First published in 1963 'The Power of Your Subconscious Mind' (Bantam, Rs. 237.50) has sold over a million copies and certainly is one of the all time great self-help books. Written in a fashion that belongs to an entirely different era, with frequent quotes from the bible, the author however conveys emphatically even to readers of this century, the impact that our subconscious mind has over our quality of life. How our omniscient, healing and constantly working subconscious mind can be used for our benefit is explained in the book with several examples. It must have been tough for the author to convince people in the early sixties when perhaps rationalism and science were ruling and ideas such as faith and subconscious power might have been ridiculed and rejected even. But Dr. Murphy gives scientific examples to support his theory and well, the result is there for all to see.
These days we have many people giving us the same knowledge (using different words for the subconscious mind) and the world is far more receptive to the power of faith and belief than it ever was. 'The Secret', 'You Can Heal Your Life', and similar books and philosophies revolve around this empowering philosophy of impressing the subconscious to create what you want. In fact, in modern day medicine, sports and many other areas they appear to be using this subconscious mind to good effect. From hypnotherapy which is used to heal, to the sports arenas, there are several techniques of auto suggestion that enables our subconscious to believe a reality that we can create. Dr. Murphy says that whatever we call it, we finally appeal to the subconscious mind to help us as it is the master of all we create.
What the subconscious believes, it will create for you. It knows all the answers, it builds and heals and it can access the immense wisdom of all humanity. It is the one that wakes you up in danger, that gives you that timely jerk, that creates all the opportunities of grace. But it will, like the genie, believe what you tell it - if you constantly keep thinking and feeling in a particular way - the subconscious accepts it and creates that reality for you. The author emphasizes that even jokes if they use negative words, can create that reality - the subconscious does not judge - it only accesses the words you say. (Much like a search engine actually - use the key words many times and it shows up at the top of the results! There is no distinction whether it is positive or negative.)
Thankfully the subconscious is not evil and it appears mainly to help you and protect you. So if we can help it do its job better by choosing the right kind of thoughts and making the right beliefs, we are in a good space! We are born to choose a life of abundance and richness and health normally and we can access it if we want to. To create good stuff (What? For me?) it is best to keep the conscious mind busy - expecting the best (and not the worst) - and the subconscious mind responds. To keep thinking of happy endings and the thrill of receiving the happy endings is most likely to keep you in such spaces.
The author makes the distinction between the conscious mind and the subconscious - the conscious being rational and bound by logic while the subconscious contains deep rooted beliefs that govern our life. Despite all that the conscious mind says (I want to be rich) if the subconscious mind has a conflicting belief (Honest people cannot be rich), you would finally create a reality that is guided by the subconscious despite all the hard work you do. So it makes immense sense to constantly be in touch with the subconscious mind and tell it or influence it (it does not have any time and space limitations) and create what we want much more easily.
What it means is that the treasure is within and we all can access this (yes, everyone has a subconscious mind that can be easily influenced). The key question is how does the subconscious get influenced? It gets influenced by what we 'think'. Our words and thoughts, our visuals and ideas, if trained to focus on what we want, would make the subconscious accept that reality. The good thing about the subconscious is that it does not question - it only wants you to believe - and show that belief rather firmly!
In many places this technique is called self-talk or affirmations or prayers and other names like that but it does seem to be the route, the secret to our good. To the subconscious then, we must suggest firmly, at a time when it is most receptive. The subconscious is most receptive when the conscious mind is out of the way - or rather - in a drowsy, sleep like state. The author suggests that the time before going to sleep and upon waking is the best time to plant the ideas and words - a time when the subconscious is awake and the conscious is asleep or not fully awake. It can also be done when you get yourself into a sleep induced state (as in hypnotherapy) for best results. One should feel thought and feeling to create subconscious belief.
The paradox is this - we put too much effort and get all worked up making it difficult to access the subconscious mind. It is best the author says, to be relaxed, and then it accepts the idea. There is no conflict between the gatekeeper or the conscious mind and the subconscious mind then. Ideally, a deliberate effort is best.
Once we start creating the thoughts we want, Dr. Murphy says we must banish all other thoughts, acts and suggestions that seem logically doomed (I'll never be rich!). One other thing not to do is to be stuck in negative thoughts and attitudes that can completely ruin all the good work. Keep out thoughts of fear, jealousy, guilt and such and replace them with 'creative' thoughts and words as they arise.
From money to marriages, health to old age, 'The Power of the Subconscious Mind' offers simple methods and examples to follow and create our own reality. What we are able to visualise and what we desire badly are the two keys to achieving what we want. The author talks of being in our mental studio and creating the mental movies we want. Desire is the key. To create wealth and heath the easy way, build ideas of health and wealth prior to sleep. Make those the dominant ideas. Don't deny what you affirm. Think of wealth as a tide - it rises and ebbs - but it will always come back. To use words of love and respect to wealth and to also respect and love those who have wealth is a way of appreciating it. (Watch those words!) Of course there needs to be some work going in the direction too!
I liked Dr. Murphy's take on success when he says that one should do what one loves to do to create successful living. What one can express oneself best with is what one needs to find first and then one can serve humanity. The greatest writers and thinkers and scientists have always accessed the power of the subconscious mind to create some of their best works. Since the subconscious mind never sleeps (like our BPOs) and is always working - you tell it and it does the job by morning. On happiness he says that as with anything else it is a habit and we can choose to cultivate that. It is important not to get stuck in good or bad and to live life simply and with the best and noble intentions. In countering fears the author says hat all solutions lie within the problem. Do what you're afraid to do. When fear thoughts come, use some counter thoughts that give opposite outcomes. He ends with talking of how to be young in spirit. That the years between 65 and 95 could be the most productive. That as you create so you are.
An expert told me recently that the subconscious mind is considered about 8000 times more powerful than the conscious mind. I don't know how they arrived at that figure but it does seem to be a good idea to side with the subconscious and treat it well. All it takes is 'thoughts', 'visuals', 'words' and 'feelings of having received the outcome'. Pretty simple huh. It might be a good idea to experiment with small things, as Dr. Murphy says, to find out for yourself whether the subconscious mind is working for you. if it shows good and positive results, you can ask for more. In fact they say, the subconscious can give you anything at anytime - it has no concept of space and time!
This book is a life skill book I'd say and one that would interest those who deal with the subconscious mind and would like to know a bit more. Somewhere I felt that I needed more sharper techniques to deal with the subconscious mind but perhaps I am complicating things. Maybe one should simply use the techniques of using key words (Dr. Murphy suggest using the key words 'wealth' and 'success' for about five minutes before you sleep and upon waking up in one exercise regarding wealth and success) and look out for the results. It is written in an old fashioned manner and it may take many days to complete it, but if one can read it for the content and gain from it, this is one for the collection because there is a lot of wisdom in it. Now to start working on the subconscious mind!