The Three Minds of Consciousness

How do Spiritual things work? How does telepathy work? What happens when we die? What is reincarnation and how does it work? How do out of body experiences work? How do dreams work and how do we understand what they tell us? How does the law of attraction work? What happens when we meditate? How does prayer work? How does Spiritual healing work? How does one protect oneself from a Spiritual perspective?

There is a model of human consciousness that enables an answer and an explanation to these questions. Having a working model is an important characteristic of a science. The model (call it a working theory if you like) makes it to possible to explain these phenomena and use them in practical daily applications. I call this the "three mind model of consciousness".

To avoid some confusion, it is necessary to differentiate this use of the "three mind model of consciousness" from other uses of a "three mind concept". If you do an internet search for "three minds" you will come up with several alternate uses of the term "three minds". The 3HO Foundation refers to three minds as the positive, negative and neutral minds. This is a useful concept and process but unrelated to this model. Another source identifies the three minds as Somatic (in the body), Cognitive (in the head), and Field (in the space around). This is also a useful and usable concept, but not the same model. There are only two examples. One can find many more.

The three mind model as used here describes the relationship between the Conscious mind (associated with the cognitive mind and the human nervous and endocrine system), the Subconscious mind (associated with the unconscious, collective unconscious and astral forms) and the Superconscious mind (that part that is connected to the Source of creation or God). This relationship is spelled out very clearly in the Edgar Cayce reading files and fairly well in Huna philosophy.

In addition, there are traces of this model imbedded in nearly all of the world's religions, philosophies and shamanic systems. In other words, it is universal. In some cases, it is buried or hidden in a manner that requires the investigator to know what he or she is looking for. This, of course, makes it subject to interpretation and debate. In Christianity, there is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or the trinity. In the kabbalah, the tree of life has three pillars. The Lakota Sioux identify the spirit (nagi), the soul (nagapi), and their totem (power animal). Mongolian shamans use the terms ami, suns, and suld. The Triskele is a sacred symbol that represents the trinity of life. It is found in ancient Greece, ancient Mycenae, the Celtic, Viking and Nordic lands, and in the Neolithic period across much of Europe and Asia. The Druids held sacred the three drops of awen, or the three rays of the Sun. The Valknut is a Viking symbol of three interconnected triangles. While the number three is a very common magic symbol in many cultures, in the Scandinavian context three multiplied by three designates the nine worlds, which are united by the Yggdrasil tree. The Yggdrasil tree resembles the tree of life in the Kabbalah. Many eastern and shamanic traditions contain the concept of 9 realms, 9 chakras, etc. This is more than a coincidence.

In Huna, the Sacred religion of Polynesian cultures, there is a basic self (Unihipili), middle self (Uhane) and high self (Aumakua). Each self, or consciousness, has its own form of energy, Mana, Mana Mana and Mana Loa respectively.

In Taoist yoga, there are three energy centers, each with its characteristic energy. They are the lower dantian (Jing), the middle dantian (Qi or Chi), and the upper dantian (Shen).

The American psychic Edgar Cayce described an individual as having a conscious mind, a Soul (or subconscious mind), and a Spirit (or Superconscious mind).

The point here is that there is a common thread that runs through all of the indigenous, ancient and contemporary Spiritual sources.

The Edgar Cayce view of the Three Minds

Edgar Cayce described an individual as having a conscious self, a Soul (or subconscious mind), and a Spirit (or Superconscious mind). The Spirit or Superconscious is that part of the individual that is made in the image of the Creator as described in Genesis. This identity is unknowable to us until we, through deep meditation, lift ourselves up into its presence. The subconscious is that part of our mind that bridges the gap between our conscious self and our Superconscious self. The subconscious mind, according to Cayce, has roots in the nervous and endocrine systems of the physical body and in the Superconscious mind. Our conscious mind, then, is our outer self and personality and what we think of as our "thinking mind."

Cayce said that, at death, our conscious mind is withdrawn into the subconscious. The subconscious then gradually takes over the functions of the operative mind. The subconscious mind retains the memory of all of the experiences of the soul in all of its incarnations, both physical and non-physical, since the beginning.

The Huna view of the Three Minds

The Huna model also includes three selves. The terms used are conscious self (Uhane), subconscious self (basic self or low self) (Unihipili), and the high self (Superconscious self) (Aumakua). The purpose of Huna is to bring the three selves into harmony. If the three selves are out of harmony, internal communications, meditation, and prayer action is likely to be ineffective. Your Aumakua (Spirit or high self) protects and guides you through life. It is sometimes thought of as a guardian spirit. Your Uhane (conscious self) needs to grow spiritually and train your Unihipili (subconscious mind or basic self). Your conscious self is often resistant to that which is unfamiliar to its sensory experience and programming. It is, therefore necessary to practice meditation to facilitate a better connection with the subconscious and Superconscious so that a new and more enlightened reality can be cultivated and added to the inventory of known and accepted experiences in the conscious mind.

In the Huna model of self, there are also three distinct energy bodies (aka bodies) associated with the three Spirits or selves. Each aka body also has a distinct type of energy or mana associated with it. These are called respectively, mana, mana mana, and mana loa. The physical body is referred to as the kino kanaka.

The Christian view of the Three Minds

The word "Trinity" comes from the Latin noun "trinitas" meaning "three are one." It does not actually appear in the bible but was introduced into Christian literature around the second century A.D. The Trinity expresses the belief that God is one being made of three discinct parts referred to as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The doctrine or concept of the Trinity is central to most Christian denominations, but not all. All through the Bible, God is presented as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is not three gods, but three as in the one and only God.

"The Scriptures present the Father as the source of creation, the giver of life, and God of all the universe. The Son is depicted as the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of his being and nature, and the Messiah-Redeemer. The Spirit is God in action, God reaching people influencing them, regenerating them, infilling them, and guiding them. All three are a tri-unity, inhabiting one another and working together to accomplish the divine design in the universe." -- The Tyndale Bible Dictionary

This description can be loosely interpreted as equating the Father with the high self or Superconscious Mind, the Son with the subconscious mind and the Spirit with the conscious mind. Try not to get tangled in the meaning of words. Spirit is sometimes equated with the Superconscious mind in other contexts and definitions of words. Note also that the biblical presentation is talking about the mind of God. Is not the mind of man the reflection of the mind of God? Was not man made in God's image?

Additional Reading

Books pertaining to the Soul byEdgar Cayce (Amazon Link)

Books on Huna by Max Freedom Long (Amazon Link). Max Freedom Long was the early author on Huna who introduced the concepts and practices to western culture. His initial works date back to the 1930's.

The Path is a book about the Spiritual journey that we all take. Who are we, why are we here, what is consciousness, what is enlightenment, how do we grow Spiritually? There are detailed instructions on basic and advanced meditation and the Kuji-In or nine syllables meditation from Hindu, Buddhist and Ninja traditions. There are also instructions on using forgiveness and recapitulation to recover energy and resolve karma.

|  Home |   Site Map |  Disclaimer |  Contact |   Privacy Policy |