Body vs. Conscious Mind Essay

Thesis statement

Many people have had so many physical and emotional problems that at a time develop into chronic diseases. Most of this problem remains unsolved while other people have found simple means of solving such ailments. This paper explains some of the problems that have arisen because of for instance unsettled mind and how it leads to physical illness, and how physical stress has also contributed to having problems of the mind, and how each can as well be used to relieve the pain of the other.

Introduction

The human mind can be divided into the unconscious and the conscious mind. All human beings function from unconscious motives. This function is affected by a human’s health status such that a person who is in poor health status will function more by unconscious mind while a healthy person functions more with a conscious mind.

The mind and the body can affect each other. The body can be used to relax the mind and vice versa. Furthermore, the mind can cause illness to the body and the body as well cause illness to the mind. The activities within the mind that includes thoughts and behavior can contribute to changes in the physical body. The way a person feels thinks and behaves, generally changes the physical behavior of the person. Therefore the emotional and the physical natures of an individual are connected. The guided imaging can hence be used to heal both the physical and emotional sickness of an individual.

The emotional mind of a human being

In most cases, the emotional mind of a human being causes physical sickness and is not necessarily exposed to the outside disease causal agents. For instance, if a person is stressed up, is angry, and does not resolve this problem, the inner tissues of the body will start to fight amongst themselves to solve the problem. This fight also makes the body fight for compensation, generally bringing about physical illness and pain.

In many years, the individual’s relaxation by the use of imaging has been used to bring about environmental & physical healing. Pictures can be used universally to connect the unconscious mind and the conscious mind.

Imagery

Imaging can be used to heal the physical body by following certain steps. The first step of imagery is relaxation. Relaxation induces the body to heal quickly. Studies have shown that relaxation through activities like sleeping or praying (meditating) increases the chances of faster healing. The principle of relaxation can be used in a way such as preparation for childbirth. This will allow the expectant to relax the body and the pain becomes bearable while increasing the contraction. Aesthetic value entails concentration at some point for all people. The longer the concentration a person has the higher the aesthetic value is gotten. The aesthetic value will be more intense when they enter into a person’s consciousness. Hence the quality of the aesthetic experience can be determined by the intensity and the duration of concentration (Shusterman, 1992).

The second step is visualizing the pain. In this case, a person should try to visualize whatever is seen on the body as it is. Through visualization, it will help a person feeling the pain to talk to the pain, for instance by trying to identify the root course of the pain and what is required to heal it. The third step is trying to get all the information that one might come across to know the root cause of the pain. The person will be able to relieve the pain without going into another painful situation. This leads to the next step of removing the pain. The pain can only be removed from the body if the sufferer is ready and willing to remove it. Finally, the removed pain should be replaced with a magical solution to make sure that there is a complete physical and emotional healing. The healing does not mean that people have removed the whole part of themselves, but by seeing and treating the cause of pain in a different manner and approach. For instance, if one had a negative perception about something, this might turn out to cause pain, and therefore by having a positive perception of the same might change a lot of an individual’s life and subsiding of the pain.

Body and brain

The brain and the body interact such that the body cannot function without the brain. The autonomic system of the brain controls the body function that is far from the consciousness centers. The systems that are controlled by the brain that the body does not have control over them include, digestion breathing as well as the heartbeat. Some of these systems are completely not able to be controlled by the conscious body system. For instance, it would be very difficult for the body to control breathing especially when a person is asleep.

The different body parts have different functions. These different functions of the body system only coordinate and balance their activities through brain coordination. While sleeping, the other parts of the body and the conscious mind go off. But the and some parts of the brain work hard to heal all the day’s work and fatigue and make sure a person remembers all the day’s events. By sleeping, the body can defend itself against infections and help to recharge the mind.

The mind can as well heal locally. The placebo effect shows that a person’s mind can create physical healing. For instance, fake medication like a mixture of sugar and distilled water can have a placebo effect on a patient. In this case, a patient’s health can be improved by the mere fact of believing that the sugar and water mixture will improve their health. According to Kristara, the traditional semiotics consider the speaking subjects within a human being to be not a person but rather some ideal subjects, a “transcendental ego.” this is just an abstract concept which in real sense doesn’t exist while the western ‘episteme’ considers that the transcendental ego is cut off from its body.

Prayers have also been used very much to help the sick. Even if the prayers do not contribute to the physical healing of the sick, the person offering intercessory prayers demonstrates the love and kindness meditation towards the sick person, which might contribute to the physical healing. According to Bourdieu (1990), practical belief is not a state of mind but rather a state of the body. Certain activities such as rituals, involving women in religious manners, or even choosing the kind of food to eat or not to eat is a state of body and not mind.

The conscious mind in ancient time

The conscious mind was used in ancient times to move to the enlightenment stage. This was practiced by encouraging the persons undergoing enlightenment not to identify themselves with the conscious mind but to hold on to their awareness as being the holders or watchers. Aesthetic experience that produces knowledge is always contextual and situated. Although there has been a separation of the arts and science subjects which have brought about the deflection on the understanding of how aesthetic experience has played important role in creating human knowledge, (Carrozi, 2005). This has also been due to the development of knowledge as incorporeal by scholars.

Computers and the conscious mind

It is very difficult to claim that since machines such as computers can perform some complex functions, that it makes them conscious. This is not true because human beings can perform the same functions computers do perform even though at a slower pace and only that human beings might not understand some things since computers have predetermined logarithmic formulae to follow. This means that computers can never learn some truths like the conscious mind no matter how complex they can be. This is more so because some statements naturally are true even though they might not have been proved. This can be demonstrated by the fact that consciousness cannot be developed and if it could have been possible, then machines like computers can be used to develop consciousness so that they completely behave like human beings. Taking a mathematical case, for instance, the integers: a>b and c>a, then c>b.

These axioms need not be proved. They have just stored statements on their own; therefore, it is true that not all statements that are true have been proved scientifically or by any other means. Hence, it is not just possible to create a conscious mind, especially by machines. According to Ihde (2002), the techno worries usually reoccur with new advances and the success or failure of that pattern usually remains ambiguous.

Living with a conscious mind allows people to listen to others’ ideas. The conscious allows a person to live as far as the physical body will allow and be as well aware of the consciousness life after another. It also enables a person to lead from one idea to another and how to relate to other people.

A dreaming person & the slip of the tongue are some of the things seen as a person developing from subconscious to conscious mind. When a person searches for the space that is beyond words there has to be consideration of stillness and pause. This according to Bachelard (1964), It is through dreaming that a person moves to the immense world. The unconscious mind is not more known but can arguably be achieved through dreams. The unconsciousness can be referred to as the state of being unaware.

The unconscious mind is the aspect of the human mind that a person is not aware of. The consciousness is developed out of unconsciousness. This development leads to the development of subconsciousness that includes memories and perceptions that a person can reach for whenever they feel they need such attention. This implies a situation where people can decide to disregard certain stimuli even though they might be aware of them, for instance, if doing a school or college assignment and there is music in the background, but you don’t pay attention to it.

Consciousness and unconsciousness

The collective unconsciousness is the kind of consciousness that has the potential awareness of all people but without their knowledge. These are the types of archetypes that describe the pattern of cultures that are exhibited in the various communities. In some cases, this might be because of the same experience the people in that community have or the same brain structures. Since everybody has his /her way of thinking and behaving it is not easy to change sense. This is because human beings never consciously chose the way they wanted to take up the world, but usually already find themselves in the world, this is indicated by Grosz when she argues that the body is a pliable entity whose determinate form is provided… through the interact of physical inspiration”, Grosz 1994, p.187) in this argument the body of the mind are intertwined and they affect one another.

This makes one person’s behavior seem like a sign of rudeness or disrespect depending on the culture. For instance, Asian children do not look their elders into the eyes while talking to them as a sign of respect. To western countries, this is a sign of disrespect and being inattentive. Hence a person can use the element of psychic to gradually shape the corporeal way of perceiving the world.

Consciousness has been greatly related to the process of attraction. A person’s focus and attention are usually given to the conscious mind forgetting about the existence of the other parts of the human being but despite the forgotten parts, people are much more than the conscious mind as well as the unconscious mind. But the western cultures tend to pay less attention to the other species than they do with the conscious mind.

The subconscious mind

The control of human bodies can create the means that bring about knowledge & power on the microphysical level (Foucault, 1984). Disciplinary coercion will make a person (student, patient, prisoner, or workers) obey. But Foucault advocates for less use of violence to ensure obedience.

Therapeutic guided imagery has been used to help patients relax their minds by focusing on issues they need to confront. For instance, a person is asked to develop imagery that represents a certain disease symptom and confront it. This kind of information can be more helpful to the patient than when normally diagnosed with sophisticated methods.

The mind can help the body to succeed in physical fitness exercise. This is through motivation fact that the mind can have. If the mind is not motivated, nothing can contribute to the success of the exercise, whether through good nutrition, or the best exercise. The non-conscious mind can help a person achieve a goal without following the proper means. It can work from backward towards the means. This is possible if a person sets a goal of the non-conscious mind, and helps to find information that can help achieve that goal.

The subconscious mind can receive instructions by affirmation and setting goals. An affirmation can also be used in conjunction with visualization in instructing the subconscious mind. When a person thinks or speaks of affirmation, visualization pictures are created in the human mind to make the brain think in terms of pictures. Visualization helps to change a personalities behavior or character. This is by closing the eyes and concentrating on certain visualization that helps meet desired and results.

Visualization has been widely used in sporting activities to give a sportsman a good concentration to win the game. The use of visualization currently with musicians and athletes helps to improve performance, as the act of practicing in the mind is the same as physical practicing.

Process visualization can help a person to do certain actions in a correct and orderly manner. For instance, one can visualize which activities are supposed to be done during the day. In that case, the mind will help a person do the entire day’s activity, and with repeatedly doing this, the mind will be neurotically set to be carrying out the activities. The body responds to the imaginaries created mentally even if they are anatomically incorrect.

Controlling a person’s mind is not possible. To do this, it means that one has to penetrate through their conscious defenses and causing alteration in their subconsciousness. To break through the barriers of this mind and control a person, educating the persons without their knowledge (i.e. through covert hypnosis) can do it. Words, phrases, and tones can be used to penetrate a person’s mind and eventually capture and control their minds.

Another common method to help in the therapy healing in Australia is the private subconscious mind healing, unlike trying to know the root cause of the pain and talk to it. This method has been used differently without digging into the part to heal a patient (without tracing back to know the exact causes of the problem). This method avoids the use of the other methods of therapy because when you try to root out the causal agent of a problem, the deeper it might go, and removing it becomes even much difficult. The causes of problems are very vulnerable and hence do not become easy for the removal. Hence, the private subconsciouses mind healing helps to remove pain without fighting the differences in the mind. In this kind of healing, the subconscious part of the mind plays a bigger role in healing, than the conscious mind. This is because most of the things done by the subconscious mind are beyond the body’s control. In trying to ruin a person’s life in strict linear ways, many problems can occur in that person’s life. Therefore a person must allow the subconscious mind to take control of the whole body system without necessarily the person having to know why such activities are taking place. This is because the body knows what is happening much more than the conscious mind knows. Therefore, for the healing process completely to take place, a person has to allow the body to take control of it and just ensure that persons have trust in themselves more and more.

Conclusion

It is not possible to separate the mind and the body. Most of the activities that a person performs are affected by the thinking, behavior, and culture of the individual. Moreover, body relaxation can be used to relax the mind and vice versa to bring about both physical and emotional healing to a person.

References

Bachelard, Gaston, 1964, ‘nests’, The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press, Boston, 90-104.

Bourdieu, Pierre, 1990, ‘Belief and the Body’, The Logic of Practice, translated by Richard Nice, Cambridge University Press, UK, 66-79.

Carozzi, M. 2005, ‘Talking Minds: The Scholastic Construction of Incorporeal Discourse’ in Body and Society, Vol. 11(2): 25-39.

Foucault, Michel, 1991,‘The Body of The Condemned’ and ‘Docile Bodies’ (from Discipline and Punish) in Paul Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault Reader, Penguin. London, 170-187.

Grosz, Elizabeth, 1994 ‘Lived Bodies: Phenomenology and The Flesh’ in Volatile Bodies: Toward A Corporeal Feminism, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, 86-111.

Ihde, Don Bodies, 2002 ‘Bodies, Virtual Bodies and Technology’ in Bodies in Technology, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 3-15.

Kristeva, Julia, 1989 (first published 1973) ‘The System and the Speaking Subject’ in Toril Moi (ed.), The Kristeva Reader, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 24-33.

Richard Shusterman, 1992, ‘Art and Theory, Between Experience and Practice’ in Pragmatist Aesthetics, Blackwell publishers Inc. Massachusetts and Cambridge 34-61.