Existing in the mind but not immediately available to consciousness <a subconscious motive>.
The unconscious is defined as:
1 a : not knowing or perceiving : not aware b : free from self-awareness
2 a : not possessing mind or consciousness <unconscious matter> b (1) : not marked by conscious thought, sensation, or feeling <unconscious motivation> (2) : of or relating to the unconscious c : having lost consciousness <was unconscious for three days>
3 : not consciously held or deliberately planned or carried out <an unconscious bias>.
The unconscious is the ego under definition 1b. This is so if one values consciousness as the ultimate object of consciousness. The true self is consciousness, whereas the ego is the blind selfishness of the lower self, the sensate life. These unconscious beings are those beings led by their senses and subconscious. The subconscious is a tangled mass, the resultant mess of causation and evolution. The true self, consciousness, is not to be found amongst the subconscious. It is the magic water purifying gem, when dropped in the murky muck of the subconscious, BAM! clarity.
From Chuang Tzu by way of David Quinn http://members.optushome.com.au/davidqu ... %20Tzu.htm:
These conditions cannot be avoided. Causation cannot be denied, the inevitable moves mercilessly, relentlessly onwards. Death, loss and the like- alike the sensual and conventionally pleasurable are inevitable. Along a large enough timeline, misfortune is imminent. Your end is here, mother is dead, lover is in a putrid state. But the serenity of mind, the joy of knowing the higher self, knowing consciousness, is always behind the door. I have not moved on to this last state. I write out of faith, out of logic. Experience has led me so far as the heavy falling in the deeps of my stomach. This experience allows me to see the ego and ignorance around me in such utter clarity. I liken it to the sun on a winter’s day. Everything is so brightly delineated, as my skin becomes frostbitten. The corner I fail to see around is just what Chuang Tzu pointed out. The beat of life goes on, ever on, impossibly and unstoppably on. And on. We’ve all been there before. This is the beginning, this is immortality, the magic pill of bitter texture. Only so much is there to be understood, the rest is only tolerated.Life, death, preservation, loss, failure, success, poverty, riches, worthiness, unworthiness, slander, fame, hunger, thirst, cold, heat these are the alternations of the world, the workings of fate. Day and night they change place before us and wisdom cannot spy out their source. Therefore, they should not be enough to destroy your harmony. If you can harmonize and delight in them, master them and never be at a loss for joy, if you can do this day and night without break and make it be spring with everything, mingling with all and creating the moment within your own mind this is what I call being whole in power.