An Anatomical, Biochemical, Biophysical and Quantum Basis for the Unconscious Mind

This article suggests that it may now be possible to develop some theoretical and experimental bases for organic substructures involved in psychological phenomena including the unconscious. Our inquiry arose from mutual interest in the mechanisms involved in peak athletic and artistic performances and in deep therapeutic encounters. We are referring to a state of consciousness is often described by performers as “the zone.” This is a state in which individuals or groups function at an extraordinary level of perception and coordination; or a state in which therapists develop a deep connection with their clients’ repressed feelings or traumatic memories. Here we suggest possible mechanisms for Freud’s “conversion disorders” based on the concept that there are two or more interconnected systems that can sense and respond to the environment and that can also convert repressed emotions into chronic muscle tension or other somatic issues. One connection between sensation and action is the well-established neurophysiological mechanism and another involves semiconduction through the living matrix. This is one type of “hardware” system that functions more or less in parallel to the nervous system and possibly in concert with the “wetware” or biochemical systems described by Dennis Bray (2009). It is proposed that one aspect of the unconscious —its capacity to absorb and process vast amounts of sensory information—involves rapid signal processing through a combination of ultra-fast biological processes that are present in all cells and tissues, including but not limited to neurons. Semi-conduction, wetware, electromagneticphotonic communications and quantum coherence are examples of such processes