The Fourfold Personality
I happened to read a book by Swami Nikhilananda: The Art of Forgiveness. I found the book extremely interesting and if one believes in the philosophy, the contents definitely will be an eye-opener and will benefit the reader immensely. The book talks about the Philosophy of Life, the four levels of our personality, the laws of karma, demerits of non-forgiveness, merits of forgiveness, and the steps towards forgiveness. The following is a reproduction from the book.
The Supreme Consciousness is the very core of our personality. Like the sun or light it is self-luminous, conscious by itself and not dependent on anything for support. it is surrounded by a layer of ignorance which can be termed as the unconscious. It is a state in which we are not conscious of anything. Sleep is a part of this layer. This layer is surrounded by the layer of sub-conscious in which all our thoughts and emotions exist. This is the layer that projects the dream world and holds as it were all our ideas, philosophies, and visions about ourselves as well as the world. The conscious mind exists in the outermost layer of our personality.
All the negative tendencies lie at the unconscious layer. We try and remove our fear, pride, jealousy, and non-forgiveness at the conscious level through logic and rational thinking. We also try and change our gross habits through a similar process. But logical analysis does not affect the sadness and fears. Logically if you tell a sad person to give up sadness it will not have the required result because sadness rests at the level of the subconscious and not at the level of the conscious level of our mind. Unless we are able to reach the subconscious level of our mind the desired result will elude us and the negative emotions will remain unaltered.
Some of our behavioral patterns or personality traits can be transformed at the conscious level through logical thinking. People make cosmetic changes to their mannerisms. They learn to be polite, sometimes effusively grateful and apologetic or seemingly humble. These changes are only superficial and there is no intrinsic change in the personality. The deeper levels remain untouched and the problem persists. Logical thinking produces temporary changes at the conscious level. Faith brings about permanent changes at the subconscious level and grace eliminates or annihilates ignorance at the unconscious level and we understand ourselves. Through logical thinking we take the first step and cleanse ourselves through karma yoga. The second stage is arrived at through faith in the Scriptures and the words of the teacher. This is jnana yoga. Finally by the grace of the teacher and God we come to know ourselves completely - bhakti yoga.
The subconscious mind needs to be told what to do because it accepts everything as it is. If it is told to forgive, it forgives. Hypnotists use this faculty of the mind and help their patients to give up old hurts and heal deep scars through suggestion made to the subconscious mind. Auto suggestion can help cure the physical and mental illness and even change the personality completely.
The words of the Guru affect the personality of the student at all levels. The benefits to the student depend on the sincerity and the degree of faith he/she has, or the importance given to the words of the teacher. We can either listen to the words of the teacher at the conscious level, or the subconscious level, or allow His grace to function at a deeper level. The guru like the hypnotist makes suggestions and it is up to the student to accept them.
If we listen with the conscious mind analyzing the words and thoughts of the teacher some change may take place but it will only be at the superficial level. All the negative emotions we have within us are a result of our delusory powers. Through our interaction in the world we come to possess the negative tendencies of greed, jealousy, or anger, as the case may be.
All of us go to the level of the subconscious. This is the state where we are alert, yet the attention is withdrawn from the world. This state is experienced just before we go to sleep and just before we are fully awake. It is a dream-like state, but different from dream, because in this state we are conscious of our thoughts. In withdrawn from the world and yet conscious of it. In this state instructions given to our mind with faith and conviction go deep within Even when we come out of this state the thoughts in seed-form continue to grow.
Everyone's philosophy of life, conditions or regulates their responses to the world. A holistic philosophy which sees the world as one integral whole, ensures responses which include every aspect of any given situation. A limited view will only give a limited response - one which excludes certain aspects of the whole.
We have all God's powers of creation, sustenance, destruction, delusion, and grace, or the power to give up delusion. We find that the moment we decide to give up our negative tendencies God's grace begins to work. The grace is also in us. We do not have to look outside for help. All the virtues mentioned in the Scriptures are a part of our personality at a deeper level. Love twisted, becomes hatred; humility denied, becomes pride; and forgiveness suppressed, becomes non-forgiveness.
The Four Levels of our personality
We have four levels to our personality - Supreme Consciousness, the unconscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the conscious mind. This cross section of layers is true for the totality and for each and every being.The Supreme Consciousness is the very core of our personality. Like the sun or light it is self-luminous, conscious by itself and not dependent on anything for support. it is surrounded by a layer of ignorance which can be termed as the unconscious. It is a state in which we are not conscious of anything. Sleep is a part of this layer. This layer is surrounded by the layer of sub-conscious in which all our thoughts and emotions exist. This is the layer that projects the dream world and holds as it were all our ideas, philosophies, and visions about ourselves as well as the world. The conscious mind exists in the outermost layer of our personality.
All the negative tendencies lie at the unconscious layer. We try and remove our fear, pride, jealousy, and non-forgiveness at the conscious level through logic and rational thinking. We also try and change our gross habits through a similar process. But logical analysis does not affect the sadness and fears. Logically if you tell a sad person to give up sadness it will not have the required result because sadness rests at the level of the subconscious and not at the level of the conscious level of our mind. Unless we are able to reach the subconscious level of our mind the desired result will elude us and the negative emotions will remain unaltered.
Making changes
The subconscious level can be reached through faith: Deep convictions can transform the negativities stored at this level. But even faith cannot reach the unconscious level. Only grace can touch this layer - God's grace, or the grace of the Guru. Most of the time when we try and remove our sadness, fears or anger we concentrate on our conscious mind. All the thinking and decision making happens in the conscious state, when the individual is awake. We respond to the world at the conscious level and try to remove these negativities by using the tools of analysis, logic, and rational thinking. But rationalizing does not touch our fears and sadness. At the conscious level telling a person to give up sadness will not have the desired effect because the conscious mind is not sad. It is the subconscious mind that is sad. Unless something touches the subconscious there will be no change in the sadness.Some of our behavioral patterns or personality traits can be transformed at the conscious level through logical thinking. People make cosmetic changes to their mannerisms. They learn to be polite, sometimes effusively grateful and apologetic or seemingly humble. These changes are only superficial and there is no intrinsic change in the personality. The deeper levels remain untouched and the problem persists. Logical thinking produces temporary changes at the conscious level. Faith brings about permanent changes at the subconscious level and grace eliminates or annihilates ignorance at the unconscious level and we understand ourselves. Through logical thinking we take the first step and cleanse ourselves through karma yoga. The second stage is arrived at through faith in the Scriptures and the words of the teacher. This is jnana yoga. Finally by the grace of the teacher and God we come to know ourselves completely - bhakti yoga.
The subconscious mind needs to be told what to do because it accepts everything as it is. If it is told to forgive, it forgives. Hypnotists use this faculty of the mind and help their patients to give up old hurts and heal deep scars through suggestion made to the subconscious mind. Auto suggestion can help cure the physical and mental illness and even change the personality completely.
The words of the Guru affect the personality of the student at all levels. The benefits to the student depend on the sincerity and the degree of faith he/she has, or the importance given to the words of the teacher. We can either listen to the words of the teacher at the conscious level, or the subconscious level, or allow His grace to function at a deeper level. The guru like the hypnotist makes suggestions and it is up to the student to accept them.
If we listen with the conscious mind analyzing the words and thoughts of the teacher some change may take place but it will only be at the superficial level. All the negative emotions we have within us are a result of our delusory powers. Through our interaction in the world we come to possess the negative tendencies of greed, jealousy, or anger, as the case may be.
All of us go to the level of the subconscious. This is the state where we are alert, yet the attention is withdrawn from the world. This state is experienced just before we go to sleep and just before we are fully awake. It is a dream-like state, but different from dream, because in this state we are conscious of our thoughts. In withdrawn from the world and yet conscious of it. In this state instructions given to our mind with faith and conviction go deep within Even when we come out of this state the thoughts in seed-form continue to grow.
Everyone's philosophy of life, conditions or regulates their responses to the world. A holistic philosophy which sees the world as one integral whole, ensures responses which include every aspect of any given situation. A limited view will only give a limited response - one which excludes certain aspects of the whole.
We have all God's powers of creation, sustenance, destruction, delusion, and grace, or the power to give up delusion. We find that the moment we decide to give up our negative tendencies God's grace begins to work. The grace is also in us. We do not have to look outside for help. All the virtues mentioned in the Scriptures are a part of our personality at a deeper level. Love twisted, becomes hatred; humility denied, becomes pride; and forgiveness suppressed, becomes non-forgiveness.
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