The Miracles of Your Mind

Man has only one mind, but he has two distinct phases or functions of the one mind. Each phase is characterized by its own phenomena, which is peculiar to itself. Each of these minds is capable of independent action as well as synchronous action. We call one the objective mind because it deals with external things, and the other is the subjective mind. The subjective mind is amenable and controlled by suggestion of the objective or conscious mind. The objective mind takes cognizance of the objective world.

In this work Dr. Joseph Murphy expands on his theory that the latent powers inherent in our subconscious can improve our lives. Dr. Murphy provides specific steps to nourish your conscious mind with the tools and attitudes that will open up the infinite power of your subconscious mind. Whether you wish to conquer a bad habit, be more successful, obtain harmony in your family, or achieve goals that have thus far been unattainable, you will be given guidelines to put you on the right path.

Born in 1898 in County Cork, Ireland, Joseph Murphy was raised in a devout Catholic family and initially studied for the priesthood within the Jesuit order. However, his expanding intellectual curiosity soon led him to question traditional orthodox teachings. In his early twenties, he made the pivotal decision to leave the seminary and emigrate to the United States, arriving in New York City with very little money. There, he worked as a pharmacist while continuing his intense spiritual and philosophical explorations.

In America, Murphy became deeply immersed in the New Thought movement, studying under prominent spiritual teachers like Ernest Holmes and Emmet Fox. His unyielding quest for spiritual understanding also took him to India, where he spent significant time studying Eastern religions and Hindu philosophy. This diverse theological education allowed him to uniquely synthesize Eastern spiritual traditions with Western psychological concepts, forming the bedrock of his later teachings on the power of the human mind.

Upon returning to the United States, Murphy relocated to Los Angeles and became an ordained minister of the Church of Divine Science. Over the next several decades, he built one of the largest New Thought congregations in the country. His dynamic weekly Sunday lectures attracted thousands of attendees, and his popular radio broadcasts reached millions globally, establishing him as a premier voice in the mid-twentieth century self-help and human potential movements.

Murphy's enduring legacy was firmly cemented in 1963 with the publication of his masterpiece, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. The book elegantly combined spiritual wisdom with practical psychological techniques, arguing that individuals can dramatically alter their reality, health, and success by reprogramming their subconscious beliefs. It quickly became a massive international bestseller and remains a foundational text in modern personal development literature, continuing to inspire countless readers long after Murphy's death in 1981.

Joseph Murphy’s The Miracles of Your Mind is a practical and deeply optimistic book about the hidden power of the human mind. Murphy’s central idea is that every person possesses a conscious mind and a subconscious mind, and that the subconscious is far more powerful than most people realize. According to him, our thoughts, beliefs, expectations, fears, and repeated mental images gradually become accepted by the subconscious and can influence the way we experience life. The book therefore encourages readers to become more careful about what they think, believe, and repeatedly tell themselves. Its seven chapters apply this basic principle to health, harmful habits, wealth, relationships, guidance, and fear.

Murphy begins by explaining how the two aspects of the mind work together. The conscious or objective mind deals with the world around us. It observes, reasons, judges, makes choices, and decides what we accept as true. The subconscious or subjective mind, on the other hand, does not reason in the same way. It accepts suggestions and acts upon the ideas impressed upon it. Murphy compares the conscious mind to a person who plants seeds and the subconscious mind to fertile soil. Whatever is repeatedly planted—whether confidence or fear, hope or despair—can take root. This makes the quality of our habitual thinking extremely important.

One of the book’s most important lessons is that the subconscious does not necessarily distinguish between a helpful belief and a destructive one. If a person continually thinks, “I am going to fail,” “Something bad will happen,” or “I am not good enough,” such thoughts can become deeply established patterns. Conversely, thoughts of confidence, peace, health, and possibility can gradually create more constructive mental habits. Murphy therefore places great importance on repetition, imagination, affirmation, prayer, and the emotional acceptance of desired outcomes. He believes these practices can impress new ideas upon the subconscious, particularly when the conscious mind is relaxed and less resistant.

The discussion of health is one of the longest and most significant sections of the book. Murphy presents the subconscious as closely connected with the body and argues that mental states can influence physical experience. He points to examples of suggestion and belief to illustrate how powerful the mind can be over bodily sensations and responses. For Murphy, faith is a central principle behind healing, and he observes that different cultures and religious traditions have reported remarkable recoveries through different forms of prayer, ritual, and belief. He interprets these apparently different approaches as expressions of a common mental principle.

Murphy encourages readers to replace fearful and destructive mental suggestions with calm, positive ones. Rather than constantly imagining illness, pain, or failure, he recommends dwelling upon health, harmony, strength, and well-being. His emphasis is not simply on repeating words mechanically. The deeper purpose is to create an inner conviction that gradually becomes natural to the mind. At the same time, his ideas should be understood as spiritual and self-help teachings rather than as a substitute for professional medical treatment.

The chapter on alcoholism applies the same principle to destructive habits. Murphy argues that habits become powerful when they are repeatedly reinforced by thought and emotion. A person may consciously want to stop a harmful behavior while subconsciously continuing to identify with it. The solution, in his view, is to stop treating the unwanted condition as an unavoidable part of one's identity and instead impress the subconscious with healthier ideas. He stresses persistence because deeply rooted habits rarely disappear simply because a person makes one decision. The mind must be given a new pattern to follow.

Murphy then turns to wealth and prosperity. Here, his message is broader than simply “think about money.” He argues that people can develop subconscious attitudes of scarcity, failure, and unworthiness that prevent them from recognizing opportunities or acting confidently. Someone who constantly believes that money is difficult to obtain may unconsciously reinforce behaviors consistent with that belief. Murphy encourages readers to cultivate a sense of abundance, confidence, usefulness, and deservingness. In his philosophy, prosperity begins internally, with the conviction that life can provide opportunities and that one is capable of using them wisely.

The chapter on marital problems brings the same ideas into personal relationships. Murphy emphasizes that resentment, jealousy, anger, suspicion, and repeated negative assumptions can gradually damage a relationship. People often carry private mental conversations about their partners, imagining arguments or assigning motives to them. Such inner habits can influence outward behavior. Murphy recommends replacing hostility with goodwill and learning to imagine the other person in a more constructive way. His larger point is that peace in relationships begins partly with peace in one’s own mind. Changing one’s habitual mental response can alter the emotional atmosphere in which a relationship exists.

The book next explores the subconscious as a source of guidance. Murphy suggests that when the conscious mind becomes quiet, the deeper mind can sometimes provide insights that are difficult to reach through ordinary deliberate reasoning. He recommends prayer, contemplation, visualization, and periods of quiet reflection. Instead of obsessively forcing an answer, the reader is encouraged to state the problem clearly and then allow the mind to work on it. This is especially useful when a person feels confused or overwhelmed. The idea is that wisdom does not always arrive through struggle; sometimes it appears after the mind has been given space to become still.

Finally, Murphy addresses fear, one of the greatest obstacles to a peaceful and successful life. Fear can make a person imagine failure before anything has happened, exaggerate dangers, and avoid opportunities. Murphy does not suggest that people should simply pretend that danger does not exist. Rather, he encourages them to stop feeding fear through constant mental repetition. A fearful thought can be replaced by one of courage, protection, faith, and confidence. Through repeated practice, the mind can learn to respond differently.

Overall, The Miracles of Your Mind presents a simple but powerful philosophy: the mind is not merely a passive observer of life but an active influence on how we experience it. Murphy asks readers to become aware of their habitual thoughts and to take responsibility for the mental patterns they continually nourish. His approach combines psychology, spirituality, prayer, affirmation, visualization, and the New Thought belief that inner conviction can profoundly affect outer life.

The enduring appeal of the book lies in its hopeful message. Murphy does not portray personal change as something reserved for exceptionally talented or fortunate people. He presents the subconscious as a power available to everyone. His essential lesson is that transformation begins quietly, inside the mind: choose better thoughts, repeat them with conviction, cultivate faith instead of fear, and allow constructive ideas to become part of your deepest mental habits. Whether or not one accepts all of Murphy’s claims literally, the book offers a valuable reminder that our inner dialogue matters. What we repeatedly expect, imagine, and believe can shape our attitudes, choices, relationships, and responses to life. In that sense, the “miracles” of the mind begin with something very ordinary—the thoughts we choose to nurture every day.

Chapter 1 : How Your Own Mind Works

Man has only one mind, but he has two distinct phases or functions of the one mind. Each phase is characterized by its own phenomena which is peculiar to itself. Each of these minds is capable of independent action, as well as synchronous action. We call one the objective mind, because it deals with external things, and the other is the subjective mind. The subjective mind is amenable, and controlled by suggestion of the objective or conscious mind. The objective mind takes cognizance of the objective world. The media of observation are the five physical senses. The objective mind is your guide in your contact with the environment. We gain knowledge through the five senses. The objective mind learns through observation, experience, and education. The greatest function of the conscious mind is that of reasoning.

Look around Los Angeles; you come to the conclusion that it is a beautiful city based upon your observation of the parks, the buildings, the beautiful structure, the lovely flower gardens, etc. This is the working of your conscious or objective mind.

The word objective means that it deals with objective things. The subjective mind takes cognizance of its environment by means independent of the five physical senses. The subjective mind or the subconscious mind—either term may be used—perceives by intuition. The subconscious mind is the seat of your emotions. We know without a doubt that it performs its highest functions when the objective senses are in abeyance.

It is the intelligence that makes itself manifest when the conscious mind is suspended or in a sleepy, drowsy state. The subconscious mind sees without the use of the eyes; it has the capacity of clairvoyance and clairaudience. The subconscious mind can leave the body; travel to distant lands, and bring back intelligence oftentimes of the most exact and truthful character. Through the subconscious mind you can read the thoughts of others, even to the minutest details; read the contents of sealed envelopes and closed safes.

The subconscious mind has the ability to apprehend the thoughts of others without the use of the ordinary, objective means of communication. So it is of the greatest importance that we understand the interaction of the conscious and subconscious mind, in order to learn the true art of prayer.

Now there are many terms used in describing the objective and the subjective mind. They are, as we told you, called: The conscious or subconscious mind, the waking or sleeping mind, the surface self or the deep self, voluntary mind or involuntary mind, the male and the female, and many other terms. Remember there is only one mind having two phases or functions.

The subjective mind is always amenable to suggestion; it is controlled by suggestion. We must recognize that the subconscious mind accepts all suggestions; it does not argue with you, but it fulfills your wishes. All things that have happened to you are based on thoughts impressed on the subconscious mind through belief. The subconscious mind will accept your beliefs and your convictions.

It is like the soil; it will accept any seed that you deposit in it, whether it is good or bad. Remember: Anything that you accept as true and believe in will be accepted by your subconscious mind, and brought into your life as a condition, experience, or event. Ideas are conveyed to the subconscious mind through feeling.

We will use an illustration: The conscious mind is like the navigator or man at the bridge of a ship. He directs the ship, and signals orders to the men in the engine-room which consists of all of the boilers, instruments, gages, etc. The men in the engine-room do not know where they are going; they follow orders. They would go on the rocks if the man on the bridge issued faulty or wrong instructions, based on his findings with the compass, sextant, or other instruments. The men in the engine-room obey him, because he is the director. They do not talk back to the captain; they simply carry out orders.

The captain is the master of the ship; his orders are followed out; likewise, your conscious mind is the captain, the master of your ship. Your body and all of your affairs represent the ship. Your subconscious mind takes the orders you give it based upon your belief and suggestions accepted as true.

Another simple illustration is this: When you repeatedly say to people, “I do not like mushrooms,” then the time comes for you to be served mushrooms, you get indigestion, because your subconscious mind says to you, “The boss does not like mushrooms.” This is an example probably amusing to you; nevertheless, this is an example of the relationship between the conscious and subconscious mind.

When a woman says, “I wake up at three o’clock if I drink coffee at night”; whenever she drinks it, the subconscious mind nudges her, as if to say, “The boss wants you to stay awake tonight.”

The heart is called the subconscious mind in ancient allegories. The Egyptians knew that the heart was the subconscious mind, but they did not call it by that name. The Chaldeans and the Babylonians called it by different names. You can impress your subconscious mind, and your subconscious mind will express what is impressed upon it. Any idea that is emotionalized or felt as true will be accepted by your subconscious mind.

If you want a healing, for example, get silent, relax, breathe easily, immobilize your attention, think of the healing power within your subconscious mind; affirm that the organ of your body is healing now. As you do that, there must be no resentment or bitterness in your heart; you must forgive everyone. You can repeat this healing process three or four times daily. Remember that your subconscious mind made the body, and can heal it also. People are constantly affirming the healing of an organ or a part of their body; then ten or fifteen minutes afterwards, they say, “Oh, I am getting worse; I’ll never be healed. I am incurable.” This mental attitude or these negative statements neutralize the previous, positive affirmation.

If a surgeon operated on you, cut out your appendix, and in the next few minutes ran back and opened you up again to see how you were getting along; then a half hour later ran back and opened you up again, he would probably kill you by poisoning. You kill or prevent your healing by using negative statements.

There is a subconscious mind within you; you should learn how to use it in the same manner as a man learns to use electricity. Man controls electricity with wires, tubes, and bulbs, plus his knowledge of the laws of conductivity and insulation, etc. We must learn about the tremendous power and the intelligence within us, and use it wisely.

Many men are beginning to realize the true importance of the subconscious mind. In business many men are using it to achieve success and promotion. Edison, Ford, Marconi, Einstein, and many others have used the subconscious mind; it has given to them the insight and the “know how” for all of their great achievements in science, industry, and art. Research has shown that the ability to bring into action the subconscious powers has determined the success of all of the great scientific and research workers. There is a tremendous dynamo within you, and you can use it. You can also be completely released from tension and frustration. You can discover the abundant energy within you enabling you to energize and vitalize all parts of your body.

We are told, for example, that Elbert Hubbard declared that his most important ideas came while he was relaxed, or working in the garden, or going for a walk; the reason being when the conscious mind is relaxed, the subjective wisdom comes to the fore. There are oftentimes inspirational up rushes when the conscious mind is completely relaxed.

How often have you wondered at night what the answer to a particular problem was, and when you turned the request over to the subconscious mind, it gave you the solution in the morning. This is the meaning of the old adage, “Night brings counsel.” If you want to wake up at seven o’clock in the morning, and you suggest seven o’clock to the subconscious mind, the subconscious mind will wake you at seven o’clock on the dot.

A mother may be nursing a sick child, and she falls asleep; but before she goes to sleep, she suggests to the subconscious mind that she will awaken if the child’s temperature goes up, or when it needs medicine, or perhaps cries. There may be a thunderstorm going on while the mother sleeps; yet she is not awakened by the storm; however, when the child cries, she is immediately awakened. This is a simple function of the subconscious mind.