This whole “identifying with consciousness” business is totally bizarre to me. I hate to come on with the self-help—but: consciousness is tiny! You are so much more than that! Please repeat to yourself 1,000 times—“I am not my conscious mind!” The idea that you are your consciousness is an illusion created by your ego—which thinks it is the most wonderful thing in the world—that everything revolves around it—and that it is you. If you get some perspective, you should be able to see what utter nonsense that is.
Sounds like an outside the box box. So I have a job interview tomorrow morning and my conscious mind is telling me to go to sleep early, but my unconscious keeps me up worrying and watching TV until midnight. Should I respect the secret wisdom of the unconscious mind that my deluded ego-self is keeping me from understanding, or should I shut up and figure out some way to get to sleep?
I like Buddhism. I meditate and I’m very interested in exploring the depths of my unconscious mind and possibly at some point dissolving my ego and achieving full awareness, whatever the heck that means. But the “unconscious” referred to in the original post is what’s telling the drunkard to get another shot of whiskey. I don’t think the Buddha would approve of that particular manifestation of it any more than anyone else, and all I’m saying is that this drunkard is justified in being against this desire, rather than thinking that since it’s their unconscious mind they have to accept it.
I feel like I already addressed such issues when I wrote: “We do not have to choose between these two theories.” Sometimes the conscious goals are best, and sometimes the unconscious ones are. You have given some examples of the former, but there are also examples of the latter.
Sounds like an outside the box box. So I have a job interview tomorrow morning and my conscious mind is telling me to go to sleep early, but my unconscious keeps me up worrying and watching TV until midnight. Should I respect the secret wisdom of the unconscious mind that my deluded ego-self is keeping me from understanding, or should I shut up and figure out some way to get to sleep?
I like Buddhism. I meditate and I’m very interested in exploring the depths of my unconscious mind and possibly at some point dissolving my ego and achieving full awareness, whatever the heck that means. But the “unconscious” referred to in the original post is what’s telling the drunkard to get another shot of whiskey. I don’t think the Buddha would approve of that particular manifestation of it any more than anyone else, and all I’m saying is that this drunkard is justified in being against this desire, rather than thinking that since it’s their unconscious mind they have to accept it.
I feel like I already addressed such issues when I wrote: “We do not have to choose between these two theories.” Sometimes the conscious goals are best, and sometimes the unconscious ones are. You have given some examples of the former, but there are also examples of the latter.
Sorry, long time ago and different section of the comments. I think with that clarified I mostly agree with you anyway.