Editor's entry
~1 min readThe Power of Your Subconscious Mind is Joseph Murphy’s foundational New Thought text — a prayer-and-affirmation method for what he called the subconscious mind, framed as the mechanism by which belief becomes circumstance. Written by a Divine Science minister with engineering training, it is structured as principle-and-anecdote across fifteen chapters that move from the basic mechanics of the conscious/subconscious split through specific applications: healing, wealth, sleep, marriage, happiness. The instruction is practical: read or rehearse a chosen statement of fact before sleep, expect the subconscious to accept and act on it, then notice the alignment of outer events.
In continuous print since 1963 and one of the all-time best-selling self-help titles, the book is upstream of nearly every modern manifestation author. Murphy was minister of the Los Angeles Divine Science Church from 1949 and an active broadcaster; his prose carries the pulpit cadence of that decade. The book is widely dismissed by mainstream psychology, which points out that Murphy’s case studies are unsourced and that the term subconscious as he uses it bears little resemblance to its clinical meaning. Read as historical New Thought rather than as cognitive science, the technique is internally consistent and traceable to William James, Thomson Jay Hudson, and the Religious Science lineage Murphy was ordained into.
Themes & tags
7 totalRead / watch next
auto-computedLoading related entries…
First lines
opening of the bookThe miracle working powers of your subconscious mind existed before you and I were born, before any church or world existed. The great eternal truths and principles of life antedate all religions. It is with these thoughts in mind that I urge the reader of this book to lay hold of this wonderful, magical, transforming power, which will bind up mental and physical wounds, proclaim liberty to the fear-ridden mind, and liberate you completely from the limitations of poverty, failure, misery, lack, and frustration.
Contents
20 chapters- The Treasure House Within You
- How Your Own Mind Works
- The Miracle-Working Power of Your Subconscious
- Mental Healings in Ancient Times
- Mental Healings in Modern Times
- Practical Techniques in Mental Healings
- The Tendency of the Subconscious Is Lifeward
- How to Get the Results You Want
- How to Use the Power of Your Subconscious for Wealth
- Your Right to Be Rich
- Your Subconscious Mind as a Partner in Success
- How Scientists Use the Subconscious Mind
- Your Subconscious and the Wonders of Sleep
- Your Subconscious Mind and Marital Problems
- Your Subconscious Mind and Your Happiness
- Your Subconscious Mind and Harmonious Human Relations
- How to Use Your Subconscious Mind for Forgiveness
- How Your Subconscious Removes Mental Blocks
- How to Use Your Subconscious Mind to Remove Fear
- How to Stay Young in Spirit Forever
Reception
editor-collectedIn continuous print since 1963 — one of the all-time best-selling self-help titles, with estimated tens of millions of copies sold across editions. Foundational reading in Law of Attraction and prosperity-gospel circles; widely dismissed by mainstream psychology, which has pointed out that Murphy’s case studies are unsourced and that the word subconscious as he uses it bears little resemblance to the term in clinical use. Influence-wise, the book is upstream of nearly every modern manifestation author — Rhonda Byrne, Esther Hicks, Joe Dispenza and Bob Proctor all cite Murphy or his sources directly. Mitch Horowitz has called Murphy the most influential New Thought writer of the second half of the twentieth century, a claim contested chiefly on the basis that Murphy popularised rather than originated the material.
Index reception note
Frequently asked
3 questions- What is The Power of Your Subconscious Mind about?
- It is Joseph Murphy’s 1963 introduction to a New Thought technique for impressing chosen ideas on the subconscious — primarily through repeated, calm, pre-sleep statements of fact — with the claim that the subconscious then organises outer circumstance to match. Fifteen chapters apply the same method to healing, wealth, sleep, marriage and happiness.
- How does it relate to the Law of Attraction?
- It is one of the direct upstream sources. Modern Law of Attraction authors — Rhonda Byrne, Esther Hicks, Joe Dispenza, Bob Proctor — either cite Murphy or draw on the same Divine Science / Religious Science / Thomson Jay Hudson lineage that Murphy was ordained into. The vocabulary differs but the underlying mechanism is the same.
- How is the book regarded by mainstream psychology?
- It is widely dismissed. Murphy’s case studies are unsourced, his use of the word subconscious bears little resemblance to its clinical meaning, and his cause-and-effect claims for affirmations have not held up under controlled study. The book is best read as historical New Thought, not as cognitive science.
Catalogue record
- Author
- Joseph Murphy
- Title
- The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
- Publisher
- Prentice-Hall (1963); TarcherPerigee reissue
- Year
- 1 January 1963
- Pages
- 304
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9781585427680
- Shelf
- New Thought · Consciousness · Awakening
Availability
By the same author
no other entriesLoading other entries by Joseph Murphy…