Ullaganar

Accessing the unconscious through ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’.

Sivakumar Ramakrishnan¹, Ari Marappan², Indradevi Marimuthu³ , Rajaletchumy Grant⁴ , Nuriahh Sahjahan⁵

1 School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, University Science Malaysia

2,3,4,5: Ullaganar Agamic Sciences Center, Malaysia

Corresponding author : Ari Marappan, email :  ullaganar@gmail.com

Abstract:

In this article, we discuss the application of ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’( LSBT ) in accessing the unconscious. The ‘unconscious’ since its introduction by Sigmund Freud has been generally accepted in the scientific world as a reality even though there is not much empirical evidence to prove its existence in terms of hard science. Using Freud’s analogy of the iceberg, the contents of the unconscious influences human behavior in a major way. Till today, accessing the unconscious is only by way of ‘Freudian slips’ and dreams. But these two methods are not practical to conduct a scientific research as we don’t have control over them. Now we are introducing LSBT as a technology to access the unconscious. In this article we describe the method to conduct LSBT and have also included a case study. Besides knowing the contents of the unconscious, LSBT can also be used to take a ‘psychological history taking’ of a person and also the future projection of a person’s psychological makeup. LSBT holds tremendous potential in solving a lot of human existential struggles as it gains momentum. The methodology used in  analyzing the drawings is hermeneutics, where the drawings stand as the ‘surface structure’ and the actual meaning as the ‘deep structure’.

 Introduction.

“Man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.” – Carl Gustav Jung

Even though the concept of what is called ‘unconscious mind’ has been around even before Freud, the credit of making this concept of the ‘unconscious mind’ popular and making it as an important concept in the mainstream psychology should be given to Freud.

Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) visualized the idea of the ‘conscious’ and the ‘unconscious’ mind using the iceberg analogy.

While the contents of the conscious mind is rather easy to understand, the constituents of the unconscious is rather difficult to fathom. According to Freud, the unconscious contains all the significant and disturbing materials, events that happened in our lives and our inner thoughts that are stored since our childhood. He uses the iceberg analogy to explain that the primary source of human behavior is the unconscious mind. Just like how the movement of the iceberg is determined by the iceberg below the water, according to Freud, human behavior is primarily determined by the contents of the unconscious.

The acceptance of the concept of the unconscious as in psychoanalysis in the domain of psychology is rather lacking even today. Mainstream psychologists are of the opinion that the research in the field of unconscious lacks scientific foundation as it defies objectivity and reliability of modern day science, physical science specifically to differentiate it from hermeneutic science. Therefore psychoanalysis is sometimes pushed to the domain of pseudoscience. Nevertheless this gap between between psychoanalysis and psychology with regards to the unconscious is narrowing. For example cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology has shown the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995).

In spite of this lack of acceptance, practicing psychologists and psychoanalysts would acknowledge that there is such a thing as unconscious though in an informal way. Even though the notion of reliability and objectivity is demanded by modern science, the ones on the field continue to use this concept of unconscious in their daily practice by way of exploring the unconscious. The general understanding is that the unconscious determines human behavior though the mechanism and the way it works is yet to be understood by modern science. And as the iceberg analogy the major part of human behavior is determined by the unconscious.

Accessing the unconscious is the theme of this article. As it is quite well established, this unconscious determines human behavior in a significant way. Therefore by accessing the unconscious, we can influence human behavior significantly. And also the application of it can be used in almost every human existential struggles, including the clinical.

How do we access the unconscious? Do we have the technology to access the unconscious?

According to Freud, we get glimpses of the unconscious through dreams and ‘slip of the tongue’  or parapraxis and commonly known as ‘Freudian slip’ is a slip of the tongue, whereby we say something but mean something else. Therefore what comes out from our mouth is slightly different than what we mean to say. According to Freud, ‘Freudian slips’ gives us access to the unconscious. By analyzing the words used in ‘Freudian slips’ we can have a better understanding of a person’s unconscious.

Another way of accessing the unconscious, according to Freud is through dreams. Dreams erupt while the person is sleeping and by analyzing the dreams by way of interpreting the meaning of the dreams, we can have an understanding of the unconscious of the person.

But the problems of accessing the unconscious through ‘Freudian slips’ and dreams are quite obvious. We have no control at all over these two methods. We don’t know when a person is going to dream, neither do we know when a person is going to utter a ‘Freudian slip’. Therefore these methods are not suitable for a scientific study. The shortcomings using these two methods are just obvious and does not need further elaboration.

In our research in accessing the unconscious, we have developed a new method by modifying a projective psychology test known as the Baum Test, whereby in the standard Baum Test, only one tree is drawn, in our newly developed Baum Test, we draw four trees, each tree with its unique instruction. This new Baum Test, where four trees are drawn instead of only one has been named ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’ to differentiate it from the standard Baum Test. Through our research using LSBT in accessing the unconscious, we find that we have been quite successful. LSBT, being a tree drawing test, avoids the verbal disclosure from a person, and there the ego interference is censored. LSBT also avoids the questionnaire kind of psychological testing which is also heavily influenced by ego and other conscious factors. Therefore, by avoiding the conscious factors and the ego interference, LSBT manages to access the unconscious. Further, the four specific instructions to draw four trees in LSBT somehow manages to reach the deeper layers of the mind and through that manages to access the contents of the unconscious, which we feel is something novel.

In this paper we want to introduce ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’, in short ‘LSBT’ to access the unconscious. This test should aptly be called the technology to access the unconscious. Unlike dreams and ‘Freudian slips’, LSBT can be used in a scientific study, it is simple to administer, takes only a few minutes and can be used in small or large scale studies.

This test was discovered by Loganathan, a psychology lecturer and also the founder of a new field in psychology called ‘Agamic Psychology’ in the University Science Malaysia ( 1987 ) and further developed by his associate Sivakumar ( 2015 ) This test is an improvement of the standard Baum Test that is used worldwide. The standard Baum Test involves drawing a fruit tree or just drawing a tree. Subjects are instructed to draw a fruit tree or just draw a tree on an A4 paper. In LSBT, subjects are instructed to draw 4 trees on an A4 paper which has been divided into 4 quadrants. The idea of drawing 4 trees, each with its unique instruction came from an ancient hermeneutic science Tamil texts on metaphysics called Tirumanthiram by Tirumoolar ( 6^th CE ). 

Loganathan has tested this test on hundreds of university students and finalized the instructions for each tree as below:

1.      In quadrant A - Draw a tree bearing fruits as it comes to your mind.

2.      In quadrant B – Draw a tree bearing fruits as realistic as possible.

3.      In quadrant C – Draw a tree bearing fruits which is your own creation.

4.      In quadrant D – Draw a tree bearing fruits which is your imagination, nowhere to be found anywhere in the world.

•           The above sequence must be followed strictly so as to capture the contents of the unconscious.

•           The individual should not look at trees or pictures of trees while drawing as the drawing must come from memory.

•           Also the individual should not be told on how to draw the trees or what trees to draw. Explaining the meaning of the instructions is allowed.


( Note : The above instructions, in sequence, officially known as 'Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test (LSBT), in whatever language is under copyright protection )

What is drawn is not just an artistic expression of the person. It is actually a ‘text’ but in the form of a drawing. The drawing needs to be understood using hermeneutic semiotics as the methodology. What the person has drawn on the paper is actually the contents of his unconscious without he realizing it as in LSBT the ego interference and conscious factors have been bypassed. The drawing needs to be interpreted. This science belongs to the field of hermeneutic semiotics, a subset of the general field of hermeneutic science. The drawings are the surface structure and to understand the contents of the unconscious, we have to move to the deep structure as in the hermeneutic science that we have developed. By understanding the meaning of the drawing, which is the deep structure, we can understand the unconscious of the person. Once the unconscious is understood, it can be brought out to the consciousness of the person and therefore the person becomes aware of his unconscious. As what Carl Jung said, we need to bring out the unconscious to the conscious. Therefore, instead of waiting for dreams and Freudian slips to occur which we don’t have any control at all, LSBT provides a convenient and practical way to access the unconscious.

LSBT besides giving access to the unconscious goes much deeper. From our research, we find that LSBT gives a historical understanding of a person and also the future projection. Therefore, LSBT can be used as a tool to take a psychological history taking and at the same time the future psychological condition of the person. We find that Baum A is about the person’s past, Baum B is about the near past, Baum C is the current situation and Baum D is the future projection.

Below is a sample drawing of a person who did the test and the analysis using hermeneutic semiotics as the methodology:

Baum A ( The past )

-          Artistic, creative

-          Wanting to move away from their situation to better things.

-          Seeking to rise above the situation

-          Although well grounded and supported, there seems to be some sort of insecurity.

-          Feeling exposed with regards to their past.

-          Lots of thoughts with regards to hopes and dreams.

-          Feeling they are beyond reach.

Baum B ( immediate past )

-          A creative and artistic person consumed by confusing and conflicting thoughts.

-          Hopes, desires and dreams are marred by fear/ guilt/ depression and vulnerability.

-          May tend to portray themselves as more confident and better than the rest. Their salt is always saltier, so to speak.

-          Always seeking appreciation and attention. Lots of issues on self confidence.

-          May not reveal their true physical or emotional nature.

-          May tend to be stubborn and unwilling to listen to others opinion.

-          They feel they are always right but internally lots of confusing thoughts and emotions are going on.

Baum C ( present )

-          Their whole being is about seeking appreciation and love and it’s consuming them.

-          These may tend to manifest as anger or violent thoughts tpwards themselves and the world.

-          May not be able to control their anger.

-          Not open to the outer world.

-          Their consuming thoughts are beyond their capacity, overwhelming and suffering.

-          There seems to be a block in their capacity or capability to express love.

-          They are more dominated by fear than love.

-          Feeling darkness within.

-          Trying their level best to grasp for support.

Baum D ( future )

-          A very confused person who has put so much of mental limitations within themselves.

-          Consumed by fear, guilt, depression and confusion.

-          Directionless.

-          Everything is a cycle unto itself.

-          Completely cut off from their source of motivation and support.

-          Unable to have a core system to support them.

-          Their personality with regards to their emotional and physical nature seems to be in conflict.

-          Moving away from self.

From the above analysis, a wealth of information can be obtained with regards to the person’s mental makeup. From the history, which we have termed ‘the psychological history taking’ right to the future possibility.

What makes LSBT stand out from other projective tests is that besides knowing the history which explains the present predicament the person is, we also get a peep into the future of the person. This is where the strong point of LSBT stands. Intervention is possible when the history is known and by knowing the future. While nothing can be done about the past, remedial action can be undertaken now to avoid the current and the future if the current and future looks unsavoury.

Conclusion:

Through the unique instructions for each Baum, somehow the contents of the unconscious can be extracted. In addition, the future possibility can also be known by the fourth Baum. By knowing these contents, a better intervention can be planned. It is going to be a very useful tests in the coming years in solving a lot of human existential struggles, namely in the clinical, education, special needs children, human resource and many others. It must be noted that this ability or rather the technology to gain access to the unconscious of a human mind in a systematic way is the first in the whole history of mankind and we find it to be a novel discovery. There has never been a test which is capable to access the unconscious to the depth that LSBT goes. The roots of this discovery goes to the ancient Tamil psychology system, developed to great heights by the Tamils, the beginning of which can be found in the ancient Tamil text called Tolkaapiyam dated around 3 rd century BC.

Aptly, ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’ should be called the X – ray machine of the mind.

Note :  The above projective test, ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’, in short LSBT is protected under worldwide copyright. While its use for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited, anyone who wants to use it for research and academic purposes can do so with prior written permission from the copyright owners by emailing the corresponding author. Permission may be granted on a case by case basis.