Whether we are aware of it or not, we are continually adding shape to the vast weave of the unconscious mind. Hidden within the folds of the brain's cortex lies an evolving universe of memories, emotions, fear, prejudices, opinions, biases, dreams, familiar associations, that are somehow linked to the mind of the soul. The brain has been compared with an iceberg floating in the ocean. Consciousness is the tip of the iceberg, consisting of information and stimuli of which the individual is aware. The subconscious is the deep underside of the mind selectively processing information too trivial, repetitive or overwhelming for conscious awareness to handle. Data from the nerve receptors in the skin, muscles, eyes, ears, mouth, nasal passages and emotions are channeled first to the thalamus and/or the reticular formation, with filters located in the critical junction at the brain stem. By some unknown means, they act as secretaries, determining what information will be passed on to the higher brain functions or what will be deposited in the unconscious.

The high of hallucinogenic drugs such as marijuana or LSD are capable of causing the natural filters and buffers in the brain to malfunction. This can result in states of hallucination, euphoria and vivid memory flashbacks. The unconscious spills over into the conscious mind causing an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Imagination is displayed before your eyes with vivid shapes and colors. Awareness of involuntary reflexes like the heartbeat becomes heightened, merging with reality. A room may appear to pulse at a heartbeat.

Schizophrenia is another example of the brain becoming unable to weed out relevant stimuli, becoming overloaded and confused. Schizophrenics have a difficult time focusing their thoughts. Their consciousness fills with confusing emotions, paranoia and unfiltered information. Mercifully, God has created our brains with the capacity of operating and orchestrating millions of biological demands without the need of consciousness.

Silently as you read this book your:

• brain–stem, which consists of the pons and medulla oblongata is regulating heart rhythms, respiration, blood pressure and linking the brain, the spinal cord and facial nerves.
• cerebellum is coordinating physical movement.
• auditory cortex is mediating the process of hearing.
• gustatory cortex is processing the sensation of taste.
• somatosensory cortex is processing the sensation of touch, joint position, pain, pressure and temperature.
• visual cortex is processing sight.
• primary olfactory cortex is processing sensations of smell.
• hypothalamus is maintaining equilibrium, controlling the pituitary gland and basic drives.
• pituitary gland is regulating growth, sexual development and hormone control.

When a baby is born, the synaptic pathways are undeveloped and up for grabs. Through learning, repetition, experience, and expressions of emotion, interneurons weave solid patterns of synaptic cross–links of countless program–pathways. The developing brain is being programmed to allow the growing child to know and do more with every passing month. A developing brain is like an onion, layers being built on layers. Each layer, larger than the other, grows until there is a vast data bank of unconscious skills, abilities and emotions.

Passive activities such as watching television or listening to music has a tremendous impact on the unconscious. One can sit and watch a movie filled with murder, grotesque violence, in full stereo and color with all the barriers of fear and caution set aside because of the familiarity and comfort of one's own home. Yet these images become indelibly imprinted in our unconscious, especially when exposed to such stimuli repeatedly.

In the movie the Exorcist, a picture of a devilish face flashed during the middle of a dream sequence for two frames at one–twelfth of a second. This was too fast for the viewer's conscious perceptions, but the unconscious was fully affected. Electrodes revealed that during this sequence the brain responded to the stimuli, yet remaining at an unconscious level. These forms of subliminal messages have been banned from television advertising.

Bill Noonan, has a healthy normal brain. Yet for 20 years after coming home from Vietnam, he has reenacted the most horrifying event of his life several times a week, dragged against his will into a terrible waking dream. The sounds of machine guns, screams of dying men, feelings and emotions of being trapped and stench of gunpowder and death. His flashbacks he knew were not real, but they seemed as vivid and stark as that horrible day 20 years before. An unconscious memory sneaking across the mysterious barrier into consciousness.

We have become trauma addicts. We love the adrenaline rush, the edge of the seat spine–tingling horror. This form of stimuli affects the subconscious with the force of a freight train. Long after the rush is over, these images can return to haunt us in the form of nightmares. They become a part of the fabric in our subconscious which is the foundation of our emotions, imaginations and intellect.

The unconscious mind is woven by way of learned behavior and environmental conditioning. Unless touched by the renewing power of God, the way our mind is shaped from birth, will set the course of our life. And this web will determine how we think and feel, and control the decisions and choices that we make.

At the moment of conception, your soul was thrust into the midst of a war zone. Your mind, intellect, emotions and imaginations are Satan's target. If he can control how you think and how you feel, he has won. Sexual desires, pride, depression, cravings, addictions, fear, hopelessness, and anger, his entire kingdom has been designed to get into your head and heart. Powerful tools of communication that stimulate emotion, imagination and thinking. Television, radio, virtual reality, video games, the list goes on and on of continuous repetitious propaganda flooding our conscious and unconscious mind. How can we stand unmolested by such a barrage?

The brain is the most complicated organ in the body. Three pounds of gray flesh linked somehow to consciousness, self–awareness and soul. The smallest working units in the brain are the nerve cells called neurons. Fourteen billion neurons form a specialized network to direct the body's every reflexive and voluntary movement, memory, thought and emotional behavior.

The physical side of emotions are combinations of hundreds of neuro transmitters which activate nerve cells causing some to fire and some to shut signals off. These all work together to orchestrate moods and attitudes that accompany daily existence. An example of this is a neurotransmitter that is similar to dopamine that is produced in the brain when stimulated by cocaine. Some scientists suggest that this neurotransmitter causes infatuation, putting an individual into a hyperstate of euphoria. Visions of romance are believed to adjust the brain's chemistry by triggering love transmitters.

Every thought, idea, decision and sensation that infiltrate the consciousness is colored by emotions. Feelings give value to life. We use them as measuring rods for what is important and unimportant. Our decision and behavior cannot help but be derived from them.