NOTE: If you are depressed and suicidal this article will most likely not be of much
help in that regard. What I present here are the theories I have formulated, which are
the basis for my articles on depression. My theories are unscientific and unsupported,
they are totally a product of my manic enabled insight. It is precisely this fact
which has made it impossible for me to interest a hard copy publisher in accepting
my work. Yet, through the magic of the internet, I am able to present my work for
free, amazing! Throughout this article you may notice that there is considerable emphasis on
negative emotions, fear, and pain. Yet, this is not a negative undertaking, as the
emotions of joy, pleasure, contentment, and love, are allowed free passage into our
conscious mind, only in the absence of extreme fear and pain. It is that prusuit
to which this paper is dedicated.

The conscious mind does not directly control the subconscious mind, yet through our conscious intellect we have the power to influence the subconscious in order to end our fears and our pain. If we can determine how the subconscious reacts to external stimuli and conscious thought, then we can think and do, that which is needed in order to influence the subconscious to react in the desired way. The conscious and subconscious minds communicate in a number of ways based on a hierarchy of emotional intensity. First in importance is anything which is actually a threat to our survival and is measured by the level of pain that we are experiencing. Physical pain takes precedence over all other functions when that pain indicates that our existence is threatened. Second in importance are those thoughts or events which our conscious mind determines as being a threat to our present or future existence. This is measured by the level of psychic pain and fear experienced, and is based on memories of past emotional trauma. If something was painful before, it will probably be painful when encountered again, if something is similar to that which caused us pain in the past, it is most likely also a threat. The order in the hierarchy of emotional intensity is determined by our genetic propensities, as added to and molded by, life experiences and our conscious mind's reaction to those experiences (our basic genetic "mood", and our personality).

There are three instances when the conscious mind and the subconscious mind directly communicate, although the conscious mind may not always be aware of why this is taking place. First, is when the conscious mind initially assigns the intensity of emotion which is to be associated with all of life's experiences, this includes emotional experiences and intellectual experiences. "I hate that, I love him or her, that doesn't matter, I fear them", and even motivation to learn, are all thoughts which are indexed emotionally. This indexing is the basis, or starting point, for memory retrieval and also becomes the first step toward assignment of responses the subconscious will use when these stimuli are encountered in the future. Next, there is communication when the subconscious mind sends an automatic thought into the conscious in order for the conscious mind to reassess the situation. This automatic thought is presented to the conscious mind because of unresolved emotion attached to the subject matter. The subconscious might be saying, "look you told me that your boss was giving you fits and I assigned what I thought was the appropriate amount of adrenalin and other hormones so that you could deal with the situation, so what is the deal, should I increase the dosage or not?" But, the communication is not that direct, the conscious mind cannot tell the subconscious what to do, it can only, either reinforce the emotional thought, or not! If the thought is negative and the conscious mind worries about it, the emotional thought is reinforced. If the conscious intellect tries to solve the problem and fails, the negative emotional thought is also reinforced. Of course if the conscious intellect solves the problem, the negative emotional thought is not reinforced and it is not brought to the conscious as often or with as much emotional intensity. The subject matter will then be stored in the memory with a high level of emotional importance attached to it, in case it is needed at a later date.

DREAMING
The third incidence where the conscious mind and the subconscious communicate, or at least the conscious is aware of the subconscious, is during that brief window of time when we are allowed to remember dreams. Humans have never really understood dreams or why they happen because our conscious mind does not understand the language of subconscious "dream speak", and cannot directly interpret the dream that is remembered. Most look for the meaning of a remembered dream, yet I look at "dream work" as a necessary process which incorporates all the days input, (exterior stimuli and conscious thought), based on a hierarchy of emotional importance, into the appropriate areas of the mind. The amount of input into this system during the day is enormous and complex, it is stored in a short term memory bank in order for the subconscious to process it at night during the different stages of the dream sequence, i.e. REM and Non-REM sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and Non-REM sleep alternate approximately four times during the night. Each successive REM period is a deeper sleep then the last. The Non-REM phase is a period of accumulation of input which has been stored in the short term memory bank during the day, where the external stimuli and assignment of emotional importance from the conscious mind is presented to the subconscious in order for the subconscious to assign the appropriate hormonal responses. The more animate first stages of REM sleep is a reenactment of the days events where the subconscious acts out and coordinates, patterned and reactionary physical activities, with remembered emotional responses. Such as the response, both physical and emotional, to being hit by someone, or the workout of an athlete and their emotional motivation to improve. During the less animate deeper phases of REM sleep our basic emotional constructs (1) are added to and refined.

A construct is the sum accumulation of all experiences, to date, and they are separated into emotional categories such as love, hate, intellect(motivation), anger, etc. Certainly there is much overlapping within these emotional categories, where our construct of love might be weighted by either pleasant or unpleasant experiences while growing up. The sum of these constructs comprise our personality, how we act and react to the world around us. A construct can be looked at as if it were a number of transparencies, each transparency represents a different emotional life experience. In humans these transparencies are mostly visual, although all of our senses have input. If these transparencies are laid one upon the other, then held to a back light, the image becomes a composite of all past emotional experiences, with the stronger emotional experiences gaining more prominence. The sum of these constructs, over time, becomes much more than each experience alone. This composite allows us to not only react to stimuli we have encountered previously, but to anticipate what reaction is needed when newly encountered stimuli is presented. Hence our ability to eventually conceptualize and abstract the future.

WHAT DO WE DREAM?
The remembered dream will depend on which phase of REM or Non-REM sleep we are experiencing when first we wake. If we are in Non-REM input sleep our dream will be of the days events. In a more animate first level REM sleep we would have more emotional and physical dreams concerning the days events. If a traumatic event happened during the day or if a past traumatic memory was triggered during the day, our remembered dream may be a nightmare. If we wake during a deeper REM phase that is working on a construct, then the remembered dream will have a more symbolic and surreal quality, where what is remembered are father figure or mother figure types, or maybe we dream of devils or of angels. Also there may be a sort of free association during dreaming, somewhat like an adolescent day dreaming, where the remembered dream is of flying or falling, of things to come, or of fears, or love.

WHY DO WE DREAM?
The evolution to a higher order in a species has always been relatively rapid and has been the result of stress. Throughout the eons this stress has been induced by a transformation from a stable environment to an extremely unstable, rapidly changing environment. The dinosaurs roamed the earth for millions of years and they were able to adapt as long as the environment was relatively stable. They mutated into thousands of sometimes grotesque forms, which allowed them to survive when faced with competition for food sources, or newly evolved predators. The dinosaurs ultimately did not survive as a result of two determinants. One, the means to adapt was generational, in that, from many random mutations one would finally arise which would help that particular species better adapt to a changing environment. But, in a rapidly changing environment the dinosaur could not adapt their behaviors, eating habits, and their immune systems rapidly enough to survive. A rapidly changing environment might include new strains of bacteria or virus, drastic changes of weather and climate, continental shifts, or maybe even a meteor or comet collision. The second reason the dinosaurs did not survive was because they did not protect their young. The egg was laid and abandoned, even if a protective nest was prepared they survived by chance. In a rapidly changing environment the chance of survival is greatly decreased.

The marsupial and eventually the mammal, on the other hand, survived because they kept their young with them, if the mother was able to survive so would the young. Secondly, the mother had a better chance to survive because the mammal was no longer dependent on generational changes in genetic behavior to adapt. The mother could now adapt during her life time, as she was able to react to stimuli, not only by means of genetic behaviors, but now also by behaviors she had learned after birth. This adding to and refining of genetic propensities was facilitated by the process we call dreaming. Genetic behaviors were no longer enough in order to survive, the evolving animal needed feedback from the rapidly changing world so that they could survive. Dream work is centered in the pons, those primitive brain areas nestled on both sides of the upper part of the medulla oblongata, the basic brain common to all reptiles and mammals.

We dream in order that we may add, all accumulated life experiences and our conscious reactions to those experiences, to our genetic constructs. The constructs formed allow us to automatically react in different situations, and they allow us to anticipate future encounters.

WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF DREAM WORK?
The basic constructs through which we filter all encountered stimuli and conscious thought, are genetically inherited and then added to and modified during REM and Non-REM sleep at night. The emotional constructs formed during dream work become part of the limbic system, that more primitive part of the cerebral cortex, through which all external stimuli and conscious thought is filtered before being assigned to the higher levels of the brain, and to our more basic brain for the appropriate chemical responses. The entire process of sleep and dreaming, ie. initial loss of consciousness, retrieval of emotionally indexed data from short term memory, assignment of the appropriate hormones for both physical and emotional responses by the hypothalamus, adding to basic emotional constructs in the limbic system, adding to the constructs of intellect in the cerebral cortex, adding to the social and moral constructs in the frontal lobes, and finally waking, is entirely orchestrated by the thalamus. (That area of brain associated with our affect, or state of contentment and well-being.)

Genetic constructs are not as visually oriented as are the emotional constructs, although some people who profess past life experiences may argue my point. Genetic constructs are organized by means of synaptic logic patterns and help arrange, categorize, and guide the formulation of our emotional, intellectual, and social constructs. We humans inherit differing abilities of basic syntax for language skills, differing emotional temperaments, differing geometric and patterning logic for math and music skills, differing awareness of form and space relationships for art and building skills, differing athletic abilities, and differing propensities for mental and physical, health or sickness. Shortly after birth we spend a lot of time sleeping and dreaming. We are beginning to respond to the nurturing our mother gives us and soon begin to form the constructs of emotion based on our interactions with family, friends, and society. Most of our emotional constructs are formed by the time we reach the age of seven. We continue to form social, moral, and intellect constructs until the age of puberty when our hormones begin to integrate our sexual identity into all constructs. We add to and refine all of our constructs nightly for the rest of our lives, as we dream. There are few changes in our basic constructs for the rest of our lives, unless we are subjected to extreme trauma or if a later life genetic abnormality is triggered, such as depression.

The absence of a normal dream cycle and the relationship of genetic skills can readily be seen when we look at autistic individuals who are very talented in one specific area. Some autistic people are extremely talented in either music, math, or art. It is obvious that they have inherited a genetic ability, as their minds recognize the logic, space and form relationships, or patterning necessary to perform these feats. Yet, because of a malfunction in something during their dream work, they are unable to form complete and workable emotional and social constructs. They are unable to associate what happens to them with an emotion. Their personal and social relationships are incomplete, and they are not connected with the outside world.

WHAT IS AN EMOTION?
Our body and mind respond to stimuli in a range which can be as simple as genetic autonomic reactions which control our basic body functions, to as complex as abstracting the future. Within this range of responses there are certain responses from which the subconscious needs feedback if it is to react appropriately in a complex environment. The conscious mind then is the conduit between the subconscious and the outside world. The conscious is made aware of those mixes of hormones for which the subconscious needs feedback, such as pain for basic survival, love for procreation, etc. The differing mixes of hormones is vast, as is our range of emotional response. Thus, the conscious and the subconscious communicate through these mixes of hormones, or emotions. The amount of feedback from the outside world which the subconscious needs in order to respond appropriately in a increasingly complex environment, determines the degree of consciousness needed in order to supply that feedback.

CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness then, is a matter of degree. The degree of consciousness in all animals might be illustrated by using the appropriate pronoun which best describes, the interaction of the animal and its environment. The most primitive forms of life such as the protozoans differentiate by "it", where if "it" gives pain they recoil, if "it" does not give pain, they remain. Next, the reptilian would continue to be a genetically programed recognition of "that" based on sound, smell, color, and shape. If "that" has the shape of something which has eaten a lot of us in the past, "that" must be a predator, if "that" smells bad it must be a rival, or if "that" smells bad but has colorful lips, it must be a mate. First awarness in the mammal could be termed "us" as differentiated from "them", giving rise to the rediments of consciousness. The conscious must be made more aware if it is to differentiate between "us and them". As more feedback is needed by the subconscious in order to deal with a more complex and ever changing environment consciousness is heightened and "ours" and "theirs" begins defining possession. Therein begins the behavior of defining territories, packs within species, and primitive social interaction.

Some primates and early humans could differentiate as to "mine, yours, and theirs", giving rise to the communal family unit, and in early humans the beginnings of the conscious realization that they were somehow different from others. Sometime after the transition between the Neanderthals and the CroMagnon, consciousness heightened and constructs had become complex enough so that these early humans could envision that there was a tomorrow, that the future exists. The Neanderthals probably did not have complete awareness of the future. They did not plan for tomorrow by storing food for the coming winter. Most importantly they had not formulated the concept of the preemptive strike in warfare, they were reactionary. This incomplete grasp of the future insured that they would not survive to be part of that future. Certainly an anthropologist would be able to better relate the time periods of human behavior as related to the degree of consciousness. Each emerging new behavior throughout history after the Neanderthals would give evidence of a corresponding heightening of consciousness.

The first truly human emotion was most likely that of personal fear. Animals are genetically programed to be cautious, aware of possible predators in the area. But humans, for the first time could now bring to the conscious mind, thoughts of dangers that were not presently in the area. They were fearful of that which they could not control and that which they did not understand. This newly perceived consciousness of fear for ones personal safety and well being can be evidenced by a host of new behaviors. Paganism was a search for help in dealing with this new found fear, humans knew they were not in control of their environment and looked for control of the feared and unknown from an outside source, they sought powers greater than they could find within themselves. They needed help to insure that the sun would continue to warm their days and that it would return in the morning, and that its heat would again warm the earth after a long winter. Along with this new found awareness of personel fear came the capacity for personal love, love of one mate and an obligation to protect the individual family unit whose little ones seemed to need a longer time to learn the skills needed to compete in this more complex environment.

And God created the heavens and the earth, some twelve thousand years ago. Or at least, some twelve thousand years ago God allowed man to be consciously and fully aware of that which God had previously created.

"I" am. "I" exist. "I" am fearful. If "I" am, I must have a past. If "I" exist, I must continue into the future. "I" need help. I see death all around me, is that all there is? Our genetic constructs, by now had a long and rich history to pass on to us, our emotional constructs were taking up to five years in order for our young to immolate the behaviors our parents would teach us, and our constructs of intellect now had our entire lifetime in which to absorb the wisdom of the world around us. But, with each new awareness there would also be a corresponding fear, "I" am now completely aware of all I can see, I know I had a past, I know of a future, yet I still do not understand all of this, and I am not sure that I am in control of my emotions and know I cannot control my environment. Still I need help, to define my past, help to control my existence, and assurance that the cold, lifeless body of my elderly loved one lying before me is not the only end to which I can look forward. I pray to God, and hope there is a heaven!

Whereas previously, rapid evolution to a new order in a species was the result of increased stress caused by environmental changes, in the last twelve thousand years we have seen rapid and monumental changes in humans, yet the environment has been very stable since the last ice age. Increasingly, as humans have evolved, the stress which has been the driving force behind this evolution, has been self generated and less the result of environmental changes. Mans intellect has allowed him to manipulate his social structure and environment to a point that the stress which induces strides in evolution, is man made.

With each new "age of man", at each new beginning of the rise of a civilization, we witness a vitality, an enthusiasm, sometimes even a renaissance. Our social interactions become more complex, we devise better ways to feed ourselves, we accumulate wealth, and amass power. We see new inventions, and always better and more proficient weapons of war. This may last for centuries, but sooner or later the vitality and enthusiasm wain, usually as the result of the aftermath of war, or famine, or plague. We invite famine, and disease, and we end with societies that are weak, decadent, and immoral. The conscious mind can no longer give valid feedback to the subconscious, our intellect has outstripped the subconscious ability to cope. The subconscious begins to administer a protective depression on individuals, and as a result the entire society takes on a generalized depressed state. We stress our social systems and personal lives to a point that our collective subconscious becomes aware that a change is needed. At this point the females of society begin to take on a new vitality, a new focus, and a change comes over them collectively. This change eventually ends in the newborn, over time, with a slightly changed DNA. The results are a slightly increased capacity of consciousness, hence a corresponding capacity for intellect, genetic constructs pass along a little more information, and there is a slight change in the reproductive process of females. With this new awareness, and capacity for intellect, the males then set about to devise new ways to use this gift of intellect. They invent new weapons of war, run off to discover new continents, new worlds. They look for answers to their problems perhaps on different planets, answers that are usually much too close to home, for them to clearly see. And the cycle continues!

Consciousness precedes intellect! Induced by stress, a process unique to females is triggered. The newborn will have a slightly increased capacity to form more complex constructs, there is a fine tunning of the mix of hormones the conscious becomes aware of, making emotions more complex. The structure of the brain is added to in order to store and process this increased capacity, and the amount of time it takes for our young to form their basic constructs after birth is increased. What in reality has happened is the conscious is made more aware, so that it can learn more, giving the subconscious more feedback in order to properly respond to a more complex environment. Therefore, intellect is a consequence of increased awarness, an effect of heightened consciousness, it is a gift!

Intellect does not beget intelligence, or wisdon for that matter. If it were otherwise we would not have spent the last twelve thousand years devising better ways to kill each other. We would not have used the last one hundred years to defile our environment, or exterminate our brothers and sisters of the animal world. If intellect beget intelligence and wisdom, we would not be placing our hopes on a coming artificial intelligence to bail us out of our turmoil. We would know that we have misunderstood and misused our God given intellect and that we will also, most likely misuse this new technology. If intellect beget intelligence, we would no longer be bound to a reactionary society, we would have become a visionary, preventative society. If intellect beget wisdom, our elderly would become mentor of our young, our rich philanthropist to the needy, our government mediator in regards to our best interest, and our young instilled with a positive vision of their future. Our intellect has been a gift, a gift that we have terribly misused!

The awareness of the individual as a separate entity, distinct from all other forms was announced with the realization of "I", where "I" is a formal discovery of self as differentiated from all others. For the past two thousand years our consciousness has been evolving to a more personal realization of "me". Our governments have gravitated toward granting individual rights, and we have become preoccupied with the accumulation of personal possessions, personal pride, and personal pleasure. But, as humans are apt to do, we have begun to overdo the importance of "me" to the detriment of the individual family unit, and to the point that individual rights have begun to take precedence over the good of society.

Now we come to the final stage in consciousness, that to which we are currently in the process of evolving, the realization of "we". The awareness that all of human kind, all living things, and our environment are all interconnected and dependent on one another. If humans harm themselves or if they harm any in these interconnected relationships, then humankind is itself diminished. True consciousness is a realization that if "we" are to survive then "they" must also.

Note:
I got a little ahead of myself in this article, I need to tie this all together and talk a little more about how this effects our mind and what control we have. I will do that in my next article titled, "The Flash of Anger and the Flush of Despair."

Also you might have noticed that my theories are not consistant with Darwin's principles as outlined in the book "Origin of Species" and I will be explaining that in "The Evolution of Consciousness and Intellect", or some such title.

References:
(1) Kelly, G.A. The Psychology of Personal Constructs(2 vols.) New York: Norton, 1955
My personal theory may have little more in common with that of Kelly than
the use of the word "construct". Although I do agree with his assumption
that our behavior is directed toward the compelling goal of anticipating
the future.

steveb@frii.com

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