The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy has been a best-seller for years. On Amazon India, the book is still the number one bestseller and many readers are reading it and sharing reviews based on their reading of the book. Though the popularity of this book does puzzle me, what puzzles me more is that how can a ‘religious book’ become so famous although it brings the supremacist belief that one religion is the right answer of all the questions one might have in mind! Isn’t it surprising? I tried connecting the dots and finally decided to re-read the book by Joseph and also review it. Well, in my second attempt, here are the things as they stand for me.

The book is about realising the power of one’s subconscious mind and eventually harnessing it to bring good to one and all. The cause, truly, is a noble one and I am sure that the readers will like it as they read it. The author seems to have been inspired by his own experiences as a priest and also by the study of the Bible. He shares many quotes from the Bible every now and then in his book. Everything is fine with the book as far as the style of writing is concerned. However, when it comes to the content of the book, I have many issues with it. I will try to raise the most important among those one by one.

“In other words, whatever you impress in your subconscious mind, that becomes expressed on the screen of the space. The same truth was proclaimed by Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, Buddha, Zoroaster, Laotze, and all the illumined seers of the ages.”

The problem lies here. I will come to this later. Before I do that, let’s move a little further in the same paragraph and we will know what the author thinks and how he is wrong.

“As in heaven (your mind), so on earth (in your body and environment), This is the great law of life.”

Why is subconscious given so much importance by this author? If a person cannot control his conscious, it is a problematic situation which might lead to many disasters. Thinking good is essential and acting good is as much essential if not more. However, if one puts subconscious as a ransom for actions, there must not be a pang of greater guilt than doing this! Is Joseph Murphy, a full-time Christian priest, encouraging the readers to do the same?

Moreover, where is the message by Lord Krishna that Action is the only thing that one can do on the earth. All other things are up to HIM only – causes, effects, results and future. So, by giving so much importance to the subconscious, while agreeing that one should have clarity in thoughts and purity at heart, the author is clearly misleading the readers.

Citing an incident in this book, Joseph Murphy claims that the met a young man who treated his problematic eyes just by imagining that an ophthalmologist is examining his eyes. First of all, where is the primary source evidence for this incident? And I am sure it must not be there! Isn’t this like those ‘healing episodes’ we see on television and we read in Jesus Redeems, a magazine, where people are being cured of everything, even fatal disease, just by a touch of the hand or a blink of eyes… are we being serious here, Joseph? This book openly calls for having faith in superstitious bullshit! I need to say that.

Prayers are heard! Prayers are heard! Some Bible quotations. Pray with your heart… this is all that readers are going to find in this book. I WILL STRICTLY SUGGEST STAYING AWAY FROM THIS BOOK if you are looking for some motivation which could be helpful in real life. This is a book that makes you a puppet of superstitious agenda of Christian Missionaries who want to bring into the fold of their superiority complex laden religion. They are even putting the reputation of Jesus Christ at risk!

Is there anything good in the book? Yes, as far as the author sticks to universal talks like having faith in humanity’s basic instincts is essential for life… the book seems and sounds good. However, once it turns to propaganda machinery, you will find the book’s gravity decreasing swiftly to negativity.

Thanks for reading this objective and highly serious review on Indian Book Critics!

Review by The Bull’s Eye Objectivity for Indian Book Critics