Reason and the Subconscious

It is amazing what human reason can accomplish:  Genius fast calculations by kids. It is amazing how students can concretize their arithmetic in a “mental feel” of the abacus. The rational nature of our consciousness transforms the subconscious, enabling the subconscious to be trained to engage in long, complex sequences of actions and associations. The (nonvolitional) subconscious and the (volitional) rational consciousness function as an integrated whole — if we train them to do so; we have free will (volition) so we can also train the two to conflict and clash. Reason, or the intellect, is not some kind of thing divorced from perception, our everyday consciousness, our everyday lives. Our consciousness is rational in form. This is an important issue to be aware of — implicitly or explicitly — when teaching. Find ways to concretize, simplify, and memorize abstract ideas, just as the word “rights” is a concrete that stands for an abstraction in our minds, and calls to mind a whole plethora and encyclopedia of information.