Philosophers tell us that what we see and sense out in the world is actually a reflection of ourselves.

   If the iceberg in this picture had a normal human consciousness, it would be unaware of the 90% of its composition below the waterline -- hell, it wouldn’t even be aware of the water! Since we are considering that the iceberg has a human, ego-centric consciousness, let us extend this metaphor and give it eyes in its head. The iceberg could only see its reflection on the water’s surface and would believe that what it saw was all there was of “reality.”

   Imagine yourself in the iceberg’s situation. Wouldn’t you want to be able to, dear reader, feel your legs and wiggle your toes.

Presupposition #5: Quantum consciousness is more than mere awareness. It is aware that it is aware. Attaining this degree of awareness requires a decision, an act of will, to explore that which your quantum (total) consciousness is capable of.

    The distinction between awareness vs. the awareness of awareness is subtle. Make a picture of a horse within your imagination. Now, who is seeing the picture? There is the picture within the mind and there is that which is looking at the picture. Hello, that observer is you -- the real and very naked you.

    Now that you know this, realize that what you see in the mirror is not you; it is merely a very small part of the totality of you. Like the iceberg seeing its own reflection in the water.

    I clearly remember the moment that I decided to explore my spiritual capacity. If you have not made this choice, why not do so right now.

    Below the waterline of our day-to-day awareness lies what is commonly known as the subconscious mind. In our culture, we are taught that the subconscious mind is evil, dark and not to be trusted; some people even fight it. Yet its composition, structure and functioning is largely unknown. It is this lack of understanding that leads to the fear and mistrust with which most people hold this largest and most profoundly rich abode of consciousness.

    Like most people, I grew up believing that my day-to-day conscious mind was the superior one and must control every aspect of existence. Conspiring with my ego, this conscious mind became a logic-on-steroids demon; that is, when I wasn’t erupting in screaming rages. It wasn’t until I studied neuro-linguistic programming that I began to see that this deeper aspect of consciousness could be worked with successfully and powerfully.

    Some years ago I took a course in photoreading that finally convinced me. Once I learned the basic process of photoreading, which bypasses the conscious filtering process, I was given two books to read, each having its outer cover encased in brown shopping bag paper so that I could not tell what the books were. The instructions were to photoread the books upside down and backwards. After each book I was to write down my impressions and emotions. A book took less than five minutes to read in this fashion. With the first book I was feeling bubbly and wanting to laugh. The second instilled a growing, horrified feeling of doom. When we were done writing down our impressions, we were told what the books were. The first was a sweet book about a family going to the circus and described the antics of the clowns. The second book was “On the Beach,” by Nevil Shute, a grim novel of human extinction from global nuclear war.

    With this demonstration, I actually felt my conscious process decide to trust this other consciousness. Since then, I have photoread books on difficult subjects before tackling them. If I need to study any subject that I have anxiety about learning, I just photoread it and the anxiety goes away.

Corollary A: You can trust the unconscious mind, which is by far the largest part of your mind. You can learn to work with it.

    Training in shamanism found me diving head first into the deep end of this wonderful pool, whereas before I had waded ankle-deep at the shallow end. Swimming in these waters has always been a rich and joyful experience because I now know how to do it safely.

Corollary B: The smaller conscious mind frequently gets in the way. In fact, understanding by the conscious (ego-centered) mind is not even necessary for change to occur.

    In the photoreading training mentioned above, we were given “tricks” to get the conscious mind out of the way. Reading the way we were taught in primary school is an auditory function. Even if we are reading silently to ourselves, we are speaking the words in our heads. This is not a rapid way to absorb information. When you look at a photograph, your eyes take in a huge amount of information. Prove it to yourself. Look at a visually rich picture. Now verbally describe what you are seeing in ample detail. If you did this, you quickly got just how slow and inadequate verbal communication and reading really are. Reading word by word is a conscious mind activity.

    The unconscious process is capable of slurping up vast amounts of information in an instant. That is because it does not filter the information, like the conscious mind does. It is this conscious filter that clogs up the process of data intake. Therefore, getting the conscious mind out of the way speeds things up immensely.

    When I was photoreading “On the Beach” it was clear to me -- in the awful emotions I was feeling and not consciously knowing why -- that my unconscious process was taking in something dreadful and responding to it. The emotions I felt with both books were appropriate to the subject matter.

    A large door in my mind came crashing open that day. It was wonderful.

    See you on the other side of your door.