Our unconscious mind is necessary in that, were we forced to pay conscious attention to all that was happening around us, we would be in a permanent state of distraction. We would be unable to put together even simple thoughts. Our ability to think, reason and create would be seriously jeopardized if we could not handle most incoming sensory data at the unconscious level. The unconscious component of our mind acts as a semipermeable membrane allowing passage of only relevant information that is necessary for survival or other important acts. It protects us from embarrassing or traumatic memories which are too harsh for us to deal with.²²...Our unconscious mind allows us to develop special skills such as playing a musical instrument or driving a car, which become largely automatic as the skill is mastered.²³

The unconscious mind also governs all of the automatic body- function processes such as the operation of organ systems. If we were forced to consciously operate the thousands of enzyme and metabolic pathways, none of us would survive.²⁴...The interplay of all of the chemical reactions which are constantly occurring synchronously within the body is so immensely complex that it vastly exceeds the powers of our consciousness.²⁵...Each organ system is continuously solving problems 24 hours per day for the entire life of the organism. They learned their jobs over hundreds of millions of years through evolution. The DNA molecule acquired and stored this information in a genetic memory bank during this long learning process.²⁶...This unconscious memory process is part of our overall intelligence apparatus. It requires the acquisition and retention of an immense amount of information, plus an extremely complex and sophisticated form of communication.

Our consciousness has only very limited access to all of the body functions, including learned complex patterns such as the performance of a piano concerto. As we learn new material it is stored in that part of the brain which functions unconsciously. Erwin Schrodinger has defined the conscious portion of brain activity as that portion which deals with new experience.²⁷

Various external and internal stimuli as well as other mental activities appear to be conscious only when they are relatively new or unfamiliar. As they become familiar, habitual or automatic, they gradually fade from consciousness into the unconscious mind and contribute little if anything to our ongoing awareness.²⁸

Many more incoming stimuli are processed by the body than ever reach a level of consciousness. A distinction is required between the "registration" of stimuli and their "conscious perception." Registration denotes the general reception of all incoming stimuli by the nervous system, but conscious perception denotes the process whereby certain stimuli gain dominance over less immediately important stimuli and therefore enter into conscious awareness at the cortical level.²⁹...The unconscious processing of incoming stimuli is automatic and much of it is learned. As a child one may be acutely aware of a chirping cricket that might go completely unnoticed by an adult.

The unconscious perceptual apparatus of the human brain is not only capable of accurately understanding the meaning of information, but unconscious intelligence can also make logical, meaningful associations with relevant memories, and then activate precisely those brain nerve networks or mental processes that are appropriate to respond to what is perceived without any conscious awareness. The unconscious mind is very capable of making judgments with considerable efficiency. The unconscious can detect a reality, despite the lack of conscious awareness, and produce an appropriate behavioral response.³⁰

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