Overcoming the Influence of the Subconscient on the Physical Body

We understand that there is an electro-magnetic spectrum, ranging from very short wavelengths to extremely long wavelengths. We can visualize the color spectrum with a similar range. There is also a sound spectrum. In each instance of a vibrational spectrum, there is a range within which we can consciously perceive the energetic movement, and there are ranges, both above, and below our range of perception. Similarly, there is a spectrum of consciousness, with a range we can respond to, extending beyond our upper limits into what Sri Aurobindo calls the “superconscient” levels, and beyond our lower levels into the “subconscient levels”.

Naturally we are most likely to be impacted by and respond to the superconscient levels through the highest vibratory levels we normally experience, and similarly, it is our lowest vibratory levels of consciousness that are most directly in touch with and responsive to the subconscient levels.

It is the subconscient range therefore that most directly impacts the physical body. The body is prone to accept the recurrence of past habits, and this includes the habit of response to vectors (causes) of illnesses. The body remembers the experience it had when confronted with some specific illness in the past and easily falls into the habit of response. The most common repetitive acute illnesses, the ‘common cold’ for instance, represent such a habitual response.

This does not mean that the body must respond in this way. Through infiltration of the higher vibratory force of the upper ranges of consciousness, the individual is able to consciously observe and respond to these patterns arising from the subconscient and take steps to either reject them, or offset them with a different pattern. Much of this is simply overcoming the sense of fear that arises when one first begins to feel an oncoming illness or other disequilibrium. That fear represents a form of acceptance of that vibration. If the individual instead works to channel a higher force of harmony, perhaps through use of a medium such as a mantra, or some kind of herbal remedy as a medium of delivery of encouragement to resist the vibration, then the illness can actually be pushed back and prevented from taking hold of the body. The main issue, however it is done, is to let the higher force work and change the basic vibratory response of the being to the pressure from below.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “As there is a superconscient (something above our present consciousness) above the head from which the higher consciousness comes down into the body, so there is also a subconscient (something below our consciousness) below the feet. Matter is under the control of this power, because it is that out of which it has been created — that is why matter seems to us to be quite unconscious. The material body is very much under the influence of this power for the same reason; it is why we are not conscious of what is going on in the body, for the most part. The outer consciousness goes down into this subconscient when we are asleep, and so it becomes unaware of what is going on in us when we are asleep except for a few dreams. Many of these dreams rise up from the subconscient and are made up of old memories, impressions etc. put together in an incoherent way. For the subconscient receives impressions of all we do or experience in our lives and keeps these impressions in it, sending up often fragments of them in sleep. It is a very important part of the being, but we can do nothing much with it by the conscious will. It is the higher Force working in us that in its natural course will open the subconscient to itself and bring down into it its control and light.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of the Being, pg. 56