Greg, I guess that I'm have always shot with the same/similar approach to Rod (BUT certainly not in his league). I, too, have been aware of the theory of sub conscious aiming and conscious shot execution but never really understood it well enough to do much with it. Over the last few months though, I have started playing with it mostly by accident. I do a LOT of instructing and am usually thinking and talking about each step of the shot to folks. So my conscious mind is always stepping through the shot sequence. I have found that while I'm doing that if I can keep my visual focus on the "spot", my arrow goes there.
So what I THINK I've discovered is that if I can point the bow hand at the target and keep a sharp visual focus on it, I am free to think through each step of the shot. Kind of like the feel you get when blind baling -- you can think about and feel each little part with out the mental distraction of "burning a hole". To me burning a hole or what ever implies that your conscious mind is thinking of nothing else.
It could also be that those that claim to be pure "instinctive shooters" have already made that transition. I certainly have more homework to do on this concept but it does seem to have merit.
I'm no psychologist (by a long shot) and would really like to get Jay Kidwell's take on this. I also am not trying to necessarily advocate for or against this -- just exploring.