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Surface conscious self and deep conscious self
It has become common knowledge since Freud‘s works that the human psyche is comprised of a conscious part and an unconscious part. While, by definition, the unconscious may not be directly investigated, the conscious part of the psyche can be explored and “worked on”. Bahram Elahi suggests that such “work” basically turns on the division that exists between the “surface conscious self” on the one hand, and the “deep conscious self” on the other.
The surface conscious self is the default state of consciousness. It is dominated by the pursuit of material gain and pleasures, worries, the fear of loss, or even aggressive and jealous impulses… It actually is a veiled state of consciousness, where the conscious self is reduced to the consciousness of a primate, lacking perspective and lucidity with regard to the ethical and spiritual dimension of life.
The deep conscious self on the other hand is accessible only through a specific effort of will. It is the mode of consciousness that activates itself within me when I set out to make an effort of spiritual introspection, when I compel myself to reflect on the ethical basis of my actions, thoughts and intentions, or when I force myself to step back from my immediate desires and impulses…
This online lecture provides an analysis of this division of the conscious self. The model which it presents should enable us to devise strategies to work on ourselves, with a view to reaching perfection.
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This work is offered under a Creative
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This podcast pretty much blew my mind on so many levels. the diagrams helped me visualize the concepts. The last part where the lecture was fast forwarded to review the material was also very helpful. This completely blew my mind and opened my eyes to the way I saw my id and imperious self. Now I am much more aware that my mode by default is surface consciousness and that I need to control it. I used to think that I had to eliminate my id altogether. I am now slowly realizing that I need to control it. Thank you! I feel like I have a clear understanding more than before.
Fantastic presentation! So comprehensible, sensible, straightforward, rational, and practical, and yet so concise! Thank you.
i am absolutely in love with the term default mode which perfectly explains our gravitation to spontaneous mode and the tremendous effort it requires to switch to willful mode… it’s like a magnet for god’s sake… how am i supposed to go against it… i am telling you it has CONTROL issues! also I don’t understand why the conscious self -the red thing, becomes small, around minute nine of the video, when the deep conscious takes over. i guess it only reflects the dominance of the celestial side at a given time and is not a representation of the whole conscious as you progress toward perfection? after all shouldn’t we become more intelligent as we progress? anyhow, thank you thank you thank you e-o for this amazing lecture!!!!!
This is an extremely well-made presentation–i think it will keep me busy for a few weeks as I reflect on each part of it. I think this forum will fill up with questions once I get my head around these amazing teachings! Thanks to the editorial board.
This presentation really helped me grasp the new concept of the self and become much more familiar with it. I wrote out the presentation and thought others may find it useful to keep the presentation in a written format for reference.
Surface conscious and deep conscious self:
The two modes of consciousness –
It has become common knowledge since Freud’s work that the human psyche is comprised of a conscious part and an unconscious part. We can go even further and say that for most people the unconscious part of their psyche is probably a lot larger than their conscious part. My unconscious part is of course not directly accessible to me precisely because I am not conscious of it. On the other hand, if I use my reason and introspection capacities properly I can gradually become conscious of the depths of my mind. I have the option of shrinking the realm of my unconscious to the benefit of my conscious self. Expanding the field of my conscious self in that way is part of the long process of self-knowledge. Anything we can undertake in terms of inner work depends on our willpower and therefore on the awareness we have on this willpower. If we want to actually work on our conscious self we need to have an operating model of this part of our psyche. Bahram Elahi put forward such a model in some recent works inspired by Ostad Elahi’s philosophy of the process of perfection. The purpose of such a model is to draw operating conclusions on how to carry out self-perfection in practice.
Ostad Elahi’s conception on the process of perfection:
According to him, the dynamic on the process of perfection rests upon the search for balance between the two opposite poles that constitute our psyche – the terrestrial part and the celestial part. The terrestrial part is responsible for our nature as primates, the way it manifests itself can be easily identified with the Freudian id. It is driven by the pleasure principle and the pursuit of immediate satisfaction, regardless of any ethical considerations. When let loose it results in a form of anti ethical/divine imbalance called imperious self. As a matter of fact one of the fundamental pillars for carrying out self perfection is to fight against the imperious self. A major aspect of this fight consists of striving to control the id. If there weren’t a celestial part within us, we would be mere primates. The celestial part designates our transcendent faculties such as reason free will or moral conscience.
In Bahram Elahi’s model, the tension between the two opposite poles of the self manifests in two modes of the subjective experience of consciousness. The surface conscious self and the deep conscious self. These two modes of consciousness are easily identifiable within us. The most immediately accessible mode is the surface conscious self, it corresponds to the state of consciousness in which I find myself by default, my thoughts are preoccupied by pursuits of pleasure, material desires, fear of loss, impulses of jealousy, aggression, and domination over others. In fact, the surface conscious self is a state of veiled consciousness; a state in which I lack perspective and clear-headedness with regards to ethical and spiritual dimension of my life. The surface conscious self actually corresponds to the reduction of my consciousness to that of an intelligent primate. This mode is favoured by the terrestrial part.
The other mode, which is accessible only through a specific effort of will, is the deep conscious self: it is the mode of consciousness that activates itself within me when I set out to make an effort of spiritual introspection, when I compel myself to reflect on the ethical basis of my actions, thoughts and intentions, or when I force myself to stand back from my immediate desires and impulses. Accordingly, the activation of our deep conscious self essentially depends on an act of will power that will go against the type of consciousness that is favoured by our primitive nature. This willpower which enables me to transcend my primitive nature is one of the characteristic faculties of my celestial part.
It should be noted that the deep conscious self is the fundamental mode of consciousness of the human soul. The new-borne child who’s mind has not yet been clouded by the solicitations of the material world lives exclusively within this mode. However, as it becomes soaked with the influences of the material world, it acquires a surface conscious self, which gradually becomes its natural state of consciousness.
Let us keep in mind this surface conscious self is only the part of our psyche that is usually accessible to our consciousness, the tip of the iceberg as it were; whereas, our psychological reality, depends largely on the balance or imbalance between the unconscious forces of the celestial and terrestrial parts of our psyche.
Now in practice how am I going to influence the balance between these two poles? Well, through the direction I give to my conscious self.
Now, let’s have a little marble represents this direction. If I don’t make any effort towards what is divine, the attractive swirls of the terrestrial pole will capture my thoughts, and my mind will feed itself solely on the impulses of the terrestrial part. As a consequence, my mind will darken and little by little my consciousness will become entirely dominated by the surface conscious self. In practice, this means that I will no longer hear the voices that push me towards what is good, that my moral conscience is on the wane, that I become insensitive, or even hostile to anything divine or ethical, and that my view of the world becomes fundamentally negative and pessimistic. I gradually lose touch with my humanity, as I fall under the domination of my primitive instincts.
Conversely, if in my mind, spiritual became equivalent to rejection of the terrestrial part, I will be going to extremes such as those referred to by Bahram Elahi within classical spirituality – then I will be devoting myself solely to mystical ascetic rituals, the mortification of the body and the exclusive exaltation of the celestial part. By doing this not only would I infringe the rights of my body, I also damage my work tool in this world, because according to our model, life in this world is a laboratory for the process of human perfections, because this primate body, which we are all endowed with is our equipment for successfully carrying out our experiments.
So according to Ostad Elahi, working towards ones perfection means putting in efforts to maintain the balance between the celestial part and the terrestrial part. Just like any balancing task, it is not an easy task. The impulses of the terrestrial part are numerous and powerful, it is therefore required to show willpower in order to make the deep conscious self prevail within oneself. Only on this condition is it possible to progress towards perfection.
In conclusion, we can say that our operational model presents two functioning modes of consciousness the surface conscious self and the deep conscious self. In order to understand the difference between these two modes, it is important to conduct introspection. For example at night reminding myself of my inner states during the day, I can ask myself have I had moments where I was clear headed and stepped back? Was I concerned by the ethical value of my actions intentions or thoughts? Or, was I constantly in a state of being dominated by my instinctive thoughts? Have I been useful to anyone or have I only acted to serve my own interests?
In general, those who undertake such introspection, realise that it is possible to spend entire days without once questioning the one’s thoughts or actions. In the vast majority of cases we cant see the forest through the trees, so to speak. We are in the spontaneous mode of the surface conscious self. In this mode our thoughts are monopolised by the satisfaction of our biological needs, such as eating, sleeping, having sex and the pursuit of psychological pleasures such as enjoying oneself, seducing others or getting more power. Now a mind dominated in this way by the surface conscious self can only serve the id or the primate that is in all of us. Driven only by an unquenchable thirst for pleasure, it no longer raises the issue of respecting others rights, it doesn’t even stop for a moment to stand back from itself and wonder about the reason for satisfying its material desires. A mind that functions in that manner suppresses the aspirations of its celestial part and represses its deep conscious self to the preconscious level.
The only way to get out of this state of neglecting our deep conscious self is by wilful action. In order to stop for a moment to think about my actions and thoughts, it is my duty to resort to my willpower and my freewill, to this faculty that allows me to transcend my primitive nature. Resorting to ones deep conscious self means questioning ones ethical and spiritual choices. Anytime I make the effort to examine the moral implications of my actions and thoughts; any time I worry about the rightfulness of my behaviour or wish to improve; anytime my aim becomes divine satisfaction rather the pursuit of material desires; I am in the mode of the deep conscious self. More generally, the deep conscious self it the mode of consciousness that corresponds to self-knowledge. Those who wonder who they are, what the meaning of their existence is, or what their duties are in this world, draw from the resources of their deep conscious self.
Thank-you for having transcribed the presentation. Very useful indeed. One of the sentences that really struck me was : “IN GENERAL, THOSE WHO UNDERTAKE SUCH INTROSPECTION, REALIZE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO SPEND ENTIRE DAYS WITHOUT ONCE QUESTIONING ONE’S THOUGHTS OR ACTIONS.“
In other words only “THOSE THAT UNDERTAKE SUCH INTROSPECTION” realize that they are often lead astray by their terrestrial component whereas those who do not, unfortunately live in the “SPONTANEOUS MODE OF THE SURFACE CONSCIOUS SELF. “ without even realizing it. Unless we make a “SPECIFIC EFFORT OF WILL” our “CONSCIOUSNESS IS REDUCED TO THAT OF AN INTELLIGENT PRIMATE”. Hence, when we lack motivation to go into deep consciousness mode we may pause a moment and tell ourselves that, if we do not make an effort to go into deep consciousness mode then the alternative is not very appealing: who would want to go into intelligent primate mode?
Now, referring to the surface conscious self we read that: “IN THIS MODE OUR THOUGHTS ARE MONOPOLIZED BY THE SATISFACTION OF OUR BIOLOGICAL NEEDS, SUCH AS EATING, SLEEPING, HAVING SEX AND THE PURSUIT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PLEASURES SUCH AS:
• ENJOYING ONESELF
• SEDUCING OTHERS
• GETTING MORE POWER. “
Also we read that in the surface conscious self “THOUGHTS ARE PREOCCUPIED BY PURSUITS OF PLEASURE, MATERIAL DESIRES, FEAR OF LOSS, IMPULSES OF JEALOUSY, AGGRESSION, AND DOMINATION OVER OTHERS.”
In my case, I have often found that the arguments of the terrestrial component that are the most convincing, always contain an element of fear: fear of losing materially. For instance, I will try to do my best at work, not to accomplish my duty towards the company that is paying my salary, but rather to please (seduce!!) my manager, in order to preserve my job, in other words out of fear of being made redundant.
Through the fear of material losses, the imperious self is always suggesting that I drop everything else and focus on my material priorities least I be faced with irreparable damage. Sometimes this pressure is so intense that it suggests that I focus entirely and exclusively on my material task to the point that it will not even allow me to have 5 minutes of attention to the Source. The interesting thing is that, if I completely give in to these arguments, I end up thinking with my surface conscious self which in turns leads me to underperform materially (as well as spiritually) because I am not clear-headed anymore (anxiety!). In other words, giving in to the arguments of the imperious self will tend to lead me to the very situation of material loss I was trying to avoid.
Hence, in an attempt to balance material and spiritual life, before making some choices, I have sometimes found it useful to mull over the following sentence: “Live your material life like you will live forever; live your spiritual life as though you will die tomorrow”.
Thank you Sepi for writing out this lecture, it was very helpful!
I feel that I am or try to be in this state constantly, not to say that I succeed, but that I try: “Anytime I make the effort to examine the moral implications of my actions and thoughts; any time I worry about the rightfulness of my behaviour or wish to improve; anytime my aim becomes divine satisfaction rather the pursuit of material desires; I am in the mode of the deep conscious self.”
Yet many times I can be as quoted:
“my view of the world becomes fundamentally negative and pessimistic. I gradually lose touch with my humanity, as I fall under the domination of my primitive instincts.”
So am I in a mode of deep conscious self or am I dominated by my primative instincts?
It would be really helpful to hear views on my question, thank you!
@Saga: Thank you for a very thought-provoking and interesting question. I think that because we are bi-dimensional beings, human beings tend to fluctuate between the modes of the deep conscious self and our primitive instincts. In this regard, we are very labile when it comes to emotions and consciousness, because both external influences and our internal powers (of reason) exert a significant effect upon our state of being.
If I may illustrate this with an example: when I am in a materialistic environment, such as a shopping mall or supermarket, I tend to operate on the level of my terrestrial self. My attention turns towards psychological and material pleasures (such as buying certain objects, clothes, food) that may look appealing but I might not necessarily need! This is not to say that I should deny myself such things outright, but if I were in the mode of the deep conscious self, I would “worry about the rightfulness of my behaviour, the moral implications of my actions and thoughts.” For instance, should I be spending this much money on a particular item and do I really need it?!
Conversely, let’s imagine that I am discussing ethics and spirituality with someone. Here, it is much easier to access this deep conscious self, because the external influence is acting upon my celestial part. However, it’s not realistic to think that we would always be encouraged or inspired to be in this mode, especially considering the everyday challenges of living and working in society. This is where our internal powers of reason are of importance, but in order to benefit from them, it requires an education of thought and the practice of spiritual introspection and correct ethics.
So it’s absolutely natural to find ourselves switching between these modes, because both exist simultaneously within the human psyché. Although self-knowledge is a very gradual process, making an effort towards controlling the impulses of our id (imperious self) will reveal its own material and spiritual benefits in everyday life.
Thanks a lot for posting this presentation, it’s very practical & interesting.
however, there’s one thing in the presentation that i didn’t really undrestand,
“A mind that functions in that manner suppresses the aspirations of its celestial part and represses its deep conscious self to the preconscious level.”
What does it mean? Can you elaborate it more…
How do we “draw” the green marble towards the celestial side?? Do we need to build up celestial particles/charges?? I know part of the answer is willpower, but how to we build up this willpower??
@ Nov :
my understanding is the following: pre-conscious is the area between conscious and unconscious. It is accessible but requires wilful efforts to be ungrabed. Somehow, such mind “buries” its deep conscious self close to unconscious by switching it off to the state of pre-conscious.
@Johnny: Thank you very much for your great examples!
@wire: In Medicine of the Soul by Dr. Bahram Elahi, p.61, it says: “Education of thought influences the quality of our intention, enables us to discern a correct intention, and helps us to purify our intention. Moreover, education of thought indicates the appropriate means for practicing any principle, as well as providing the willpower that drives us to take action.”
I will try to answer Nov’s question : “A MIND THAT FUNCTIONS IN THAT MANNER SUPPRESSES THE ASPIRATIONS OF ITS CELESTIAL PART AND REPRESSES ITS DEEP CONSCIOUS SELF TO THE PRECONSCIOUS LEVEL.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN? CAN YOU ELABORATE IT MORE…
I think it means that when we are “DRIVEN ONLY BY AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST FOR PLEASURE” AND THE MIND “NO LONGER RAISES THE ISSUE OF RESPECTING OTHERS RIGHTS, IT DOESN’T EVEN STOP FOR A MOMENT TO STAND BACK FROM ITSELF AND WONDER ABOUT THE REASON FOR SATISFYING ITS MATERIAL DESIRES.” In this state the deep conscious self along with the aspirations of the celestial part do not manifest anymore at the conscious psychological level, but remain at the unconscious psychological level. Since they are not part of our conscious psychological level, we begin behaving like primates because they are no longer play a role in our decision making.
(Hope it is a bit more clear)
I will try to answer wire’s question : HOW DO WE “DRAW” THE GREEN MARBLE TOWARDS THE CELESTIAL SIDE?? DO WE NEED TO BUILD UP CELESTIAL PARTICLES/CHARGES?? I KNOW PART OF THE ANSWER IS WILLPOWER, BUT HOW TO WE BUILD UP THIS WILLPOWER??
I think the purpose is not to draw the green marble towards the celestial side but rather to keep the green marble at the interface between the two sides. If I am not mistaken this is referred to as the middle way. In order to do this one should try to sincerely put into practice authentic divine ethical principles. By following His guidance, one’s actions and thoughts will slowly by, over time, align themselves on His wavelength and the person will find a balance between the rights of his body/soul, this world and the next world.
Regarding willpower – one needs to develop it by repeated daily exercises. For instance, restraining from excessive eating, getting up a little earlier to say a prayer, forcing oneself not waste too much time watching TV etc.. To develop will power, the best thing is to do some small regular daily exercise, repeatedly, over a period of time.
@ Sepi: Thanks for the transcript.
@ A. & al
Thanks for your explanation & comment on pre-conscious.
Thank you for this presentation and the transcript .