Joseph Murphy
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind: summary of all 20 chapters
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind is Joseph Murphy’s 1963 self-help book, in 20 short chapters. It argues that a reasoning “conscious mind” and what Murphy calls the “subconscious mind”, which does not reason, work together, and that what you impress on the second, through calm repetition and vivid imagining, shapes your life. Below: the argument in three sentences, which edition you are holding, every chapter in one line with our verdict, the ten methods of chapter 6, and the tally. We summarise the 1963 text, not the revised editions, keep Murphy’s own words to three short quotations, and leave the study-by-study evidence to our scorecard of his ideas against the research.
By the Dream Architect team · Published October 20, 2026
What is the book about, in three sentences?
Murphy says each person has two levels of mind: the conscious mind, which reasons and chooses, and what he calls the subconscious mind, which does not reason and carries out what it is given. In chapter 2 he puts it plainly: “Your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It accepts what your conscious mind decrees.” His methods all aim at the moment when the conscious mind is quiet, relaxed or drowsy, so that an idea pictured or repeated then is, in his word, “impressed” and acted out.
The frame is religious. Murphy was a Divine Science minister, and he calls these methods prayer, addressed to an Infinite Intelligence. Read today, the book mixes three things: practical rituals, a 1960s model of the mind, and promises about money, the body and relationships.
Which edition are you reading?
Several texts share the title, and they differ. Our summary follows the 1963 original, read in a full transcription and cross-checked against a revised edition.
- 1963, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey): the original, 224 pages, 20 chapters.
- 2000, Reward Books: revised by Ian McMahan, with modernised wording; reprinted by Bantam in 2001.
- 2011, Prentice Hall Press: edited and revised by Arthur R. Pell.
- 2011, Tarcher: presented by the publisher as the complete original 1963 text.
- In French: La Puissance de votre subconscient, translated by Mary Sterling; the earliest edition we found is Montréal, Éditions du Jour, 1973.
Chapter by chapter: what Murphy says, and our verdict
Each line paraphrases the chapter’s own end-of-chapter summary. Five chapter titles (4, 5, 6, 9 and 10) contain words this site does not use, because they promise health or money, so we give their theme instead. The verdict is ours, for practice: practise, adapt (useful core, overstated claim), skip, or outside science (faith and values that research cannot test). Where a study bears on a verdict, we name it; our scorecard of Murphy’s ideas goes through the evidence in detail.
| Chapter | What Murphy says | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Treasure House Within You | The subconscious carries out whatever is impressed on it; change your thoughts and you change your destiny | Adapt: much mental processing runs outside awareness, but nothing shows it obeys instructions |
| 2. How Your Own Mind Works | The conscious mind should stand guard over what gets in; never say “I can’t” | Adapt: repeating a positive line about yourself left people with low self-esteem feeling worse (Wood et al., 2009) |
| 3. The Miracle-Working Power of Your Subconscious | It runs the body and answers requests handed over before sleep | Adapt: sleep helped people find a hidden rule in a task they had practised first (Wagner et al., 2004); no study shows it answers requests |
| 4. Recovery stories in ancient times (theme) | Shrines, Paracelsus, Bernheim: belief explains reported recoveries | Skip: a history of suggestion, not evidence |
| 5. Recovery stories in modern times (theme) | Faith, directed “scientifically”, is the one process behind recoveries, even prayed at a distance | Skip: no support, and it blames those who stay ill |
| 6. Practical techniques (the methods chapter) | Ten named methods: passing-over, visualization, mental movie, thank-you, decree… | Adapt: see the methods table below |
| 7. The Tendency of the Subconscious Is Lifeward | The subconscious always leans toward life; jealousy, fear and worry get in its way | Outside science: a belief about nature |
| 8. How to Get the Results You Want | Strain and mental force block results; relax and use imagination: “Easy does it” | Adapt: trying to push a thought away tends to bring it back afterwards (Wegner et al., 1987), but dwelling on the happy ending predicted less effort (Oettingen & Mayer, 2002) |
| 9. Money and the subconscious (theme) | Prosperity is a subconscious conviction; repeat one word before sleep | Skip: no evidence |
| 10. Money as a right (theme) | Money is a neutral symbol; lack is a state of mind | Skip: no evidence |
| 11. Your Subconscious Mind as a Partner in Success | Picture the outcome vividly; repeat the word “success” | Adapt: add the obstacle and an if-then plan, a pairing that helps goal attainment modestly (Wang et al., 2021) |
| 12. Scientists Use the Subconscious Mind | Problems handed over before sleep come back solved, as a hunch | Practise: work on it by day, then sleep on it (Wagner et al., 2004) |
| 13. Your Subconscious and the Wonders of Sleep | The subconscious never sleeps; requests made before sleep bring guidance | Practise: after at least 15 seconds in the lightest stage of sleep (N1) during a rest break, 83% of people found a hidden rule, against 30% of those who stayed awake; deeper sleep erased the edge (Lacaux et al., 2021, 103 people) |
| 14. Your Subconscious Mind and Marital Problems | Dwell on the partner’s good qualities, pray together, don’t try to remake a spouse, seek trained counsel | Adapt: warmth and outside help, yes; prayer as the fix is outside science |
| 15. Your Subconscious Mind and Your Happiness | Happiness is chosen and becomes a habit; give thanks several times a day | Practise: gratitude exercises lift well-being a little, about as much as other active exercises (Davis et al., 2016) |
| 16. Your Subconscious Mind and Harmonious Human Relations | What you think of others comes back to you; let others differ from you | Adapt: letting others differ, yes; the “comes back to you” rule is untested |
| 17. How to Use Your Subconscious for Forgiveness | Forgiving is wishing the other well until there is no sting left | Practise: forgiveness programmes led by a trained professional increase forgiveness (Wade et al., 2014); practised alone, it is less studied |
| 18. How Your Subconscious Removes Mental Blocks | “Habit is the function of your subconscious mind”; bring wandering attention back to the goal | Practise: repeating an action in the same context makes it more automatic (Lally et al., 2010) |
| 19. How to Use Your Subconscious Mind to Remove Fear | Do the feared thing, rehearse it mentally, attend to the opposite | Adapt: mental practice improves performance moderately (Driskell et al., 1994); the promises don’t follow |
| 20. How to Stay Young in Spirit Forever | Age is the start of wisdom; retirement is a new venture; life continues after death | Outside science: values and faith |
The methods chapter, technique by technique
Chapter 6 is the one readers return to. Murphy lays out ten named methods, most of them variations on the same move: relax until drowsy, then hold one idea, image or phrase. Here is what each asks, and what we would keep.
| Technique (Murphy’s name) | What he asks | Keep or change |
|---|---|---|
| The passing-over technique | Relax, then hand the request over in a reverie-like, drowsy state | Keep the calm; drop the idea of an inner power taking orders |
| The visualization technique | See the desired result in your mind’s eye | Change: picture the steps, not only the result |
| The mental movie method | Run a short scene of the outcome, as if it were happening now | Keep: one short, concrete scene in the present tense |
| The Baudoin technique (Murphy’s spelling of Baudouin) | Condense the idea into a short phrase, repeat it like a lullaby | Change: a scene rather than a claim about yourself |
| The sleeping technique | In a sleepy state, repeat the phrase quietly, night and morning | Keep, lightly: once, slowly, as you settle |
| The thank-you technique | Give thanks as if the request were already granted | Change: thanks for what is already here |
| The affirmative, argumentative, absolute and decree methods | State, argue for, or decree the desired state | Skip: no research tests them |
What holds up, what doesn’t: the tally
Counting the verdicts in the chapter table: 5 chapters hold a practice that research supports in part, 9 have a useful core with an overstated claim, 4 make promises about money or the body that we do not follow, and 2 are matters of faith that science cannot test. That is our reading, made with the sources listed below, not a published rating.
Taken as a whole, the book splits cleanly. The chapters that describe a ritual (sleeping on a problem, giving thanks, forgiving, repeating a habit) are the ones worth trying. The chapters that explain why it works, through an obedient subconscious, or promise what it will bring, are the ones to read as history.
Why we skip the money and body chapters
Chapters 4, 5, 9 and 10 claim that belief, rightly directed, changes the body and brings money. No study we know of supports either claim. There is also a cost critics have named: if the right thoughts bring good outcomes, then a bad outcome looks like the person’s fault. Barbara Ehrenreich made that case about positive-thinking culture in Bright-sided (2009), and the skeptic Brian Dunning made it about The Secret.
This is not a reason to dismiss Murphy. It is a reason to keep his rituals and drop his explanations. For anything about health, ask a professional, not a book from 1963.
Practising one chapter a night
If you want to try the book rather than only read it, chapters 8, 12 and 13 translate best into a bedtime practice: work on something during the day, then picture one calm, concrete moment as you fall asleep, without forcing it.
Dream Architect’s night ritual follows that shape without the promise. You picture one ordinary moment of your dream in the present tense, name the first emotion (the app offers 5), and on nights with energy add a sensation, tomorrow’s sign and one small step: 7 steps in the Full flow, 3 in the Quick one. Then the screen goes dark, for two minutes by default, while you relive the moment. The next morning, the check-in asks: “Last night you relived this moment. This morning, did anything remind you of it?”
How we made this summary
We read the 1963 text on 20 October 2026 in a full transcription on the Internet Archive and checked passages against a scan of the revised edition. Chapter titles follow the transcription’s headings; some later editions word them slightly differently. Each study named in a verdict is listed below. Murphy’s three quotations are under 25 words each, as the book is still under copyright.
Questions people ask next
Is The Power of Your Subconscious Mind worth reading?
As a short, practical classic of the New Thought tradition, yes, if you read it critically. Its rituals (calm before sleep, gratitude, forgiveness, repetition) hold up better than its explanations or its promises about money and the body.
Which chapters should I read first?
Chapter 6 for the techniques, then chapters 8, 12 and 13 on effort and sleep. Chapters 15, 17 and 18, on happiness, forgiveness and habit, are the closest to what research supports.
How long is the book?
The 1963 Prentice-Hall edition has 224 pages and 20 chapters, each ending with a numbered summary. Later revised editions run longer.
What is the difference between the original and the revised edition?
Ian McMahan’s revision (2000) modernises the wording and the subheads; Arthur R. Pell edited another revision in 2011. The ideas and chapter order stay close to 1963, but quotations differ between editions.
Is the book religious?
Yes. Murphy was a Divine Science minister, calls his methods prayer and quotes the Bible. Readers without faith can still use the rituals as attention exercises.
What is Murphy’s main technique?
Relax until drowsy, then hold one idea, as an image, a short scene or a phrase repeated like a lullaby. Most of chapter 6 is a variation on that move.
Does the book make health claims?
Yes. Chapters 4 to 6 present belief as the force behind recoveries from illness, and some later chapters return to the idea. We do not repeat those claims: for health, ask a professional.
Try it tonight
- Pick one problem you worked on today, not one you avoided.
- In bed, picture one calm, concrete moment where it is handled, in the present tense.
- Stop forcing it: one slow breath, then let it go and sleep.
How we made this guide
Written by the Dream Architect team with AI assistance, then checked line by line against the app’s actual screens and the sources below. Third-party facts link to their source. Figures about the app were counted from its content on October 20, 2026.
- Internet Archive, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Prentice-Hall, 1963 (catalogue record) (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Open Library, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Prentice-Hall, 1963, 224 p. (catalogue record) (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Open Library, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, revised by Ian McMahan, Reward Books, 2000 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Open Library, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, edited and revised by Arthur R. Pell, Prentice Hall Press, 2011 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Penguin Random House, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Tarcher edition, publisher’s description) (accessed October 20, 2026)
- GRELQ (Université de Sherbrooke), catalogue of Éditions du Jour: La puissance de votre subconscient, 1973 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Wood, Perunovic & Lee (2009), Positive self-statements: power for some, peril for others, Psychological Science 20(7), 860–866 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Wagner, Gais, Haider, Verleger & Born (2004), Sleep inspires insight, Nature 427, 352–355 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Lacaux et al. (2021), Sleep onset is a creative sweet spot, Science Advances 7(50), eabj5866 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Oettingen & Mayer (2002), The motivating function of thinking about the future: expectations versus fantasies, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(5), 1198–1212 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Wegner, Schneider, Carter & White (1987), Paradoxical effects of thought suppression, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53(1), 5–13 (Harvard) (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Wang, Wang & Gai (2021), A meta-analysis of the effects of mental contrasting with implementation intentions on goal attainment, Frontiers in Psychology 12, 565202 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Davis et al. (2016), Thankful for the little things: a meta-analysis of gratitude interventions, Journal of Counseling Psychology 63(1), 20–31 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Wade, Hoyt, Kidwell & Worthington (2014), Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: a meta-analysis, J Consult Clin Psychol 82(1), 154–170 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010), How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world, European Journal of Social Psychology 40(6), 998–1009 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Driskell, Copper & Moran (1994), Does mental practice enhance performance?, Journal of Applied Psychology 79(4), 481–492 (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Anthony Campbell, review (2010) of Barbara Ehrenreich, Smile or Die (Granta, 2009; UK edition of Bright-sided) (accessed October 20, 2026)
- Brian Dunning, “What’s Wrong with The Secret”, Skeptoid episode 96, 15 April 2008 (accessed October 20, 2026)
This guide describes a personal reflection habit. It is not medical or psychological advice and does not promise any particular result.