What is a Subconscious Pattern?
A subconscious pattern is a set of defense mechanisms designed to run unconsciously in order to prevent an individual from being fully present with a certain kind of fear. It is essentially a background process that runs without needing your conscious input. If you have ever opened Task Manager on a computer, you may have noticed many background processes running that you could not recognize. Subconscious patterns are like this.
A subconscious pattern consists of multiple components. I call these "layers" in order to aid in understanding their chronological formation. Below, I will describe how each layer of a subconscious pattern forms.
Energetic Level
All subconscious patterns start on the energetic level.
At an energetic level, we are all one, and we are surrounded by this limitless energy. This energy is multidimensional in nature. If we are one with this energy, this means that this energy also represents us and our multidimensional nature. When we are one with this multidimensional energy, we experience unconditional love.
energy = limitless = multidimensional = us
When we incarnate into this reality, we still retain much of our multidimensional nature. However, in order to connect with others, we typically limit our multidimensional nature in order to ground ourselves into this physical reality. This allows us to more easily interact within this physical reality.
As we limit ourselves in this way, we experience a separation from our multidimensional nature.
This is called fear.
fear = limiting energy = limiting our multidimensional nature = limiting ourselves
Since our multidimensional nature is the most authentic version of our self, we can also define fear as a disconnect with our authentic, multidimensional self.
The more limited we are, the more disconnected we will feel from our multidimensional self.
limiting yourself = disconnecting from yourself
The more limited we are, the "weaker" we feel in comparison to our multidimensional self.
The more disconnected we are from our multidimensional self, the more disconnected we are from the unconditional (constantly expanding) love of our multidimensional self.
The combination of these two effects creates the general feeling we think of as fear.
We feel like we are in danger of something that will harm us.
That feeling of "danger" mirrors how limited we are.
That "something" mirrors our multidimensional self.
The "harm" that something will bring us mirrors the ways we have limited our self from our multidimensional nature.
fear = a disconnect with yourself
As we disconnect from our multidimensional nature, we experience the sensation that we are surrounded by fear. In actuality, we are simply surrounded by limitation that separates us from our multidimensional nature (energy).
surrounded by fear = surrounded by limitation = separated from energy
In this way, we become afraid of energy itself.
This feeling of being surrounded by fear can be very overwhelming. It is why babies seem to cry randomly. They are experiencing this feeling without any understanding of why or how to cope.
It can be summarized that all subconscious patterns contain an energetic disconnect with our self.
Emotional Level
In an attempt to cope with this overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by fear, we may attempt to control it through distortion. We do this through dualistic judgment.
When we judge energy in a dualistic way, we separate it into mutually exclusive categories of "good" and "bad".
dualistic judgment = separating energy
Since this energy has become separated, it also becomes distorted. This effectively distorts the general fear (energy) around the individual into a "form". Each form serves as a "category" to store one portion of the dualistic emotions.
general fear -> forms of fear -> "good" forms of fear vs "bad" forms of fear
Each form is our own personal creation, creating a personal attachment to the emotions stored in each form.
In this way, we become attached to the emotions themselves.
general fear -> judgment of general fear -> our fear -> our emotions
This form is filled with energy in motion, meaning that the emotion stored in each form is constantly moving away from the present moment into these forms.
This energy in motion is called emotion.
energy -> energy in motion
It is interesting to note that both forms ("good" and "bad") are rooted in an avoidance of being present with fear.
Both are rooted in a disconnect from the limitless nature of the present moment.
dualistic judgment = separating from the present
The "bad" forms move away from the present toward the past.
An accumulation of this is typically called depression.
The "good" forms move away from the present toward the future.
An accumulation of this is typically called anxiety.
In this situation, we typically avoid the "bad" forms and chase the "good" forms.
We suppress the forms stuck in the past (numbness), and we chase the forms stuck in the future (destination addiction).
However, neither pursuit results in lasting fulfillment because both are separated from the present moment.
This separation from the present creates pain and suffering. This part of our self contained in these forms are unable to experience the joy and fulfillment of the present moment. They are also unable to experience the relief of expansion. Since these forms are rooted in fear, they experience a reality surrounded by fear (limitation) at all times.
We often call this "darkness".
Furthermore, both pursuits continually store more emotion into both the "good" and "bad" forms.
The "good" form becomes more "good", and the "bad" form becomes more "bad".
Furthermore, our perception of how "good" the "good" emotions are becomes completely dependent on how "bad" the "bad" emotions are.
In order to experience more "good" emotions, we create more "bad" emotions.
This all results in an increased distortion of the present over time. The forms of energy lose resemblance of their initial form (energy itself). Instead, they have become landfills of all of the emotions we have collected.
We start to form a distorted, dualistic perspective. We start to see the world in "black" and "white", unable to perceive the beautiful colors of this reality.
However, judgment only works temporarily. It is inherently draining and tiring to do repeatedly with our conscious awareness.
The emotions stored in each form always come back to the present. This is often called "surfacing" to aid in the understanding of how emotions are stored in the subconscious mind. Each time they surface, they surface with increased magnitude. The "bad" gets so "bad" that it becomes extremely depressing. The "good" becomes so "good" that it becomes extremely addicting.
It can be summarized that all subconscious patterns contain a refusal to be present with one's fears by creating a duality of emotions through judgment.
Mental Level
At this point a great accumulation of emotions have been collected. It becomes too draining to continually and consciously judge these emotions (yourself) 24/7.
In order to cope with this extreme duality of emotions, we find ways to control it further in order to suppress it.
We do this by exerting control OVER our emotions as a whole through blame (projection).
When we maintain control OVER our emotions, we are able to suppress all of them altogether, suppressing our ability to feel in general.
control over our emotions -> control over our ability to feel in general -> suppression of all emotions
In this way, whenever we attempt to exert control OVER our emotions through blame, we are also blaming our ability to feel for our emotions.
control over our emotions -> blaming ourselves for our ability to feel emotions
For our use, blame can be defined as an assignment of emotion.
Blame is the act of attaching certain emotions to certain things in order to control those emotions by controlling those things.
We can blame anything for our emotions. However, the most effective thing to blame is something in our external (physical) reality. This allows us to suppress our emotions by manipulating our external reality.
This is called emotional manipulation.
This kind of blame works by assigning things in our external reality as the "cause" or "source" of our emotions. It is powerful because it removes our need to suppress each emotion individually. Instead, we can manipulate what we blamed in our external reality.
blame something for our emotions -> control that something -> control our emotions
Each time we blame something in our external reality in this way, we create a limiting belief. A limiting belief is a thought that serves as a reference to apply to the future (or past). This means that the next time those uncomfortable emotions surface, the limiting belief will be automatically applied to those emotions.
This is called programming.
blame something for our emotions = limiting belief = programming
Our programming automatically blames our emotions for something in our external reality and suppresses them through emotional manipulation.
This is called a defense mechanism.
programming = defense mechanism
It is much less draining and much more efficient to suppress emotions in this way. We can take all of our awareness of our emotions and direct all of it to things in our external reality that we blamed as the source of our emotions.
This is called fixating.
awareness of emotions -> awareness of external reality
This form of blame is so effective, it temporarily removes the emotions from the present altogether, invalidating our emotions. We often confuse this lack of emotion (numbness) as a state of security.
lack of awareness of emotions = illusion of peace
Therefore, the things we blame in our external reality for our emotions are often called false securities. It is a temporary state of security based on one's external reality.
illusion of peace = false security
This is when we first start lying to ourselves. With each limiting belief, we lie to ourselves, believing that our external reality is the source/cause of our emotions. We lie to ourselves in order to protect ourselves from our own judgment.
false security = lie
With powerful suppression comes powerful attachment. We can describe our relationship with these things in our external reality as emotional attachments/dependencies. We are personally attached to the things we blame for our emotions, and we are dependent on the things we blame in order to maintain a certain emotional state.
false security = emotional attachment = emotional dependency
Eventually, we blame other people for our feelings too. This is often identified as projection. As we attempt to exert control OVER our emotions in this way, we also start to exert control OVER others.
This is called power over others.
It characterizes a kind of power derived from competing with others around you as a way to suppress emotions.
teamwork -> power over others
Mature developments of this behavior typically become very destructive to our own well-being as well as the well-being of others.
More defense mechanisms form, many of them forming chains of blame in which something in one's external reality is blamed for other things in one's external reality as well as one's emotions. This is called seeking validation, or reinforcing the ways (limiting beliefs) you blame your external reality for your emotions by blaming other things in your external reality.
As these defense mechanisms mature, they form thought-patterns. A thought-pattern can be described as a series of thoughts designed to suppress emotions. Each thought is rooted in a set of limiting beliefs.
These defense mechanisms form hardened thought-patterns that serve as master manipulators of emotions. Now when emotions surface, a series of defense mechanisms are activated to generate a series of thought patterns in order to suppress the surfaced emotions. This is called auto-pilot mode.
limiting beliefs -> defense mechanisms -> thought patterns -> auto-pilot mode
As our defense mechanisms evolve, they include behavioral patterns as well. Our thought patterns can even trigger physical movement as a way to suppress emotions through blaming our physical body.
thought patterns -> behavioral patterns
The repeated occurrence of these behavioral patterns is often identified as addiction. This is why it is often understood that all addictions are actually an addiction to blaming things in order to suppress emotions. We can also think of addictions as a repeated desire to maintain a certain level of numbness.
behavioral patterns -> addiction
As you can probably guess, this becomes problematic very quickly.
Remember that the suppression of emotions was rooted in suppressing fear. Therefore, all of these defense mechanisms are rooted in fear. We enter a kind of auto-pilot mode where we are constantly reacting from a place of fear.
This is called fight-or-flight mode.
auto-pilot mode -> fight-or-flight mode
This results in an individual continually creating a reality based on fear. As we do this, our external reality starts to reinforce our limiting beliefs. We increasingly believe that our external reality is both the problem and solution for our internal state. As we do this, we form a distorted perception of reality that views certain forms of love as exclusively available through our external reality. In this way, they start to seem scarce.
This is called a scarcity mindset.
fight-or-flight mode -> scarcity mindset
Remember that blaming our external reality for our emotions also blames our ability to feel our emotions. This results in the individual continually becoming more numb. Their happiness seems temporary, like it is an illusion. Our sadness seems to stick around, like it is never actually resolved.
auto-pilot mode -> accumulating numbness
It doesn't stop there.
When we blame something in our external reality, we are not just blaming it for why we feel "bad". We are also blaming it for why we feel "good" because we are blaming it for our feelings in general.
This means that we will continually create a reality in which things in our external reality make us feel "bad" in order to reinforce the idea that they make us feel "good".
This is called a victim mentality.
Our emotional state becomes completely dependent on our external reality being a certain way, simply because we believe our external reality to have power over our emotions (us).
auto-pilot mode -> victim mentality
As we continuously blame our external reality for our emotions, we lose our natural, inner willpower. Instead, our willpower becomes increasingly dependent on external factors. Our willpower is now being used from a place of fear in order to suppress emotion instead of creating the reality that we truly desire.
dependency on external forms of power -> loss of inner power
All of this combined creates what I call "zombie-mode".
It is fight-or-flight mode in that it is always reacting from a place of fear.
It is always numb and searching for a certain feeling.
It is always on auto-pilot mode.
auto-pilot mode -> fight-or-flight mode -> zombie-mode
Now we have created a huge mess. Now we have trapped ourselves into a box consisting of all of our defense mechanisms.
This box can be seen as one's comfort zone.
Over time, we continue to build this box. This is often referred to as building walls.
The more walls the box has, the more limiting it is. The more limiting the box is, the more "comfortable" it will appear due to a lack of uncomfortable feelings in the present. This results in even more numbness.
It can be summarized that all subconscious patterns contain defense mechanisms designed to suppress emotions through blaming one's external reality for their emotions.
Consciousness Level
After a while, the constant defense mechanisms become overwhelming. Staying consciously aware of all of these imaginary threats in your external reality is exhausting.
Therefore, we start to suppress things further.
In order to suppress all of this, we must also suppress our awareness of the defense mechanisms themselves.
We do this through compartmentalization.
We group the root fears, the emotions, and the defense mechanisms together by identifying with them. Now that we have grouped them all together, we can store them all in a single compartment.
identifying with fears, emotions, and thoughts -> grouping them up -> compartmentalization
It is like putting files in a folder and compressing the folder into a .zip file.
In doing this, we lose access to the fears, emotions, and thought patterns stored in the compartment.
However, it effectively allows us to suppress the entire subconscious pattern so far simply by judging and suppressing the compartment as a whole.
compartmentalization = suppression of fears, emotions, and thought patterns
This is called rejection.
Rejection = Compartmentalization
This kind of judgment is so harsh because it is intended to completely eradicate the entire compartment from our conscious awareness. You can think of it like attempting to kill off some part of yourself.
This kind of judgment requires someone to close their heart off to some part of themselves. It requires the individual to withhold love from that part of themselves.
Rejection is supposed to be harsh, or else it will not work. Each time the compartment comes back to the surface, the rejection must be stronger than the last time.
This is where extreme behaviors like hatred and aggression start to form.
rejection -> hatred, violence, aggression
In doing all of this, we are able to effectively suppress our entire awareness of the subconscious pattern.
However, the subconscious pattern still runs on its own. The root fear is still there. We are still judging it and removing it from the present. The defense mechanisms are still activating. They are just doing it underneath our conscious awareness.
compartmentalization -> rejection -> deploying the subconscious program to run on its own
A subconscious pattern is formed.
It can be summarized that all subconscious patterns contain an identification with all of its components as a way to compartmentalize and suppress it all together.
The Cycle
We have successfully formed a subconscious pattern. Now, we can go about our day as if nothing happened. The fear, emotions, and defense mechanisms will go unnoticed to our conscious awareness.
Now we can experience the present undisturbed... until we encounter fear again.
Will we start the process again?
Likely, we will. After all, it worked the first time. Temporarily, we experience an absence of suffering. Plus, we never actually learned how to properly deal with fear. It is not like we would try to do something like that now. This is especially the case since opening ourselves up to the idea of properly dealing with fear inherently invalidates the limiting beliefs we have created.
If we are young children, we are practically guaranteed to restart the process. After all, how could we expect a child to properly process any of this brand new experience they were just born into?
In fact, the creation of subconscious patterns is important in childhood. It serves as a way for children to focus on other important forms of growth until they have matured years later. It is a survival mechanism to ensure that the child does not consciously experience a prolonged, traumatic experience. The hope is that once they have matured, they will be able to resolve these subconscious patterns and learn how to properly deal with fear.
However, most people never do this. Most people keep creating subconscious patterns for the rest of their life until they die. In fact, their creation of these subconscious patterns is normally the cause of their death!
This is called the downward spiral.
Each time a compartment surfaces, it is typically "triggered" out of us when our walls happen to break. This is typically a very significant, uncomfortable experience. When this happens, we tend to exhibit PTSD-like symptoms.
We can resuppress the compartment by projecting it onto something/someone in our external reality and pushing that thing/person away. This is typically a very extreme reaction. Each time we do this, we also add onto the defense mechanisms of the subconscious pattern as well.
From here, we can either keep resuppressing our current compartments or create new ones. Often times, we do a combination of both.
As we create more compartments, we become extremely fragmented. We lose our ability to perform tasks that involve multiples parts of our mind and/or body. We lose our ability to enjoy parts of our mind and/or body at the same time.
We live life constantly on auto-pilot. Multiple compartments are always running their subconscious patterns in the background. It becomes difficult to create any kind of fulfilling life for yourself when each part of you is trying to do something different.
Personality traits start to become stored in compartments and hidden away. In this way, our compartments start to resemble actual personalities. We often identify this as multiple personality disorder.
We create an incredible disconnect between our mind and body. The health of both deteriorate steadily. We increasingly create a reality based on fear. Our perception of reality becomes increasingly distorted as it becomes based on lies (limiting beliefs). We lose our inner power as we invest in a victim mindset. We become unable to appreciate the simple things in life, as we continually chase numbness through destination addiction. We lose our sense of oneness as we feel increasingly separated from others.
Loneliness.
Certain compartments are rejected more than others. They may never get to experience the present, trapped in darkness. Unfortunately, the compartments that get rejected the most are normally the most important. We reject the compartments that contain essential aspects of human life like sensitivity to energy, empathy, innocence, compassion, etc. These qualities are closely related to our natural state as children. Therefore, the compartments that we reject the most are normally the compartments that contain our inner child.
These compartments are the most distorted due to the accumulation of extreme judgments toward them. They become so distorted, they often resemble demons or monsters.
Ironically, a daemon (pronounced demon) is a computer program that runs in the background. This could be used to describe a subconscious pattern as well.
Over time, our compartments even become interconnected. We may even experience conflicts between the compartments inside of us. This makes the situation especially messy.
Worst of all, we create numerous limiting beliefs about when we are allowed to feel or which compartments we are allowed to love. We lose our ability to love ourselves as we are. This is called conditional love.
We have created a giant mess that we keep adding onto every day.
How can this possibly be resolved? What can we do? Is it too late?