Many years ago, I was feeling emotionally down. I had moved to a new country, gotten a job, and had a young child. I would often seek out the quietude of the local laundromat in the small “other country” town. One night, while deep in thought, I missed the closing hour. I heard a male voice reminding me of the time. I stood and touched a book on the bench near me. I offered it to my time watcher, and he said, “Keep it, or I am throwing it away.” I shuddered. No one throws books away! I took it home and read it that night.
It became my bible of advice, admonishment, and praise. As I read, I would think, I cannot be the only person who believes in this,can I? It felt painfully apparent and true to me (I know, feelings can be deceiving). My mind was triggered. I had to read more of his books. Here was the belief system I had searched for all my life! Oh, I believed there was a ball of golden energy, a healer, a medium, a son, and a miracle worker who had lived long ago and achieved notoriety in a spiritual way with fellow humans, but I knew there had to be more.
As a small child, I learned in my parochial school’s religion classes that “he” could be a harsh teacher and that he was a gentleman who would die on the cross for our sins. Our sins? Who is “our,” I would wonder. We had not yet learned to tie our shoes or the importance of daily brushing; we certainly had not committed the black mark on our souls. What is the soul?
Years passed. I learned to tie my shoes, and to brush twice daily, but I still wondered about my teacher’s lessons about our sins and the soul.
As my life moved along, I needed to be near the earth. I felt an affinity for trees. I was “earthbound.” How could I find a place near trees and wild places and unlock the mysteries about this thing called the soul? I traded the sports car for a pickup and trekked off to Canada in search of meaning.
Then it happened! A period of exaltation, right there in the laundromat. I often wonder what would have happened had I not taken that book home with me. It became the food for my soul’s existence. I read it that night and during the many days and nights that followed. It has been decades now. I now believe I understand what the mighty soul is.
The soul is your subconscious mind. These days, I do not miss a chance to extol the benefits of this revelation. Many stare, others lean forward. I tell people how my search led me to hypnotherapy, a process of deep relaxation, not unlike meditation, where you can relax into a state like a trance. In this state, you can give orders or affirmations to your subconscious. It accepts and stores the information until it is called up from the collective subconscious.
If you talk to God, you are experiencing a rare moment of communication between your conscious and subconscious minds. The subconscious mind is constantly working behind the scenes. Meditation and prayer are the primary activities that facilitate communication between these two parts of the mind. Some people turn to hallucinogens for this purpose. I see this as a last resort, practiced with a professional medical practitioner.
Deep breaths relax your conscious mind, allowing you to be alone or in a quiet place to feel or pick up energies in the form of visions, words, or motions. This process requires patience and a calm environment. We are talking about a very wise part of your being. Your subconscious, or unconscious, mind has stored information from everything you have ever experienced.
The subconscious mind is not prejudiced. It will store everything: true and false. good and bad, happy and sad. It’s all saved for you to claim. If you give it a repeated affirmation, the subconscious mind will first inventory the information at hand. It will sometimes tell you, Hmmm, not there. It is on the prowl to find what you need in the moment you are focused.
Wisdom is the byword for “subconscious.” It naturally creates our perceptions and beliefs based on what it information has been programmed with. The difference between the conscious and subconscious is that one gives directions and the other follows orders.
What was this book that guided me to understanding and gave me so many profound revelations? It was The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, a power-packed book by the Irish-American author Joseph Murphy (1898-1981). Originally published in 1963, it has sold millions of copies worldwide and was followed by over thirty more works . Dr. Murphy was a New Thought minister and a pioneering developer of the affirmative thinking philosophy. I learned from Dr. Murphy’s books and beliefs that “I am” is the gateway to the subconscious mind. It is part of my teachings now.
Link: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy, PhD, DD