Excerpts from

Believe in Yourself

by
Dr. Joseph Murphy




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Book Description
"You were born to win, to conquer, and to overcome! The Intelligence, Wisdom, and Power of God are within you waiting to be released, and enabling you to rise above all difficulties." Dr. Murphy gives you in this book a universal guide in the art of making your life much more effective and satisfying by developing Belief in Your­self. The magic formula is, "All things are possible to him that Believeth." You want freedom, health, and hap­piness. You can have them by chang­ing your conscious belief to subcon­scious belie
f.

THIS BOOK TEACHES YOU HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE THROUGH  THE  ART OF BELIEVING.  EACH CHAPTER IS FULL OF POWERFUL, PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY SHOWING YOU WHY “MAN IS BELIEF EXPRESSED.”

The story of Joseph will live forever. Joseph is Divine imagination. Dr. Murphy shows you the science of imagination in a vivid, intensely, prac­tical way. The "how" is portrayed through many case histories, and you learn to use the two great pillars of Truth — disciplined imagination plus faith — enabling you to realize your fondest dreams. Here is a book that shows you how to believe and succeed. "The greatest and richest galleries of art in the world are the galleries of the mind devoted to God's Truths and Beauty."

 

MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE

   "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his chil­dren, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

   "And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

   "And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him all the more.

   "And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

   "For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

   "And his brethren said to him, Shall thou indeed reign over us? or shall thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dream, and for his words.

   "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

   "And he told it to his father, and his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down to thee to the earth?" (Genesis 37:3-10.)

Joseph in the Bible means disciplined or con­trolled imagination. It is one of the primal facul­ties of mind, and has the power to project and clothe your ideas, giving them visibility on the screen of space.

Israel loved Joseph. Israel is the spiritually awakened man who knows the power of controlled imagination. It is called the son of his old age. Son means expression. Old age infers wisdom and knowledge of the laws of mind. When you become familiar with the power of imagination, you will call it "the son of your old age."

Age is not the flight of years; it is really the dawn of wisdom and Divine knowledge in you. Imagination is the mighty instrument used by great scientists, artists, physicists, inventors, archi­tects, and mystics. When the world said, "It is impossible. It can't be done," the man with imagi­nation said, "It is done!" Through your imagina­tion you can also penetrate the depths of reality, and reveal the secrets of nature.

A great industrialist told me one time how he started in a small store. He said that I used to dream (Joseph was a dreamer) of a large corporation with branches all over the country. He added that regularly and systematically he pictured in his mind the giant building, offices, factories, and stores, knowing that through the alchemy of the mind, he could weave the fabric out of which his dreams would be clothed. He prospered, and began to attract to himself by a universal law of attraction the ideas, personnel, friends, money, and everything needed for the unfoldment of his ideal. He truly exercised and cultivated his imagina­tion, and lived with these mental patterns in his mind until imagination clothed them in form.

I liked particularly one comment which he made as follows, "It is just as easy to imagine yourself successful, as it is to imagine failure, and far more interesting."

Joseph is a dreamer, and a dreamer of dreams; this means he has visions, images, and ideals in his mind, and knows that there is a Creative Pow­er which responds to his mental pictures. The mental images we hold are developed in feeling. It is wisely said that all our senses are modifica­tions of the one-sense-feeling. Troward says, "Feel­ing is the law, and the law is the feeling." Feel­ing is the fountain-head of power. We must charge our mental pictures with feeling in order to get results..

We are told, "Joseph dreamed a dream, and told it to his brethren, and they hated him." Per­haps as you read this, you have a dream, an ideal, a plan, or purpose that you would like to accomplish. To hate is to reject in Bible language. The thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and opinions in your mind are your brethren which challenge you, belittle your dreams, and say to you, "You can't; it is impossible." "Forget it!" Perhaps other thoughts come into your mind which scoff at your plan or ambition. You discover there is a quarrel in your mind with your own brethren; opposition sets in. The way to handle the opposition in your mind is to detach your attention from sense evi­dence and appearance of things, and begin to think clearly and with interest about your goal or objective. When your mind is engaged on your goal or objective, you are using the creative law of mind, and it will come to pass.

"Lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf." Lift your ideal or desire up in consciousness. Exalt it. Commit your­self wholeheartedly to it. Praise it; give your attention, love, and devotion to your ideal, and as you continue to do this, all the fearful thoughts will make obeisance to your exalted state of mind; i.e., they will lose their power, and disappear from the mind. Through your faculty to imagine the end result, you have control over any circumstance or condition. If you wish to bring about the real­ization of any wish, desire, or idea, form a mental picture of fulfillment in your mind; constantly imagine the reality of your desire. In this way you will actually compel it into being. What you imagine as true already exists in the next dimen­sion of mind, and if you remain faithful to your ideal, it will one day objectify itself. The master-architect within you will project on the screen of visibility what you impress on your mind.

Joseph (imagination) wears a coat of many colors. A coat in the Bible is a psychological cov­ering. Your psychological garments are the men­tal attitudes, moods, and feelings you entertain. The coat of many colors represent the many facets of the diamond, or your capacity to clothe any idea in form. You can imagine your friend who is poor living in the lap of luxury. You can see his face light up with joy, see his expression change, and a broad smile cross his lips. You can hear him tell you what you want to hear. You can see him exactly as you wish to see him — i.e., he is radiant, happy, prosperous, and success­ful. Your imagination is the coat of many colors; it can clothe and objectify any idea or desire. You can imagine abundance where lack is; peace where discord is; health where sickness is.

"His brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us?" Imagination is the first faculty, and takes precedence over all the other powers or elements of consciousness. You have twelve faculties or brethren, but your imagination when disciplined enables you to collapse time and space and rise above all limitations. When you keep your imagination busy with noble, God-like con­cepts and ideas, you will find it is the most ef­fective of all faculties in your spiritual ongoing.

The phrase, "Joseph is sold into Egypt —" means that your concept or desire must be sub­jectified (Egypt) first before it becomes objecti­fied. Every concept must go "down into Egypt"— meaning into the subjective where the birth of ideas takes place.

"Out of Egypt have I called my son—" Joseph is commander of Egypt which tells you that ima­gination controls the whole conceptive realm. Whatever prison you may be in, whether it is the prison of fear, sickness, lack, or limitation of any kind, remember that Joseph is the commander in prison, and can deliver you. You can imagine your freedom, and continue to do so until it is sub­jectified; then after gestation in the darkness the manifestation comes—your prayer is answered.

Consider for a moment a distinguished, tal­ented architect; he can build a beautiful, modern, twentieth century city in his mind, complete with super highways, swimming pools, aquariums, parks, etc. He can construct in his mind the most beauti­ful palace that eye has ever seen. He can see the building in its entirety completely erected before he ever gives his plan to the builders. Where was the building? It was in his imagination.

With your imagination you can actually hear the invisible voice of your mother even though she lives 10,000 miles from here. You can also see her clearly, and as vividly as if she were pres­ent; this is the wonderful power you possess. You can develop and cultivate this power, and become successful and prosperous.

Haven't you heard the sales manager say, "I have to let John go, because his attitude is wrong?" The business world knows the importance of "right attitude."

I remember many years ago having printed a small article on Reincarnation. These pamphlets were on display on a book counter of a church where I lectured. In the beginning very few of them were sold, because the salesgirl was violently opposed to its contents.

I explained to her the Biblical meaning of Re­incarnation, the origin of the story, and what it was all about. She understood the contents of the drama, and became enthusiastic about the book­lets; they were all sold before my lecture series was completed. This was an instance of the im­portance of the right, mental attitude.

Your mental attitude means your mental re­action to people, circumstances, conditions, and objects in space. What is your relationship with your co-workers? Are you friendly with people, with animals, and with the universe in general? Do you think the universe is hostile, and that the world owes you a living? In short what is your attitude?

The emotional reaction of the above mentioned girl was one of deep-seated prejudice. That was the wrong attitude in selling books; she was biased toward the book and the writer.

You can develop the right, mental attitude when you realize that nothing externally can upset you or hurt you without your mental consent. You are the only thinker in your world; consequently nothing can move you to anger, grief, or sorrow without your mental consent. The suggestions that come to you from the outside have no power what­soever, except you permit them to move you in thought negatively. Realize you are master of your thought-world. Emotions follow thought; hence you are supreme in your own orbit. Do you permit others to influence you? Do you allow the head­lines in the newspapers, or the gossip, or criti­cism of others to upset you, or bring about mental depression? If you do, you must admit you are the cause of your own mood; you created your emotional reaction. Your attitude is wrong.

Do you imagine evil of others? If you do, no­tice the emotion generated in your deeper self; it is negative and destructive to your health and prosperity. Circumstances can affect you only as you permit them. You can voluntarily and defi­nitely change your attitude toward life and all things. You can become master of your fate, and captain of your soul (subconscious mind). Through disciplined, directed, and controlled imagination you can dominate and master your emotions and mental attitude in general.

If you imagine, for example, that the other is mean, dishonest, and jealous, notice the emotion you evoked within yourself. Now reverse the situa­tion. Begin to imagine the same girl or boy is hon­est, sincere, loving, and kind; notice the reaction it calls forth in you. Are you not, therefore, mas­ter of your attitudes? In reality the truth of the whole matter is that it is your real concept of God which determines your Whole attitude to­ward life in general. Your dominant idea about God is your idea of life; for God is Life. If you have the dominant idea or attitude that God is the Spiritual Power within you responsive to your thought, and that, therefore, since your habitual thinking is constructive and harmonious, this Pow­er is guiding and prospering you in all ways; this dominant attitude will color everything. You will be looking at the world through the positive, af­firmative attitude of mind. Your outlook will be positive, and you will have a joyous expectancy of the best.

Many people have a gloomy, despondent outlook on life. They are sour, cynical, and cantanker­ous; this is due to the dominant, mental attitude which directs their reaction to everything.

A person's mood of joy is usually short-lived who is constantly singing the blues when some­thing wonderful comes into his experience or that of his family.

A young boy of sixteen years going to high school said to me, "I am getting very poor grades. My memory is failing. I do not know what is the matter." The only thing wrong was his attitude. He adopted a new, mental attitude by realizing how important his studies were in gaining en­trance grades to college in order to become a lawyer. He began to pray scientifically, which is one of the quickest ways to change the mentality.

In scientific prayer we deal with a principle which responds to thought. This young man real­ized there was a Spiritual Power within him, and that It was the only Cause and Power. Further­more he began to claim that his memory was per­fect, and that Infinite Intelligence constantly re­vealed to him everything he needed to know at all tunes everywhere. He began to radiate Love and goodwill to the teachers and fellow students. This young man is now enjoying a greater freedom than he had known for several years. He constantly imagines the teachers and his mother congratulating him on all "A's." It is imagining the desired results that have followed this change of attitude toward his studies.

We have said previously that all our mental at­titudes are conditioned by imagination. If you imagine: It is going to be a black day today; business is going to be very poor; that it is rain­ing; no customers will come into your store; they have no money, etc., you will experience the re­sult of your negative imagery.

One time Troward was walking the streets of London, and he imagined he saw a snake on the street. Fear caused him to become semi-paralyzed. What he saw looked like a snake, but Troward had the same mental and emotional reaction as if it were a snake.

Imagine whatsoever things are lovely, noble, and of good report, and your entire emotional attitude toward life will change. What do you imagine about life? Is it going to be a happy life for you? Or is it one long series of frustrations? "Choose ye whom ye will serve."

You mold, fashion, and shape your outer world of experience according to the mental images you habitually dwell on. Imagine conditions and cir­cumstances in life which dignify, elevate, please, and satisfy. If you imagine life is cold, cruel, hard, bitter, and that struggle and pain are inevitable, you are making life miserable for yourself.

Imagine yourself on the golf course. You are free, relaxed, full of enthusiasm, and energy. Your joy is in overcoming all the difficulties presented by the golf course. The thrill is in surmounting all the obstacles.

Now let us take this scene: Imagine yourself going into a funeral parlor. Notice the different, emotional response brought forward as you pic­ture yourself in each of the above mentioned situ­ations. In the funeral chapel you can rejoice in the person's new birthday. You can imagine the loved one surrounded by his or her friends in the midst of indescribable beauty and love. You can imagine God's river of peace flooding the minds and hearts of all present. You can actually ascend the heavens of your own mind wherever you are; this is the Power of your imagination.

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."

In ancient symbology, the sun and the moon represent the conscious and subconscious mind. The eleven stars represent the eleven powers in addition to imagination. Here again the inspired writers are telling you that disciplined imagination takes precedence over all other faculties of the mind, and controls the direction of the conscious and subconscious mind. Imagination is first and foremost; it can be scientifically directed.


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