Even though the mind is intensely powerful and we can see its effects all the time, the mind is nevertheless intangible and invisible so we must define its operation in theoretical terms, based upon what we have learned about through observing our behavior.

We generally divide the mind into four operating sections: the primitive mind, the subconscious mind, the critical mind and the conscious mind. All four sections work together all the time to keep us safe and surviving.

The Primitive Mind  

The primitive area of the mind contains the information to sustain the basic functions of the body and mind that must run automatically and cannot be left exclusively to conscious control. The primitive area of the mind also controls the vital responses to threats that must be activated without rational thought. The primitive mind houses the primitive memory, including evolved learning and genetic heritage.

Residing in the primitive mind is the fight-or-flight response, which is the reaction mechanism to threatening situations or events. The threat may be actual or it may be imagined, but the response is real regardless of the nature of the threat.

The Fight-or-Flight Response  

The fight-or-flight response is an automatic series of reactions that take place when we perceive a threat. The brain sends a signal to the adrenal glands, which immediately release epinephrine (adrenalin) into the bloodstream. Upon this release, the following events launch:

• The heart beats much harder and faster, greatly increasing the volume of blood flow.
• Breathing becomes much faster and deeper, greatly increasing the volume of air going into and out of the lungs.
• The pupils of the eyes dilate, allowing in more light and increasing the visual depth of field.
• The arteries shift their pressure, directing blood flow away from the internal organs and toward the arms and legs. This gives more energy to the muscles of the limbs in case it is necessary to run or defend oneself.
• The nostrils of the nose dilate, along with the trachea and bronchial tubes so that it becomes easier to draw air into the lungs
• The liver makes glucose and releases it into the bloodstream, so that there is more energy available for the increased physical activity.

The increased blood flow to the brain elevates levels of blood sugar and endorphins in the brain, and this can result in what some people call the “adrenalin rush”. Conversely, the increased heart rate and breathing rate can result in what some people experience as a panic attack. If the feeling of being threatened continues, it is possible to deplete the available supply of blood sugar faster than it can be replaced, resulting in weakness, sweating, shakiness, nausea and even fainting or passing out.

The Subconscious Mind  

The subconscious mind contains the acquired memory from conception onward. It is often called the “irrational” mind, since it tends to accept input without applying logic or reason. Like the primitive area of your mind, the subconscious is always on alert, always operational. It receives and stores all of the information that is perceived by the five senses: sight, taste, smell, sound and touch.

The purpose of the subconscious mind is to protect you and ensure your survival as both a physical and an emotional being. Even before birth, your subconscious mind was recording sensations and responses to experiences and identifying them as either pleasure or pain, positive or negative, known or unknown. Your subconscious mind then learned to direct you away from things that registered as harmful, painful, frightening, or threatening.

Your perception of yourself originates from the earliest experiences you had and from the reactions you experienced from your interactions with your parents and all of the other people in your life. You were born with only two fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears were learned, and the learning of these fears took place early in your life. Your sense of values, of right and wrong, good and evil – all of this was formed early in your life before you were able to apply critical logic to the information that you were receiving.

Going forward, your ability to succeed, to be motivated, to relate to others has been governed by the information stored in your subconscious mind from your earliest experiences. You remember all of the reaction patterns that have formed as a result of your experience, even though you may not be able to consciously recall any of that information. Within your subconscious mind is the link connecting your mind, your emotions, your body and your spirit.

An example of how your subconscious mind protects you can be illustrated by considering someone who does not like dogs and chooses to avoid them at every opportunity. In early childhood, this person was frightened by a dog. There was a strong physical and emotional reaction in the child that was stored in the subconscious as a painful, negative event with many complicated physical and emotional sensations. Going forward, the adult who dislikes dogs may not consciously remember the childhood event but is always protected by his subconscious mind from the risk of repeating the event.

Your subconscious mind also records and stores memories of pleasure, comfort, love, and joy. Again, your subconscious protects and nurtures you by directing you toward those experiences, people and things which exert a positive influence on you. As a small child, you may have had a loving relationship with your pet dog, thus creating stored information in your subconscious that dogs are a source of love and pleasure. You find that as an adult, maintaining your sense of well-being requires that a dog be always present in your life.

Your subconscious mind is also referred to at the subjective or irrational mind. It is aware of its environment but not by means of the physical senses. It is the area of the mind that houses intuition, creativity and the “sixth sense”.

The Critical Area of the Mind

Somewhere between the ages of seven and nine years, you began to evaluate incoming information and to make decisions regarding its relevance and validity to you. You had enough memory stored in your subconscious to enable you to accept it as true or reject it as false. You were able to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad, pleasure and pain on a conscious level. Then, based upon a comparison to what was stored in your subconscious, you would act or not act, believe or not believe, since your subconscious programming had the final veto.

The critical area of your mind only stores information for about twenty-four hours. Once processed, the information is either stored or disposed of. The critical area of the mind is an additional fail-safe for the subconscious, acting as the interface between the conscious and the subconscious, and denying entry to information that conflicts with what the subconscious will accept.

For example, consider a child who is told from an early age that he is unattractive. This information enters his subconscious as a known. He may learn that attractive children receive attention, praise, and affection and that unattractive children do not. If he approaches an adult and is ignored then he assumes that it is because he is unattractive. He learns not to approach people, believing that his unattractiveness will cause him to be rejected. His subconscious is actually protecting him from rejection by directing him away from people.

As an adult, the man wishes to be romantically involved with women, yet he avoids contact with them, believing that he will be rejected because he knows he is unattractive. A woman approaches him, finding him attractive and telling him so. To her surprise, he rejects her. He believes that she is lying to him or making fun of him, because he knows that he is unattractive. The man walks away, depressed that women can be so cruel.

The critical area of the man’s mind evaluated the woman’s attention and, comparing it to the knowns in the man’s subconscious, rejected the information as being unacceptable.

The Conscious Mind

The conscious mind is that part of the mind that actively functions during waking and which directs behavior in response to the environment. It accepts incoming information and retains it in active memory for about an hour and a half before sending it to the critical area for evaluation. The conscious mind receives all of the input from the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. Because the barrage of incoming information is so intense, the conscious mind must filter it to avoid being overwhelmed.

The filters that the conscious mind uses protect it and allow it to continue to function without shutting down from the overload. Those filters allow the conscious mind to generalize, delete and distort incoming information based upon prior experience and depending upon the memories stored in the subconscious mind. If there is indeed too much incoming information, however, the conscious mind can shut down to protect itself, and the subconscious mind will take over. The resultant state can be normal sleep. If the person is not asleep, but experiences a conscious shutdown, the resultant state is hypnosis.

Our conscious mind allows us to interface with our environment and is very essential to our survival in the world. It allows us to be interactive in the present and to predict or anticipate our behavior in the future. It is also referred to as the objective or rational mind, since it employs reason and logic in its interactions with the external world.

Summary of the Theory of the Mind  

Your mind is one entity, but its functions are divided into four main divisions: The primitive mind, the subconscious mind, the critical mind, and the conscious mind. The conscious and subconscious minds are often referred to as the objective and subjective minds.

The primitive mind guards the body functions that must proceed automatically and without interruption. It is the repository of the two fears that we are born with: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. The primitive mind contains basic survival memory that must be in place at birth to ensure that we will be able to grow and thrive.

The subconscious contains all of the memories of all of the experiences and sensations that we have been exposed to from conception.

The subconscious mind, or subjective mind, functions when the conscious mind is in abeyance, as in hypnosis or during sleep. It works from its vast stored memory, accepting suggestions from the conscious mind after they have passed through the critical mind. The subconscious does not rely upon sensory input to function. It is the part of the mind where our intuition and creativity are located. Its purpose is to protect and to preserve us in all situations, whether we are acting consciously or not. Everything we need to know about ourselves is present in our subconscious mind.

The critical mind acts as a filter and judge, interfacing between the conscious and the subconscious minds. Information coming from the conscious mind is stored temporarily in the critical mind pending its acceptance by the subconscious mind. Once accepted by the subconscious, it is categorized as a known or unknown, as pleasure or pain, as positive or negative. The critical mind becomes active between the ages of eight and ten years, after enough stored memory has been accumulated in our subconscious mind to enable us to draw conclusions and operate from a frame of reference.

The conscious mind, or objective mind, is rational and operates using logic and reason. It uses input from the five senses to function. It acts as your guide and director while you are in contact with your environment. It allows you to make generalizations from your observations. It allows you to derive learning from all of the sources of incoming information that you are exposed to.

You can think of your mind as similar to your computer (or the other way around). Your primitive mind is the BIOS or machine memory; the subconscious is the ROM; the critical mind is the operating system; the conscious mind is the RAM.