19 Dec Applied Psychology: The Dynamics of the Subconscious

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Commentary on Applied Psychology: The Dynamics of the Subconscious

The writer of Applied Psychology embarks on a methodical exploration of the human mind, particularly the subconscious, positioning it as a scientifically grounded yet profoundly dynamic element of human experience. His primary aim is to bridge the gap between scientific inquiry and practical utility, offering readers a structured understanding of the subconscious as both a reservoir of past experiences and a source of untapped potential. This focus on utility makes the work not only an intellectual endeavor but also a manual for personal growth and achievement.

While the writer presents his arguments within a scientific framework, he does not discount the possibility of a spiritual dimension to the subconscious. He acknowledges that the subconscious may serve as an instrument of communion with the divine, a channel for deeper connection with a higher power or God. However, he emphasizes that such interpretations cannot be verified scientifically and are therefore beyond the scope of his practical exploration. This measured approach allows the work to resonate with both those who hold spiritual beliefs and those who do not, reflecting a balance between empirical reasoning and spiritual openness.

In terms of practical application, the book provides readers with actionable insights into harnessing the subconscious mind for success and self-improvement. By focusing attention on desired outcomes, replacing limiting beliefs, and consciously directing the subconscious, individuals can align their thoughts and actions with their goals. The writer’s emphasis on the subconscious as a vast reservoir of emotional energy and latent ideas underscores its central role in shaping behavior and achieving personal transformation.

Ultimately, Applied Psychology offers a compelling synthesis of science, philosophy, and practical psychology. It invites readers to view the subconscious not only as a scientific phenomenon but also as a profound aspect of human potential, capable of bridging the material and the spiritual, the seen and the unseen. The work serves as both a guide for individual empowerment and a thought-provoking reflection on the intersection of mind, science, and the divine.

Mind Mechanism by Warren Hilton

CONTENTS

Chapter

I. MAN’S DYNAMIC POWER

  • A Dawning Concept ……………………………………. 3
  • The Twentieth Century “New World” ……………… 4
  • The Fetich of the “New Thought” ………………….. 5
  • The Clamor of Transition ……………………………. 7

II. CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF SCIENCE

  • Test of the Truly Scientific ………………………….. 11
  • Scientific Symbolism ………………………………….. 13
  • Classifications and Generalizations ……………….. 14
  • “Particles” and “Electrons” …………………………… 16
  • Weightless, Frictionless Ether ……………………… 17
  • Predicting Future Events ……………………………. 18
  • What Each Man Sees ………………………………… 19
  • What Science Works With …………………………… 20
  • Term Confusion ………………………………………… 21

III. THE MENTAL SUB-CELLAR

  • Brain-Facts and Mind-Facts …………………………. 23
  • Mixing Nerve-Fibers with Ideas ……………………. 23
  • The “Fringe” of Consciousness …………………….. 28
  • “Split-Off” Ideas ………………………………………. 29
  • A Conception That Falls Short …………………….. 31
  • “Dual Minds” …………………………………………… 34
  • Idealistic Speculation ………………………………… 35
  • Prevailing Conceptions of the “Subconscious” …… 36
  • Concept the Business Man Needs …………………. 39

IV. AN INVENTION FOR DEVELOPING POWER

  • Fundamental Conclusions …………………………….. 43
  • A Scientific Concept of Practical Utility …………… 46
  • The Sequence of Science …………………………….. 52
  • Ultimate Mental Elements …………………………….. 53
  • Seeing a Subconscious Complex …………………… 55
  • Origin of the Thought-Stream ……………………… 57

V. FOUR ADDITIONAL LAWS OF SUCCESS-ACHIEVEMENT

  • Fundamental Laws of Achievement ………………. 61

Chapter I
MAN’S DYNAMIC POWER

In preceding volumes, we have outlined the mental processes and presented to you some new and interesting mind facts and phases.

The time has come now for us to marshal our facts, to indicate the scientific method of handling them, and to show you how to make use of them in a practical way.

Your mental operations determine the course of your career. To intelligently direct them, you must have a scientific conception of your mind as a whole, one that you can use in clearing the way to health, success, and happiness.

The existence of any mental activities outside of consciousness would have been, and in fact was, ridiculed fifty, even twenty-five, years ago. It is only within the last few years that, through investigation of hypnotic and other abnormal mental phenomena, scientific men have discovered a mental world that was previously unknown.

This discovery offers possibilities greater than any that could possibly result from discoveries in the world of matter. This newfound depth to the spiritual side of man reveals energies and powers as relatively great when compared with the “mind” of fifty years ago as the applied electricity of today surpasses in importance the lightning that Franklin drew from the clouds.

Since this discovery, there has been an astonishing upspringing of religious, metaphysical, and psychological cults.

Vast numbers of men and women are enlisted in them. People in all walks of life are interested in their preachments. Newspapers and magazines abound in articles concerning them.

There is truth in all these cults. Yet all are but transitory phases of a dawning conception of the dynamic power of man.

Nearly all these “psychic” movements center about the idea that there is a “subconscious mind,” a distinct entity having no connection with the mind of consciousness, except as the latter may be a source of information to the “subconscious mind” as to what goes on in the external world.

The “subconscious mind” is the fad of the hour. It is the chief topic of discussion in religious circles, health resorts, and women’s clubs. It is the fetich of the “New Thought.” It is employed by the unlettered with as much easy assurance as by the scientific.

There are those who assert that, as a separate mind, it reasons and reaches conclusions by processes different from any with which we are acquainted.

Some address it familiarly as a distinct personality. Others see it as the intelligence that directs the operation of bodily functions on one hand, while on the other, it is identical in substance with the most sacred treasures of religious belief.

For some, it is the source of every expression of true genius. For others, it is the medium through which the spirits of the mighty dead speak.

Amid all this clamor of enthusiasm and acclaim, bold-voiced scientists of high repute scoffingly assert that, as to this alleged separate “subconscious mind,” its story “may be told in three words: ‘There is none.’”

Chapter II
THE CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF SCIENCE

It would be folly for you to approach this subject, about which there exists such widespread confusion of thought, without a prior study of basic principles. You cannot discriminate intelligently among these different conclusions without first formulating in your own mind the rules by which you are to be guided in arriving at a decision.

You must put every theory of the subconscious, or, in more scientific language, every conception of the subconscious, to the test of conformity with the methods of science. To do this, you must first frame your test.

It is universally recognized that no theory or conception can be regarded as truly scientific or justifiable unless it contains certain well-defined elements.

The thing to do now, therefore, is to find out what elements must enter into a conception of the subconscious before that conception can be regarded as truly scientific.

You can then put these elements together into a conceptual model, and by this model as a standard of truth, you may test the various theories of the subconscious.

The words “science” and “scientific” are commonly regarded as having a much more restricted meaning than rightfully belongs to them. Men talk of “the sciences,” having in mind only mathematics, chemistry, physics—those sciences which have to do with the phenomena of matter.

As a matter of fact, any branch of classified human knowledge is a science, the term being just as applicable to one department of the classified facts of human experience as to another. Mathematics is no more truly scientific than history. The historian, if he pursues his researches in a scientific manner, is bound by the same rules as is the mathematician.

That which distinguishes science, on the one hand, from speculation, or from religious philosophy, on the other, is not the nature of its facts but the method used in their investigation.

Whatever the problem may be, whether it arises in the study of chemistry, astronomy, language, or history, whether it relates to mind or matter, actual experience must furnish the only elements that may scientifically be employed in its solution.

Science deals solely with the facts of human experience. These facts it submits to the two basic processes of classification and generalization.

The scientist classifies all the facts relating to his problem into sequences. That is to say, he groups together as evidence all of the known instances in which one event, “B,” follows upon another, “A.” From such a collection of sequences, the investigator deduces a general principle.

And if this general principle is properly accredited—that is to say, if in a vast number of instances “B” invariably follows upon “A,” and the utmost research has failed to reveal a single instance in which “B” does not follow upon “A”—then this principle is recognized as a Scientific Law.

Now, these generalizations or laws are not expressed in terms of actual things. They contain no reference to physical realities that anyone ever actually heard, felt, or saw.

They are written in the broadest form possible. They are written in symbolic terms, representing the essential character of things—that is to say, in terms not of things but of qualities of things. The terms in which such laws are expressed stand for purely abstract conceptions.

Take, for example, the law of gravity: “any particle attracts any other particle,” a “particle” being defined as an infinitely small portion of matter. Or consider the modern scientific theory that every atom is composed of “electrons,” each revolving in its own tiny orbit about a central point.

Now, Newton, who framed the law of gravity, never saw a “particle,” nor has any man ever seen or otherwise had sensory knowledge of an “electron.” The “electron” and “particle” are, in other words, imaginary things, abstract ideas, theoretical conclusions, arrived at by reducing sensory experiences to their essential qualities.

The ether, of whose “waves” and “vibrations” physics has so much to say, is of precisely similar character. In a way, it actually does violence to all our experiential knowledge of physical things, for it is imagined as having neither weight nor friction.

So, too, the “points” and “lines” of geometry are imagined as being without substance and as occupying no space.

In other words, the “particle,” the “ether,” the “line,” the “point,” are none of them concrete realities.

Like the letters of algebra, they are merely symbolic terms employed by the scientist in the solution of his problem. They are physical facts reduced to their theoretical or conceptual essence and are therefore technically known as concepts.

The value of the whole system lies in the fact that by it we are enabled to deduce from the facts of experience laws of such general application that we may apply them to the widest possible variety of appropriate facts, and in this way predict future events.

Now, what may constitute the essence of a given fact of experience depends altogether upon the point of view of the investigator. It depends upon the purpose or subject of the investigation.

The essential factor for one may be of no consequence to another. The petal of a rose, to a geometrician, is an irregular solid bounded by curved surfaces. To the chemist, it is an aggregate of atoms. To neither is it a living thing of fragrant beauty.

In other words, the same fact may be differently conceived according to the point of view. Each investigator sees that element only which is pertinent to his own scientific aim. The concept of one may be just as valuable as the concept of another. Each is of value only in its own field of research.

In an earlier volume, we pointed out that all our knowledge comes to us through the senses. The senses are our only means of communication with the outer world. All experience is sensory experience. All the facts of experience are, in the last analysis, merely sense-impressions.

Sense-impressions are the sole material of modern science. No scientific man, whatever his subject, considers that he is dealing with “things in themselves.” He is perfectly aware that sense-impressions are the only realities, the only things of which he has or can have direct knowledge, and that the world for him, as for everyone else, is a mental world.

Chapter III
THE MENTAL SUB-CELLAR

With these distinctions clearly in mind, you are in a position to examine, in the light of first principles, the various theories or conceptions of the subconscious.

In the midst of all the diversity of opinion among scientific men and reputable lay writers, four theories may be said to predominate. Let us briefly summarize these:

  1. The Descriptive Psychologists’ View
    Some psychologists regard all mental phenomena as nothing more nor less than manifestations of brain activity. This is the point of view of “descriptive psychologists.” With them, subconscious activities are but the outward expression of “unconscious cerebration”—that is to say, brain action, brain-cell activities of which we are unconscious.Now, with due respect to these distinguished authorities, you, as a student of the mind, must certainly deal with the facts of anesthesia in hysterical persons, the facts of “dissociated personalities,” and the facts of automatic bodily operations as expressions of mind activity.These may be immediately caused by brain- or nerve-cell activity. But brain- or nerve-cell activity may in turn have been produced by mind action.

    In any event, you are investigating the mind, not the body, and to look upon bodily activities as the result of brain action is to jump from one mode of conceiving things to the other. It is to mix mental and physiological conceptual terms in a manner incompatible with scientific methods.

    Nerve fibers cannot be scientifically conceived as forming a connection between two ideas.

    You are after practical results.

    Your theory of the mind and subconsciousness must explain mental phenomena and enable you to frame mental laws for your future guidance. Your theory of the subconscious must be based upon purely mental conceptions. It must be constructed wholly out of terms of mind. Only in this way will you be able to express the laws of mind and apply them in your daily life, securing the highest degree of efficiency in your mental operations and employing to the fullest extent your mental energies.

  2. The Subconscious as a “Fringe” of Consciousness
    The term “subconscious” is used by some to define that portion of the field of consciousness which at any moment lies just outside the focus of attention. By them, the subconscious is conceived as an area of restricted attention.To these theorists, subconsciousness means merely the marginal horizon or “fringe” of consciousness. In this connection, the prefix “sub” implies merely the limited awareness that we have for these facts of consciousness out of the corner of the mind’s eye.It is obvious that, used in this way, the term “subconscious” represents no scientific conception whatever. It is simply a term used to describe certain parts of the field of consciousness, designating certain facts of experience as dimly recognized in consciousness compared with others.
  3. The Subconscious as Dissociated Ideas
    This use of the term is chiefly employed by medical men and students of the psychology of the abnormal. To them, subconscious ideas are ideas that have been dissociated or “split off” from the waking or “normal” consciousness—split off from the main personal consciousness to such a degree that the owner, in their normal state, is unaware of their existence.These dissociated ideas may consist merely of isolated and lost sensations, as in the anesthesia of hysterical patients, or they may be assembled into aggregate and organized groups of sensations. In the latter case, they form a consciousness that exists simultaneously with the primary consciousness, resulting in the so-called “double” or “multiple” personality.Now, such a person in their state of primary consciousness has no immediate knowledge of their secondary consciousness, and vice versa. If either learns of the existence of the other, it is by deduction from appearances or from information gathered from other persons.

    For the student of the mind, then, this secondary consciousness, so far as its essential nature is concerned, is not in any respect different from the ordinary consciousness.

    No attempt is made to reason back to the manifestation’s origin and determine how it came about. Observers merely recognize the coexistence of the conscious and what they call the subconscious.

  4. The Metaphysical Subconscious
    This theory is employed by the great majority of lay writers, who proclaim the existence of two distinct “minds.” One, the objective, is the mind of sense-impressions, the mind of consciousness, which receives all messages from the outer world and conducts all immediate activities.The other, the subjective, is entirely outside of consciousness. It has no direct communication with the outer world. It is for each man his individual segment of the Spirit of God.This last theory is distinctly metaphysical and appeals strongly to the imagination. However, it is obvious that the term “subconsciousness” is here taken altogether outside the domain of science and inscribed in the dictionary of religious and speculative philosophy.

Summary of Conceptions

  1. The term “subconscious” is employed to identify phenomena belonging to entirely different fields of thought.
  2. Although these observed facts are mental phenomena, many authorities confuse them with physiological material, equating mind and brain as interchangeable terms.
  3. The popular mind is befuddled by vague, speculative explanations that may be true but lack scientific proof.
  4. Of the two scientific theories, one defines the subconscious as “the fringe of consciousness,” while the other defines it as “co-consciousness,” active yet dissociated elements of primary consciousness.

Each of these definitions is narrow and inadequate for practical use.

 

Chapter IV
AN INVENTION FOR DEVELOPING POWER

In the volumes that preceded this study of the subconscious, we did something more than merely catalogue facts. We put forward tentatively a number of conclusions embodying some of the elements of the subconscious. What we have to do now is to marshal, systematize, and arrange these conclusions—and such others as we may require—into a workable form for everyday use. Consequently, we shall first set forth briefly the conclusions arrived at in former lessons and then tell you just what the subconscious is.

  1. Every human being has but one mind. Its phases and elements are many.
  2. Every human body is the abode not only of the consciousness that perceives and reacts to sense-impressions but also of countless cellular intelligences, each of which instinctively utilizes ways and means for the performance of its special function and the reproduction of its kind. These cell intelligences, under a supervisory control embodied in the sympathetic nerve system, carry on without our knowledge or volition—that is to say, subconsciously—the vital functions of the body.
  3. All sensory experiences, whether perceived or not, whether capable of voluntary recall or not, are somehow and somewhere mentally preserved.
  4. Every idea thus stored in subconsciousness possesses an inherent latent energy, tending to produce some particular form of muscular activity.
  5. Whether we are conscious or unconscious, a certain element of the mind, which we may call “attention,” is ever vigilantly awake, barring from consciousness all incoming sense-impressions and all suggested memories except those it has been trained to select and admit.
  6. The attention is subject to control by the will.

We have stated these propositions again in order to refresh your memory concerning them. It might be well for you to briefly review the previous books at this point, to trace again the course of reasoning by which these various conclusions were arrived at. This is suggested so that they may be the more firmly fixed in your mind as logical deductions from the facts.

We submit now a conception of the subconscious that fills all the requirements of practical usefulness and of conformity with scientific methods.

Subconsciousness is all there is of the individual mind not embraced in the passing momentary consciousness. As such, it includes all the primary instincts with which man comes into the world. It is the sum total of all his individual cellular intelligences. It is that department of mind which directs the nourishment and repair of the body and automatically operates the vital functions. It is the repository in which are retained all sensory experiences, conscious or unconscious, remembered or forgotten.

Subconsciousness is a vast reservoir of ideas, emotions, and motor impulses, from which is drawn the greater part of the elements of which consciousness is composed. For consciousness consists in part of present sensory experiences, but far the greater part of its contents is made up of thoughts drawn from the warehouse of the past.

Ideas and Energies in Subconsciousness

The ideas, emotions, and motor impulses retained in subconsciousness are grouped together and classified for purposes of ready reference by the associative processes of the mind into “groups” and “complexes.”

All ideas stored in subconsciousness possess a latent or potential energy, which becomes kinetic or circulating energy when they are drawn actively into the changing momentary consciousness. This energy is an impulse to some form of muscular activity, so that every idea in subconsciousness has associated with it the impellent energy necessary to produce a particular muscular motion.

Every idea stored in subconsciousness has associated with it not only an impellent energy but also an emotional quality appropriate to the inherent character of the idea.

If mental images in which you are yourself triumphant, victorious, and successful are drawn into your consciousness, they tend to outwardly manifest themselves in such bodily activity as may be appropriate to your part in the picture and to beget within you at the same time feelings of health, invigoration, capability, and power.

Conversely, if complexes or ideas constituting mental pictures of misfortune, disease, and death become active in your consciousness, they bring with them impulses that tend to depress the action of your heart and other vital organs of your body and to restrain all bodily activity, while at the same time they weigh you down with feelings of self-abasement, dejection, and melancholy.

Faith and Belief in the Subconscious

The extent of the influence of any idea, group of ideas, or complex of associated mental elements, once it becomes active in consciousness, depends upon the relation in which it stands to the other elements of consciousness.

  • If there are conflicting ideas or groups of ideas present in your consciousness, the given idea will be faintly portrayed to your mind’s eye. Its emotional qualities will lightly touch you, and its impulses to muscular activity will be restrained.
  • If the given idea holds undisputed sway in your consciousness, and no conflicting or inhibitory ideas and impulses are simultaneously present, then the mental picture is painted with bold strokes and clear perspective, standing forth as an assured reality.

This phenomenon is commonly called “belief.” For “faith” or “belief” is nothing more than the presence of an idea in consciousness freed from the restraints of contrary thoughts.

This is the subconscious as you must conceive it and the nature of the tie that binds it to the personal consciousness.

The Sequence of Science

We want you to observe particularly that we have here the sequence that characterizes all scientific methods:

  1. The collection and classification of facts, as in our marshaling of subconscious mental activities in this course.
  2. The invention of a conception to explain these facts.

All laws of physical science have been evolved in this way.

  • Kepler collected data concerning the changing positions of the planets and demonstrated that they moved in elliptical orbits around the sun.
  • Newton subsequently brought forward the law of gravity, with the conception of an unseen force, as an explanation of Kepler’s facts and as a means for foretelling the future action of the planets and other masses of matter.

Our conception of the subconscious not only accounts for the existence of all known mental phenomena but is expressed in terms of ultimate and abstract elements along scientific lines.

Chapter V
FOUR ADDITIONAL LAWS OF SUCCESS-ACHIEVEMENT

It is well that you should mark again at this time our three original fundamental principles of Success-Achievement, to which we shall here add certain other principles that you must now regard as established.

I. All human achievement comes about through some form of bodily activity.

II. All bodily activity is caused, controlled, and directed by the mind.

III. The mind is therefore the instrument that we must employ in the accomplishment of any purpose.

IV. You have but one mind, but it is a mind with phases of consciousness and phases of subconsciousness.

V. Your consciousness is made up in part of present sensory experiences and in part of complexes drawn from subconsciousness.

VI. Your subconsciousness is a vast mental reservoir of classified complexes made up of ideas, emotions, and motor impulses.

VII. The presence of any idea in your consciousness tends simultaneously to produce an associated “feeling” and to impel you to certain appropriate muscular activities.

You now have a conception of the human mind on the order of the conceptions of physical science.

We shall show you how to make this conception of as great practical value in harnessing the forces of your own mind as any other scientific conception has been in harnessing the forces of the physical world.

The trained business mind is forever storing in its subconscious stronghold facts that will be needed and lessons to be drawn from them. It has its facts, its principles, its details of commercial transactions at instant command.

It is the unfailing source of Energy, Courage, Confidence, Enthusiasm, and Practical Ability.

You who are beset with doubts and perplexities, with wasteful passions and unmanly fears, must train this deeper mind to set you free and to reveal greater and richer opportunities for achievement.

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