Progressing and Developing Subconsciously

What about the idea that through subliminal messaging, you could subconsiously affect your actions by listening to music, looking at images, or by simply watching a video? As wondrous as it may sound, numerous studies through the years have taken place on conveying messages in a subtle way, that we are not aware of.

This is the science of subliminals - the process of subliminal messaging. Supposedly ordinary images, soundtracks, or now, videos, can contain ‘secret messages’ or messages with hidden meanings. They are signals that are hidden within another message so that your overt senses don't perceive them.

It's thought that these overt senses, like vision, and hearing, can’t detect these messages. Your subliminal mind, however is able to notice them, and influence you to change your actions and thought patterns. This can occur on a conscious or unconscious level, even though the idea was planted subconsciously.

The theory of having the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind was proposed by Sigmund Freud. According to him, our consciousness is like an iceberg, where only ten percent is afloat, and the rest is deeply below the water. The conscious part is the only one afloat and the subconscious is the level in between the conscious and unconscious mind.

Through this theory, a lot of studies and research has been done in regards through the subconscious mind. There are school of thoughts that believe that the subconscious mind when stimulated can lead you to new actions or behaviors.

In 1898 a book containing the basic principles of subliminal messaging was published. The book was ‘New Psychology’ by E.W. Scripture. Then in 1900, the Müller-Lyer illusion came out, where it was claimed that the illusion was due to the subconscious mind.   Then Harry Hollingworth, an American Psychologist published an advertising book that claimed subliminal messages can be used by advertisers to sell their products. Once that idea was born, much has been made of it, negatively, and positively.  (Maybe you've read or heard about the idea movie theaters once added subliminal messages in their intermission film clips, with commands, or affirmations such as "Popcorn would be so good"; "I'd love a candy bar", etc.)

During World War II, a tachitoscope, an instrument that flashes a picture for a very short time, was developed, and used for subconscious imaging. Originally, it was used to train soldiers to be able to recognize the planes of their enemies. Now, it is used to train people to read faster and test their sighting skills.  Technology has improved and subliminal messages are still evolving. These days, it is not just available to scientists and the government but also readily available for the mainstream.

A lot of people these days believe in at least the possibility that subliminal messages can improve their lives. They devour self help products that offer messages to help modify certain behaviors such as smoking, lack of confidence, losing weight, and much more. Many see it as a potential solution to vast array of problems they may have.

Certainly, the field of subliminal messaging has evolved since the early days of Freud's theories, and E. W. Scriptures's book.