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This was my second encounter with Dr. Grobstein’s story of the bipartite brain.  What struck me, on this occasion, was the possibility of the I-function influencing the tacit knowledge.  That by some mechanism, the unconscious can be communicated with, controlled, or even modified. 

I think I have been trying to modify my unconscious understanding with respect to my sport, horseback riding, for some time.  When I am approaching an obstacle or jump on my horse, I unconsciously ask her to move up, or increase her impulsion and lengthen her stride.  This is entirely unnecessary, she is perfectly capable of clearing 3’ obstacles from a slow, lopey pace.  Why do I do it then?  Because my older horse, does require those signals in order to correctly clear a jump.  Sending those specific signals to my horse has become a habit for me. 

However, with out my trainer, or photographs showing me, I am completely unaware of these movements on my part.  How do I fix an undesirable unconscious habit?   As I approach each jump, I attempt to think, consciously, about sitting still and supporting my horse in order to keep our pace steady.  Starting to see some success this way.  Therefore, I do think it is possible for the conscious to affect significant change in the unconscious.  However, in the absence of active conscious thinking, I still sometimes, relapse.