self-propelled evolution, and create ourselves anew in every moment by tuning into the intuitive impressions constantly whispering to us, and merging with them becoming the means through which they express and using them to recreate ourselves by way of them.

Dr. Linda Gadbois

Transpersonal Psychologist, Integrative Mind-Body Medicine Consultant, and Spiritual Mentor