We do not make an effort to digest the food we eat, walk for miles, recognize different objects, play the games we play regularly, cook the food once we know how to cook food, drive the car, or even type on the keyboard. We perform so many of these tasks almost unconsciously. In fact, there is a whole defense system within our body called the immunity system that prevents attacks by bacteria and viruses. We have a thermostat that regulates the temperature of the body quite consciously. We have a heart that circulates blood in different organs of the body. We have lungs to keep inhaling and exhaling oxygen.
It would be an impossible task for the conscious mind to take care of all these functions. Imagine if we forget how to walk or the heart forgets how to pump. Would the conscious mind be able to tell the heart every minute how to pump? Probably, we will go mad and die very soon. Our unconscious mind saves a lot of energy for the conscious mind so that the conscious mind can explore. The repetitive things are taken care of by the unconscious mind and the conscious mind explores new ideas and phenomena.
As it is quite difficult for the conscious mind to take over the functions of the unconscious mind, it is equally troublesome when we try to hand over some of the core tasks of the conscious mind to the unconscious mind. That so happens when we try to make generalizations. We make generalizations about human behavior. Somebody behaved badly on a particular day and we consider that person to be ill-behaved forever. We relate wisdom to positions and consider the people who are at the top of the hierarchy in any organization to be wise. We have biases associated with gender, race, religion, caste, and area of dwelling.
Out of its laziness, the conscious mind tries to delegate some of the functions it needs to perform to the unconscious mind. It often leads to accidents. However, it may be essential for evolution as well. Anthropologically, when human beings started walking on their feet, initially they would have to remain conscious while walking and slowly walking was taken over by the unconscious mind since it got trained in almost all the scenarios. Still, we walk consciously in unknown terrain and with more caution. We drive on the roads without dividers between the two sides more cautiously while driving on the highways is not so strenuous. Slowly, at least in the towns where people are following traffic rules, driverless vehicles are being experimented with. Anthropologically, we may so evolve that driving is taken over by the unconscious mind and while driving, we may be able to send e-mails and clear our office work.
In the process of evolution, it appears that all the repetitive functions will be taken over by the unconscious mind or the AI. Consciousness is always at work in this universe. So many new galaxies, stars, and planets are being formed and destroyed. We are hardly aware of the great expanse of the universe. At the same time, the same consciousness after it creates these stars and planets becomes inert and keeps acting passively just like the unconscious mind. The Earth is inert and yet the entire ecosystem such as weather, rotation, revolution, climate, magnetic field, formation of minerals and fossils, and so on. All these activities take place silently just like the beating of the heart and pumping of the lungs. Yet, the consciousness is acting in a different part of the universe to create new astral bodies as if it has delegated its conscious functions on the Earth to the flora, fauna, animals, birds, and human beings. Especially the human beings who have a strong sense of "I" as an agent of the "consciousness" and have aspirations to create freely just like its "creator" but somehow keep struggling between the trap of the "unconscious" and the call of the "consciousness".
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