The hidden blueprint of human behaviour
More than half the population of the world believes that consciousness is an essential and inherent attribute of an entity called the ‘soul’. They have the faith that the soul, by its very nature, is an entity different from inorganic and organic matter, and from the body and the brain.
It is a fact that we all live as long as we keep on breathing; that is why the phrase ‘till the last breath’ is used very often by us in our day-to-day life. However, we tend to forget a very important fact: that the body remains alive so long as the soul resides in it. The presence of the soul automatically sustains the functioning of the body, so much so that the breathing process continues even while a person is in deep sleep. Hence, in actual sense, it is the soul that performs all its activities through the body. However, the world is divided into two major groups as far as the existence of the soul is concerned. One of these consists of people who believe in the existence of the soul and are called religious people, and the other consists of people who do not believe in its existence and are called non-religious people.
Religious people are further divided and subdivided into various sects and cults, depending upon what details they believe about the soul and the Supreme Soul. True knowledge of the soul, however, is not a matter of superficial importance, nor is it to be left to philosophers or religious scholars to discuss. Since each and every one of us is a constant being, it concerns us all individually and severally. So, to deny ourselves the true knowledge of consciousness is to deny ourselves the right and the duty of living a meaningful life. It would be incomplete if we did not touch upon the views of a well-known psychologist on the soul or consciousness. He did not believe in the existence of the soul as an entity different from the body and the brain.
He considered ‘the unconscious’ as comprising mainly repressed desires which manifest themselves in dreams and find expression in the form of neurotic habits and phobias. He called this the Id (or instincts and drives) and said that man’s desires were censored by his superego, and those desires which were considered as not conforming to social norms or to accepted ethical standards were repressed. It was Freud who was the first in the West to draw the attention of people towards ‘the unconscious’, even though his explanation of ‘the unconscious’ is incomplete and has some errors. On the other hand, in the East, religious people of India have, since very ancient times, believed in sanskaras, which are to some extent like ‘the unconscious’ of Freud’s theory, because these do not form the content of the conscious mind, as a person is normally not aware of them or their sources, even though his personality and behaviour, at all times, are influenced by the sanskaras that he possesses. His sanskaras do not leave him even in his dreams or his spiritual efforts.
Research into, or an in-depth study of, sanskaras and the methods of change will provide mankind with the essential tools for improving relationships among human beings and for making this world a better place to live in. Remember! Without the knowledge of ‘the unconscious’, all the inventions of science and technology will not make the world peaceful, even though they may make it comfortable. All scholarship, erudition, religious rituals and mantras will also not help to lead man to peace unless and until there is a change for the better in man’s sanskaras. And that is why we must strongly work towards changing our sanskaras if we want to have a good and better sansar.
The writer is a spiritual teacher and a popular columnist; views are personal
