There once was a Brain and a Mind...

There are many ways in which to look at the subconscious. There are many ways to look at the human mind. I am not a neuroscientist, but I am a storyteller, and I would like to tell you the story of a Brain that was tormented by a broken Mind who worshipped a damaged Subconscious.

Part The First: The First Years

When the Mind first came into the world, it was a handsome creature. The Mind was fond of the finer things —those fine things that the well-off have in those old movies set in the fourteenth Century. The Mind envisioned itself as some sort of King, and that he was.

The Mind was the King of the world that lay within the Brain of a newborn baby. This was a creature untouched and untainted by decisions and perceptions. The Mind was King of the beautiful, clean, brand-new theatre. In the fore of the stage lay the the many beautiful and wondrous things the Brain had begun to absorb. The Mind would have to carefully use these absorbed images and feelings to shape the Subconscious.

So very many years ago, the Subconscious had been a beautiful ball of fiery light that had hovered, untainted, above a white pedestal. The Mind had doted upon it, pacing slowly around the room, approaching it to feel the warmth of its glow, watching it as it pulsed gently away in the white Kingdom. The Mind felt an enormous affection towards the Subconscious, for the ball of fire was in the King's charge. The Mind had to keep the fiery ball healthy and stunning and wondrous... though the Mind did not understand the full extent of its own responsibilities.

It had only taken three years for the Mind to make a mistake. It had been dutifully feeding the images and sights and smells and feelings into the ball of fire when it had become distracted. The nature of the distraction had long since been forgotten. The important fact was, the Mind had made a mistake. Without looking, it had fed a dark image and a horrific feeling into the Subconscious.

At once, the glowing light had been extinguished. The Subconscious then transformed into a ball of rubbery coral-coloured sponge. Within moments, a large portion of it had bulged and distorted and turned to stone where it cracked, spilling tiny fragments of waste into the room around it.

You see, the Subconscious was a filter. It was absorb the items it was fed by the Mind to release only the warm, cheerful fire of the things the that Brain should have been aware of. Now, however, the Subconscious had been damaged by the Mind's carelessness. Small fragments of nightmarish essence began to taint the Kingdom within the Brain.

The Mind, horrified, began to go mad...


(Post Two: The Madness — coming soon)

(c) 2014 Alexandra Odendaal