WILL

Let's meet our first character, Will. He represents the decision-making aspect of our conscious mind. Will is a rather good-looking character, a princely type wearing tall boots who enjoys talking about himself.

"Hi there, Evelyne and Bruce. Thanks for dropping in. I am ready to meet the characters you were talking about ... you know—the ones you said were in my mind. Are they nearby?" Will asked.

"Yes, but before we meet the other characters, Will, please tell our readers your understanding of your role in the mind," Evelyne (the author) suggested.

"I would be delighted to share. I live in the conscious mind. I know there is an unconscious side that is a mystery to me. I am in charge of making decisions. I think I always do what is right for me at the time. Occasionally, the results are not what I expect. While I am in charge of my person, sometimes my person does things that I don't understand."

"Would you like to learn why that happens?" Evelyne asked.

"I sure would."

"As you meet the other characters, they will expose the forces influencing behavior so you can make more informed decisions for your person. Would you please continue sharing your role with us?"

"Well, I try to make myself happy by choosing activities I hope to enjoy, but there are times I get lonely, even when I am with other people. I am comfortable when I sense I belong at work or with friends, but when people criticize me, I resent it and feel rejected. I think it has something to do with my pride. Sometimes I am so hurt inside I find it difficult to forgive. In some situations, I just want to hurt someone back. I also tend to compare myself to others, which can either make me happy or sad.

"I have found I am always talking to myself. I have thousands of thoughts an hour. Many of my thoughts are negative and seem to be the same as the day before. Sometimes I think I might be a bad person capable of doing horrible things ... I choose whether to put positive or negative energy into my life almost every second of the day. I am very busy!

"Oh! I have noticed I do things like my dad did. Like when my car was in a parking lot last year, someone hit the passenger side door so hard I had to get a new door. I was really miserable and mad for days, just like my dad was when something did not go his way. I eventually decided to stop being miserable and focus my thoughts on the fact that no one was injured."

"Thanks, Will, for that great summary of who you are. You certainly are very important. You mentioned how the `unconscious' was a mystery to you. Most of the characters you are about to meet are in your unconscious. The more you know about them and how they are interelated, the better your choices in life will be."

"Great. l can't wait to meet them."

Bruce, the other author, suggested, "Before we meet them, Will, there are some things we would like to talk about to help our readers better understand your role."

Will's House

The main floor of Will's house primarily represents where the good activities originate, while the basement represents his involvement in not-so-nice behaviors.

The action center is on the right side of Will's house. On the other side of the action-center wall dwell the characters of the unconscious mind. Here we can see two bins holding "action pellets." The light ones are positive while the darker ones depict negative energy.

Will chooses between these two energies almost every second of his waking life. Every choice we make takes energy. The human will spends its time inputting positive or negative energy.

"Will," Bruce asked, "can you tell us more about how you use `energy' in decision making?"

"Well, there are two kinds of energy that I send or receive—positive or negative. Positive energy can be seen in any action or thought that supports life—for example, love, peace, joy. Negative energy includes any thoughts or actions that would cause bitterness, hate, despair, shame, or destruction."

"Can you give us an example of what happens when you make a decision to act?" Evelyne asked.

We have portrayed this exchange of energy, in our model, using "action pellets," which Will places into a tube that conducts the energy from the conscious side to the unconscious side.

"I send energy into my unconscious mind, and it acts for me. Let's say I am in a grocery store and I decide to buy a bag of oranges. This decision sends energy as a command into my unconscious. My unconscious keeps a lookout for the fruit aisle, walks me there, and makes my arm lift up the oranges. As you see, I don't have to think about each step in the process. My unconscious executes the physical commands necessary to complete the order I generated through my thought.

"Let me give you another example. One day I was in a hurry, but I chose to stop and help a senior who had dropped her groceries in the parking lot. I sent energy—actually, I sent a command into the unconscious, and it transformed it into many actions, such as bending over, securing my own parcels, smiling, and checking for danger such as cars. As you can see, there were many unconscious actions that followed my one positive conscious decision.

"The same applies to negative choices. I may also choose to put negative energy into the unconscious. When I get hurt emotionally, I may hurt back. I sometimes choose to eat something I know is bad for me, or I may lie to protect myself, or cheat. Here's an example of a negative energy in action involving my expense account. One day I decided to lie on my expense report. I changed the numbers. I thought it was no big deal. But later, I realized my heart was racing whenever my boss approached me, and it kept me awake at night. I regret doing that."

"We appreciate your openness about this, Will," Evelyne said softly.

Later we will discuss what happens to the action pellets inside the unconscious.

Lack of Knowledge Is Dangerous

"Will, do you remember saying you make choices based on the extent of your knowledge, but sometimes the results are not what you expect? Would it be fair to say that with better information, you would have chosen a different action, which might have produced more favorable consequences?" Bruce asked.

"That makes sense to me, but I can't know everything ..."

"True, but there are some laws in the universe with which we need to become familiar and follow, to prevent loss of time, health, money, and even life. Let me tell you what happened to a lady named Sabrina, who almost died from lack of knowledge. On a trip to Mexico,...