Tapping into the Quantum Nature of Your Mind
How can we use the theories of Dr. Maltz and the Theatre of the Mind to improve every aspect of our being?
One of the most fundamental things we need to recognise when we want to change our mindset is the difference between the conscious and subconscious mind - and the power each contain. If we are going to change our lives, release the limiting factors, and achieve new goals, we are going to have to learn how to let the conscious and subconscious mind work in harmony. If its change you desire, your subconscious mind is the part you need to influence. But, it must be driven by your conscious mind.
Your conscious mind is the thinking mind. It accepts or rejects any information it’s presented. Your subconscious mind is the emotional mind. It feels, it doesn’t “think.” Most important, however, it doesn’t differentiate between reality or fiction. As such, it has no limits. Thus, for massive transformations, both pieces of your mind must work in harmony.
The conscious mind can only manage 1 to 3 events at any one time. It isn’t a great multitasker. You may struggle to watch TV and have a meaningful conversation or read a book, all at the same time. With it alone, you can only focus on one task at a time or else you will never get anything complete.
If the conscious mind was a computer, it could only handle 40 bites of information per second. By contrast, the subconscious mind has a very high capacity of around 40 million bites of information per second. It’s continuously scanning your environment. If you walk into a room, it takes in hundreds of bits of information in seconds:
Room size
People
Smells
Taste
Sound
Light
Threats
The subconscious mind is one million times faster than your conscious mind. Therefore, if you have a goal and you can’t connect to your subconscious mind (or it’s working against you), your conscious mind as no chance of succeeding against it’s more powerful neighbour.
Picture this: you’re on a railway track, riding on a manual handcar. Using all your strength, pushing up and down on the handle to move along the line, how fast can you possible go? How far can you travel? Now imagine that the subconscious mind is a high-speed train. How fast can it go? How far can it travel in the same amount of time?
If you can train your conscious mind to engage with your subconscious, to discard those limiting beliefs, the subconscious mind will get on board with you. Once they are both traveling in the same direction, you can sit back and let the subconscious mind take you towards all your goals and dreams without any resistance. This is a summary of what Dr. Maxwell Maltz called Psycho-Cybernetics.
You see, even when we’re in the depths of depression or the agony of anxiety, ADHD, etc., there’s a happy, calm version of ourself in our subconscious, and we can tap into it. This coexistence of multiple psychological realities is a basic attribute of the psyche. It’s also a central feature of the physical universe.
One of the main theories in quantum physics is called the Many Worlds Paradigm. It states that when we make an observation at the subatomic level we collapse many potential results into just one which manifests as a function of how we observe it. In other words, the lens through which we look—which in a quantum physics experiment means the type of experimental setup we use—determines which version of reality we perceive.
There are many other versions of reality right there in front of us, but they don’t get perceived because our chosen lens only measures certain kinds of information. In physics they say it in a fancy way: “What is observed has no properties independent of the observer.”
The very act of observation determines what gets observed.
Applied to you and me, this means that we have within us many different potential realities, many ways of feeling, thinking, and perceiving life. Each one constitutes a different version of ourself, and the one that manifests in a given moment is determined by how we observe and interpret ourselves, others, and life. But where do all our other potential selves go when we, as the observer / perceiver collapse all the options into just one? In physics, the other realities still exist but in parallel universes. (Yup, sounds like science fiction but it’s actually hard-core science.)
Within our own psyches we also have parallel universes! In every moment we unconsciously choose one of our many selves with its specific ways of relating to life and we repress all the others. By doing so, we send them into parallel universes in our psyche - our subconscious! From there they send us symptoms from the dark—depression, anxiety, attention deficit, etc.
So, what do we do with this information? How do we use this to improve our process?
Our lives are divided into 2 processes—the person we identify with (e.g., “who we are”) and the person trying to be born (e.g., “who we want to be”). Between them lies a story - a hero’s journey. It’s where our fears, beliefs, past experiences, and future unknowns live. This hero’s journey structures our life experiences and problems.
We’re called to the challenge. We separate from our former existence. We leave the known world, venturing into the unknown. Change and growth require us to work through it as it unfolds. However, it's not just a matter of “breaking through” because breakthroughs seldom last. We have to to become aware of what’s on the other side and what stops us from getting there. Then we need to process the details of what blocks us. We need to engage, actively, in each step of the journey. We have to be present, authentic, and purposeful.
We also must remember that obstacles aren’t bad! Obstacles are an integral part of the growth process. They’re there to push us into our strength, raise our awareness, and expand our identity. Sometimes we need to crush them. But other times, they contain profound wisdom. We can’t know which one they are ahead of time; we have to dive into the process.
Try this:
Where are you stuck in your life? What’s your growing edge? What inner change would really make a difference for you? Identify what prevents you from being able to make this change. Is it an inner or outer critic? A belief that goes against what you want to do? A fear of what will happen if you go over your edge and make the change. A bad experience you had with this issue in the past? Or a distressing state of mind?
Then personify the obstacle - give it a personality. If it was a character, would it be your mother, father, partner, the president, a celebrity, or an imaginary figure? Would it be the Cyclops?
If you have no idea what blocks you, or if it’s something amorphous like the “world,” imagine it; create a fantasy figure that stands in your way. Dialogue with the character. Better yet, BE it! Role play it, or cosplay it, and then be yourself responding. Talk to it. Tell it your deepest feelings and thoughts, including the forbidden ones! Listen to its replies. Fight it. Learn from it. Process it!
If you’re able, and feel comfortable enough in doing so, have someone playact the figure for you so you can interact with it as if it’s a real person / being. Go as far as you can pushing into your edge. Take cumulative baby steps (or leaps) by repeating this exercise often.
Fear not!
“Man is by nature a goal striving being…he is not happy unless he is functioning as he was made to function – as a goal striver.” – Dr. Maxwell Maltz, Psycho-Cybernetics
Thus, have your conscious mind deliver a request to your subconscious. Ask your subconscious to work on a problem that you’re having. Then, “forget about it” in the now. Just let it stew a bit, subconsciously. See what happens.
This is essentially how I write these articles, and how I wrote my best selling books. My conscious mind gave my subconscious a “writing assignment.” I let the creativity of my subconscious amaze me with the results. When the “assignment” is ready, I can tell. I usually become very fidgety. I have trouble speaking. Entire blocks of verbal information arrive in my processing centers at once, complete. I’ve learned to type fast and just let go. Stream of consciousness style, I just let my subconscious dictate the text to my conscious mind. It takes as long as it takes. I’m exhausted after it’s finished. I don’t edit as it’s happening. I’ll usually revisit the text a few days later for the edits.
This is what I mean by tapping the quantum nature of our minds - engaging with it’s quantum fields. It’s an amazing feeling to fold time in such a way. Try it for yourself. It takes some practice. But, once you learn how to work in this way, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to engage with your own personal supercomputer.
— December 16, 2023 Note —
Some of the materials herein have made it into my books, No Place for Autism? and Holistic Language Instruction. No Place for Autism was released in February 2023 from Lived Places Publishing and is available at Amazon and other major book retailers worldwide. Holistic Language Instruction will be out in 2024.