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Dr. Joseph MurphyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Murphy says that to affirm is “to state that it is so” (68). An affirmation is the positive statement that a person makes in order to imprint a conscious thought on the subconscious. This affirmation can be thought or spoken aloud. For example, to overcome frustration and achieve a desire, a person might speak an affirmation that begins, “The infinite intelligence, which gave me this desire, leads, guides, and reveals to me the perfect plan for the unfolding of my desire. I know the deeper wisdom of my subconscious is now responding” (24).
Murphy defines autosuggestion as “suggesting something definite and specific to oneself” (18). Constructive autosuggestion is a reconditioning therapy that Murphy explains in his discussion of how to free oneself from addiction and phobias. It involves identifying negative thoughts and then replacing them with positive ones through mental images and spoken affirmations.
The conscious mind is the mind of which someone is aware. It can also be described as the subjective, waking, or voluntary mind. It reasons and makes choices and decisions. To achieve a specific goal, a thought must first be formed vividly in the conscious mind. Murphy compares the conscious mind to the captain of a ship, whose decrees are carried out by his crew. Similarly, the subconscious mind takes orders based on what the conscious mind believes to be true.
Murphy states that the mind has two distinctive characteristics—the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Each has its own attributes. He compares the mind’s duality to a garden, stating that the gardener plants seeds—thoughts—in the subconscious mind based on habitual thinking. If a person sows thoughts of “peace, happiness, right action, good will, and prosperity” (5), they will reap the benefits.
The law of belief holds that a person must believe in the way their mind works in order to tap its immense power. They must believe in something with their conscious mind before it can come to pass, and they must also believe in the power of their subconscious to “heal, inspire, strengthen” (11), and bring about prosperity.
The law of mind (also referred to in the text as “laws of mind” and “creative law of mind”) holds that the subconscious mind is open to suggestion and does not make distinctions between good and bad suggestions. Instead, the subconscious merely reacts to the impressions that the conscious mind gives it.
The law of reversed effort holds that when desires and the imagination are in conflict, the imagination wins. Murphy’s example is a person who could easily walk the length of a plank on the floor but would be afraid to walk the same plank if it were suspended high above the ground. He cites this law as the reason why trying to will a desired result into being is ineffective.
The law of substitution holds that a person’s imagination can lead to the development of a bad habit or a mental block. Likewise, the imagination can also lead a person to freedom and peace of mind. Suffering, like childbirth, is experienced for a constructive purpose. As an example, alcohol addiction can be cured by first acknowledging the problem and then affirming and giving thanks for the opposite of perpetual intoxication: sobriety.
Murphy defines the major premise as the assumption made by the conscious mind, which then determines the subconscious mind’s conclusions. As an example, a man who believes that everything he touches turns to failure must establish a new major premise: that the intelligence of his subconscious is guiding him toward prosperity.
Nature is one of the names that the author gives to the immense power of the subconscious mind. The instinct of self-preservation is nature’s first law, and the forces of nature are never evil.
Scientific prayer, also called prayer therapy, is the interaction of the conscious and subconscious minds when both are directed toward a particular purpose. Murphy offers techniques for scientific prayer, which include choosing a particular idea, mental picture, or plan; impressing it upon the subconscious by feeling as if the goal is already real; and remaining faithful to the goal. Faith healing or “blind faith” works through scientific prayer, moving the patient from a position of fear and worry to one of faith and expectancy.
The subconscious mind governs bodily processes that we need not actively execute, such as breathing and blood circulation. It also carries out the work of our conscious thoughts, whether they are helpful or destructive—just as a person under hypnosis will execute commands regardless of their actual circumstances. Murphy attributes the power of the subconscious mind to bring about change to the idea that it is part of the universal mind of God.