f. Conscious and unconscious will
Taking the terms literally, it is obvious what is meant by a conscious and an unconscious act,
or drive. The difference between the two lies in the degree of perception that a person has of their
actions. Degree of perception can also define various drives in between unconscious and
conscious drives, such as subconscious and preconscious drives, each defined by the degree of
awareness that a person has of their action.
A person's ability to exert the force of their will very much depends upon that person's
awareness of their will. If a person knows where they want to position themselves in the future,
they will be better able to overcome the obstacles that could prevent them from achieving their
desired goal. When a person is unaware of their own will, they may still achieve their desired goal,
but only because they unconsciously, or accidentally work toward it. A person's unconscious will
may also make it very difficult for them to achieve their goal. The person is not only unable to
knowingly direct the force of their will in such a way as to make the goal more possible, but may
actually act in a way that leads them away from their goals.
I will now examine some of the reasons that people desire to position themselves at various
points in space, and how a person's conscious and unconscious wills work toward their goals.
As a person experiences reality with the passing of time, that person is exposed to a variety
of experiences that are, to different degrees, either pleasant, unpleasant, or neither. Let's assume
that a person seeks out pleasant experiences and seeks to avoid unpleasant ones. Some of
these experiences are physical in nature, such as those that result from sight, hearing, touch,
taste, and smell. Some are mental in nature, such as thoughts, feelings, memory, and logical
reasoning. Pleasure enhancement is also partly achieved by reducing unpleasant experiences. It
is also possible for a person, while seeking to increase pleasurable experiences, to increase the
possibility and the intensity of unpleasant experiences.
Experiences also transcend time. Past experiences influence present experiences, and
present experiences influence future experiences. When a mind directs it's will in order to
increase pleasurable experience, the path that it chooses may not always be the one that brings
about the most pleasurable experience at that particular point in time. This is because of the
mind's ability to remember past experiences, evaluate present circumstances, and to logically
anticipate future experiences. When one considers whether or not an experience is beneficial and
pleasurable to a person, that experience must be considered in the context of all the experiences
and circumstances in all time periods of that person's existence.
A person's comprehension of the causes of their experiences increases that person's ability
to choose the path that is most beneficial to themselves. It should also be noted here that beings,
albeit to different degrees, understand the unified nature of experience. That is, they have a
perception of the fact that all beings' experiences are tied together in one way or another.
In trying to work toward positions in space that are beneficial to themselves, a person's
conscious drives may be good or bad, depending upon the situation and the nature of the drive, as
can unconscious drives. As a person develops in their understanding of self and the reality
around them, their conscious and unconscious drives will coordinate in such a way as to direct
that person's will along a path that is most beneficial to themselves. This does not mean that
conflicts between the different types of drives will no longer exist. The conflicts themselves
become beneficial to the growth of the person. An example of this is the situation where a person
follows their instincts, which are a form of unconscious drive, in deciding to take a beneficial
course of action that they would not have chosen consciously. The reverse is also true, that is,
consciously choosing a path that your instincts lead you to avoid.
As a person matures, they make unconscious and sub-conscious drives conscious. This is
the process of coming to understand oneself, and helps in coordinating conscious and
unconscious drives. Also, new unconscious drives may arise from the experience of living. A
person will then attempt to make these drives conscious to themselves. It is also possible for a
person to repress conscious drives to the point of making them unconscious. At times this can be
beneficial, though in most cases this is detrimental to the health a person.
g. Emotions
Of all the abilities that a living entity possesses, perhaps the most unique is the ability to
experience emotions. Emotions exist only for living entities. They reveal to an organism the
condition of itself. It is actually the organism itself that generates the emotions; they are a type of
self-feedback.
In the context of contraction, human emotional experience is intimately tied to the perception
of the passage of time. This is reflected in the popular saying, time flies when your having fun, and
the not as popular saying, time drags when your not. In many ways the ability to sense time is like
a sixth sense. As explained earlier, our nature as human beings is based upon our capacity to
experience time. According to contraction physics, a contraction in the size of all physical entities
occurs from one period of time to another. The mind, as an entity, has the capacity to partially
overcome this contraction because of it's ability to retain past perceptions and to logically
anticipate possible future perceptions. It can then consolidate the experience of time levels into a
unified experience. This ability to unify time levels affects a being's perception of the passing of
time. Since levels of time and the mind each have substantive physical structures, and since the
structures of these entities are intrinsically related, the perception of time by the mind is itself a
measurable quantity. This quantity influences the experience of emotion.
Almost all perceptions and experiences elicit some type of emotion. The type of emotion that
is generated depends upon the mind's perception of the situation that it is experiencing. The mind
generates a positive, or pleasant, emotion when it perceives a situation that it is experiencing as
good for it's well-being. It generates a negative emotion when it perceives a situation as
dangerous or detrimental to it's well-being. It is important to note here that it is the mind's
perception of a situation, not necessarily the truth of the situation, that determines the emotional
response. False perceptions can cause the mind to generate emotions that are inappropriate for
the situation.
A mind uses various methods of perceiving reality, sight, hearing, etc., in order to determine
which emotional response is appropriate for the situation that it finds itself in. A mind's ability to
understand the reality of the situation that it's in enables it to seek out experiences that generate
positive emotions for itself, and to avoid experiences that produce negative or unpleasant
emotions. With contraction physics, emotions can be defined in terms of the effect that they have
on a mind as it experiences time. Positive feeling, or pleasant emotions, direct a mind toward a
path through time that maximizes the mind's feeling of well-being. They can be seen as an energy
that results when a mind moves to a situation in time and space that produces a perception of
well-being. The actual feeling can be seen as a perception of a force of attraction between the
person experiencing the emotion and the object that elicits the emotion. Negative feeling
emotions also influence the path of the mind through time. They can be considered to be a
perception of a repulsion to a particular situation, bringing about a reduction in the feeling of
well-being.
The term "the feeling well-being" is key in understanding emotions. The term itself is
self-explanatory. It is understanding the essence of the feeling and the conditions that bring about
that feeling that can be difficult. With contraction physics these conditions can be described
mathematically. Since, according to contraction physics, the mind is defined as an entity that
exists in many time levels, the reality of each time level that the mind experiences affects the
condition of the mind. In the same way that electrical current is affected by the resistance of the
medium through which it is traveling, the mind encounters varying degrees of resistance in each
time level that it experiences in the form of negative feelings. When the mind encounters the least
possible amount of resistance along it's path through time, it's feeling of well-being will be at it's
maximum. When the mind encounters greater and greater amounts of resistance along it's path
through time, it's feeling of well-being diminishes. The feeling of well-being can be defined as a
function of the resistance that the mind encounters as it experiences time and the capacity it has to
overcome that resistance.
The resistance that a mind encounters along it's path through time has many sources, but
they all affect the mind in the same way, though to different degrees. Essentially, this resistance
necessitates that the mind exert a greater amount of energy in order to maintain it's capacity to
experience the reality of each time level. Resistance causes a mind to redirect the energy that it
has available to itself in order to deal with and overcome the resistance. This redirecting of the
mind's energy is paralleled by the mind perceiving a change for the worse in it's feeling of
well-being.
In it's purest form, the resistance that the mind encounters is fear. Fear results anytime a
mind encounters a situation that requires it to apply it's energies to overcoming the resistance. All
negative feeling emotions; sadness, anger, hatred, etc., are the result of the mind experiencing
fear. The fear can be very necessary and appropriate for the situation. It can be seen as a
conscious and unconscious awareness of a present or potential threat to one's well-being.
Consequently, whether or not an emotion is good or bad for a person is determined by whether or
not it is appropriate for the situation, not by whether or not it elicits a positive or negative feeling.
Once a problem, or resistance, is overcome, a mind no longer feels the need to apply its
energies to the problem. The draining effect on it's energy resources is relieved. This results in a
restored feeling of well-being. This feeling of well-being can be best termed joy. In this state, a
mind is using it's energies to relay to itself a feeling of well-being and is usually more able to more
fully focus it's attention on the aspects of reality that enable it to maintain this state.
All of the perceptions that a person experiences during their existence elicits joy or fear or
some combination of both. Our lives are constantly driven by these emotions. Our motivations in
all that we do are related to them. The goal that a healthy person should have is to learn to
respond to the experiencing of these emotions in the proper way, one which enhances one's own
feelings of well-being, as well as others, and not just in the context of a given period of time but in
the context of all time.