STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS & BEINGNESS
Western Tradition |
Eastern Tradition |
In the Western tradition such as what came from Freud there are three levels of consciousness, the conscious, pre-conscious and the unconscious.
The conscious deals with everyday functions like our feelings, memories or fantasies at any particular moment. The conscious is what we use when we are fully alert and aware of everything that is around us. The pre-conscious exists as a middle ground between the unconscious and the conscious. We have here our stored knowledge, past memories and other data that we can readily access and brought to our consciousness. The unconscious is a place in our mind that we store shameful experiences, sexual desires, fears, violent motives, repressed memories and other dark thoughts. Apart from this traditional model, there are other approaches and views on states of being or consciousness. |
The Eastern tradition knows a lot more detail when it comes to defining the mind and what it consists of. According to Sri Aurobindo the levels of consciousness which go beyond the human mind are the:
Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind, Overmind, and Supermind. Higher Mind is an intermediary between the truth-light above and the human mind. Illumined Mind is Spiritual light. Intuitive Mind possesses swift revelatory vision and luminous insight. The Overmind acts as an intermediary between Supermind and Intuitive Mind. Supermind contains the self-determining truths of Divine Consciousness. |
work in progress...
