Figure 2: Flow of Attention through the Mind: This diagram shows how as the conscious fluctuates, its characteristics are modified by the cognitive machinery inherent in these levels. Each of levels of the mind has some influence on the flow of information. Perception comes in through the senses, and then traverses all the levels of the mind until it reaches the storehouse of impressions that lies at the deepest levels of mental functioning. The interaction of current perceptions with past impressions initiates a thought. Thoughts are carried outward by the stream of attention. As attention proceeds outward it is modified by the different levels of the mind. For example, affective components color the thought as it passes through the level of feeling, and cognitive set and expectations influence thought are gained at the level of the intellect. The mind is the dynamic screen on which all the thoughts are projected, and the level of desires is described in Maharishišs Vedic Psychology as a dynamic structure that keeps the connection between the mind and senses lively. Desires are the motivation that conducts expressed thought and activity. The most outward of these levels is the level of the senses. These are the actual physical senses in our body: vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch.

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