Our Subconscious Is Not Unconscious

From athlete to zealot, expanding the mind remains the most potent tool for cultivating self-control, physical vitality, and mental fitness. 

Dr. Phil Maffetone

It isn’t heavy, man—it’s just the brain. This three-pound blob of fatty tissue is, for better or worse, the total sum of who we are.

If the title feels clear as fog, blame decades of semantic confusion across disciplines. Consider the following:

• Brain vs. Mind: The brain is the hardware; the mind is the software it runs. We often use the terms interchangeably, but mind quality strictly depends on brain health.
• Consciousness: Normal, active awareness.
• Subconscious: Hidden or dimmed awareness. While psychology technically uses “preconscious” for memories easily recalled and “unconscious” for deeply hidden drives, science and medicine often use “non-conscious” or “subconscious.”
• Subconscious vs. Unconscious: Normal vs. abnoromal.
  • Normal: The usual subconscious state is always working and most evident during sleep. The brain intentionally dials down awareness to repair tissues, consolidate memory, and manage vital activities like respiration and cardiac rhythm.
  • Abnormal: Unconsciousness born of trauma (concussions), fainting (transient syncope), deep pathological coma, or pharmacological intervention (general anesthesia).

Our subconscious works 24/7 as an untapped reservoir of cognitive and physical potential, keeping us thriving while our conscious ego enjoys the flattering illusion of total control. Bridging this gap transforms a silent partner into our greatest asset—unlocking the ultimate upgrade for self-control, mental clarity, and peak physical health.

Because the subconscious dodges direct observation, we must intentionally recruit it. Our internal dialogue—that quiet monologue running in the background—bridges the conscious and subconscious minds, effectively letting us confer with ourselves.

Whether through silent self-talk, meditation, or other means, these inner therapeutic conversations drive problem-solving, emotional regulation, and resilience. Some rely on words; others invoke imagery, abstract concepts, or sensory impressions. (My song “Middleman” features this idea). 

Architecturally, the subconscious isn't tucked beneath the conscious mind like a cellar. It is woven directly into the neural matrix, driving the autonomic nervous system to control heart rate, vascular tone, immune responses, and digestion. It also manages physical, biochemical, and mental-emotional stress, enhances athletic and musical performance, and quietly and effectively guides complex “autopilot” routine behaviors—like typing, brewing espresso, or driving.

It also acts as the ultimate archivist. During sleep, the subconscious reorganizes daily experiences into long-term memory. We rarely truly lose information; the conscious mind can’t always access it.

Though not psychic, the subconscious can feel precognitive. It calculates statistical patterns and processes sensory input far faster than our plodding conscious thought can keep up.

This makes the human brain vastly more flexible, energy-efficient, and complex than any modern supercomputer. Artificial General Intelligence still stumbles over deep cultural nuance, abstract reasoning, and genuine sarcasm—a linguistic art form that demands immense cognitive bandwidth. More impressively, an eighteen-month-old toddler can learn entirely new concepts from a single data point; AI still requires a warehouse of server racks and a small power grid to do the same.

Yet, while society worries about AI supercomputers taking over, a quieter and more serious threat has already succeeded: the subconscious marketing of sub-optimal health.

Growing up near rural drive-in theaters, I heard tales of screens flashing split-second images of fries and burgers to trigger hunger—a tactic highlighted in 1957 by a marketer whose “groundbreaking” study ignited public panic over subliminal manipulation. Though he later admitted the data was forged, the panic was real. Today's marketers rely on legal sensory deception to quietly manipulate human choices. (See my article “Food Porn”).

Why are our brains so easily manipulated? Because effective propaganda is simply applied neuroscience. Like a magician directing your focus away from the trick, modern media bypasses rational conscious thought to trigger raw emotional responses. It leverages the classic sales maxim coined by Elmer Wheeler in the 1930s: “Don’t sell the steak—sell the sizzle.”

Decades later, neuroscientists decoded the underlying brain mechanisms behind this trick:

• System 1: Emotional decision-making. It’s fast, automatic, and effortlessly run by the subconscious (the sizzle).
• System 2: Rational decision-making. It’s slow, deliberate, logical, and demanding of conscious energy (the steak).

In research I published with Professor Paul Laursen in 2019, we demonstrated how the health and fitness industry weaponizes System 1 to sell flawed fitness ideologies (e.g., “no pain, no gain”), junk food, and questionable products, driving widespread, unhealthy lifestyle patterns on a global scale.

These brain systems evolved long before modern boardrooms learned to exploit them. Early Homo sapiens gazed at celestial movements with existential awe, sparking primitive introspection, philosophy, and memory formation. Archaeologists trace early intentional access of the subconscious back thousands of years—from prehistoric rock art to ancient Asian pottery and murals depicting figures in half-eyed meditative postures.

This cognitive evolution laid the groundwork for complex belief systems and religions, most of which coalesced rapidly between 2,500 and 2,000 years ago. Only in the late 19th century, however, did science formally map the conscious and subconscious domains.

Accessing the subconscious requires overriding the brain’s formidable sensory filters. Right now, your brain is actively suppressing the feeling of your socks, the weight of your watch, and background ambient noise. Effective meditation deliberately alters these and other neural filters, inducing alpha and theta brainwave states that foster novel synaptic connections and sudden “aha!” moments. Psychologist Carl Jung discussed locking onto dream fragments or intense emotions while awake, forcing open the internal line of communication with the subconscious. (My similar approach is the “5-minute power break.”)

Certain botanical compounds alter these neural filters through the brain’s distinct natural pharmacological pathways. Cannabis (specifically psychoactive THC) lowers sensory gating, granting introspective access to subconscious layers. Psychedelics like psilocybin act similarly, opening a neuroplastic window to examine and rewrite entrenched psychological patterns. (Of course, like caffeine or alcohol, excessive dosage simply degrades executive function.)

By bridging the gap between conscious intent and subconscious processing, we gain direct access to the control panel—refining not just how we think, but movement, performance, and life.

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