Being Human: Three levels of Consciousness and the three parts of the mind

The mind can be dived into three systems, the conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the unconscious mind.

The Consciousness mind is your awareness, being aware of your environment and some specific mental functions, for example your breathing.

The Subconscious mind consists of accessible information (memories that are readily brought into consciousness). You can become aware of information once you direct your attention to it. for example smelling sun cream might bring back memories of the beach. If for example you have retain of walking to school and back everyday. The conscious information becomes subconscious information, so that you can walk home without being aware of your surroundings.

The Unconscious  mind is a part of the mind we can't access but is the core of what makes us who we are. Durring our childhood we acquire countless and experiences that form us. The unconscious forces drive our behaviours. Its believed  that thoughts and feelings never leave and that they are stored here

The three levels of consciousness concept was made by Sigmund Freud, true lots of his work has been proven wrong but to this day is the most influential person in modern culture. His work is still inspirering people today, For example me.

Sigmund Freud believed within these three levels of conscious, the mind was made of three parts the Id, Ego, Super Ego and believed that the inner conflicts between them formed our personalities.

The Id is your instinctual desire for instant gratification of your wants and needs. This is the part of your mind that's impulsive, emotional, that seeks pleasure and gets aggressive when it doesn't get what it wants right away. The Id is the first part of your mind to be formed, that's young kids will for example throw tantrums if they don't get what they want. The Id makes decisions based off of the pleasure principle.

The Super Ego represents the conscience, dealing with one's sense of morality. It operates based on the idealised version of one's self and even self criticises, if  one fails to live up to those ideals. The Super Ego makes decisions based off of morality.

The Ego is the most conscious part of our minds and it's what mediates between the conflicting wants of the Id and Super Ego. The Ego is the part that deals with reality and understand that other people have thoughts, feeling and desires. The Ego will make decisions based of what people will think or the consequences of given action.


In story telling its become a trope (Freud Trio) to have three characters based on Freud's ID, Ego and Super Ego. one character thats emotional and instinctual. Another thats is rational and logical, and one that tries to reconcile between them. This method of story telling is used all the time for example: Star Trek (Ego:Jim, Id;Bones and Super Ego:Spock.) Lord of the rings (Ego;Frodo, ID:Gollum and Super Ego:Samwise.) Supernatural  (Ego:Dean, ID:Sam and Super Ego:Castiel.)

 For my being Human i am wanting to create three characters that follows Freud model of the mind, the Freud Trio. So the character work together and makes them more relatable if not also human.