If we want to understand the unconscious<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014if we want to make it our friend and ally\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the best strategy is to learn how to listen to it<\/p>\n
-Daniel Z. Lieberman-<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the movie \u201cDoctor Strange\u201d, Dr. Strange is initially portrayed as a pompous medical doctor. He felt that he had high standards of human intelligence and mastered the most advanced and the latest medical technology, especially in surgery. This shaped him into a person who found it difficult to accept things or possibilities outside of medical science that humans had. One day, he had an accident that was severe enough that his physical condition, especially his hands that he relied on to perform surgery, became no longer the same as before. Amid his frustration, he tried to find a way to find answers to the problems he faced. He then got information, that there was a place in Nepal that was said to heal a person’s physical injuries no matter how heavy it was. He went to Nepal and finally met a man with extraordinary powers, The Ancient One, who then appointed Doctor Strange as his student, training Doctor Strange so that he had “unfathomable” powers to become one of the guardians of the world and the universe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In that movie, one interesting question that The Ancient One asks Dr. Strange is: \u201cYou’re a man looking at the world through a keyhole. You’ve spent your life trying to widen it. Your work saved the lives of thousands. What if I told you that reality is one of many?\u201d[1]<\/a> Then other questions are no less interesting, which say: \u201cYou think you know how the world works? You think that this material universe is all there is? What is real? What mysteries lie beyond the reach of your senses?\u201d[2]<\/a> Even though this is only a movie, this interesting story and questions broke through my ego wall. I was reflecting on the question if it were directed at me. What if what The Ancient One says is reality? I really can’t find the answer. In my opinion, there is still so much unspeakable knowledge stored in this universe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After a long time of “forgetting” the movie, I was faced with this week’s reading assignment, Dr. Daniel Lieberman’s “Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind.” This book made me completely dumbfounded. How not, Lieberman points out that so far we humans do not fully “master” ourselves. There is something that controls us, called the “unconscious” instinct. Lieberman explains that the unconscious is \u201ca vast collection of neural circuits working all the time, just out of sight\u2014just out of mind. It determines what we feel, want, express, and often possesses us completely and plunging us into an alien world of mystical experience.\u201d[3]<\/a> Lieberman explains that he’s the one who controls us all along so we don’t really “take control” of ourselves. Lieberman writes, \u201cat best you\u2019re the copilot. At worst, you\u2019re along for the ride, at the mercy of a part of your brain that\u2019s overwhelmingly powerful but entirely unseen, influential but utterly secret from you.\u201d Amazing!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lieberman explains that the \u201cego (from the Latin word to refer to I), is described as conscious. The rest of the human mind is called unconscious.\u201d[4]<\/a> Lieberman explains that “we don’t experience directly the interaction with the unconscious so when it comes to interacting with the ego, we often think of it as a foreign power.”[5]<\/a> The interesting part is when Lieberman reveals the fact that the conscious has less power to run processes, while the unconscious, on the contrary, requires more power because it consists of circuits that work in parallel at the same time doing many processes with complex tasks.[6]<\/a> This reminds me of Daniel Kahneman’s writing in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow which reviews the working system of the human brain into System 1 and System 2. Kahneman writes, \u201cSystem 1 as effortlessly originating impressions and feelings that are the main sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of System 2. The automatic operations of System 1 generate surprisingly complex patterns of ideas, but only the slower System 2 can construct thoughts in an orderly series of steps.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Humans are mostly alienated from the unconscious because of the density of routines that demand that everything be done instantly with little energy so that the rest can still be used for other things. Moreover, the rapid advancement of technology and digital culture is carried out for one purpose, namely efficiency (I think the more efficiency is generated the more work immediately confronts to be completed). Lieberman uses a dialogue in the movie Speed Racer about the importance of listening. Hear what from whom? In the film, it is told, hearing from a car. Lieberman writes, \u201cFeel it talking to you, telling you what she wants, what she needs. All you gotta do is listen\u201d.[8]<\/a> Yes, that’s right! The word “listen” is scattered in Lieberman’s writing. Lieberman seems to invite us to listen to many things, to everything. He explains that when the ego sees everything as practice resources, to the unconscious this is the world filled with friends.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n From there Lieberman steps into what is an important emphasis in his book, namely how we can understand the unconscious. The strategy is to listen to it, even if it’s not an easy thing. The unconscious, according to Lieberman, \u201cwith its irrational and complementary perspective, challenges the ego’s orderly world, often perceived as chaotic and hostile, confronting it with primitive drives.\u201d[10]<\/a> The task and responsibility of the ego here is not easy because it intends to understand something alienated, and rejected, but helps a lot too. Lieberman describes, \u201cThe first task is to strengthen the ego so that it can listen with its full attention and not become fatigued while safely facing the archetypal forces that emerge. Additionally, the ego must learn to set aside its bias toward understanding through logos\u2014 language and reason\u2014and open itself up to nonverbal, experiential forms of communication.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frankly, after surfing Lieberman’s writing, I felt estranged from myself. Similar to Dr. Strange thinks that he knows a lot due to his intelligence, when he knows very little, therefore, I now perceive myself in a similar light. I should rejoice due to Lieberman’s writing helping me encounter the part of myself, the unconscious. The problem now, it seems like a strange aspect of myself. It is the \u201cstrange unconscious.\u201d How could it control me more during this time without my awareness? Following Lieberman\u2019s suggestion in this book, I might learn to comprehend (specifically, listen) my unconscious so that I can be a balanced, effective, and beneficial leader and servant to others.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.quora.com\/What-are-some-great-quotes-from-the-movie-Dr-Strange<\/a>. Accessed on November 16, 2023.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.quora.com\/What-are-some-great-quotes-from-the-movie-Dr-Strange<\/a>. Accessed on November 16, 2023.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Lieberman, Daniel Z.\u00a0Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind<\/em>, (Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, Inc, 2022), 1.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Lieberman, 14.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em> (London: Penguin Books, 2012), 22-23<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Lieberman, 36.<\/p>\n