“The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy
This is a 1967 book, written in the same spirit as James Allen’s “As a Man Thinketh”, Earl Nightingdale’s “The Strangest Secret”, Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”, or their modern equivalent of, gasp, “The Secret.”
It is a book about subconscious mind but written without using any neuro scientific findings whatsoever. But instead it relies heavily on 1960s psychology, and most significantly on the same “Law of Attraction” way of thinking as these books above, but with a little twist: Joseph Murphy aligns his subconscious theory with his very apparent pious world view. So that the law of attraction is not necessarily a magical pull, but instead it comes in a form of answered prayers.
But I didn’t mind reading it one bit. Because it’s almost the holiday season, and I needed to decompress and lower my reading intensity before I can truly enjoy taking a break (that includes a break from reading. Maybe. I dunno. We’ll see).
And there’s arguably no better way to do this than reading a classic bestseller with old lessons obvious enough to be a cliche (which makes it easy to casually read), but good enough to be a subtle reminder. You know, one of those palate cleansers between two heavy topics, or fluffers (truly sorry, can’t think of a better example), or “in-between” books.
And by doing so, in the journey of “curing” my Tsundoku, I can also “tick off” another book that I bought impulsively long time ago, as well as maintaining my monthly reading target a week in advance, so that I can skip reading altogether during the one week holiday, if I want to.
And while the book is filled with phrases like “I prayed aloud for about five minutes two or three times a day repeating the above simple prayer. In about three months my skin was whole and perfect” or “Repeat the word, “Wealth,” to yourself slowly and quietly for about five minutes prior to sleep and your subconscious will bring wealth to pass in your experience”, to be fair, it is not all mumbo jumbo.
Because there are still several great insights from the book, such as one my favourites: “The suggestions of others in themselves have absolutely no power whatever over you except the power that you give them through 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 the capacity to choose.”
In short, it’s a win-win all around while learning one or two new things along the way. What’s not to like?
EDWIN SETIADI 