Snow & the subconscious

[annwfyn]

I'm sitting in London watching the snow fall. A bit of me thinks the snow is wonderful. It is soft, it is white, it looks beautiful when it settles.

A bit of me is watching it with dread.

I'm meant to be leaving in about an hour to drive to Oxford to hand an essay in, and then this evening the plan is to drive up to Birmingham for riksowden's birthday and then ksirafai and I are meant to be driving back to London for the rest of the weekend. I've driven in snow before. I know it's evil.

I'm also in an odd and comtemplative mood today. I'm pondering a lot of things, which don't really even make sense in my brain yet. Does the subconsious really exist? Is it possible to do something for reasons that on no conscious level you are aware? Or is the subconscious just a word we use to describe the bit of our brain which we don't always admit to?

I've been pondering that since yesterday.

Ach. I may try and think about such things less and about Byzantine ivory more.

Comments

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders
What the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of

OK, quoting TMBG lyrics isn't helpful as such, but...

I'd say, ' a bit from column A, a bit from column B'. You can generally track down your subconscious motivations for something, if you realise they're there, and if you actually want to.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

*peers inside own head*

I think I'd tend to agree. I tend to think people are smarter than they give themselves credit for, and I think if they want to be honest with themselves then they normally can track down what is actually happening. I'm not very convinced by the existence of a subconscious which contains such peculiarities as an oedipal complex, or a desire to wear purple because it was the colour your nanny once wore.

I mostly don't think there is a bit of my brain which I can't see if I look properly at.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

And I suppose that leads me on to something else - to what extent is it possible to lie to oneself, which I suppose is a part of what a subconscious is all about. I can see how it is possible to deceive yourself horribly about external things - god knows I'm quite capable of convincing myself anything from 'I can do this drive in half an hour' to 'I think what X really meant was...' - I'm wondering about whether it is possible to genuinely say 'I didn't do [insert action here] for [insert motivation here]', be lying, but realise it yourself.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

The london snow wil be gone in a few hours.

I think there is a subconscious, but most of what we refer to as the subconscious is really the "don't wanna admit I'm that filthy/stupid/selfish/weird" bits of our conscious.

[melsner.livejournal.com]

I'm not very convinced by the existence of a subconscious which contains such peculiarities as an oedipal complex,

There's no such thing as an oedipal complex?

To be an utter geek, I've seen evidence of subconscious through roleplay... "Why did I just do that in-character? oh god, when I go back and read my character's history, that makes utter sense. Weird." To be slightly less geeky, I've had it pop up in writing.

I also see evidence of subconscious when I wake up without an alarm clock on days I have something to look forward to, and can't wake up on days I don't.

My brain is a lot like my room. Utterly messy and I'm sometimes surprised by what I find in it, because I forgot it was there.

I'm also prone to long monologues while holding the skulls of dead loved ones.

[soullessflyer.livejournal.com]

Is there a subconscious?
Yes I think so. I have too many impressions, feelings, instincts that I cannot explain and put down to my subconscious. I've often had feelings about a subject I cannot explain to myself let alone anyone else, it's compelling enough for me to believe in the subconscious.

If it's not that then I must share my mind wiht another entity - which sounds less odd?

You think about the oddest of things at times - giving me a cuase to look at things in a different light. This is a good thing, I think. :o)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I spend too much time in libraries. It allows for thinking time. My brain also tends to overrun on occasion. I don't think anyone has ever asked me what I'm thinking and had me honestly answer 'nothing'. It's almost always _something_, normally a couple of different things being processed through again and again.

[soullessflyer.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I like about you. You actually think about the world around you. Granted you sometimes worry a little too much about smaller things, but that's part of what makes you human, so I wouldn't say that's a bad thing really.

I'm always thinking about things, often when working on some art work part of my brain is off mulling half a dozen things over. Sometimes I think my brain is a super computer capable of processing trillions of things every second. Other times I just think I'm quite mad! :oD

[omentide.livejournal.com]

There are layers and layers and levels and levels of self. I'm wary of sticking labels on them and suspect you are not looking for a treatise on 'What magick is and how to make it work'.

There are bits of self, bits of brain which do not talk logical, analytical language and which, therefore, are not susceptible to being understood in that way.

Does one, for instance, suddenly 'decide' to be hungry (we can decide when and what to eat, we can decide to suppress hunger - push it down to subconscious or even unconscioius levels - but we can't make a conscious decision to be hungry). Can one, for instance, suddenly 'manufacture' sexual desire?

Needs, desires, things willed, even concepts slip up and down through various levels of consciousness. To an extent, one can learn to control how they slip and slide. That's method.

So, I could not believe in a 'subconscious' with set contents. I would definitely believe in (and argue for the necessity) of a 'subconscious' level of motivation which, with suitable effort, could be accessed.

Maybe I mean these 'levels' are less like a map (the subconscious being an island on which is written 'here be dragons') and more like actual territory through which things can move. And be moved.

I think (though I am less certain of this) that there is a very deep level on which everything is intimately connected to everything else. A level of consciousness which is extremely difficult to access. But sometimes, sometimes even without meaning to, we go there.

Sorry. I suspect you were not requesting my paradigm....

[mouflonmatt.livejournal.com]

Hello again sweetie. Not alot to say except I missed your ID changing and have missed you. Let me know if you are anywhere near here, it's been too long.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I'm down Oxford way at the moment, but would love to meet up again soon. You still in Brum or elsewhere these days?