GuidoWorld

Preconscious and the Functional Self

May 14, 2008 on 10:41 am | In General |

In our recent reflections on the process of human experience we noticed a few things that are often overlooked. First for an experience to become conscious there must be both a part of you immersed in the experience and a part of you which stands back and observes the experience.

The part of us that is busy being immersed in the experience is the sensorial perceptual part. This part of us is an awareness that is in the world. We will refer to this as the conscious  functional self, because it functions in the world but is not self-conscious. The functional self appears to include all the aspects which one used to refer to as instinctual. The functional self breathes, digests, keeps the heart pumping etc. Yet it also deals with a whole lot of talents and tasks which lay outside of what we classically think of as instinctual.

The functional self is busy perceiving and orienting us when we are on autopilot. This is most noticeable when we are multitasking or lost in thought. At this time we are able to walk, drive a car even play piano while our “mind” is elsewhere.

Yet, the functional self is even more primary than that. It is the functional self which makes it possible for us to perceive and have a world. It is the functional self which organizes all the streams of stimuli into organized packets. It takes all the flashes of light and orients them into shapes and objects, and into a perceptual field. It takes all the noise and turns them into sounds, notes and words.

The functional self seems to be hardwired into our basic structure. For not only does it process and organize information but has the ability to do this built into it. Without this hardwired structure the ability to learn a language and to speak would not be possible. The functional self is there before we have conscious thought and is our constant companion when we develop a conscious self.

The majority of the time I am speaking, I am in the flow and have no need to choose my words. This again seems to be the working of the functional self and the conscious self (ego) only gets involved when it is embarrassed by what is being said, or feels a need to give additional guidance or direction.

The preconscious functional self not only organizes all perception and sensation, but also  documents and records it for further use by the conscious self (ego).  This is how we can retrieve things from memory which we did not consciously pay attention to at the time. It is the part of us that records a smell from our childhood, or the familiar feel of a room which spawns recollections both fond or disturbing.

While our ego is focusing on specific things in our environment or our perceptual field the functional self is aware of far more. The functional self is much like a video camera which records all senses, not just sight. Yet, the functional self is in itself a selective process, it chooses a relatively small band of sound and light to record.

Experience is finite, and so, therefore, is the abilities of the functional self. Much of its abilities appear to be hardwired as in the case of sound and light frequencies it can turn into sensory data.  Yet, beyond this fact, there still appears to be a great area of data which the functional self is selecting. Such as what to pay attention to as we are driving or walking while lost in thought.

The functional self is not just an autopilot machine, but an awareness capable of reacting  to situations and successfully responding to the environment. The functional self can make non-conscious decisions, yet it has its limits as to the choices available.

In the next post I will explore the role of the conscious self (ego) and its relationship to and its interelationship with the functional self.

Jim Guido