The Power of Your sunconscious mind

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{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.21.2509;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\cf1\lang9\i\f0\fs36\ldblquote\fs22 The result of the affirmative process of prayer depends on your conforming\par
to the principles of life, regardless of appearances. Consider for\par
a moment that there is a principle of mathematics and none of error;\par
there is a principle of truth but none of dishonesty. There is a principle\par
of intelligence but none of ignorance; there is a principle of harmony\par
and none of discord. There is a principle of health but none of disease,\par
and there is a principle of abundance but none of poverty.\fs36\rdblquote\par
\ldblquote\fs22 Whatever is impressed in your subconscious mind is expressed on the\par
screen of space. This same truth was proclaimed by Moses, Isaiah,\par
Jesus, Buddha, Zoroaster, Laotze, and all the illumined seers of the\par
ages. Whatever you feel as true subjectively is expressed as conditions,\par
experiences, and events. As in heaven [your own mind], so on earth [in\par
your body and environment]. This is the great law of life.\fs36\rdblquote\par
\ldblquote\fs22 The law of your mind is the law of belief. This means to believe in the\par
\pard\sa200\sl276\slmult1 way your mind works, to believe in belief itself.\fs36\rdblquote\par
\par
\pard\i0\f1\fs105 D\f2\fs22 r. Joseph Murphy spent a good part of his life studying eastern\par
religions and was a scholar of the \i\f3 I-Ching\i0\f2 , the Chinese book of\par
divination whose origins are lost in history. He was also, for 28\par
years, Minister at the Los Angeles branch of the Church of Divine\par
Science, a New Thought church that promotes a practical spirituality,\par
free of the usual religious creed and dogma.\par
It is a long way from the ancient East to LA, but Murphy felt that\par
there were secrets he had found concerning the subconscious that were\par
beyond time and culture, and that should find a wider audience.\par
\f4\fs26 How the subconscious works and what it can do\par
\f2\fs22 Murphy saw the subconscious mind as a darkroom within which we\par
develop the images that are to be lived out in real life. While the conscious\par
mind sees an event, takes a picture of it, and remembers it, the\par
subconscious mind works backwards, \ldblquote seeing\rdblquote something before it\par
happens (this is why intuition is infallible).\par
The subconscious responds to habit and habitual thinking. Being\par
totally neutral in a moral sense, it is happy to adopt any habit as \ldblquote normal\rdblquote\emdash\par
good or bad. We blithely let negative thoughts drop into the\par
subconscious every minute of our lives, then are surprised when they\par
find expression in day-to-day experiences and relationships. While there\par
are some things that will happen to us that we had no role in creating,\par
in fact these are rare. Mostly the bad that happens is in us already,\par
waiting for the light of day.\par
This is the harsh reality, but knowledge of the subconscious also\par
delivers us a breakthrough: It means that we can remake ourselves\par
anew simply by controlling the thoughts and images with which we\par
feed it. This makes Murphy\rquote s book, with its instructions and affirmations\par
that will have the greatest effect on the subconscious, a tool of\par
liberation. Understanding your subconscious mind as a photographic mechanism removes the emotion and struggle from changing your life,\par
because if it is simply a matter of replacing existing mental images with\par
new ones, you begin to see the ease with which you may change.\par
\f4\fs26 Relaxed faith = Results\par
\f2\fs22 The subconscious is an entirely different kettle of fish to the conscious\par
mind. It cannot be coerced, responding best to relaxed faith that it will\par
do its transforming work with ease. Trying hard, which may work for\par
a task given to the conscious mind, is a cause of failure with its subterranean\par
other half. It suggests to your subconscious that there is a lot of\par
opposition to what you want done.\par
Along with relaxed faith, the ease with which the subconscious\par
accomplishes things increases with emotion. An idea or a thought alone\par
may excite the rational, conscious mind, but the subconscious likes\par
things to be \ldblquote emotionalized.\rdblquote When a thought becomes a feeling, and\par
imagination becomes desire, it will deliver what you want with speed\par
and abundance.\par
Yet Murphy said that it is less important to know how your subconscious\par
works than to develop the faith that it can. William James, the\par
father of American psychology, believed that the greatest discovery of\par
the nineteenth century was the power of the subconscious mind added\par
to faith. The idea that you can change your life by changing the landscape\par
of your mind may not have appeared in history books alongside\par
the discovery of new continents or electricity or steam, but all the great\par
minds have known it.\par
\f4\fs26 Believing it to be so\par
\f2\fs22\ldblquote The law of your mind is the law of belief itself,\rdblquote Murphy noted. What\par
we believe makes us who we are. William James observed that whatever\par
people expect to be true will be so, irrespective of whether the object of\par
their belief exists. In the West we have made \ldblquote the truth\rdblquote our highest\par
value; this motivation, while important, is weak next to the actual\par
power of belief in shaping our lives. Whatever you give your subconscious\emdash\par
false or true, good or evil\emdash it will register as fact. Be careful not\par
to joke about misfortune, as the subconscious has no sense of humor.\par
A mentally disturbed person and a healthy person share the same\par
power of belief; the sane differ from the insane only in that they retain objectivity about their beliefs. When a man in a hospital says he is Elvis\par
Presley, he is not \ldblquote making it up,\rdblquote he knows he is Elvis. We must use\par
this same power for constructive ends, not wishing but knowing that\par
we are a perfect spouse or a business genius. The trick is to choose to\par
know something that seems almost mad but not quite\emdash something that\par
seemed impossible to us a year ago, yet at the same time would be an\par
enactment of our heart\rquote s desire.\par
\f4\fs26 Health and prosperity\par
\f2\fs22 In the rituals of ancient times, with their weird mixtures and incantations,\par
it was the power of suggestion and acceptance in the subconscious\par
mind that healed. Even today, doctors report the power of\par
placebos to produce miraculous recoveries if they are accompanied by\par
doubt-free instructions that \ldblquote this will do the trick.\rdblquote Miracles of healing,\par
Murphy said, are simply the body obeying the subconscious mind\rquote s\par
knowledge of \ldblquote perfect health\rdblquote when the questioning nature of the normal\par
conscious mind is silenced.\par
The other aspect of mental healing is the premise that our individual\par
minds are part of a larger human mind (as Emerson believed), which\par
itself is linked to \ldblquote infinite intelligence.\rdblquote This is why it is not crazy,\par
Murphy claimed, to believe that you can heal people who are not even\par
physically near to you, by visualizing all the health, energy, and love in\par
the universe applied to that person, the life force pulsing through every\par
cell of their body, cleaning and invigorating as it goes.\par
As there is a principle of health and harmony in the universe, so\par
there is a principle of abundance. \ldblquote The trouble with most people is that\par
they have no invisible means of support,\rdblquote commented Murphy. Others,\par
aware of the law of abundance, will not be thrown into a nervous\par
breakdown if their bank account goes into the red or their business is\par
lost. They will understand it as a message to get re-attuned and reacquainted\par
with the fact of a prosperous universe.\par
The \ldblquote feeling of wealth,\rdblquote Murphy said, produces wealth in reality.\par
The subconscious mind understands and follows the idea of compound\par
interest. That is, little thought deposits made regularly over time compound\par
to produce a large principal of mental abundance. He showed\par
the reader exactly how to send the right signals to their subconscious to\par
make sure that these abundant images manifest themselves in the real\par
world.\f4\fs26 Why prayers are usually in vain\par
\f2\fs22 Our universe is one of law and order, Murphy wrote, therefore there\par
should be nothing \ldblquote mystical\rdblquote about getting answers to our prayers. It\par
is a process no more mysterious than the erection of a building. One\par
who knows the workings of the subconscious mind will learn how to\par
pray \ldblquote scientifically.\rdblquote\par
What does this mean? Prayers traditionally consist of earnest utterances\par
to God followed by \ldblquote hoping for the best.\rdblquote Logically, however,\par
such prayers will carry little weight or power because they are framed\par
in doubt. It is the great irony of conventional prayer (the pleading,\par
wishing, hoping variety) that it involves no faith. Real faith is simple:\par
the knowledge that something \i\f3 is \i0\f2 happening, \i\f3 is \i0\f2 being provided, present\par
tense. When prayers become occasions to give thanks for the fact of\par
assistance (even if it has yet to materialize), they cease to be a mystical\par
ritual that we hope God will notice, and become a co-creating process\par
with definite ends.\par
\f4\fs26 Final comments\par
\i\f3\fs22 The Power of Your Subconscious Mind \i0\f2 is simply written and tries to be\par
free of culture or religion. It is slightly repetitive, but this in itself mirrors\par
the book\rquote s idea of subconscious programming. The first half is the\par
best, as it explains how the subconscious works. The second half deals\par
with its role and power to transform in areas like marriage, human\par
relations, scientific discovery, sleep, fear, forgiveness, and \ldblquote eternal\par
youth.\rdblquote For full effect, the author\rquote s advice that it be read at least twice\par
should be taken.\par
To some the book will be somewhat \ldblquote way out,\rdblquote but many people\par
say that their life was not the same after reading it. The subconscious is\par
a powerful thing, and what you get from Murphy is the realization that\par
if you refuse to try to understand the non-rational mind, your rational\par
\pard\sa200\sl276\slmult1 desires and plans will be forever sabotaged.\cf0\f5\par
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