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Hypnotherapists drop their patients’ brain activity into delta and those verbal abuses become defined as "truths" that unconsciously theta because these low-frequency brainwaves put their patients shape the behaviour and potential of the child through life. into a more suggestible, programmable state. As we get older, we become less susceptible to outside pro- This gives us an important clue as to how children, whose gramming with the increasing appearance of higher-frequency brains are mostly operating at these same frequencies between alpha waves (8-12 Hz). Alpha activity is equated with states of birth and six years of age, can download the incredible volume of calm consciousness. While most of our sense organs, such as the information they need in order to thrive in their environment. The eyes, ears and nose, observe the outer world, consciousness ability to process this vast quantity of information is an important —_ resembles a sense organ that behaves like a mirror, reflecting the neurologic adaptation to facilitate this information-intense process inner workings of the body's own cellular community; it is an of enculturation. Human environments and social mores change awareness of "self". so rapidly that it would not be an advantage to transmit cultural At around 12 years of age, the child's EEG spectrum begins to behaviours via genetically programmed instincts. Young children show sustained periods of an even higher frequency defined as carefully observe their environment and download the worldly beta waves (12-35 Hz). Beta brain states are characterised as wisdom offered by parents directly into their subconscious "active or focused consciousness"—the kind of brain activity used memory. As a result, their parents' behaviour and beliefs become in reading this book. their own. Recently a fifth, higher state of EEG activity has been defined. Researchers at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute Referred to as gamma waves (greater than 35 Hz), this EEG fre- have found that baby chimps also learn by simply observing their quency range kicks in during states of "peak performance", such mothers. In a series of experiments, a mother was taught to as when a pilot is in the process of landing a plane or a tennis pro identify the Japanese characters for a variety of colours. When is engaged in a rapid-fire volley. the Japanese character for a specific By the time children reach colour was flashed on a computer adolescence, their subconscious minds screen, the chimp learned to choose are chock-full of information that the right colour swatch. Upon . . . ranges from the knowledge of how to selecting the right colour, the chimp The subconscious mind isa walk to the "knowledge" that they received a coin that she could then put programmable "hard drive" will never amount to anything, or the in a vending machine for a fruit treat. . . . . nowledge, fostered by loving During her training process, she was into which our life experiences parents, that they can do anything holding her baby close. To th they set out to do. surprise of researchers, one day, as the are downloaded. The programs The sum. of our genetically mother was retrieving her fruit from are fundamentally hard-wired, rogrammed instincts and the beliefs the vending machine, the infant chimp stimulus-response behaviours we learned from our parents activated the computer. When the collectively form the subconscious character appeared on the screen, the mind, which can undo both our ability baby chimp selected the correct to keep our arm raised in a colour, received a coin and then chiropractor's office and our best New followed his mother to the vending Year's resolutions to stop sabotaging machine. The astonished researchers were left to conclude that ourselves with drugs or food. infants can pick up complex skills solely by observation and don't Again I go back to cells, which can teach us so much about our- have to be actively coached by their parents. (Science, 2001) selves. I've said many times in my book that single cells are intel- In humans as well, the fundamental behaviours, beliefs and ligent. But when cells band together in creating multicellular attitudes we observe in our parents become "hard-wired" as communities, they follow the "collective voice" of the organism, synaptic pathways in our subconscious minds. Once programmed even if that voice dictates self-destructive behaviour. Our physi- into the subconscious mind, they control our biology for the rest ology and behaviour patterns conform to the "truths" of the cen- of our lives—unless we can figure out a way to reprogram them. tral voice, be they constructive or destructive beliefs. Anyone who doubts the sophistication of this downloading should I've described the power of the subconscious mind, but I want think about the first time your child blurted out a curse word to emphasise that there is no need to consider the subconscious a picked up from you. I'm sure you noted its sophistication, correct scary, super-powerful, Freudian font of destructive "knowledge". pronunciation, its nuanced style and context carrying your In reality, the subconscious is an emotionless database of stored signature. programs, whose function is strictly concerned with reading Given the precision of this behaviour-recording system, imagine — environmental signals and engaging in hard-wired behavioural the consequences of hearing your parents say that you are a "stupid programs—no questions asked, no judgements made. child", you "do not deserve things", you "will never amount to The subconscious mind is a programmable "hard drive" into anything", "never should have been born" or are a "sickly, weak" which our life experiences are downloaded. The programs are person. When unthinking or uncaring parents pass on those fundamentally hard-wired, stimulus—response behaviours. messages to their young children, they are no doubt oblivious to Behaviour-activating stimuli may be signals the nervous system the fact that such comments are downloaded into the subconscious detects from the external world and/or signals that arise from memory as absolute "facts", just as surely as bits and bytes are within the body such as emotions, pleasure and pain. When a downloaded to the hard drive of your desktop computer. During stimulus is perceived, it will automatically engage the behavioural early development, the child's consciousness has not evolved response that was learned when the signal was first experienced. enough to assess critically that those parental pronouncements In fact, people who realise the automated nature of this playback were only verbal barbs and not necessarily true characterisations of response frequently admit to the fact that their "buttons have been "self". Once programmed into the subconscious mind, however, pushed". programmable "hard drive" into which our life 2 experiences are downloaded. The programs are fundamentally hard-wired, stimulus-response behaviours. 28 = NEXUS The subconscious mind is a www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2006