How to Use Your Healing Power by Joseph Murphy

Book Description
This hard to find book by Dr. Murphy emphasizes the personal application of the healing methods of Jesus to the important as well as the common problems of life. Man many times is faced with the effects of error both within himself and without. The author draws on his wide experience to illustrate how the healing miracles performed by Jesus exemplify the application in specific cases of basic principles of spiritual laws that have existed.

Every chapter offers some new interpretation or phase of spiritual healing that will help you to meet your daily moods and decisions with confidence that you can handle all situations constructively. Healing power through the healing presence becomes a vivid concept to the improvement of your body, your mind, and your social relations. Read how you can remove those mental blocks that interfere with the free expression of health, harmony, peace, and the fulfilment of your prayers.

In this book, Joseph Murphy explores the miraculous healings of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, and explains in simple terms how the same methods and principles can be applied by anyone to heal oneself or others. Originally published in 1957, it was way ahead of its time since the mind-body connection is only now starting to be taken seriously by mainstream medicine and the public at large. The author's metaphysical interpretation of scripture is certainly wholesome and uplifting, as opposed to those fundamentalist/literal interpretations that are so destructive. There are references to Thomas Troward. This is an excellent guide for all holistic healers.

INTRODUCTION

This book is written in response to thousands of requests from students in many parts of the world. One of the largest classes I have ever given was at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Los Angeles, California, on the healing miracles of Jesus and what they mean to men everywhere. This book is an attempt to elaborate on the inner meaning of the recorded healings in the New Testament and to show the reader that he can apply the Healing Principle today in the same way that Jesus did about two thousand years ago.

The stories of mental and physical illnesses recorded in the Bible have reoccurred from time immemorial to the present moment. You may see the conditions and symptoms of diseases described in the Bible in almost any hospital in the country. It is true, of course, that the diseases described today have scientific names derived from medical terminology.

All over the world today men and women of various creeds are awakening to the tremendous therapeutic results following the application of mental and spiritual laws. In the fields of medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and other related fields, evidence is being adduced and articles written on the effect of destructive mental and emotional conflicts as the cause of all kinds of disease, This is prophetic of the termination of the power of the five senses, the reign of so-called matter, and the reestablishment of the reign of Divine Intelligence and of the Infinite Healing Presence behind all things.

The Bible is a psychological textbook which teaches us how to overcome all problems. It explains how we get into trouble; then teaches us how to get out of trouble. It teaches a science of life. A knowledge of the meaning of symbols, the science of the Hebrew alphabet, and the meaning of the various names in the Bible forms the key to all the stories in the Bible. You may find the meaning of the various names given in the Bible in Strong's Concordance or Young's Concordance. There are many other reference books but the above two are generally used by all Bible students interested in the inner meaning of the Bible.

To fully understand what another speaks or writes, it is necessary to tune in with the writer, claiming and knowing that his ideas, thoughts, words, and feelings are reproduced in our mind. We do not really know who wrote the Gospels, and as I write or speak on these wonderful Bible stories, I say to my Deep Self in meditation, "What did I as the writer of these stories mean when I wrote them?" Then I get quiet and still, feeling the Living Intelligence within flowing through my conscious mind revealing to me everything I need to know. There is only one mind. A memory of everything that has ever transpired is within your subjective mind, and it is possible for you to tune in. In a state of intercommunion of mind with mind, it is possible to have transmitted to your mind all the thoughts, ideas, and feelings of another mind with which you are in tune or en rapport. This is possible without the ordinary channels of sensuous communication. There is but one mind common to all individual men.

The purpose of this book, so far as possible, is to divest and strip these stories of the Bible of all mystery so that it will be an open book for all mankind. The same Healing Presence which Moses, Elijah, Paul, and Jesus used is available to you now. Use it and go forward in the Light, moving from glory to glory until the dawn appears, and the shadows flee away.

Chapter 1

HEALING OF MENTAL DISORDERS

The following quotation is taken from the fourth chapter of Luke. It forms the sound basis for all healing, and tells all of us what we are here for.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Luke 4:18-21.

Here is one of the most remarkable and extraordinary statements in the whole Bible. This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Not tomorrow or next week or next year, but NOW, this minute. God is the Eternal Now. Your good is this moment. Claim your health now, your peace now. The Healing Principle and the Peace of God are within you. Someone asked me in our class on "The Healing Miracles" if the healing stories in the Bible were true. The answer to the question is very simple. If the use of the Healing Principle is going on all the time and is applicable to all people all of the time everywhere, it is certainly truer, more interesting, and more fascinating than if it were an historic event of a certain date, a definite geographical location, and confined to just certain people.

In order to understand your Bible see it as a great psychological drama taking place in the consciousness of all people everywhere when they pray scientifically. Look upon the following dramatic episodes recorded in the Bible as stories about yourself and your friends awakening from darkness to the Light within. You can call Jesus in the Bible, as Robert Taylor of Cambridge, England, in 1829 did, illumined reason. Your concordance gives you many meanings for Jesus such as "God is savior," or "God is your solution, or salvation." In other words the names Joshua and Jesus are identical. The meaning is that your awareness or faith in the God-Wisdom can do all things. Look upon Jesus as yourself possessed of faith and confidence looking at the thoughts, beliefs, and opinions of your mind (your synagogue) rejecting all the false beliefs, theories, and ideas and announcing the presence of your ideal or the state desired. You do this in the present tense.

The Bible writer tells you that no matter what you are seeking, it exists now. Why wait for a healing? Why postpone it? Why say, "Some day I will have peace." The God of peace is within. The Power of the Almighty is within, and you will receive energy and strength. Love is here this moment, and you can experience the Divine Love welling up in your heart for all people. You can also attract your divine companion now. What you are seeking in the future is present now, right where you are. Your knowledge of the laws of your mind is your savior.

And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. Luke 4:32-35. Related passages, Mark 1:23-27, 3:11,7:25-30.

There was a belief in ancient times that when a man was insane he was possessed by demons or devils. This had its corollary in the belief that all psychotic or mentally deranged people were demon possessed. In Bible days exorcism in its varied forms became the regularly accepted form of therapy for the mentally disordered patients. Even today in some parts of America and even here in Los Angeles a student will say, "Oh, I think he or she is possessed by a demon." At one time people tried varying methods in order to drive demons out of the mind or body of the person. Today the psychiatrist, psychologist, and spiritual leader tries to bring about an adjustment of the personality and a cleansing of the mind of all negative thoughts and false beliefs. You are very familiar with the sudden and miraculous change often seen nowadays when a manic-depressive condition of an individual is cured by shock therapy.

Many years ago when a boy traveling on an ocean liner to India, I saw a raving maniac completely healed by an American woman who prayed aloud for him. He had a remarkable, instantaneous healing. Being curious, I asked her what she did. She replied, "I claimed that God's love and peace filled his mind." Today I understand much better what she meant. Her realization of the presence and power of God in the man was instantaneously resurrected in his mind, and a healing followed. Her faith made him whole. This is the whole story from a spiritual standpoint.

All demons or devils are negative states of mind that have been developed because the creative power of man has been used in an ignorant and destructive manner. The work of every man is to go into his own synagogue (mind) and through spiritual awareness cast out of his own mind the false theories, dogmas, beliefs, opinions, as well as all negative states such as resentment, ill will, hatred, jealousy, etc. These are the devils which bedevil us. Obsessions, dual personalities, and all other mental aberrations are the result of habitual negative thinking, crystallizing into definite states of mind such as complexes and other various poison pockets in the subconscious.

You are empowered to cast out demons by affirming your unity and oneness with the indwelling God; then you silently or audibly with feeling and faith speak the word of health, harmony, and peace. Pray with confidence like the woman on board the ship referred to previously by silently concentrating on the dissolving Power of God's Love upon the person. Thus the hold of evil thoughts will be broken.

The supposed devil cries out, Let us alone, what have we to do with thee. And he rebuked him saying, Hold thy peace, come out of him.

To rebuke means that you completely reject, once and for all, the power of any so-called negative or evil force. You do not admit for one moment that demons have any power, or that there are such entities.

He suffered not the demons to speak. Mark 1:34.

This means that you, who are illumined by the Light, will not, under any circumstances, permit negative race thoughts to dissuade you to turn away from the belief in One Supreme Power which is One and Indivisible. The method of healing used by Jesus here was the word of authority, . . .for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they came out. Luke 4:36.

Your word is your awareness, your feeling, your conviction. Psychologically it is the union of the conscious and subconscious mind; i.e., you have reached the point of agreement or complete mental acceptance of that which you affirm as true. The moment you accept it completely without reservations, the healing takes place in the person for whom you are praying. If you are praying for a mentally deranged person, follow the teachings of the Bible herein set forth.

Go boldly into your synagogue, which means the temple of your own mind; there gather your thoughts together rehearsing in your mind the Truths about God in the presence of your assembled thoughts and opinions; and therein feel the mental atmosphere of freedom and peace of mind for the sick person. Become Jesus (illumined mind) now; i.e., you are full of faith and confidence as you enter the realm of your mind, giving no power to symptoms, or the nature of the mental blocks. Reject completely the verdict and opinions of those around you. Do this emphatically and with a sense of inner knowing. Know that you have the authority to speak the word; i.e., to feel and know that your thought is authoritative inasmuch as it is the Infinite thinking through you.

Quimby, the great American healer, knew that when he thought of his patient he was in command of the other person's mind and body; then he contemplated his divine perfection. He duplicated many of the miracles recorded in the Bible. Quimby's inner conviction that what was true of God was true of his patient was the word that he sent. He sent his word and healed them.

There are many evil spirits (negative emotions) such as hatred, resentment, revenge, jealousy, etc. It could be said that a man with intense hatred is obsessed by an evil spirit. Your mood or emotion is the spirit operating at the human level. The law governing your subjective mind is that it is amenable to suggestion. In ancient times, the idea was current that any one was liable at any time to be taken possession of by a devil. Many persons who easily entered the subjective condition through fear found themselves possessed by devils, i.e., the power of their own fearful thoughts.

In ancient times and even today in some parts of the world the profession of exorcism was and is a very profitable one. The general belief was that the demons were afraid of holy water, the Bible, and of hearing the name of God pronounced. Accordingly it came to pass that, upon the verbal command of the exorcist the so-called devil would often incontinently fly, leaving the patient free. Sometimes the patient would go into convulsions on hearing the magic name pronounced, and more exorcists were then employed. You can see that the whole procedure is one of belief, and according to the belief of the exorcist is it done unto him.

Doctors and scientists are conducting experiments in hypnosis; they know, for example, that they can cause a subject under hypnosis to act like an insane person by suggestion. For instance, in a trance state a man can be told he will jump with one foot in the air when he sees a dog, and he will jump. If given a post-hypnotic suggestion, he will repeat the performance after being awakened. This is a compulsion. He can be told he is possessed by a bad spirit or devil, and his subconscious mind which acts upon suggestion, faithfully reproduces the role of a devil with the same extraordinary acumen that it would personate any other character suggested. The subconscious mind which is all things to all men will exhibit as many different kinds and degrees of deviltry as there are devils embraced in the suggestion. Experimentally any type of insanity can be brought about by appropriate suggestions given to subjects in the trance state. In experiments when the suggestion is relieved, the subject being instructed that it was only a suggestion, the mental aberrations disappear. The schizophrenic, psychotic, depressive type, manic type of insanities can be demonstrated by suggestion. It is easy to see where the so-called devils come from.

The ceremony of exorcism which is even today in use by certain organizations constitutes a most powerful suggestive command to the subjective mind; according to the faith of the operator the desired result is achieved. The fact that the trouble is susceptible of cure by a ritual or ceremony points clearly to its mental origin, precluding the possibility of its being attributable to extramundane causes or external entities.

Many people come to see me and write me saying that they hear voices all the time, and what terrible things these voices are saying. They believe they are possessed by evil spirits. I tell them that I hear voices also. Clairaudience is a faculty of the human mind. It is that faculty of intelligence within you which enables your objective mind to receive communications from your own subjective mind, or from another by means of spoken words.

A few weeks ago I clearly heard an answer to a question which had perplexed me for some time. I heard the words clearly. These words did not come from some discarnate entity but they came from my own subjective self which is one with Boundless Wisdom and Infinite Intelligence. When you receive ideas from the subjective, or when the answer comes, it is necessarily by such means as can be understood by you, i.e., by means which appeal to your senses. There are many people who hear clairaudicntly; some attribute it to imagination, others regard it as a subjective hallucination. Some attribute this phenomenon of hearing words from the subjective mind to spirits of the departed; needless to say, the same law of suggestion applies and governs the character of their clairaudient manifestation.

The subconscious mind will assume the characters suggested by the conscious mind. If, for example, you believe it is a guardian angel speaking to you, or the voice of a disembodied spirit, the subconscious will follow the suggestion given, and all further communication will be conducted on the basis assumed by you. Your subconscious will assume the character of an angel or devil according to the suggestion given.

Some months ago a young man from a local university came to see me with the complaint that he was constantly hearing spirit-voices, that they made him do nasty things, and that they would not let him alone, neither would they permit him to read the Bible or other spiritual books. He was convinced that he was talking to supernatural beings. This young man was clairaudient, and not knowing that all people possess this faculty, he began to think it was due to evil spirits. His superstitious beliefs caused him to ascribe it to departed spirits. Through constant worry he became a monomaniac on the subject. His subconscious mind dominated and controlled by an all-potent but false suggestion, gradually took over control and mastery of his objective faculties, and his reason abdicated its throne. He was what you would call mentally unbalanced, as all men are who allow their false beliefs to obtain the ascendancy.

We must not place gangsters, assassins, and murderers in charge of our mind. Place Wisdom and Divine Love in charge of your mind. Let faith in God, and all things good take charge of your mind. The subjective or subconscious mind within each of us is of tremendous importance and significance, but it can be influenced negatively and positively. Be sure that you influence it only positively, constructively, and harmoniously. The subconscious possesses transcendent powers, but it is at the same time amenable to good and bad suggestions. The explanations which I gave him made a profound impression on him.

I gave him the following written prayer which he was to repeat for ten or fifteen minutes three or four times a day: "God's Love, Truth, and Wisdom flood my mind and heart. I love the Truth, I hear the Truth, and I know the Truth. God's River of Peace floods my mind, and I give thanks for my freedom."

He repeated the above prayer slowly, quietly, reverently, and with deep feeling, particularly prior to sleep. By identifying with harmony and peace, he brought about a rearrangement of the thought-patterns and imagery of his mind, and a healing followed. He knew that what was true of God was true of himself. He brought about a conviction by repetition, faith, and expectancy.

My prayer for him night and morning was as follows: "John is thinking rightly. He is reflecting Divine Wisdom and Divine Intelligence in all ways. His mind is the perfect mind of God, unchanging and eternal. He hears the Voice of God which is the Voice of Peace and Love. He understands the Truth, he knows the Truth, and he loves the Truth. God's River of Peace floods his mind. His mind is full of God's Wisdom and Understanding. Whatever is vexing him now is leaving him, and I pronounce him free and at peace."

I meditated on these words of Truth night and morning, getting the "feel" of peace and harmony; at the end of a week this young man was completely free. I fasted from the poisoned feast of sense-evidence and fear-symptoms. I had to cure myself of the belief in a diseased state, and outer results necessarily followed. I think my explanation was a great help to this young man. The ill state is conditioned in us as long as we see that state of illness portrayed. Our failure is due to absence of faith in the disciples (our mental faculties). We must contemplate the Infinite Perfection within us, and keep on doing so, until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

He suffered not the demons to speak.

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This audio book comprises of a series of lectures given by Dr. Murphy on how to use your healing powers.
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