THE RELATION OF POTENTIALITY TO CONSCIOUSNESS EXPRESSED BY SUBCONSCIOUSNESS

Potentiality Comes before Consciousness

Man who is the actor, who performs actions, is also the dynamic subject of

everything that happens in him, whether the occurrences are at the emotive or the vegetative level and whether they are or are not accessible to consciousness.~ The subject is always one and the same; it is the subject that is all a person, a

"somebody," and does not cease to be a person in the whole sphere of the causations of nature which, as already noted, differs from the causation of the person. The fact of the man-subject being a person is not altered by the activations that fashion the dynamism pertaining to the emotive sphere of man's integral existence. The unity and identity of the being who is the subject bear witness to the reality of the potential unity, and hence also to the dynamic unity of this subject. Its unity is not abolished by those structural differences which, for instance, are

manifest in the relation of potentiality to consciousness and vice versa. We have already seen that consciousness does not reflect to the same degree the whole potentiality of the human being with its consequent dynamizations. The vegetative potentiality and dynamism of the human being both remain essentially inaccessible to consciousness; they are not registered in consciousness though they form part of the structure of the dynamic subject who is a person. Undeniably, vegetative

potentiality constitutes a factor in countless instances of conscious human acting, in countless actions, which of course does not mean that vegetative potentiality itself is their source.

We now see that it is not owing to consciousness that the dynamic unity of the man-subject is achieved at the vegetative level. The unity is attained apart from and in a way outside of consciousness, which in its reflecting function is not instrumental in this respect; for, as we saw, dynamic unity is antecedent and primary to

consciousness in both its mirroring and reflexive functions. In the man-subject it consists - at least at the somatic level - primarily in the unity of life and only secondarily and, as it were, accidentally in the unity of experience. This assertion supports the priority of potentiality with regard to consciousness. An analysis of the human being, of the acting person, if it were to be grounded on consciousness alone, would from the first be doomed to inadequacy.

Consciousness and the Delimitation of the Psychical and the Somatic

The priority of potentiality with regard to consciousness has to be taken into account also at the emotive level, even though the role of consciousness at this level of the human dynamism is very distinct and very effective. All elements composing the emotive sphere of the human dynamism - the various sensations or emotions - are not only spontaneously recorded in consciousness but are also vividly experienced by man. The dividing line between these experiences and the great wealth and variety of data that belong to the somato-vegetative life and are not had in experience coincides to some extent with the line dividing the psychical from the somatic.

Although the latter delimitation, which refers only to objective structures, is

established according to different criteria, they are to some extent adopted from the criteria of the former division. This is basically permissible as long as the adoption is carried out on the right plane, which is important because otherwise confusion may result among the different aspects of experience, and consequently in the

understanding of man - a confusion we must avoid. If the human being is a specific

field of experiences and understandings then consciousness and experience, which help in obtaining a comprehensive grasp of this field primarily in the inner

experience, cannot be interchanged with what determines the relations among the objective structures themselves. It is to such objective structures that the division of the psychical from the somatic, not to mention the soul and the body in man, seems to refer. Every one of these divisions has a different significance and issues from different premises, even though we may say they all have a common root where they meet.

Introducing Subconsciousness into the Analysis

So far our analysis has allowed us to distinguish in the totality of the human dynamism a sphere accessible to consciousness and another that remains inaccessible to it. Thereby the way is opened to introduce the factor of

"subconsciousness." With reference to the same man-subject, who is a person, the dynamism accessible to consciousness is distinguishable from the dynamism

inaccessible to it. We may even say that in a way they are opposed to each other, if the relation of the dynamism to consciousness is taken as the dividing criterion. But in the concept of subconsciousness there is more than just the inaccessibility to consciousness of the dynamic facts, of the activations that occur in the man-subject, especially at the somatovegetative level. The subconscious, as we know it from researches in psychoanalysis, designates a different source of the content of human experience than the source that feeds consciousness. Such is the case, for instance, with sexual objects in the treatment by Freud of the subconscious, and with other objects in the approach of Adler or Jung. Genetically, this content of human

experience is connected with instincts, such as the sexual instinct or the ego instinct.

At a later stage of our discussion we shall deal with the problems of instinct and impulses in the whole structure of human dynamism. It is obvious, however, that these problems are of great significance in the present context, insofar as we are tempted to seek in the subconscious the potentiality of the human subject.

Moreover, this tendency might lead us to attribute specific priority of potentiality with respect to conscious functions. We mean by that a priority concerning the structuring operations of the human mind and consequently priority in the terms of

interpretation and hence of understanding: in point of fact, it seems that it would be impossible to understand and explain the human being, his dynamism as well as his conscious acting and actions, if we were to base our considerations on consciousness alone. In this respect, as it seems, potentiality of the subconscious comes first; it is primary and more indispensable than consciousness for the interpretation of human dynamism as well as for the interpretation of conscious acting. Consciousness stresses the subjective aspect of conscious acting and to some extent also of what happens in man, but it does not constitute the inner structure of the human dynamism itself.

The Relation of Subconsciousness to the Dynamism and Potentiality of Man All that has just been said is confirmed by subconsciousness in a specific manner, specific so far as the subconscious itself is primarily related to the inner aspect of

human experience. Speaking of the subconscious we refer to, as it were, an inner space, to which some objects are expelled or withheld and prevented from reaching the threshold of consciousness. Both one and the other - the expulsion and the holding back - show that subconsciousness is also controlled by laws of a specific dynamism. This is evidenced by the threshold over which some elements must force their way before they can reach consciousness and enter into the process of

experience; while remaining in subconsciousness they are beyond the flux of experience' or, to put it more accurately, they remain in a state of subexperience.

What is it that keeps guard at the threshold of consciousness? Is it the task of

consciousness itself or of still another factor ranking higher in man, namely, the will?

The threshold of consciousness does not seem to be always closely guarded, and it is not always that the control or censorship by that dominant factor in man is

exercised. The ordinary emergence into consciousness, the coming to awareness, takes place spontaneously and in an uncontrolled manner: for instance, when we feel pain in a bodily organ we become aware of its existence and of its malfunction. But in this case there is only transition from the nonconscious to the conscious.

Psychoanalysts have, however, designated subconsciousness solely for the elements whose reaching the threshold of consciousness is associated with the exercise of the factor dominant in man, with the special vigilance of this factor.

Then, however, the consideration of subconsciousness allows us to see all the more clearly the dynamism and the potentiality in man; for it is indicative, on the one hand, of that dominant dynamism - and with it of that underlying dominant

potentiality which keeps watch at the threshold of consciousness - and on the other, of that potentiality which in the man-subject stays below the level of consciousness or, at any rate, below the current threshold of consciousness. Indeed, the elements that have been expelled from consciousness - sometimes they are even called repressed - or prevented from reaching it, do not float in the void but obviously remain with the subject. They are, moreover, maintained in a dynamic condition, waiting to be carried over the threshold of consciousness. Psychoanalytical

researches tell us that they are always waiting for a suitable opportunity to emerge:

for instance, when consciousness is weakened or inhibited by overwork or in sleep.

Should we not conclude that these lower levels of human potentiality - that is, the vegetative and in a way also the emotive - assist, as it were, with their own

dynamism rather than shelter the objects shut off from consciousness? But while the dynamism of the vegetative level remains almost entirely inaccessible to

consciousness, the emotive dynamism, which will be more fully discussed below, seems very helpful in the psychical reproduction and vividness of various objects as well as of those that have been rejected by consciousness and the will.

Subconsciousness Shows Consciousness as the Sphere of Man's Self-realization The remarks referring to subconsciousness are of special significance at this stage of our discussion when we are considering primarily the human being as the subject of acting and more generally as the subject of dynamism.

First, they clearly show the potentiality of the subject in the inner aspect itself.

Second, they help us to see at least to some extent, the inner continuity and cohesion of the subject; because it is seemingly subconsciousness that brings into view the transitions between, on the one hand, what only happens in man owing to

the natural vegetative, and possibly also emotive activations and, on the other, what man consciously experiences and what he considers to be his actions. The continuity and cohesion exist within the frame of the subconscious, but they also span the gap between subconsciousness and consciousness. The threshold of consciousness not only divides the one from the other but it also connects them with each other.³⁵ Third, subconsciousness, with its continuous relation to consciousness, allows us to see the human being as internally subjected to time and thus having his own internal history. This history is determined and formed to a great extent by factors in man's dynamic structure itself. Consciousness has often been compared with a stream of contents flowing continuously in the man-subject; by allowing us to better

comprehend how this stream is related to the potentiality of the subject,

subconsciousness shows indirectly where the springs to the histories of individual human beings are to be sought.~

Finally, in what is but a comment to the preceding point, we may say that

subconsciousness brings out vividly the hierarchy of human potentialities. There is something highly significant in the constant drive toward the light of consciousness, in the constant urge emanating from the subconscious to attain the level of

consciousness and to be consciously experienced. Hence both the existence of subconsciousness and the functions it performs indubitably indicate that consciousness is the sphere where man most appropriately fulfills himself. The subconscious is to a high degree shaped by consciousness, but otherwise it is only a repository where what is contained in the man-subject is stored and awaits to emerge in awareness. For it is then that it will also assume a fully human significance.

Let us add that the transfer to the domain of consciousness of moments captured in subconsciousness, and especially those hindered from coming to a genuine

objectivization, stand out as one of the chief tasks of morality and education. This, however, is a problem that goes far beyond our present concern and will not be considered in this work.

8.

MAN IN BECOMING: THE MANIFESTATION OF FREEDOM IN