William Atkinson - The Complete Works of William Walker Atkinson

Following the illustration of the “upper and lower stories, basements, cellars, sub­cellars, etc., we may say that it will help the student to think of the ordinary “Field of Observation” known as the Outer Consciousness of the Everyday Mind, as akin to the “Main Floor” of a warehouse, on which is received merchandise arriving from the outside business world; and on which are started, packed and expressed the various goods, wares and merchandise reaching that department from the upper stories, basement, cellars and other storehouses of the mental warehouse and place of business, in pursuance to orders from “The Office.” The Outer Consciousness, or Field of Observation and Consideration, is not a separate “Mind” as some claim, or the “Real Mind” as the masses of people consider it, but instead is merely a “department” of the whole mental business, in which the goods, stored articles, and manufactured goods from the other departments and workshops are sorted, selected, packed and expressed to the outer world. If you will fix this illustration in your mind, you will be able to easily assimilate and consider the facts to which we shall call your attention in the following lessons:

And, now, you see why we have adopted the term “The Inner Consciousness” as applicable to both the higher and lower planes of the “extra­conscious” mental activities. The term “inner” means “further in; interior; internal; not outer, etc.” The word “Consciousness” is one difficult to correctly define. In a general sense it means “mental awareness,” but we have adhered to the closer meaning of the term which is used in the sense of “awareness of mental action and energy,” or the quality by which Mind in activity is “aware” of its own activities. There can be no mental activity without consciousness on some plane, and the use of the word “unconscious” in connection with mental activity is an absurdity. There is consciousness, in some degree and on some plane, in everything, from the atom, and electron to the highest manifestation of super­human mind. And that which we call our “Outer Consciousness,” is merely one of the many planes of the manifestation of the quality.

And, now let us proceed to our consideration of the phenomena and principles of manifestation of the “Inner Consciousness.”

Table of Content

IN THE lower planes of the Inner Consciousness are performed the various forms of mental activity which have to do with the building up, preservation, repairing, etc., of the physical body. Every cell has its share of mind, and every combination of cells into cell­groups and organs of the body, has its group or organ mind also. That which we call “Instinct” or “Nature” in a person or animal is a manifestation of Mind on some of the lower planes of the Inner Consciousness. And these lower planes are susceptible to suggestions or orders from other planes of mind, and will take on suggested ideas or conceptions, the result being that we are often made sick by ideas absorbed or suggested in this way; and we are likewise cured of physical ailments by similar methods, the suggested idea be placed on the proper plane by means of “auto­suggestion,” “imparted ideas,” and mental “treatments” of various kinds. Mind pervades every part of the physical body, and is always capable of being impressed by orders or suggestions coming from the more dominant portions of the mind of the individual.

On some of the lower planes of the Inner Consciousness are to be found the seat and abode of the so­called “automatic” or “habit” actions of the mind. The Habit mind is made up of various things which have been placed there by the individual, which things were once performed in the field of consciousness, but which gradually became almost automatic by reason of experience, repetition, etc., until the performance of them passes from the field of consciousness down to some of the lower planes of the Inner Consciousness, thus becoming “second nature” and being likely to be repeated with little or no attention being bestowed by the conscious mind. You are familiar with this fact—all of you perform certain work almost automatically. You run the sewing machine, typewriter, or play the piano almost automatically, and may be thinking of other things at the same moment. These tasks were originally performed only by an expenditure of much attention and effort on your part, but constant practice has enabled you to delegate the work to certain planes of your Inner Consciousness, until now they almost “work themselves,” with a minimum of attention and concentration on your part. Some writers hold that no one really learns how to perform a task properly, until he or she is able to pass it down to this part of the mind, where it is performed almost automatically. Musicians and others are aware that their best work is performed by this part of their mentality, and that when, as occasionally happens, their conscious attention is directed to the work, there is a “slip up” and less perfect performance. The artist knows what it is to “lose himself” in his work and his greatest successes come at such times. Every writer knows this also, and the phenomena occurs in all manner and kinds of work. How many of us lose ourselves in “day­dreams” when performing our habitual tasks? How many of us seem to stand aside and watch ourselves work at tasks rendered familiar by habit.

We often cross the streets without paying conscious attention to our actions, and many of us have had the experience of “forgetting where we are going” and after a time finding ourselves brought up standing in front of the place from which we started. We put on our clothes in this way, the same arm going into the same sleeve, etc., without our thinking about the matter. If you will notice which arm you place in your coat the next time you dress, and then after taking off the coat again, try to insert the other arm first (reversing the regular order) you will be surprised to see how awkward you are, and how the “habit­mind” rebels at the change. The same is true of buttoning a collar—you always button on a certain tab first, and will find it most difficult to reverse the process.

We are in the habit of thinking of these things being “done by themselves” or as “doing themselves,” but a moment’s consideration will show you that nothing can manifest such activity except by means of mind of some kind and degree. The activity is the result of mental processes and direction, and without mind could not be performed. We may call it “automatic” or “mechanical” if we please, but it is really the result of mind—there is mind back of and in every “automatic” action of the individual. But being below the field of the outer consciousness, we do not recognize the mental operation. It is part of the phenomena of the lower planes of the Inner Consciousness.

And there are other planes of that wonderful region, in which certain “habits” are implanted, but which were not placed there by ourselves. We allude to the field of hereditary influences which have come down to us from those who lived before us throughout countless generations. There are planes of the Inner Consciousness filled with impressions, ideas, habit, emotions, feelings, desires and impulses which we have acquired by inheritance from the past. From the time of the cave men, and even further back, have come to us certain mental seeds and forces, which lie slumbering in the deep recesses of the lower planes of the Inner Consciousness. We are able to control and subdue, or else use, these latent impulses, by means of our higher mental faculties, but they are there just the same. As some writers have said, we have “the whole menagerie within us”—the tiger, the ape, the peacock, the donkey, the hyena, the goat, the sheep, the lion, and all the rest of the collection. We have come by these things honestly, and there is no reason to be ashamed of them—the shame consists only in turning these wild beasts loose into actions unworthy of our higher state gained through arduous evolution. As Luther Burbank has said: “Heredity means much, but what is heredity? Not some hideous ancestral specter, forever crossing the path of a human being. Heredity is simply the sum of all the effects of all the environments of all past generations on the responsive ever­moving life forces.” And all of the effects of all the past environments of all past generations are registered, faintly or strongly on certain planes of our Inner Consciousness. An understanding of this fact will enable us to submit such tendencies when they occasionally poke their heads out from their dark caves in response to some familiar call which has roused them from their slumber—and an understanding will enable us to call upon the past within us for help and aid when we need the same to perform certain of the work of life. We have many things within us, which can and will manifest in outer consciousness when so called forth. We may use these things, or else allow them to use us, according to our degree of understanding and will power. But let us remind you always that there is nothing good enough to allow it to “use” you—use many things, but allow nothing to use you.