JOSEPH MURPHY: THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND:

EXPERIMENTS BY PSYCHOLOGISTS: Innumerable experiments by psychologists and others on persons in the hypnotic state have shown that the subconscious mind is incapable of making selections and comparison which are necessary for a reasoning process. They have shown repeatedly that your subconscious min will accept any suggestion, however false. Having once accepted any suggestion, it responds according to the nature of the suggestion given. (Durbin: Note that Murphy writes "having accepted the suggestion". The subject will not accept any statement that is against his/her moral or personal standards. Exceptions to this would be consider "brainwashing" and therefore not a normal use of hypnosis.)

To illustrate the amenability of your subconscious mind to suggestion, if a practiced hypnotist suggests to one of his subjects that he is Napoleon Bonaparte, or even a cat or a dog, he will act out the part with inimitable accuracy. His personality becomes changed for the time being. He believes himself to be what the operator tells him he is.

A skilled hypnotist may suggest to one of his students in the hypnotic state that his back itches, to another that is nose is bleeding, to another that he is a marble statue, to another that his is freezing and the temperature is below zero. Each one will follow out the line of his particular suggestion, totally oblivious to all his surrounds which do not pertain to his idea. (The reactions are true but it has been my experience that there is a part of the mind that knows that it can step out of the situation whenever he/she wants to. I do not do stage hypnosis, but have been a subject on a few occasions. I remember being told that the air conditioning system had gone out and it was very hot, I got hot then he said that the air conditioning system had been fixed but now was getting cold and colder and I got colder and colder. Toward the end of the program, he told me that I was a male striper and that I would start to strip when the music started. I was just about to say, "O no, I am not", but before I could speak, he said, "But you will strip symbolically". I then when through all the motions of stripping.)

These simple illustrations portray clearly the difference between your conscious reasoning mind and your subconscious mind which is impersonal, non-selective, and accepts as true whatever your conscious mind believes is true. Hence, the importance of selecting thoughts, ideas, and premises which bless, heal, inspire, and fill your soul with joy. (p 32)

Your subconscious mind cannot argue controversially. Hence, if you give it wrong suggestions, it will accept them as true and will proceed to bring them to pass as conditions, experiences, and events. All things that have happened to you are based on thoughts impressed on your subconscious mind through belief. (p 34) (Durbin: The subconscious can not tell the difference between imagination and reality. Whatever the subconscious accepts as true, it directs you to act as if it is true whiter it is or not.)

The dictionary says that a suggestion is the act or instance of putting something into one’s mind, and the mental process by which the thought or idea is entertained, accepted, or put into effect. You must remember that a suggestion cannot impose something on the subconscious mind against the will of the conscious mind. In other words, your conscious mind has the power to reject the suggestion given. A suggestion has no power in and of itself except it is accepted mentally by you. (p 35)

You must make certain to give your subconscious only suggestions which heal, bless, elevate, and inspire you in all your ways. Remember that your subconscious mind cannot take a joke. It takes your word. (p 36) How she restored her memory: A woman was in the habit of saying to herself, "I am losing my memory." She reversed the procedure and practiced induced autosuggestion several times a day as follows: "My memory from today on is improving in every department. I shall always remember whatever I need to know at every moment of time and point of space. The impressions received will be clear and definite. I shall retain them automatically and with ease. Whatever I wish to recall will immediately present itself in the correct form in my mind. I am improving rapidly every day, and very soon my memory will be better than it has ever been before." At the end of three weeks, her memory was back to normal, and she was delighted. (p 37)

The suggestions of others in themselves have absolutely no power whatsoever over you except the power that you give the though your own thoughts. You have to give your mental consent; you have to entertain the thought. Then, it becomes your thought and you do the thinking. Remember, you have to capacity to choose. Choose life! Chose love! Choose health! (p 40-41)

Think good and good follows. Think evil and evil follows. You are what you think all day long. (p 43)

The power of your subconscious mind is enormous. It inspires you, it guides you and it reveals you names, facts and scenes from the storehouse of your memory. Your subconscious starts you heartbeat, controls the circulation of your blood, regulates your digestion, assimilation and elimination. When you eat a piece of bread, your subconscious transmutes it into tissue, muscle, bone and blood. This process is beyond the ken of the wisest man who walks the earth. Your subconscious mind controls all the vital processes and functions of your body and knows the answer to all problems.

Your subconscious mind never sleeps, never rests. It is always on the job. You can discover the miracle working power of your subconscious by plainly stating to your subconscious prior to sleep that you wish a certain specific thing accomplished. You will be delighted to discover that your forces within you will be released, leading to the desired results. (p 45)

(While lecturing in India, Dr. Murphy states) I chatted with a visiting surgeon from Bombay. He told me about Dr. James Esdaille, a Scotch surgeon, who worked in Bengal before ether of other modern methods of anesthesia were discovered. Between 1843 and 1846, Dr. Esdaile performed about four hundred major operations of all kinds. Such as amputations, removal of tumors and cancerous growths, as well as operations on the eye, ear and throat. All operations were conducted under mental anesthesia only. This Indian doctor at Rishikesh informed me that postoperative mortality rate of patients operated on by Dr. Esdaile were extreme low, probably two or three percent. Patients felt no pain, and there were no death during the operations.

Dr. Esdaille suggested to the subconscious minds of all his patients, who were in the hypnotic state, that no infection or septic condition would develop. You may remember that this was before Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister and others who pointed out the bacterial origin of disease and causes of infection due to unsterilized installments and virulent organisms.

The Indian surgeon said that the reason for the low morality rate and the general absence of infection, which was reduced to a minimum, was undoubtably due to the suggestions of Dr. Esdaille to the subconscious minds of the patients. They responded according to the nature of the suggestion. (p 46) Just keep your conscious mind busy with the expectation of the best, and make sure the thoughts you habitually think are based on whatsoever things are lovely, true, just and of good report. Begin now to take care of your conscious mind, knowing in our heart and soul that your subconscious mind is always expressing, reproducing and manifesting according to your habitual thinking. (p 51)

"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray believed that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24. Note the difference in tenses. The inspired writer tells us to believe and accept as true the fact that our desire has already been accomplished and fulfilled, that it is already completed and that its realization will follow as a thing in the future. (p 56) The most wonderful thing to know is this: Imagine the end desired and feel its reality; then the infinite life principle will respond to your conscious choice and your conscious request. This is the meaning of "believe you have received, and you shall receive." (p 67) In prayer therapy you consciously choose a certain idea, mental picture or plan which you desire to experience. You realize your capacity to convey this idea or mental image to your subconscious by feeling the reality of the state assumed. As you remain faithful in your mental attitude, your prayer will be answered. Prayer therapy is a definite mental action for a definite specific purpose. (p 68)

You avoid all conflict between your desires and imagination by entering into a drowsy, sleepy state which brings all effort to a minimum. (Durbin: This the state of Self-Hypnosis) The conscious mind is submerged to a great extent when in the sleep state. The best time to impregnate your subconscious is prior to sleep. (Durbin: The time frame just before you go to sleep is a natural state of hypnosis) The reason for this is that the highest degree of outcropping of the subconscious occurs prior to sleep and just after you awake. In this state the negative thoughts and imagery which tend to neutralize your desire present acceptance by your subconscious mind no longer present themselves. When you imagine the reality of the fulfilled desire and feel the thrill of accomplishment, your subconscious brings about the realization of your desire. (p 102)

When your mind is relaxed and you accept an idea, your subconscious goes to execute the idea. Imagination is your most powerful faculty.(p 103) Imagine what is lovely and of good report. You are what you imagine yourself to be. You avoid conflict between your conscious and subconscious in the sleepy state. Imagine the fulfillment of your desire over and over agin prior to sleep. Sleep in peace and wake in joy. (p 104)

Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman philosopher and sage, "A man’s life what his thoughts make of it." (Ralph Waldo) Emerson, American’s philosopher, said, "A man is what he thinks all day long." The thoughts you habitually entertain in your mind have the tendency to actualize themselves in physical conditions. (p164)

The kingdom of happiness is in your thought and feeling. Too many people have the idea that it takes something artificial to produce happiness... The truth is that happiness is a mental and spiritual state. (p 164)

Your subconscious mind is a recording machine which reproduces your habitual thinking. Think good of the other, and you are actually thinking good of yourself. A hateful or resentful thought is a mental poison. Do not think ill of another for to do so is to think ill of yourself. You are the only thinker in your universe, and your thoughts are creative. (p 177)

The other person cannot annoy you or irritate you except you permit him. Your thought is creative: you can bless him. If someone calls you a skunk, you have the freedom to say to the other, "God’s peace full you soul." Love is the answer to getting along with others, love is understanding, good will, and respecting the divinity of the other. (p 179)

Forgiveness of others is essential to mental peace and radiant health. You must forgive everyone who has ever hurt you, if you want perfect health and happiness. Forgive yourself by getting your thoughts in harmony with divine law and order. You cannot forgive yourself completely until you have "forgiven others firs. To refuse to forgive yourself is nothing more or less than spiritual pride or ignorance.

In the psychosomatic field of medicine today, it is being constantly stressed that resentment, condemnation of others, remorse, and hostility are behind a host of maladies ranging from arthritis to cardiac disease. They point out that these sick people, who were hurt, mistreated, deceived, or injured, were full of resentment and hatred for those who hurt them. This caused inflamed and festering wounds in their subconscious minds. There is only one remedy. They have to cut out and discard their hurts, and the one and only sure way is by forgiving. (p 186)

Whatever mental picture, backed by faith, you behold in your conscious mind, your subconscious mind will bring to pass. (p 199)

It is said that fear is man’s greatest enemy. Fear is behind failure, sickness, and poor human relations. Millions of people are afraid of the past, the future, old age, insanity, and death. (p201) Fear is a negative thought in your mind. Supplant it with a constructive thought. Fear has killed millions. Confidence is greater than fear. Nothing is more powerful than faith in God and the good. (p 209) Love cast out fear. Love is an emotional attachment to the good things in life. Fall in love with honesty, integrity, justice, good will, and success. Live in the joyous expectancy of the best, and invariably the best will come to you. Normal fear is good. Abnormal fear is very bad and destructive. To constantly indulge in fear thoughts results in abnormal fear, obsessions, and complexes. To fear something persistently causes a sense of panic and terror. (p 210)