What is mind, know your mind in simple language

The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to the unconscious mind -

Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

What is mind, how mind works, know your mind in simple language, Part - I

Human mind is mysterious and has always been pursued by modern mankind to know the unanswered questions and mysteries. 

Study of psychology took a major shift after researches made available by Sigmund Freud, known as the father of modern psychology. Freud actually caused a revolution in the study of psychology. 

Freud was an Austrian neurologist who also founded psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a ground breaking method to cure neurosis or mental disorder. More on psychoanalysis will be covered in part 2 of this article.

Out of his several notable works Interpretation of Dreams is considered to be a classic in modern psychology.

Freud's contribution can be compared to that of Albert Einstein, another great thinker the world has ever seen. 

The study of psychology is intricate and is full of complexity which is beyond the capacity of a common man to understand. So there is a need for explanation of mind in simple and easy language.

This article is therefore an honest attempt to explain the main principles of psychology in an easy to understand language and in a logical manner. I will try my best to explain Freudian psychology in the simplest way. 

Having read this article the reader will have a clear understanding about what is mind, how mind works, what is mental disorder, why do we see dreams and how do our dream interprets. 

You will also be able to interpret your own dreams scientifically and logically.

So let us start with what is mind and how can we best describe mind. 

Freud has classified human mind mainly in three categories :-

• Conscious mind
• Pre-conscious mind and
• Sub-conscious or unconscious mind

We shall try to understand these three classification of human mind with the help of the following image

Let us assume that a small globe is floating on a sea. We can visualize the scenario in the following way:-

• The upper part of the globe which is clearly visible can be compared to our conscious mind
• The part of the globe which is just touching the sea can be compared to our pre-conscious mind and
• The vast and dark world under the globe can be compared to our subconscious or unconscious mind

Let us see even deeper.

Conscious mind is that state of mind which we are conscious of. You are reading this article consciously and so you are conscious right this moment. 

Preconscious is the state of mind which we are not actually conscious of but we can become conscious if we want to.

For example, right now you are not conscious about what you had in dinner last night. But now you can quite easily recall it and become conscious about your last dinner.

So, whatever we are able to recall from our memory, however old the memory may be, we can become conscious of that memory and this state of mind is called preconscious.

Now comes the most complex, intricate and hard to understand state of mind, the unconscious mind. This part of mind is filled with thoughts which we can not become conscious of even if we try hard to recall. 

Remember the image of the globe above. Conscious and preconscious mind are just a small part of our mind. Like the vast and dark world of water under the globe, our unconscious state of mind occupies the most part of our mind. 

Freudian psychology and psychoanalysis mostly depends on this unconscious mind.

By now, the reader should have a clear understanding of the conscious and preconscious state of minds. 

Now, let us see deeper in our unconscious mind.

Human mind however great it might be is filled with illicit desires, illegal thoughts and ambitions which can not be disclosed in public. 

It does not matter who agrees or who doesn't, it's the reality of human mind. Every normal human being will definitely have illicit desires.

It is a very normal phenomenon according to psychology. 

Some readers may strongly object to this idea and claim that they never have had any illicit thought but it's irrevalent.

Freud has already proved the existence of illicit desires in human mind through psychoanalysis.

You must have noticed that having awakened after a dream you sometime feel delighted, sometime scared and sometime depressed. And more importantly you can't  recall what you saw in the dream, only the affect remains in your conscious mind.

You must have tried to know the reasons but could not figure it out. This is actually the unconscious mind working continuously irrespective of day and night. 

Now comes the most unimaginable revelation, every dream we see is actually a wish fulfillment of the unconscious mind.

As already said, we can not become aware of our unconscious mind while we are conscious so the only way for the unconscious mind to fulfill it's desires is through dream.

We shall cover interpretation of dreams and mental disorder in the part 2 of this article. So, subscribe this web site to receive the future articles.

For the time being, you have to understand that we see dreams because our unconscious mind is continuously trying to fulfill it's illegal desires. 

Since, we can not become conscious about our unconscious mind, it is not possible for the unconscious mind to fulfill it's wishes consciously and hence as the only solution it fulfills it's desires through dreams.

Dreams come in various forms which are not understandable to a common man.  

You may certainly disagree that dream is a wish fulfillment but I want to assure that this is a scientifically proven fact. You are requested to wait for the next part of this article which will cover dreams in detail. 

Freud has introduced another 3 terms to describe how our mind interacts with it's thought process.

• Id - immoral, ambitious, illicit and sexual desires
• Ego- realistic part of mind 
• Super ego- the part of mind which moralizes and guides to differentiate between right and wrong

Suppose, a person has thought of killing another person, this is id.

But the person is well aware of the law and is also aware about the consequences of committing a murder - this is ego

Finally, the person with such thought suppresses his illicit desire of committing a murder - this is super ego which tells him that his wish is very wrong

So, we can conclude that every criminal or murderer is actually struggling with a week super ego. It largely depends on background, education and childhood of a person. 

I hope, you have now learned many unknown mysteries about mind. If you are interested for the second part of this article you can subscribe this web site by email.

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