Texas Gulf Coast Register (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, September 29, 1967 Page: 5 of 8
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Your Subconscious World
By Hugh P. O’Neill, S.J.
University of Detroit Professor
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the con-
cluding article by this distinguished
counsellor on the quest for personal
values. In the previous article he dis-
cussed true values and secondary
values.)
Most good people have an instinctive
appreciation of true value as previously
defined, but many of them allow their
concept of value to he tinged or alloyed
by an admixture of false values, based on
power, wealth, brilliance, independence,
etc.
It is hard to resist the influence of the
atmosphere in which we live.
This atmosphere steals its way into
our inner selves, and it implants in our
hearts secret ambitions and desires of
which we are not at all aware.
This set of secret ambitions and de-
sires make up part of the content of what
is known as the subconscious mind.
SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
We cannot take time here to discuss
fully the nature and operations of the
subconscious mind, but a very brief ex-
planation may suffice.
The subconscious mind is responsible
for all the actions that we perform when
we are "not thinking,” that is, when we
act in a state of absentmindedness, or
under the influence of impulse.
Sometimes people ask us why we are
so gloomy or so cheerful, so anxious or so
belligerent. We are really quite surprised.
We are not aware that we were parti-
cularly gloomy or cheerful; and if we
were to become conscious of such moods,
we would not be able to assign any defi-
nite reason for their presence.
SUBCONSCIOUS AT WORK
We can be sure, however, that our
subconscious minds have been at work
and have been giving special coloring to
our voices, our facial expression, or our
general demeanor.
The strange thing is that often others
are able to read our subconscious minds
while we ourselves are definitely in the
dark.
Perhaps we come closest to getting a
look into our subconscious minds when
we catch ourselves in the middle of a
daydream.
OUR DAYDREAMS
Most of us pay little attention to the
contents of our daydreams, but when we
do reflect upon them, we are surprised
and sometimes ashamed to find such
ideas in our heads.
Where do these ideas come from? They
come from our subconscious minds, and
are expressions of our secret desires for
glory, wealth, pleasure, popularity, sym-
pathy, or independence.
These desires are like little mice that
come out to play when the house is quiet,
but just as soon as we begin to pay at-
tention to them, they scurry back into
the darkness of the subconscious.
INNER YOU
In the subconscious mind of each one
of us, there dwells a more or less glamo-
rous fictitious counterpart of the real self.
This secret fanciful image represents
the kind of person that we would like to
be. Often enough it represents the kind
of person we feel we must become if life
is to have afty meaning for us.
In addition to a few much cherished
traits of the real self, this idealized im-
age is made up of a host of dazzling
qualities that have particularly appealed
to us in people whom we have met in
real life or in the pages of history or fic-
tion.
BEGINS IN CHILDHOOD
The origin of this idealized image
usually dates back to childhood, when
imagination is vivid and nothing seems
impossible.
Children who are handicapped by
poverty or ill health or other real or sup-
posed hardships, such as neglect or exces-
sive severity on the part of the parents,
are especially prone to compensate for
their unhappy lot by promising them-
selves great things in the future.
This is not really a bad thing for them
to do. provided that as the years go by.
this exaggerated image is gradually
trimmed down to size and does not re-
main too much at variance with natural
ability and opportunity.
YOU MUST DISTINGUISH
Tins trimming* down process usually
takes place automatically but sometimes,
a young person, without realizing what
he is doing, becomes so attached to his
idealized image that he fails to distin-
guish between his real and hie imaginarv
self.
Such a person fails to grow up emo-
tionally; he is always dissatisfied with
what real life has to offer him; he cannot
throw himself wholeheartedly into any
kind of work.
The end result may be frustration,
unhappiness, and even mental illness.
DAYDREAMS
When a young person begins to face
the problem of choosing his lifework, he
is apt to he influenced by suggestions
made by his subconscious image.
He may tend to add an astounding
amount of glamour to the picture that he
paints for himself of his success as a
lawyer scientist, engineer, or artist. If
the idealized self has really been at work,
difficulties will soon arise.
As soon as the young man has taken
the first practical step in committing
himself to a definite career, something
will seem to tell him that he cannot hope
for success in that career.
A ROADBLOCK
He will begin to hesitate, to explore
da\dreaming nr in trilling occupation.-
He may pull himself together now and
then, but such efforts will be shortlived.
At this stage expert counselling could
probably save him. but he does not think
that he needs that kind of help. Even-
tually he will become thoroughly dispirit-
ed and give up.
DOESN’T KNOW CAUSE
It is important to know that such a
person has little or no idea of the real
cause of his discouragement.
He may blame circumstances: he may
accuse others of not cooperating, with
him: he may claim that he has no talent
for such work, that his health is poor,
that his parents need his financial assist-
ance and that lie should get a job, etc.
He is not at all aware that his subcon-
scious image has set him a goal which is
utterly beyond his reach, and toward
which it is futile to strive.
IDEALIZED IMAGE
In order to understand the damage
that can he caused by the idealized im-
age. we must know that this image is
sometimes as strongly supported by the
instinct of self-preservation as if it were
the real image, the real self.
When the hard facts of life threaten to
overwhelm and crush the idealized self,
the instinct of self-preservation is aroused
and with it the emotion of fear. This bas-
ic fear, which is also hidden in the sub-
conscious mind, is often the cause of the
mysterious apprehensions, the inability to
concentrate, the chronic state of fatigue,
the terrifying impulses which we some-
times notice in ourselves without being
able to explain them. This same fear may
also be the cause of nausea, the head-
aches. the heart palpitations, and other
pin sical symptoms that make life so
miserable for so many maladjusted peo-
ple.
Whenever we experience these or simi-
lar mysterious symptoms we should sus-
pect they may he produced by the life-
and-death struggle that is going on with-
in the subconscious mind, a struggle in
which the instinct of self-preservation is
trying to protect the idealized image from
the onslaughts of reality. If we could only
convince ourselves that the idealized
image is a fraud, and is utterly unde-
serving of being protected, and if. on the
other hand, we could realize that our
actual self with its true value is not
being seriously threatened by the world
of reality, we would he in a position to
regain our peace of soul, our clearness of
vision, and our self-confidence.
Most adolescents, at some time or an-
other. have to contend with the fantastic
demands of the idealized image. This is
often only a stage in the process of grow-
ing up. During this time it is highly de-
sirable that the young man or woman
have some prudent adviser, gifted with
insight and sympathy, who will help him
or her detect the subversive activities of
the imaginary self, who will show them
how they must adjust their ambitions to
their abilities and opportunities, and
thereby become useful and valued mem-
bers of society.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Reprints of this se-
ries, "Who Are You? The Concept of Per-
sonal Values,” are available, at cost, from
Hugh P. O’Neill, S.J., University of Detroit,
Detroit. Mich. 48221. Checks' should be
made payable to the University of Detroit.
$.‘1.75 per 50 (minimum order), postage pre-
paid.)
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Gough, William. Texas Gulf Coast Register (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, September 29, 1967, newspaper, September 29, 1967; Denver, Colorado. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth833711/m1/5/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .