Consciousness of the unconscious. Empathy levels
There are a lot of rumors and speculation about empathy. Some consider it to be something like extrasensory perception, others compare empathy with empathy for loved ones.
Although in fact this opens up empathic ability, high sensitivity and the ability to empathize.
If you explain empathy in your own words, then this is the ability not only to understand a person and sympathize with him, but also to fully penetrate his inner world and feel specific situation on myself. It is a rare gift to look at the world through someone else's eyes and take someone else's point of view.
Empathy is an understanding of the mental and emotional state of another person, that is, the ability to perceive the feelings of the interlocutor, while being aware that these are the emotions of another person.
An empath can very subtly distinguish between bouquets of feelings, emotions, relationships, which is not available to many people. People, most of all, can hardly determine what feeling fills them in this moment. An empath feels all shades of feelings and not only those that the person himself is clearly aware of, the empath sees several “levels” of the existence of which the person himself does not even suspect, although no, everyone has heard about the subconscious, it is also accessible to the empath.
If a person perceives the emotions of a partner as his own, then this is no longer called empathy, but identification with the interlocutor. Identification is an empath's tool, with its help he can understand a person in more detail.
There is a theory that mirror neurons, discovered in 1990 by a group of Italian scientists, are responsible for empathy, but this hypothesis has not been fully studied. Remarkably, mirror neurons were originally found in the frontal cortex of monkeys.
Real empathy is not reading the mood of the interlocutor by his gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice. In order to master this method of reading the emotions of the interlocutor, you just need to read a well-written book on sign language.
And still, you will not be able to accurately understand the degree of despair, joy or excitement of your interlocutor. A strong empath does not need to see the gestures and facial expressions of a person, you can just look at the photo, although this is not always necessary.
“Unfortunately, there are no specific methods that would allow you to learn empathy in a week or a month. Many world psychologists believe that it cannot be learned consciously at all. Empathy is something that appears as a result of experienced sorrows and problems. This is one's own bitter experience, which becomes a pass to understanding the suffering. In principle, charity, helping the elderly, children and animals help, over time, to develop deep and strong sympathy in your soul, that is, empathy.
To some extent, these words are true, but another empath who has already passed this path can help to master the ability to empathize inherent in a person. You probably won't be able to learn from a book, practical exercises are needed.
The empathic way of communicating with another person has several facets. It implies entering into the personal world of another and staying in it "at home". It involves a constant sensitivity to the changing experiences of the other - to fear, or anger, or emotion, or embarrassment, in a word, to everything that he or she experiences.
This means a temporary life in another life, a delicate stay in it without evaluation and condemnation. This means capturing what the other is barely aware of. But at the same time, there are no attempts to open completely unconscious feelings, since they can be traumatic. This includes reporting your impressions of inner world another, when you look with a fresh and calm look at those elements of it that excite or frighten your interlocutor.
This includes referring often to others to check their impressions and listening carefully to the responses they receive. You are a confidant for another. By pointing out the possible meanings of another's experiences, you help them experience more fully and constructively.
Being with another in this way means putting aside your points of view and values for a while, in order to enter the other's world without prejudice. In a sense, this means that you are leaving your "I". This can only be done by people who feel safe enough in a certain sense: they know that they will not lose themselves in the sometimes strange or bizarre world of another and that they can successfully return to their own world when they want to.
Maybe this description makes it clear that being empathic is difficult. It means being responsible, active, strong and at the same time subtle and sensitive.
Classification. Types of empathy
Strange as it may seem, empaths can be classified. Divide your kind into empath levels. After all, we were all born with a wonderful gift - to feel, to empathize. But over time, in the family, society, life, the level of empathy has changed. Someone developed intensively, while someone, on the contrary, suppressed all living things in himself, which can arouse sympathy.
There are 4 types of empaths:
1. Not empaths
Everything is immediately clear here. Non-empaths are those people who have completely closed their empathic abilities. It is possible that these abilities have atrophied themselves, as they were never used. Such people intentionally close themselves off from emotional information (for example, they cannot recognize verbal and non-verbal emotional signals). If empathic abilities are not used, they disappear.
2. Weak empaths
This type of empathy is possessed by most of the population of our Earth. They have retained the basic filters for receiving emotional information, but due to the fact that they cannot control this, emotional overload often occurs. Especially if the weak empath is going through an emotional upheaval or is in a crowded place. Such people are often in a state of constant stress, as if the whole weight of the world, emotions, problems, fears, fell on their shoulders. If compared physically, they feel tired, headaches, and so on.
3. Functional empaths
These are the most developed empaths who easily adapt to emotional information and can easily control emotions without suppressing them. Rarely does anyone really know how to do this. Outwardly, these people are no different from ordinary people.
4. Professional empaths
Such empaths are easily able to recognize any emotions, moreover, the most complex emotional streams of information that are hidden in the depths of our soul. Such people can manage other people's emotions well. Good healers, as they see hidden energy channels. There are only a few such empaths, in their pure form they rarely meet. It happens that an empath heals well, but for some reason or his own fear, he does not know how to control other people's emotions.
A professional empath will be able to cheer up a person who is in pain and help get rid of pain. During the period of grief, forget about sadness. Believe in yourself when there is no more hope. Can you do the same?
How do you know if you're an empath?
I can feel, feel another person's feelings just by looking at their faces.
Maybe I'm an empath? You often ask yourself a similar question when you cannot explain what is happening to you.
In this article I want to tell you how to determine that you are an empath.
Empathy is the ability to feel people's emotions as if they were your own.
It could be a gift or a curse, because who wants to feel sad with a sad stranger on the road? Who wants to have physical pain if someone is in pain because they fell. How and what do you really feel? But on the other hand, you can use this empathy as an opportunity to help people and develop the ability for yourself.
Here are some factors that will help determine if you are an empath. But if you're still in doubt, you can take our empathy test, it certainly won't lie.
So, for business...
1. Feel someone's emotions. This is the most common factor that says that you are an empath. Look at passers-by, on the street, if you feel happiness, love, sadness, bitterness, pain in their faces, then you are definitely an empath. You can just as easily merge with them, do the same thing, what they want. For example, you are thirsty or you urgently want to go home for no good reason. Mood swings, and sharp
2. You feel tired when you are in a crowded place. Since you feel the emotions of other people, you can get tired of all this. You become angry and irritable, which causes rapid mood swings. Many empaths don't like places where there are a lot of people, they immediately feel empty.
3. You can clearly tell when a person is lying... It's a kind of gift to know if a loved one or a loved one is telling you that she loves you. To determine whether a person is experiencing true feelings is only able to recognize a real empath. The idea of an empath is impossible to deceive, because he knows how you feel.
There are several ways to tell if you are an empath. Someone can see the aura of people, some can read people like an open book. But being an empath is more difficult, because constantly feeling a bunch of emotions in yourself and experiencing them as if it were your own can drive you crazy!
Developing empathy, how to develop empathy?
People are divided into those who are already empaths and those who want to become empaths. We already know that there are several levels of empathy, and in order to teach someone, to develop empathy, he needs to master one of the levels of empathy.
In fact, real empathy is harder to learn, especially for those who have never used it. You can not turn the world upside down and say that I have changed, and began to feel everything. It will take a long time to break down your beliefs and learn empathy.
Empathy is not just someone's feelings and experience, it is a complete understanding and awareness that you feel it, as if it is happening to you. This is very thin world completely different life. Not everyone wants to feel the emotions and desires of another person unnecessarily, but why does he need all this? But let's not get into real empathy, but let's talk about the psychological component of empathy. About the empathy that is written about in the textbooks of psychology and business. This empathy differs in that you have to anticipate your opponent's actions and know what he wants from you through emotional reactions - this is much easier to train. You will not feel everything on yourself, but you will be able to clearly understand what is happening to a person and empathize with him.
Therefore, we will divide this blog into two parts: real empaths who subtly feel a person, and they develop anyone and those who learn this. There will be a big difference between these empaths, since the first empaths can feel emotions on themselves without visual contact, and the second most likely will never be able to do this.
So how do you develop empathy?
1. Level of study
When communicating with a person, you must highlight emotional notes, gestures. For example, have you ever watched the series Lie Theory (Lie to me)? If not, then look, this series clearly shows how with the help of facial expressions, gestures, reactions, tone of voice, you can determine what state a person is in, that is, what he feels. When you can focus correctly, without mistakes, your attention on such trifles, you can see the emotional state of a person. But until you can shift it to yourself.
Practice on the street, on friends, acquaintances. Notice any little things: slovenliness, a hair on a jacket, hair, makeup on the face, all this can tell a lot more about a person than you think. Master this skill.
2. Level of study
So, now that you have certain skills, you can know what is happening to a person. And they should clearly know, but it doesn’t seem to me that this is happening to him. No one seems to hone your skills, let it take years or months, but you should not be mistaken.
The second level of training is more difficult, since at this stage you must transfer those sensations, habits, voice timbre, body movements to yourself. As if you are the object that you feel. To make it easier for you to get into character, you need a strong emotional reaction. Watch the person carefully, imagine that he is you, if you have completely merged with him, are part of his life, you know in advance what he will do and how he will act in this or that situation. It is as if you are living his life without judging it and without thinking what is wrong.
You are one. You are comfortable in this body and life. If he is in love, you also love, if he feels pain, you also feel it with every cell of your body.
This is much harder to learn. You don’t have to master this skill, but you will never become a true empath until you can feel in your own skin how a person feels. You seem to look into the mirror of someone else's life and see yourself in it. Perhaps you think this is complete nonsense and impossible, you are mistaken. An empath is someone who perceives another person's feelings as if they were their own. And no one said that feelings should always be good.
3. Level of study
This level allows you to become a true empath. After all, empaths do not just feel everything on themselves, they know how to manage this state. The first possibility is to easily take YOURSELF out of any negative emotional state. The second possibility is to bring the OTHER out of the negative emotional state. Influence emotions. This is where the similarity begins, what psychology and business are trying to teach us so much. Controlling emotions and manipulating others through emotional connection.
If you have mastered the first two levels of training and the skills of an empath, it will not be difficult for you to control all this ...
The labyrinths of the unconscious, this is the eternal road of numerous puzzles that will once be solved by man. The unconscious is everything that concerns our karma, our experience, our mind and our abilities. The role of the unconscious is great in our life. The role of the conscious, even more so. How do these undivided parts of our mind exist? We are used to using these terms in our lives, but in fact, many do not fully understand their meaning. After all, the unconscious is a "factory" for the production of Karma. And the conscious is a "workshop" for the distribution of karma, where they decide where to send it to the conscious or leave it again in the unconscious.
So, the numerous reactions of human behavior are an integral experience of evolution acquired by human ancestors. That is, if 100 people learn something in one generic branch, then this, what they have learned, will be transmitted genetically to future generations. This is due not only to survival instincts and adaptation. This is also related to what is called disease. Yes, that's how it's transmitted. hereditary diseases, handed down by certain individuals of the genus, only because before them, many individuals of the same genus used similar unconscious experiences for their own purposes.
The unconscious is everything that the mind remembers throughout life. There is a big difference between the conscious and the unconscious. If we take an average person, then his conscious in relation to the unconscious in percentage terms looks like this, the unconscious is 99% and the conscious is 1%. If you take an enlightened person, then it looks exactly the opposite. Why? Yes, because most people live unconscious. And this means that their behavior is due to spontaneous emotional decisions that are associated with unconscious experience. They have always acted and reacted this way. Therefore, the absence conscious analysis does not lead a person to a form of awareness of certain actions in his life. And the difference between those who know and those who don't know is that the one who knows is trying to realize what he only understood before. And, the one who does not know is content with the knowledge that he will receive at the initial stages of his development. That is, living with old experience, reactions, behavior, a person does not think about why he does this. He can refer to heredity, to a bad character, and to the fact that all this can no longer be corrected, “I was born, they say, like this.” If you figure out why we live, then the ultimate goal of any person is to one day know himself. But this happens when the karma-experience is realized by the person.
Any action of the conscious and unconscious leads to the birth of new karma, that is, situations. It doesn't matter if they are good or bad in terms of what is good or bad, it is still karma. Therefore, in order to transform karma, it must be given the opportunity to enter the third, neutral state. And this is knowledge! That is, in a neutral state, karma loses its force. And in the conscious and unconscious, it increases strength.
The unconscious is what we have been accumulating for thousands of years as an experience. And in this experience, not only our individual experience, but also the experience of our ancestors. Our joy, kindness, our anger and resentment, these are experiences that we have acquired unconsciously. The moment a situation is present, the human mind makes millions of neural combinations about how to act. In fact, the mind finds these combinations among the experience that a person once acquired. No more no less. So, since the active force of our consciousness is our choice, then we are guided by this choice in order to choose the unconscious, that is, what is in the field of the unconscious. Our grievances, jealousy, our kindness and our compassion, these are energies that cause a certain chemical reaction in the body, shaping our body in the likeness of these energies. That is, our body becomes the consonance of what we represent in the unconscious.
In fact, this path is not easy. This is the path that leads to knowledge. After all, if you thought badly 100 times, then at least 100 times you need to think well, so that what was previously unconscious becomes conscious. And then, in order to become aware of your actions, you need to let this conscious experience pass the test in life, gaining practical experience and strengthening yourself in awareness. And only then, this conscious experience, as the Spiritual quintessence of God, envelops the Spiritual body of a person.
Everything around us is our karma. You think she came just like that. No. She came so that we could realize her. After all, karma is us! Believe that everything that is around us is the world of energies, which is our shadow. And the second half is contained in us. This is our knowledge. So, any situation, objects or subjects, is a mysterious algorithm that we all need to solve. After all, our environment is what potentially expresses our world within us. That is, our contents of the mind, conscious or unconscious, are energies that have their own vibration, which in turn attract another kind of energy. No, not similar. Similar, on a vibrational level. But the difference lies in the fact that this kind of energy in us causes the SHADOW. Why do you think? In order for them to unite and a transformation occurs. It looks as if a person were irritable, then there will always be irritants around him, not because this is done on purpose, but because the irritation of a person calls out his other half-shadow from space, as these people, as another type of energy. And the task of such relations is Awareness. As long as an irritable person does not understand the harm of his behavior, and that by his behavior he creates a conflict, until then there will be people around him that cause him irritation. Until a jealous person realizes that his jealousy is a manifestation of his Ego, and his greedy ambitions. Until he realizes that there is nothing in this world that he can own. Until then, there will be people on his way who will betray him and betray him. For only in this way, a person receives the experience of awareness. And then, when a person comes to realization, that's when this part of the realized karma is separated from his being and fills his Spiritual body. And the more such alchemy happens, the more a person will be freed from karma.
But in fact, what surrounds us is what we believe in. And this is also a product of our mind, just like what is in our mind. We are what we believe in. Many people say that life is simple. But in order to simply understand it, you need to go through a very long path of knowledge. For example, why does a person get sick? Everything, of course, begins with what a person thinks and feels. And the more he feels it, the more biochemical reactions occur in the body with a change in hormonal levels. Thus, the person becomes ill. And this means that for many years of life a person unconsciously believed in something. For example, if a person has cysts, then he is touchy. Which means he for a long time believed that the world was somewhat cruel and could offend him. And the more often a person thinks about it and experiences it unconsciously, the faster cysts will form in him. But the simplicity lies in the fact that everything that exists in this process is just the work of our mind, which unconsciously believed in its resentment towards the world around us. What you believe is what you get. The entire material world is atoms and molecules. So, who controls this process, that this world in our field looks the way it does? Our mind!!! It is our mind that creates this world the way we imagine it and experience it within ourselves. Therefore, to change the world, you need to change yourself.
Empathy is a conscious or unconscious connection of the psyche (feeling in) to the current emotional state another person without losing the feeling external origin this experience.
With the gift of empathy, you have the ability to look into other people's experiences. You can feel someone else's pain and it can bring you to tears, and you want to help this person.
There is hyperactive empathy.
This is when you have this gift, but do not know how to control it, you are open to all the emotions and impressions of other people, but you cannot center your own. own feelings and needs. In society, you feel the whole emotional background, even walking down the street, you can feel what is happening with people passing by. Physical empathy can even lead to physical pain that is not yours ("someone else's headache").
Empathy is a gift, in most people it is expressed to varying degrees. If you have the gift of empathy, you need to know how to turn it into your assistant and be able to turn it off. Ideally, one should be able to use it at will and “turn it off” when necessary. Some people intuitively know how to do this. Others cannot do this.
When you begin to empathize with someone (pity and sympathize), your field is destroyed.
In other words, when you are centered, you are like a solid bowl, after you begin to empathize and become very nervous, your field becomes like a colander.
You have holes in your energy body through which your energy goes to another person, so you begin to feel like yourself. The opposite also happens when energy flows into you and you absorb everything that happens around you; from other people, places and events.
When you know how to manage your gift, empathy becomes a real gift, because it allows you to see things and events happening to other people. Sympathy causes compassion in us, and compassion allows us to take care of others, to help people who have turned to you. Empathy allows you to experience the unity of being, to feel what it is like to be a different person, to understand the actions of other people.
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If you do not know how to turn off this ability, then it can greatly affect your life and destroy you.
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Disadvantages of having the gift of empathy if you don't know how to "turn it off": The spectrum is very wide - from annoyance to debilitating physical and emotional state - for example, when you take on the physical and emotional pain of other people.
Are the following problems close to you?
*Presence of hyperactive empathy in relationships:
Have you ever been in a relationship where you felt like someone was going through a lot when they were in trouble and you wanted to help them? This is certainly good if you want to help a person, but what if you want to help a person so much that you start to “take over” his problems? What to do if your own boundaries become blurred, you take on someone else's responsibilities and do not understand where you are and where the other is?
What if by doing this you prevent a person from taking responsibility for these events and close the ability for him to change the situation, gain experience and create his own life? Hyperactive empathy is associated with co-dependency of empaths and other people, as well as a lack of grounding and with a weak sense of clear boundaries in an empath.
*Hyperactive empathy in the social environment:
When you are in society, you are so focused on the people around you that you can read them subtly, intuitively understand the meaning of all their actions. You seem to plunge into their world, into their energy, into their emotions and feelings. If everything in the room is in color, then you are in shades of gray, because you are not yourself, you lose your integrity.
*Hyperactive emotional empathy:
Have you ever been in situations where you were simply overwhelmed by someone else's emotional pain? When someone has had a severe loss, for example, someone died, and you start supporting this person, and then you start to feel bad, cry all day and feel all the grief of that person. This kind of emotional empathy is completely unnecessary and inappropriate.
*Hyperactive empathy in certain places:
It's when you enter a building and you start to feel the whole emotional background of this place. This is especially evident in places with a large number of people (hospitals, schools, etc.).
*Physical Empathy: Do you feel other people's pain? Physical empathy can give you terrible headaches. It often happens that empaths take on the physical pain of other people like sponges.
These are the most common types of empathy, although there are many more species empathy, such as intellectual empathy, empathy with animals and plants.
You can learn to manage your gift of empathy by
using three simple methods:
1. Pay attention to how you feel.
To overcome empathy, you need to get back to yourself! To center yourself, you need to check yourself: at least once a day, tune in to how you feel. Keep a diary, and before you go to bed, write down how you feel and why.
When people ask you for something, before you say “Yes”, check what you think about it. Don't just automatically feel their needs, but first turn your attention to yourself before you react. Take time to center yourself and pay attention to your feelings. This will take time, but soon, when you are not so attuned to others, your feelings will return to you.
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Meditation can also be good tool for centering if done regularly. Imagine how your energy returns to you from other people and you feel whole again.
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When I feel like my energy is “out there” (especially after working on the computer and on the Internet all day), I often do visualization in which I see how my energy returns to me from the Internet sites I visit, from people, people I've talked to, spirits I've heard, clients I've worked with. This visualization simply sets off the intention to return your energy to you. This is very useful exercise you can do it before bed.
2. Get in the habit of asking your subconscious mind or Higher Self (angels, God, Universe) to let go of energies that are not yours.
When you feel like you've "picked up" other people's energies or lost yourself in relationships with other people, try taking three deep, long breaths, and then say this little prayer: "Now I call on my Higher Self / subconscious / God / angels to help me remove from my physical body and mine thin bodies energies that do not belong to me. Made! Made! Made! OM! OM TAT SAT!”
You can come up with your own message or use this. No need to make it very complicated and long. It should be short and simple. Appeal to Higher Powers is very powerful and effective way to clear your energy.
3. Let yourself enjoy life
Most empaths are very depressed and unable to enjoy life because of the constant emotional interaction with other people. They often think that they are only there to help those who are suffering. They feel responsible for the suffering and feelings of others and think it is their duty to help everyone feel better.
To fix this, focus on the joy of interacting with other people. If you do not enjoy communicating with a person and feel that this person drains your energy, then it is better to stop communicating. In everyday communication, prioritize your enjoyment of communication and pay less attention to other people than usual. It may sound incredibly selfish, but many empaths need to change their approach to their gift.
Do you perceive other people very closely, as if they were your own? Perhaps you have awakened empathy! Find out how to test it!
What is empathy and how does it arise?
Empathy (empathy)¹ - the ability to subtly feel the emotions of another as your own. People who can do this are called empaths. An empath is someone who feels the emotions and feelings of others. Sometimes empathy is accompanied by ability.
People naturally acquire this ability in two ways:
1. They are born empaths.
2. This gift awakens on its own during maturation and socialization.
Empathy is a great gift if you know how to use it properly. Not all empaths are able to control the ability consciously - in most cases this happens unconsciously.
Many people sometimes "catch" the sensations of other people. In most cases, the gift of empathy is not recognized: logical mind such manifestations are explained as ordinary psychology or spontaneous NLP².
Signs of having superpowers
If something like this happened in your life, and you suddenly felt emotions unusual for yourself, it is quite possible that it was a feeling received from another person - empathy manifests itself!
Until you learn to manage and control it, you will absorb other people's emotions and experience them as your own.
There are several signs that a person is an empath:
1. Empaths feel the suffering in the world on a massive scale and want to do something to help the world.
2. They find it difficult to look at someone else's pain because it feels like their own.
3. People with this ability have a hard time watching disturbing news: they feel all the suffering and then can’t for a very long time recover.
For example, it is enough to watch a news report about a disaster or some kind of catastrophe anywhere in the world, and such a person can feel pain (psychological, and sometimes physical) from this event.
4. Empaths have a hard time finding themselves and being fully aware of their own feelings.
For example, during a conversation with another person, people with the gift of empathyfeel his emotions and feelings. Often, they know the answers to their life questions, but at the same time they do not find the answer to their own.
5. Often empathy can make a person shy because he knows very well how the other feels and what he wants.
6. If a person does not know how to control his ability, he may lose critical perception. Such people always say “yes” to all requests and demands, without thinking about whether they need it, whether they really want it.
An empath becomes so immersed in the other person's experience, knowing what they need, that they can't say no. And only then he realizes that he did not think about himself and his desires.
7. People with empathy help others at their own expense.
8. Empaths love from a distance, just as if they were close by.
9. They feel a deep affinity with nature, animals and plants.
Such people are able to feel not only people, but also animals, for example, meeting a dog or a cat along the street.
10. An empath feels responsible for how other people feel and tries to help them feel better.
11. Such people are very sensitive: relationships and friendships can be taken too close to the heart.
12. Because of empathy and the inability to manage it, they often become an outlet for other people to dump their emotions on them.
13. While reading a book or watching a movie, an empath experiences events very emotionally, almost completely identifies with the characters.
14. Due to the constant workload, people with this gift forget what it is to have fun and enjoy life.
15. Empaths tend to be deeply spiritual people: the gift of empathyallows you to feel the unity of all being.
If many of the above signs are close to you, it means that the ability to empathize lives in you!
Answer the following questions:
- Can you control this gift?
- Are you able to share your own and others' experiences?
- Are you able to manage your gift, "turning on" it only when you need it?
If you answered yes, then you yourself have learned to control your gift of empathy; otherwise, you need to learn how to manage empathy: in the notes to this article there is a link to useful material on developing control over empathy.
Notes and feature articles for a deeper understanding of the material
¹ Empathy - conscious empathy with the current emotional state of another person without losing a sense of the external origin of this experience (Wikipedia).
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The creation of modern psychology as a science of the psyche and behavior in all their forms and ranges has largely become possible due to the discovery and use of fundamentally new approaches to the study and understanding of the nature and essence of man.
The most significant of them, in terms of content and consequences, was the Copernican revolution of Sigmund Freud. The indisputable historical merit of Z. Freud is that he laid the foundation for a systematic psychological study of the unconscious mind, created the doctrine of the unconscious, psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic tradition. Awareness of the real achievements of Z. Freud presupposes an understanding of the important circumstance that it was he who first managed to overcome the internal limits of psychoanalysis and actually laid the foundations of depth psychology (the concept of E. Bleuler), focused on the study of the unconscious mental, but by no means reduced to its psychoanalytically marked elements .
To a significant extent, precisely as a result of these achievements, human psychology, hitherto focused almost exclusively on the study of the phenomena of consciousness and self-consciousness, acquired new dimensions and qualities that made it possible to relatively correctly determine its object and subject, goals and objectives, ideals and norms of research, explanatory principles, methodology, methods and methodological procedures, the main branches, problem fields, functions and significantly supplement, update and strengthen the conceptual potential and the categorical-conceptual apparatus.
A retrospective analysis of the problems of the unconscious shows that it has a specific tradition. Some hints of the possible existence of such a problem were contained in the early forms of folklore, the mythology of religion. V different values and meanings, the problem of the unconscious has been posed and developed in philosophy and psychology throughout their history.
In the European rational tradition, the idea of the unconscious mental goes back to the era of the creation of philosophy (to the teachings of Socrates and Plato about anamnesis - knowledge-remembering, Aristotle's teachings about different parts souls, etc.). A significant contribution to the subsequent pre-psychoanalytic and extra-psychoanalytic understanding and study of the problem of the unconscious was made by B. Spinoza (unconscious "reasons that determine desire"), G. Leibniz (interpretation of the unconscious as the lowest form of mental activity), D. Hartley (connection of the unconscious with activity nervous system), I. Kant ("dark ideas", the connection of the unconscious with the problems of intuitive and sensory cognition, "in the very deep sleep the soul is most capable of rational thinking"), And Schopenhauer (ideas about unconscious internal impulses), K. Carus (the key of the unconscious in the subconscious), E. Hartaman ("Philosophy of the Unconscious"), G. Fechner (the idea of \u200b\u200bthe "soul-iceberg "), T. Lipps ("unconscious ideas" and "unconscious sensations"), W. Wundt ("unconscious thinking", "unconscious nature of perception processes"), G. Helmholtz (the doctrine of "unconscious inferences"), I. Sechenov ("unconscious sensations or feelings"), I. Pavlov ("unconscious mental life"), V. Bekhterev (the activity of the "unconscious"), A. Liebo and I. Bernheim (post-hypnotic suggestion and behavior), J. Charcot (ideas about invisible and unconscious mental trauma), G.Lebon (the unconscious nature of people's behavior; the unconscious as the dominant set of mental processes, always prevailing in the crowd and controlling the "collective soul" of the crowd), G.Tard ("laws of imitation"), P.Jane ( mental automatisms and besso cognitive factors of neuroses), A. Bergson (intuitionism, the unconscious, "superconsciousness") and many others. In general, these ideas and concepts can be understood as a kind of points of growth in the awareness of the problem of the unconscious mind.
In the twentieth century, the most detailed and systematic idea of the unconscious mind was developed within the boundaries of the psychoanalytic tradition, which now has a number of teachings, theories, concepts and models. varying degrees generality, reliability and heuristics.
Fundamentally important results were obtained by Z. Freud, who created the correct psychological definition of the unconscious, the doctrine of the unconscious, the corresponding categorical-conceptual apparatus and methods of cognition; established some elements of the content, functioning and regulation of the unconscious.
Defining the unconscious as mental processes, "which manifest themselves actively and at the same time do not reach the consciousness of the person experiencing them", Z. Freud proposed a reasonable understanding of the unconscious as the main and most meaningful system of the human psyche (unconscious - preconscious - conscious), regulated by the principle of pleasure and including various innate and repressed elements, drives, impulses, desires, motives, attitudes, aspirations, complexes, etc., characterized by unconsciousness, sexuality, asociality, etc. According to Z. Freud, in the unconscious there is a constant struggle between Eros (drives and forces of life, sexuality and self-preservation) and Thanatos (drives and forces of death, destruction and aggression), using the energy of sexual desire (libido). According to the classical psychoanalytic teaching, the content of the unconscious includes: 1) content that was never present in the mind of the individual and 2) content that was present in consciousness, but was forced out of it into the unconscious (desires, memories, images, etc.). ).
In fact, in the teachings of Z. Freud, not two (as is usually believed), but three types of the unconscious are distinguished: 1) The latent unconscious, the content of which, in general, corresponds to the preconscious system of the psyche and can be realized by the individual, 2) The repressed unconscious, the awareness of which involves the use of special (according to Z. Freud, psychoanalytic) methods and 3) the inherited universal human unconscious, which is represented, for example, in the immanent principles of mental life, the universal complexes of Oedipus and castration, drives, motivations, etc.
But, unfortunately, S. Freud did not qualify the inherited unconscious even with the degree of completeness, categorical certainty and systemic nature that are characteristic of his interpretation of other forms of the unconscious, as a result of which additional and excessive incorrectness appeared in psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic tradition. In this case, perhaps, it would be more appropriate to state the fact of the existence of a phylogenetic (i.e., species, universal) and ontogenetic (i.e., individual) unconscious. Moreover, the representation of the unconscious in certain phylogenetic and ontogenetic hypostases almost automatically opened up opportunities for concretizing them, searching for interconnections and other potentially possible forms of the existence of the unconscious.
In terms of knowledge of the psyche, behavior and the unconscious mental person a special role was played and is played by the dialectical energy-informational model of the psyche created by Z. Freud (Unconscious - Preconscious - Conscious). In the light of modern scientific ideas, this model can be understood, among other things, as a psychological imperative and a prototype for the construction of the latest energy-information models of the psyche, without which the effective development of modern psychology and borderline disciplines is hardly possible.
Taking into account the role that was given in the psychoanalysis of S. Freud to the cognition and interpretation of dreams, as the "royal road" to the world of an unconscious mental person, it should be noted that in the psychoanalytic tradition, some important problems did not receive a proper explanation or were not even formulated with the desired degree. certainty. These may include, for example, problems of understanding the nature and essence of dream consciousness and dream self-consciousness (including self-control) and their interaction with unconscious forces and tendencies. As special problems, the problem of the possibility of controlling dreams (that is, of influencing their content and direction) and the problem of the possibility of achieving artificial dream catharsis can and should be comprehended. The study of these problems is all the more important, since the principle of external similarity proposed by Z. Freud and the sexual symbolism of dreams, as it turned out, do not at all have the universality that was attributed to them.
The teachings of Z. Freud initiated and stimulated the emergence and development of many different approaches to the study of the unconscious mental, within which were formulated interesting ideas and important results were obtained (for example, ideas about intrapsychic communications, compositional features and stratification of the unconscious, the brain substrate of the unconscious, holographic elements of the unconscious, content and functional asymmetry of the interhemispheric interaction of the unconscious, the probabilistic nature of unconscious processes, etc.).
But at the psychological level proper, the psychoanalytic tradition still remained the most stable vector of development, the evolution of which, in general, is aimed at moving from teaching to a modern scientific theory of the unconscious mind through successive approximations.
In this regard, it is essential milestones and the concepts of C.G. Jung, J. Moreno and E. Fromm became the results.
According to the analytical psychology of K.G. Jung, the unconscious consists of three layers: 1) Personal unconscious - the surface layer of the unconscious, which includes predominantly emotionally colored representations and complexes that form the intimate spiritual life of the individual, 2) Collective unconscious - the innate deep layer of the unconscious, a common center and core of the psyche, which has not an individual, but a universal nature, representing the experience of previous generations of people and including super-personal universal content and patterns that act as the universal foundation of mental life. The main content of the collective unconscious, according to C.G. Jung, is archetypes, that is, inherited universal patterns, symbols and stereotypes of mental activity and behavior and 3) the Psychoid unconscious - the most fundamental level of the unconscious, which has properties in common with the organic world and a relatively neutral character, which is why it, being completely neither mental nor physiological, is practically completely inaccessible to consciousness.
V general view these ideas are, for the most part, a kind of psychoanalytic remake, because, ultimately, through updated designations, they reproduce the basic ideas of Z. Freud about the existence of the unconscious, its phylogenetic and ontogenetic forms, the stratification of the unconscious, the dominant role, etc. However, at the same time, C.G. Jung introduced certain innovations, mainly related to the existence and functioning of archaic mental structures. By reducing the collective (i.e., phylogenetic) unconscious to a psychic evolutionary archaic, expressed in archetypes, he significantly contributed to understanding the basic concepts and dimensions of the unconscious psyche and significantly increased the heuristic potential of the psychoanalytic tradition. At the same time, it should be noted that C.G. Jung's assumptions about the existence of some specific archetypes, their forms and role need further critical verification and appropriate justification.
Developing the hypothesis of Z. Freud about the possible existence of a direct relationship and communication between the unconscious different people, J. Moreno formulated the concept according to which the essential basis and mechanism of communication and interaction of people is the "common unconscious", which arises and functions with a relatively long contact between partners and helps to remove interpersonal role conflicts. Generally presented as a generalization cognitive activity and the results of practice, it has not received any theoretical or practical confirmation.
A significant event in the development of psychoanalytic and psychoanalytically oriented ideas about the unconscious was the creation by E. Fromm of the concept of "social unconscious", which is the repressed spheres characteristic of most members of society and containing what this society cannot allow its members to bring to awareness. However, the description and explanation of the social unconscious did not receive necessary elements organization, evidence and justification.
In contrast to the psychoanalysis of S. Freud (and partially analytical psychology of C. G. Jung), the undeveloped and unconjugated concepts of the general unconscious and the social unconscious, with all their merits and heuristic potential, are a specific form of opinions and assumptions, and not justified working hypotheses, and even especially scientific theories that correspond to the standards of modern scientific knowledge.
Nevertheless, the introduction of ideas about the general and social unconscious into psychoanalytic circulation gave rise to the seeming completeness of the psychoanalytic picture of the unconscious mental and illusory ideas that modern psychoanalysis has some kind of general theory of the unconscious.
The historically important achievements of the psychoanalytic tradition in the formulation, comprehension and private solutions of the problem of the unconscious are great and indisputable. But at the same time, at the present time, there are no necessary and sufficient grounds for believing that modern psychoanalysis has such a theory or the possibilities for the exclusive creation of a general theory of the unconscious that meets the standards modern theory and practices. And in this regard, the factual withdrawal of the psychoanalytic community from the discussion of this fundamental problem is very indicative.
The current fragmentation and approximateness of ideas about the unconscious and the very significant role of this problem give reason to believe that the modern general theory of the unconscious mind is not the result, but one of the most urgent tasks of theoretical psychology and borderline disciplines, the solution of which naturally implies the need to use the huge potential of positive psychoanalytic ideas, approaches and results.
V.I. Ovcharenko
