Consciousness and Attitudes

Consider the infant of a few months of age. It functions on levels of mind below normal consciousness, which means for me that it exists mainly as a subconscious mind. If it had a conscious mind then it would have memories of where it came from and soon after birth would be able to speak and talk with other people. In my view, an infant is not born with a conscious mind but only with a subconscious mind. A conscious mind only functions through an ego. This means that the infant, due to not having a conscious mind, has no ego and has to create one.

Value of Reincarnation Theory

In order to explain the psychological issues involved with creating a new ego, I set my ideas within a perspective of reincarnation. So I accept that the infant brings some character traits and beliefs with it from its previous life on Earth.

The absence of a conscious mind confers some advantages to the infant. It uses re-birth as a new beginning. Traits and beliefs are often karmic ones, that is, the new-born child carries them in its subconscious mind as a legacy from the past life. However, the family situation is a new one for the child: it is born into different circumstances from its past life, and it has new parents. In this new situation the child can learn new beliefs and new traits, and modify old ones. In order to avoid punishment, the child usually has to learn to think about issues in the same way as the parents do. Whence the child often acquires the beliefs and attitudes of the parents.

I can now state my viewpoint on how attitudes are formed by the child. The process starts from psychological needs and desires, and how these are affected in a new situation. The child’s needs and desires first influence its behaviour. The consequences of this behaviour (whether the parents reward it or punish it) alter some of the child’s beliefs or generate new ones. In turn, the beliefs, together with emerging character traits, help to create attitudes. As the child grows up, it begins to develop characteristics such as values, moral standards, and new character traits. These become part of the process of attitude acquisition.

This process is normally done subconsciously and achieved through trial and error – the child has to learn the social limitations to its efforts. The strength and intensity of attitudes are derived from the strength and intensity of those traits which underlie them.

Classification of Consciousness

The manner in which consciousness is analysed often determines the result of that analysis. So a broad approach to understanding consciousness is required in order to avoid bias. For example: consciousness can be classified into various components in several ways.

Consciousness is understood to be an amalgam of surface consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness. Here I use the term “surface consciousness” to denote our ordinary consciousness which we are aware of.

This is a psychological view of consciousness. Variations on this theme are will, mind, feeling, or action, mind, behaviour. In the past, sensibility was used instead of behaviour.

Feeling is of three kinds: the positive feeling, the negative feeling and the neutral feeling [¹]. These are the bases of all emotions. The factor of feeling means that we can define attitudes as our likes and dislikes, in terms of how we prefer to relate to social issues and other people.

This is a traditional religious and ascetic view of consciousness. I presume here that “body” is really an ego consciousness that is associated with the body by the ascetic person – he does this in order to despise the body instead of despising himself (since he feels a strong sense of guilt). The term “soul” seems to be used in the sense of the noble aspects of the ego. This usage does not fit into modern ideas, since the ancient thinkers did not use the concept of ego. I use “soul” to mean the higher self, which is the spiritual connection between the ego and divine reality (or God). For modern times the ancient view would be better expressed as body, ego, higher self and spirit.

An Existential Viewpoint

An existential view of consciousness is sometimes useful, and is perhaps more suitable for the modern age. This can be summed up as:
identity, character, and passion.

Identity is the arrangement of consciousness consisting of ego plus beliefs, ideals and needs, together with attitudes focused on sexuality and authority.
Identity = “who I am”

Character is the arrangement of consciousness consisting of ego plus will (or will power), standards, and traits, together with attitudes focused on temperament and personal stature.
Character = “what I am”

Passion is the arrangement of consciousness consisting of ego plus motivation; it refers to a general level of intensity in the way that one lives life, and is not restricted to sexual interests.
Passion = the emotional intensity of the person that he puts into following his ideals.

Identity is our own location of ourself within our individuality and/or our social and cultural groups. Character is the manner of our interactions with our group. And passion is our joy in ourself and in the world.

If external circumstances are difficult, then the passion either burns lower or else flares up to launch a quest that can re-discover that joy, if possible. Alternatively, the quest may become a vocation to remove obstacles to that joy: for example, such obstacles may be social or political inequalities.

I mix up these forms of analysis in order to derive my understanding of attitudes, which I explain in the next article.

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Ian Heath
London, UK

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.	Advantages of a New Beginning Consciousness has many factors to it, such as attitudes, beliefs, values, needs, motivation, character traits and behaviour. As the ego responds to various situations, these factors link together somehow. Attitudes have always had an important place in psychological research. I give my views of these links, and of the place that attitudes occupy in consciousness. First of all, I look at how a child begins to acquire attitudes. Obviously it acquires some attitudes from its parents. However, it is common for the child to have some attitudes that differ from the parents’ ones. What makes the child different from the parents? We have to look at the conditions of life for the new-born infant.
Sub - Headings
Value of Reincarnation Theory
Classification of Consciousness
An Existential Viewpoint
References