What do you feed your genie?

Imagine a genie, immensely powerful, capable of the most amazing feats. Imagine it beside you, invisible, at all times. Imagine yourself in command of the genie, able to make any demand and at any time. Demands that the genie will fulfill, no questions asked.

What if all you ever needed to do was ask?

Truth is, we are always asking. Whether we do it knowingly or not, we are always giving the genie instructions. And the genie is always processing it, altering our reality by fractions, giving us exactly what we want.

Not much is known about the nature of the genie. There are many theories, some more popular than others.

One theory says the genie is our own sub-conscious mind. I will try to explain.

For the most part, our reality is decided by what we perceive through our sense organs. We believe what we see. This, in essence, is what forms the basis of our conscious mind.

The sub-conscious mind however, is blind to the world. It does not interpret reality. It merely takes the conscious mind's version of things and accepts it without question.

The senses observe the world and feed the conscious. The conscious feeds the sub-conscious. The sub-conscious makes us who we are.

The power that our sub-conscious mind has over us is phenomenal. See a point I made in my previous post - How to Get Lucky. Hypnosis takes the conscious mind out of the picture by putting the subject into sleep or a similar trance-like state during which the mind becomes vulnerable.

Ideas are directly fed to the sub-conscious mind. The sub-conscious, as is its nature, accepts everything as true. Its interpretation is not based on accepted definitions of reality or even what we believe to be right & wrong. It just listens and obeys.

Take a moment to consider what you feed your sub-conscious during an avarage day. Your states of mind, your moods, your choice of television programmes, news and cinema.

Is there a pattern? Do you find yourself telling your sub-conscious something particular over and over again? Is it a worry? An anxiety? A fear? Do you frequently feed it despair, anger, and frustration?

Or do you tell your sub-conscious you are happy? Do you tell it you can deal with anything? Do you ask for power and strength? Do you tell your sub-conscious that even though things may seem bleak, they will not beat you?

The ask-you-shall-get premise is not limited to the mind-body analogy alone. I have found this same message in various kinds of literature. The idea of us not being alone is something you can find practically anywhere you care to look (fantasy novels, religious texts, spiritual literature, self-help books, comic books etcetera).

Personally, I find the concept very much in line with the practice of praying. The same kind of doubts apply to this theory as well. An atheist may say praying is a waste of time and will not work. He doesn't pray because it is not effective. In reality, it does not work because he doesn't pray.

You could say that the sub-conscious doesn't matter. You could argue that the world is what it seems to be. You could call yourself practical and trust what your senses feed you.

Guess what? Your sub-conscious will agree with you. Without a question. Always.