Subliminal Consciousness
Author Unknown, presented by Roshi Hogen Berman

In experiments done by Dr. Howard Shevrin, of the University of Michigan Medical Center, a word like fear is flashed on a screen for a thousandth of a second, too fast for the conscious perception to grasp and act upon. When a stimulus such as this is employed, which can be either auditory or visual, or both, it is transmitted at a subliminal level or speed. The recognition of the stimulus is called Subliminal Perception; Sub = below, limen = threshold.

Electrodes attached to a subject's head to record surface brain activity convey a very brief response to the subliminal flashing of the word fear, and then, a half second later, there is a sharp burst of (brain) activity. Conversely, when the word is flashed supra-liminally (at the normal conscious level of awareness and perception), that is, at a rate slow enough for normal conscious perception, it takes twice as long for the brain to react. Dr. Shevrin concludes from this difference in reaction time that all messages to the brain are selectively transmitted first to the subconscious mind for an evaluation and filtering process. It is this process that causes the delay. When the words are presented supra-liminally, so that the subject can actually see them, there is some kind of inhibition or delay of the brains response to those words. It is suggested that the word is suppressed because it is the type of term that brings distress with it. The Subliminal Mind (consciousness) [Sub = under or below + Limen = threshold], an allegedly unconscious mental process lying somewhere below the threshold of the awareness capacity of the "consciousness." There is a definite distinction between what may be termed as a "normal" sense contact and an indirect (Subliminal) sense contact, the distinction is one of variance of strength and term or the extent of time the contact is sustained.

Subliminal perception is experienced via the senses of sight and hearing together or individually. Usually contacts are of a very short duration, possibly nano-seconds in length and usually at a high rate of frequency. Although the path of a subliminal contact is the same as a direct normal contact in the sense that a sense object, a sense organ and a sense consciousness must work simultaneously in harmony, because the contact is transmitted with such great speed it is processed as a weak message received and is processed as peripheral sets of characteristics depending upon the character of the contact. The contact is repeated rapidly and frequently in the form of suggestions. When identified by the memory banks, one perceives on the peripheral edge of the conscious mind a feeling of thirst, fear, hunger, pleasure, etc., once again dependent upon the suggestion given.

A major difference between a normal contact and one at the subliminal level is, normally one is aware of the aim of the suggestion and one is able to make a deliberate decision to accept or reject the hints or suggestions made. In the case of subliminal suggestions (contact), the recipient is less aware of the contact and totally unaware of the intentions of the suggester. Suggestions at the subliminal level never arise and attract the full attention of the intellectual mind/consciousness. Rather, as the consciousness is centered on other sense contacts, each time there is a lapse in an individuals attention, the subliminal suggestion, rising from the perception level of the Subconsciousness, swirls around on the peripheral edges of the intellectual consciousness and darts in attracting one's attention and they become aware of thirst, hunger, fear, etc. only for a thought moment, a nano- or perhaps a micro-second.

Generally a reaction cannot be attributed to a single volitional act, but rather to a series, some seemingly insignificant, that led one to the current conditions in their life. Vipaka, the "Effect Consciousness" state of mind, cannot produce another effect or reaction of its own because it lacks the essential ingredient of "Volition", a producer of effects or reactions. However, it may generate circumstances or conditions that set up a new sense contact, which in turn, may (or may not) be the seed of another Karma (Volitional action).

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