d from clear consciousness progressively to obscure consciousness,
to the subconscious, to the unconscious that manifests itself only
through its motor reactions, the first state thus successively
impoverished, still remains, down to its final term, identical in its
basis with consciousness. It is an hypothesis that nothing justifies.

No difficulty arises when we bear in mind the legitimate distinction
between consciousness of self and consciousness in general, the former
entirely subjective, the latter in a way objective (the consciousness of
a man captivated by an attractive scene; better yet, the fluid form of
revery or of the awaking from syncope). We may admit that this
evanescent consciousness, affective in nature, felt rather than
perceived, is due to a lack of synthesis, of relations among the
internal states, which remain isolated, unable to unite into a whole.

The difficulty commences when we descend into the region of the
subconscious, which allows stages whose obscurity increases in
proportion as we move away from clear consciousness, "like a lake in
which the action of light is always nearing extinction" (in double
coexisting personalities, automatic writing, mediums, etc.). Here some
postulate two currents of consciousness existing at the same time in one
person without reciprocal connection. Others suppose a "field of
consciousness" with a brilliant center and extending indefinitely toward
the dim distance. Still others liken the phenomenon to the movement of
waves, whose summit alone is lighted up. Indeed, the authors declare
that with these comparisons and metaphors they make no pretense of
explaining; but certainly they all reduce unconsciousness to
consciousness, as a special to a general case, and what is that if not
explaining?

I do not intend to enumerate all the varieties of the psychological
theory. The most systematic, that of Myers, accepted by Delboef and
others, is full of a biological mysticism all its own. Here it is in
substance: In every one of us there is a conscious self adapted to the
needs of life, and potential selves constituting the subliminal
consciousness. The latter, much broader in scope than personal
consciousness, has dependent on it the entire vegetative
life--circulation, trophic actions, etc. Ordinarily the conscious self
is on the highest level, the subliminal consciousness on the second; but
in certain extraordinary states (hypnosis, hysteria, divided
consciousness