Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume 2, Issue 8, (February 1, 2018) | Page 6

Past life and Level of Consciousness My particular area of expertise is hypnosis (and has been for more than 40 years) and what I know about things like massage, bodywork and Shamanic Journeys you could put in your eye and it wouldn’t hurt, any discussion of the methods used to elicit Past Life memories will focus on the utilization of hypnotic techniques to induce an Altered State of Consciousness. Now, let’s look at levels of consciousness. Our “personal consciousness”, or self-awareness, has at least two and - depending upon, who you want to believe - possibly four or more layers, or sub-strata. First is the conscious mind which represents our everyday, ordinary awareness. It’s the part of the mind with which we reason and are aware. It’s critical, analytical and rational. Beneath that - and I’m not sure that the word “beneath” is the best word to use but in a metaphorical sense it works because we talk about going “down” into the subconscious - but anyway, “beneath” the conscious mind is the subconscious mind. As opposed to the conscious mind, the subconscious is non-critical and non-analytical. It doesn’t analyze or rationalize in the strict sense of the word but rather it accepts everything that is told to it as true as long as what’s told to it is reasonable, acceptable and in its best interests. The subconscious mind is also the repository of all our experiences, memories, dreams, hopes and expectations. It’s responsible for our habits, attitudes, belief systems, and paradigms. The subconscious mind motivates much of our experience in life without us being aware of it. We repeat patterns, live out ingrained expectations, follow its dictates. Beneath the subconscious is the unconscious or, more precisely, the Collective Unconscious as Carl Jung called it. This is a theoretical construct. It’s largely a matter of personal belief because, to my knowledge, no one’s been able to prove that it exists. For that matter, no one’s been able to prove that Past Lives