The Subliminal, the Subconscient, the Superconscient and the Circumconscient Forces That Impact Our Responses to Life

Our surface awareness is basically the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Most of what takes place in our being occurs outside of the range of our active exte
al perception of the senses and mental awareness. Even the interactions with the exte
al reality we experience represent only a small fraction of the input we are receiving from that exte
al reality. Our range of perception and understanding is limited on all sides within a very narrow framework; while forces factors and influences from outside this range wind up impacting us, we are simply blind to these forces and the ways in which they influence how we perceive, respond to and react to the world around us. Much of what actually moves us remains buried in subconscious memories, which can be triggered based on appropriate circumstances impinging upon us. It can be a sight, a scent, something we hear, or a location we visit that somehow triggers reactions that we had no clue were part of our being. We do not actually understand most of the impulsions that we nevertheless adopt as our own thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, concepts or directions.

Sri Aurobindo writes in his epic poem Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol:

“Only a little of us foresees its steps, Only a little has will and purposed pace. A vast subliminal is man’s measureless part, The dim subconscient is his cave
base.”

and “A portion of us lives in present Time, A secret mass in dim inconsciience gropes; Out of the inconscient and subliminal Arisen, we live in mind’s uncertain light And strive to know and master a dubious world Whose purpose and meaning are hidden from our sight. Above us dwells a superconscient god Hidden in the mystery of his own light; Around us is a vast of ignorance Lit by the uncertain ray of human mind, Below us sleeps the Inconscient dark and mute.” [Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol, Book Seven, Canto 2]

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch.
2 Hidden Forces Within, pg.28