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I like to picture my Unconscious as a kid with superpowers. Think Billy Mummy in the Twilight Zone. It loves to play and prank you and tease you and do creative stuff and always craves attention, but if you ever piss it off watch out!

Here's 4 aspects of the unconscious psyche:

"1. The other doesn't exist. The unconscious mind does not understand duality. In its world everything is interconnected. Therefore, even though, other people clearly exist to your conscious mind, for the unconscious mind they are just an extension of you. As a result, we don't perceive people as they really are.

Take someone like the president of the United States, for example. Some people will see a series of characteristics in him and others will see the exact opposite characteristics. Yet, he is sending out the same message to everyone. What people perceive in him is based on their own interpretation of the world, much of which is unconscious.

2. Everything is real. The unconscious mind cannot distinguish between real or imaginary events. Whatever you are thinking or seeing is real to the unconscious mind.

That is why scary movies will make you jump. Although to you it's just a movie, the unconscious mind perceives it as if it were really happening. So, your heart begins to pound and your entire nervous system is on alert.

3. It's timeless. The unconscious mind has no notion of past or future. It only knows of the present moment.

So in its reality, everything you are thinking of is happening right now and will elicit a response in your body. From a therapeutic point of view this is wonderful, because it means that with the right tools and training, one can help someone recall a difficult experience and allow them to experience it differently, in the present. As the unconscious mind is timeless, changes are permanent. This can produce a neurological shift and can even have a genetic impact.

4. It's innocent. Think of it as a child. It has no notion of good or bad. It doesn't judge either. It just processes the information it receives and acts upon it."

https://www.danniereeve.com/blog/mirror-...see-myself

(Nov 8, 2025 08:13 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ][...] 4. It's innocent. Think of it as a child. It has no notion of good or bad. It doesn't judge either. It just processes the information it receives and acts upon it."

https://www.danniereeve.com/blog/mirror-...see-myself

It's arguably more impersonal or like the cosmos at large, or even AI. Though preferences would actually still be found at work there. Intelligence fundamentally depends upon organized biases -- if there is no mechanical interest in choosing _X_ over _Y_, then the result is noise (true neutrality or absolute mindlessness).

Quote:It's arguably more impersonal or like the cosmos at large, or even AI.

Whenever I make an appeal to some all-containing benevolent intelligence I find myself oscillating between the Universe or Mother Earth. The Universe is certainly bigger and more powerful, but definitely more impersonal and likely less interested in my miniscule problems. With Mother Earth otoh there's a sense of kinship and being watched over as one of her offspring.

Quote:Though preferences would actually still be found at work there. Intelligence fundamentally depends upon organized biases -- if there is no mechanical interest in choosing _X_ over _Y_, then the result is noise (true neutrality or absolute mindlessness).

Like Hal in 2001, it probably has its protocols. "I can't do that Dave." But ultimately it would be all about the mission, whatever that may be on the particular starship we happen to find ourselves waking up on.