Noble Mind
An Exploration of Human Nature.
Consciousness, Intellect, and our Mind.
Chapter 9 From Daydream to Orgasm
In this chapter
In the previous chapter we explored some of the ways that we might use the H I Mind Model to better understand varied states of mind. But, consciousness is a part of our mind, the part that we experience from moment to moment.
In this chapter we explore consciousness and the variety of motivations that directly and indirectly impact our inner experiences.
Please note that although I technically believe that our core consciousness is influenced by all our Focuses, in this chapter I treat consciousness as strongly associated with our Planning Focus.
Motivational Drivers and States of Consciousness
The H I Mind Model presents a human mind evolved to handle many situations in parallel. Our experience of our own mind—our state of consciousness—depends on which Focuses are more or less active, how intensely they are engaged, and how our Planning Focus interprets the ongoing activity.
All the Focuses represent functional activity in the neocortex, yet our brain does far more than interpret sensations, simulate situations, and try to optimize our behaviour in various ways. It constantly balances energy, survival, social needs, and creative exploration. This generates continuous fluctuations in mood, attention, and thought, which we experience, while conscious and awake, as relaxation, excitement, inspiration, emotional tension, or changes in mood.
Our Focuses and our Conscious Experience
Some Focuses are more creative and aspirational, such as the Aspirational and Noble Focuses, which often operate through intuition rather than clear linear thought. Even when we attempt deliberate creative acts, we experience impressions, associations, and emerging ideas more than structured reasoning.
In contrast, our knowledge-based Social and Cultural Focuses guide us with confidence that we ‘know what to do’. When our Aspirational Focus is active we may act impulsively whilst our Noble Focus can be ambitious for the good of all.
The Planning Focus orchestrates activity across all Focuses, resolving conflicts, setting priorities, and creating a coherent conscious storyline.
Conscious thought, then, is not the whole story. It is perhaps a summary constructed by the Planning Focus, providing a narrative that makes sense of the multiple outputs of other Focuses. Linear thinking is partly an illusion: the underlying processes are massively parallel, automatic, and sometimes contradictory. We can become more aware of the internal processing using, for example, techniques from Cognitive Psychology. This helps us trace beyond the conscious story, uncovering biases, assumptions, and subconscious influences on our behaviour.
Compulsions, Emotions, and Imperatives
The H I Mind Model clarifies why we are motivated to act, sometimes against our apparent conscious intentions.
At a basic level, we can identify three layers of motivational drivers:
1. Compulsions – originating in the Subconscious.
2. Emotions – bridging Subconscious and conscious Focuses, including Social and Creative layers.
3. Imperatives – guiding long-term behaviour, appearing to influence objectives in the main five Focuses.
Compulsions
Compulsions are automatic, urgent drives necessary for survival. They include hunger, thirst, pain, and sexual urges, and often operate below conscious awareness, shaping behaviour directly. We cannot easily control compulsions through mental activity.
Compulsions are ancient and potent, capable of strongly distracting conscious reasoning, yet they can also be responsible for habitual or addictive behaviour—sometimes learned, sometimes culturally influenced.
Emotions
Emotions are complex blends of feelings and cognitive responses that arise from interactions between our Subconscious and all our main Focuses. Fear, love, anger, and contentment are all examples of emotional drives that focus our attention, influence decisions, and motivate action. Unlike compulsions, emotions often have a reflective component: we may become aware of them and even modulate them, though they remain powerful guides of behaviour.
Imperatives
Imperatives are, I believe, long-term, structural drivers embedded in the architecture of the neocortex. They act subtly, perhaps working at a pre-verbal level, shaping our goals, values, and priorities.
Examples of imperatives include:
• The desire to belong within our family or to find a place in society.
• A drive to explore, create, and innovate.
• The wish to be valued and leave a legacy.
• A tendency to play, compete, and achieve mastery.
Imperatives operate alongside, but largely below, conscious thought. The Planning Focus integrates imperatives with ongoing inputs from other Focuses, guiding behaviour in ways that promote personal and social flourishing. These drivers are not learned in the same way as cognitive beliefs—they are inherent, evolutionarily shaped, and reinforced by the neocortical structure.
There is no definitive list of human imperatives. The following chart identifies some imperatives that may be associated with the H I Mind Model Focuses.
Feedback Loops Between Focuses and Motivation
Motivational drivers are not isolated. Compulsions, emotions, and imperatives interact dynamically with the Planning Focus and other Focuses:
• Compulsions may trigger immediate attention from the Planning Focus.
• Emotions provide feedback that can amplify or inhibit action.
• Imperatives give directional guidance, biasing the Focuses toward long-term goals.
The result is a constantly shifting landscape of states of consciousness: moments of logic, creativity, playfulness, emotional resonance, and ethical reflection all coexist, sometimes in harmony, sometimes in tension.
States of Consciousness
Because our mind is layered and functionally focused, we naturally experience different states of consciousness depending on which Focuses are dominant:
• Logical, linear thinking emerges when our Planning Focus is active.
• Creative inspiration or intuition may flow when our Aspirational or Noble Focuses are active.
• Emotional intensity may rise when any single Focus is engaged and not balanced by the guidance of the other Focuses.
• Compulsion-driven behaviour occurs when our Subconscious ‘learns’ that certain actions or situations can be associated with rewarding results.
We also seek altered or pleasurable states intentionally—through meditation, music, literature, or social interaction. By understanding which Focuses are active, we can better manage and stimulate specific states, even potentially fostering transcendent or life-enhancing experiences.
Intelligence and the Thousand Brains Model
The Thousand Brains Model of intelligence provides a structural explanation for imperatives and complex motivation. The neocortex is not uniform—it contains multiple cortical columns operating semi-autonomously, generating predictions, actions, and evaluations in parallel. Imperatives, perhaps embedded in this structure, influence behaviour below conscious awareness, shaping how intelligence is expressed.
We do not directly perceive these imperatives, but we see their effect: they guide our attention, decisions, and goals, biasing our intelligence in ways that are evolutionarily advantageous.
Summary
In the H I Mind Model:
• Compulsions drive immediate survival behaviour and personal needs.
• Emotions shape responses, attention, and social engagement.
• Imperatives provide long-term guidance for growth, social participation, and personal meaning.
These drivers interact with each other and with all Focuses of the mind, mediated by the Planning Focus, to produce the full richness of human experience—from routine decision-making to creative inspiration, play, and transcendent states.
Understanding these sources of motivation gives us a practical understanding of the mind, helping explain why we act, feel, and aspire as we do—and providing tools to influence, manage, and enrich our own experience of being human.