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diff --git a/27203.txt b/27203.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3caf2b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/27203.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3713 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Self Mastery Through Conscious +Autosuggestion, by Emile Coue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion + +Author: Emile Coue + +Release Date: November 8, 2008 [EBook #27203] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF MASTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Ruth Hart + + + + +[Note: many of the people quoted in this text are identified only by +their initials along with either a dash or three periods. For +consistency's sake, I have used four dashes for each person instead +of periods. I have also added quotation marks where appropriate. +Finally, I have made the following spelling change: I congraulate +you to I congratulate you.] + + + +SELF MASTERY THROUGH CONSCIOUS +AUTOSUGGESTION + +by + +EMILE COUE + + +AMERICAN LIBRARY SERVICE +PUBLISHERS +500 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK + + +Copyright 1922 +_by_ +AMERICAN LIBRARY SERVICE +_All Translation Rights Reserved_ + + +CONTENTS + +Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion, by _Emile Coue_ 5 +Thoughts and Precepts, by _Emile Coue_ 36 +Observations on What Autosuggestion Can Do, by _Emile Coue_ 43 +Education As It Ought To Be, by _Emile Coue_ 50 +A Survey of the "Seances" at M. Emile Coue's 55 +Letters from Patients Treated by the Coue Method 62, 72, 75 +The Miracle Within, by _M. Burnet-Provins_ 80 +Some Notes on the Journey of M. Coue to Paris in October, 1919 85 +Everything for Everyone! by Mme. Emile Leon 88 + + +[Illustration of Emile Coue] + + +SELF MASTERY THROUGH CONSCIOUS +AUTOSUGGESTION + +Suggestion, or rather Autosuggestion, is quite a new subject, and yet +at the same time it is as old as the world. + +It is new in the sense that until now it has been wrongly studied and +in consequence wrongly understood; it is old because it dates from +the appearance of man on the earth. In fact autosuggestion is an +instrument that we possess at birth, and in this instrument, or rather +in this force, resides a marvelous and incalculable power, which +according to circumstances produces the best or the worst results. +Knowledge of this force is useful to each one of us, but it is +peculiarly indispensable to doctors, magistrates, lawyers, and to +those engaged in the work of education. + +By knowing how to practise it _consciously_ it is possible in the +first place to avoid provoking in others bad autosuggestions which +may have disastrous consequences, and secondly, consciously to +provoke good ones instead, thus bringing physical health to the sick, +and moral health to the neurotic and the erring, the unconscious +victims of anterior autosuggestions, and to guide into the right path +those who had a tendency to take the wrong one. + + +THE CONSCIOUS SELF AND THE UNCONSCIOUS SELF + +In order to understand properly the phenomena of suggestion, or to +speak more correctly of autosuggestion, it is necessary to know that +two absolutely distinct selves exist within us. Both are intelligent, +but while one is conscious the other is unconscious. For this reason +the existence of the latter generally escapes notice. It is however +easy to prove its existence if one merely takes the trouble to +examine certain phenomena and to reflect a few moments upon +them. Let us take for instance the following examples: + +Every one has heard of somnambulism; every one knows that a +somnambulist gets up at night _without waking_, leaves his room +after either dressing himself or not, goes downstairs, walks along +corridors, and after having executed certain acts or accomplished +certain work, returns to his room, goes to bed again, and shows next +day the greatest astonishment at finding work finished which he had +left unfinished the day before. + +It is however he himself who has done it without being aware of it. +What force has his body obeyed if it is not an unconscious force, in +fact his unconscious self? + +Let us now examine the alas, too frequent case of a drunkard +attacked by _delirium tremens_. As though seized with madness he +picks up the nearest weapon, knife, hammer, or hatchet, as the case +may be, and strikes furiously those who are unlucky enough to be in +his vicinity. Once the attack is over, he recovers his senses and +contemplates with horror the scene of carnage around him, without +realizing that he himself is the author of it. Here again is it not the +unconscious self which has caused the unhappy man to act in this +way? [*] + +[*] And what aversions, what ills we create for ourselves, everyone +of us and in every domain by not "immediately" bringing into play +"good conscious autosuggestions" against our "bad unconscious +autosuggestions," thus bringing about the disappearance of all unjust +suffering. + +If we compare the conscious with the unconscious self we see that +the conscious self is often possessed of a very unreliable memory +while the unconscious self on the contrary is provided with a +marvelous and impeccable memory which registers without our +knowledge the smallest events, the least important acts of our +existence. Further, it is credulous and accepts with unreasoning +docility what it is told. Thus, as it is the unconscious that is +responsible for the functioning of all our organs but the intermediary +of the brain, a result is produced which may seem rather paradoxical +to you: that is, if it believes that a certain organ functions well or ill +or that we feel such and such an impression, the organ in question +does indeed function well or ill, or we do feel that impression. + +Not only does the unconscious self preside over the functions of our +organism, but also over _all our actions whatever they are_. It is +this that we call imagination, and it is this which, contrary to +accepted opinion, _always_ makes us act even, and _above all_, +against _our will_ when there is antagonism between these two +forces. + + +WILL AND IMAGINATION + +If we open a dictionary and look up the word "will", we find this +definition: "The faculty of freely determining certain acts". We +accept this definition as true and unattackable, although nothing +could be more false. This will that we claim so proudly, always +_yields_ to the imagination. It is an _absolute_ rule that admits of no +_exception_. + +"Blasphemy! Paradox!" you will exclaim. "Not at all! On the +contrary, it is the purest truth," I shall reply. + +In order to convince yourself of it, open your eyes, look round you +and try to understand what you see. You will then come to the +conclusion that what I tell you is not an idle theory, offspring of a +sick brain but the simple expression of a _fact_. + +Suppose that we place on the ground a plank 30 feet long by 1 foot +wide. It is evident that everybody will be capable of going from one +end to the other of this plank without stepping over the edge. But +now change the conditions of the experiment, and imagine this plank +placed at the height of the towers of a cathedral. Who then will be +capable of advancing even a few feet along this narrow path? Could +you hear me speak? Probably not. Before you had taken two steps +you would begin to tremble, and _in spite of every effort of your +will_ you would be certain to fall to the ground. + +Why is it then that you would not fall if the plank is on the ground, +and why should you fall if it is raised to a height above the ground? +Simply because in the first case you imagine that it is easy to go to +the end of this plank, while in the second case you _imagine_ that +you _cannot_ do so. + +Notice that your will is powerless to make you advance; if you +_imagine_ that you _cannot_, it is _absolutely_ impossible for you +to do so. If tilers and carpenters are able to accomplish this feat, it is +because they think they can do it. + +Vertigo is entirely caused by the picture we make in our minds that +we are going to fall. This picture transforms itself immediately into +fact _in spite of all the efforts of our will_, and the more violent +these efforts are, the quicker is the opposite to the desired result +brought about. + +Let us now consider the case of a person suffering from insomnia. If +he does not make any effort to sleep, he will lie quietly in bed. If on +the contrary he tries to force himself to sleep by his _will_, the +more efforts he makes, the more restless he becomes. + +Have you not noticed that the more you try to remember the name of +a person which you have forgotten, the more it eludes you, until, +substituting in your mind the idea "I shall remember in a minute" to +the idea "I have forgotten", the name comes back to you of its own +accord without the least effort? + +Let those of you who are cyclists remember the days when you were +learning to ride. You went along clutching the handle bars and +frightened of falling. Suddenly catching sight of the smallest +obstacle in the road you tried to avoid it, and the more efforts you +made to do so, the more surely you rushed upon it. + +Who has not suffered from an attack of uncontrollable laughter, +which bursts out more violently the more one tries to control it? + +What was the state of mind of each person in these different +circumstances? "_I do not want_ to fall but I _cannot help_ doing +so"; "I _want_ to sleep but I _cannot_ "; "I _want_ to remember the +name of Mrs. So and So, but I _cannot_ "; "I _want_ to avoid the +obstacle, but I _cannot_ "; "I _want_ to stop laughing, but I +_cannot_." + +As you see, in each of these conflicts it is always the _imagination_ +which gains the victory over the _will_, without any exception. + +To the same order of ideas belongs the case of the leader who rushes +forward at the head of his troops and always carries them along with +him, while the cry "Each man for himself!" is almost certain to +cause a defeat. Why is this? It is because in the first case the men +_imagine_ that they must go _forward_, and in the second they +_imagine_ that they are conquered and must fly for their lives. + +Panurge was quite aware of the contagion of example, that is to say +the action of the imagination, when, to avenge himself upon a +merchant on board the same boat, he bought his biggest sheep and +threw it into the sea, certain beforehand that the entire flock would +follow, which indeed happened. + +We human beings have a certain resemblance to sheep, and +involuntarily, we are irresistibly impelled to follow other people's +examples, _imagining_ that we cannot do otherwise. + +I could quote a thousand other examples but I should fear to bore +you by such an enumeration. I cannot however pass by in silence +this fact which shows the enormous power of the imagination, or in +other words of the unconscious in its struggle against the _will_. + +There are certain drunkards who wish to give up drinking, but who +cannot do so. Ask them, and they will reply in all sincerity that they +desire to be sober, that drink disgusts them, but that they are +irresistibly impelled to drink against their _will_, in spite of the +harm they know it will do them. + +In the same way certain criminals commit crimes _in spite of +themselves_, and when they are asked why they acted so, they +answer "I could not help it, something impelled me, it was stronger +than I." + +And the drunkard and the criminal speak the truth; they are forced to +do what they do, for the simple reason they imagine they cannot +prevent themselves from doing so. Thus we who are so proud of our +will, who believe that we are free to act as we like, are in reality +nothing but wretched puppets of which our imagination holds all the +strings. We only cease to be puppets when we have learned to guide +our imagination. + + +SUGGESTION AND AUTOSUGGESTION + +According to the preceding remarks we can compare the +imagination to a torrent which fatally sweeps away the poor wretch +who has fallen into it, in spite of his efforts to gain the bank. This +torrent seems indomitable; but if you know how, you can turn it +from its course and conduct it to the factory, and there you can +transform its force into movement, heat, and electricity. + +If this simile is not enough, we may compare the imagination--"the +madman at home" as it has been called--to an unbroken horse which +has neither bridle nor reins. What can the rider do except let himself +go wherever the horse wishes to take him? And often if the latter +runs away, his mad career only comes to end in the ditch. If however +the rider succeeds in putting a bridle on the horse, the parts are +reversed. It is no longer the horse who goes where he likes, it is the +rider who obliges the horse to take him wherever he wishes to go. + +Now that we have learned to realize the enormous power of the +unconscious or imaginative being, I am going to show how this self, +hitherto considered indomitable, can be as easily controlled as a +torrent or an unbroken horse. But before going any further it is +necessary to define carefully two words that are often used without +being properly understood. These are the words _suggestion_ and +_autosuggestion_. + +What then is suggestion? It may be defined as "the act of imposing +an idea on the brain of another". Does this action really exist? +Properly speaking, no. Suggestion does not indeed exist by itself. It +does not and cannot exist except on the _sine qua non_ condition of +transforming itself into _autosuggestion_ in the subject. This latter +word may be defined as "the implanting of an idea in oneself by +oneself." + +You may make a suggestion to someone; if the unconscious of the +latter does not accept the suggestion, if it has not, as it were, +digested it, in order to transform it into _autosuggestion_, it +produces no result. I have myself occasionally made a more or less +commonplace suggestion to ordinarily very obedient subjects quite +unsuccessfully. The reason is that the unconscious of the subject +refused to accept it and did not transform it into _autosuggestion_. + + +THE USE OF AUTOSUGGESTION + +Let us now return to the point where I said that we can control and +lead our imagination, just as a torrent or an unbroken horse can be +controlled. To do so, it is enough in the first place to know that this +is possible (of which fact almost everyone is ignorant) and secondly, +to know by what means it can be done. Well, the means is very +simple; it is that which we have used every day since we came into +the world, without wishing or knowing it and absolutely +unconsciously, but which unfortunately for us, we often use wrongly +and to our own detriment. This means is _autosuggestion_. + +Whereas we constantly give ourselves unconscious autosuggestions, +all we have to do is to give ourselves conscious ones, and the +process consists in this: first, to weigh carefully in one's mind the +things which are to be the object of the autosuggestion, and +according as they require the answer "yes" or "no" to repeat several +times without thinking of anything else: "This thing is coming", or +"this thing is going away"; "this thing will, or will not happen, etc., +etc. . . ." [*] If the unconscious accepts this suggestion and +transforms it into an autosuggestion, the thing or things are realized +in every particular. + +[*] Of course the thing must be in our power. + +Thus understood, _autosuggestion_ is nothing but hypnotism as I +see it, and I would define it in these simple words: _The influence of +the imagination upon the moral and physical being of mankind_. +Now this influence is undeniable, and without returning to previous +examples, I will quote a few others. + +If you persuade yourself that you can do a certain thing, provided +this thing be _possible_, you will do it however difficult it may be. +If on the contrary you _imagine_ that you cannot do the simplest +thing in the world, it is impossible for you to do it, and molehills +become for you unscalable mountains. + +Such is the case of neurasthenics, who, believing themselves +incapable of the least effort, often find it impossible even to walk a +few steps without being exhausted. And these same neurasthenics +sink more deeply into their depression, the more efforts they make +to throw it off, like the poor wretch in the quicksands who sinks in +all the deeper the more he tries to struggle out. + +In the same way it is sufficient to think a pain is going, to feel it +indeed disappear little by little, and inversely, it is enough to think +that one suffers in order to feel the pain begin to come immediately. + +I know certain people who predict in advance that they will have a +sick headache on a certain day, in certain circumstances, and on that +day, in the given circumstances, sure enough, they feel it. They +brought their illness on themselves, just as others cure theirs by +_conscious autosuggestion_. + +I know that one generally passes for mad in the eyes of the world if +one dares to put forward ideas which it is not accustomed to hear. +Well, at the risk of being thought so, I say that if certain people are +ill mentally and physically, it is that they _imagine_ themselves to +be ill mentally or physically. If certain others are paralytic without +having any lesion to account for it, it is that they _imagine_ +themselves to be paralyzed, and it is among such persons that the +most extraordinary cures are produced. If others again are happy or +unhappy, it is that they imagine themselves to be so, for it is possible +for two people in exactly the same circumstances to be, the one +_perfectly happy_, the other _absolutely wretched_. + +Neurasthenia, stammering, aversions, kleptomania, certain cases of +paralysis, are nothing but the result of unconscious autosuggestion, +that is to say the result of the action of the _unconscious_ upon the +physical and moral being. + +But if our unconscious is the source of many of our ills, it can also +bring about the cure of our physical and mental ailments. It can not +only repair the ill it has done, but cure real illnesses, so strong is its +action upon our organism. + +Shut yourself up alone in a room, seat yourself in an armchair, close +your eyes to avoid any distraction, and concentrate your mind for a +few moments on thinking: "Such and such a thing is going to +disappear", or "Such and such a thing is coming to pass." + +If you have really made the autosuggestion, that is to say, if your +unconscious has assimilated the idea that you have presented to it, +you are astonished to see the thing you have thought come to pass. +(Note that it is the property of ideas autosuggested to exist within us +unrecognized, and we can only know of their existence by the effect +they produce.) But above all, and this is an essential point, the will +must not be brought into play in practising autosuggestion; for, if it +is not in agreement with the imagination, if one thinks: "I will make +such and such a thing happen", and the imagination says: "You are +willing it, but it is not going to be", not only does one not obtain +what one wants, but even exactly the reverse is brought about. + +This remark is of capital importance, and explains why results are so +unsatisfactory when, in treating moral ailments, one strives to +_re-educate_ the will. It is the _training of the imagination_ which is +necessary, and it is thanks to this shade of difference that my method +has often succeeded where others--and those not the least +considered--have failed. From the numerous experiments that I have +made daily for twenty years, and which I have examined with +minute care, I have been able to deduct the following conclusions +which I have summed up as laws: + +1. When the will and the imagination are antagonistic, it is always +the imagination which wins, _without any exception_. + +2. In the conflict between the will and the imagination, the force of +the imagination is in _direct ratio to the square of the will_. + +3. When the will and the imagination are in agreement, one does not +add to the other, but one is multiplied by the other. + +4. The imagination can be directed. + +(The expressions "In direct ratio to the square of the will" and "Is +multiplied by" are not rigorously exact. They are simply illustrations +destined to make my meaning clearer.) + +After what has just been said it would seem that nobody ought to be +ill. That is quite true. Every illness, whatever it may be, _can_ yield +to _autosuggestion_, daring and unlikely as my statement may seem; +I do not say _does always yield_, but _can yield_, which is a +different thing. + +But in order to lead people to practise conscious autosuggestion they +must be taught how, just as they are taught to read or write or play +the piano. + +_Autosuggestion_ is, as I said above, an instrument that we possess +at birth, and with which we play unconsciously all our life, as a baby +plays with its rattle. It is however a dangerous instrument; it can +wound or even kill you if you handle it imprudently and +unconsciously. It can on the contrary save your life when you know +how to employ it _consciously_. One can say of it as Aesop said of +the tongue: "It is at the same time the best and the worst thing in the +world". + +I am now going to show you how everyone can profit by the +beneficent action of _autosuggestion_ consciously applied. In saying +"every one", I exaggerate a little, for there are two classes of persons +in whom it is difficult to arouse conscious autosuggestion: + +1. The mentally undeveloped who are not capable of understanding +what you say to them. + +2. _Those who are unwilling to understand_. + + +HOW TO TEACH PATIENTS TO MAKE AUTOSUGGESTIONS + +The principle of the method may be summed up in these few words: +_It is impossible to think of two things at once_, that is to say that +two ideas may be in juxtaposition, but they cannot be superimposed +in our mind. + +_Every thought entirely filling our mind becomes true for us and +tends to transform itself into action_. + +Thus if you can make a sick person think that her trouble is getting +better, it will disappear; if you succeed in making a kleptomaniac +think that he will not steal any more, he will cease to steal, etc., etc. + +This training which perhaps seems to you an impossibility, is, +however, the simplest thing in the world. It is enough, by a series of +appropriate and graduated experiments, to teach the subject, as it +were the A. B. C. of conscious thought, and here is the series: by +following it to the letter one can be absolutely sure of obtaining a +good result, except with the two categories of persons mentioned +above. + +_First experiment_.[*] _Preparatory_.--Ask the subject to stand +upright, with the body as stiff as an iron bar, the feet close together +from toe to heel, while keeping the ankles flexible as if they were +hinges. Tell him to make himself like a plank with hinges at its base, +which is balanced on the ground. Make him notice that if one pushes +the plank slightly either way it falls as a mass without any resistance, +in the direction in which it is pushed. Tell him that you are going to +pull him back by the shoulders and that he must let himself fall in +your arms without the slightest resistance, turning on his ankles as +on hinges, that is to say keeping the feet fixed to the ground. Then +pull him back by the shoulders and if the experiment does not +succeed, repeat it until it does, or nearly so. + +[*] These experiments are those of Sage of Rochester. + +_Second experiment_.--Begin by explaining to the subject that in +order to demonstrate the action of the imagination upon us, you are +going to ask him in a moment to think: "I am falling backwards, I +am falling backwards. . . ." Tell him that he must have no thought but +this in his mind, that he must not reflect or wonder if he is going to +fall or not, or think that if he falls he may hurt himself, etc., or fall +back purposely to please you, but that if he really feels something +impelling him to fall backwards, he must not resist but obey the +impulse. + +Then ask your subject to raise the head high and to shut his eyes, +and place your right fist on the back of his neck, and your left hand +on his forehead, and say to him: "Now think: I am falling backwards, +I am falling backwards, etc., etc. . ." and, indeed, "You are falling +backwards, You . . . are . . . fall . . . ing . . . back . . . wards, +etc." At the same time slide the left hand lightly backwards to the +left temple, above the ear, and remove very slowly but with a +continuous movement the right fist. + +The subject is immediately felt to make a slight movement +backwards, and either to stop himself from falling or else to fall +completely. In the first case, tell him that he has resisted, and that he +did not think just that he was falling, but that he might hurt himself +if he did fall. That is true, for if he had not thought the latter, he +would have fallen like a block. Repeat the experiment using a tone +of command as if you would force the subject to obey you. Go on +with it until it is completely successful or very nearly so. The +operator should stand a little behind the subject, the left leg forward +and the right leg well behind him, so as not to be knocked over by +the subject when he falls. Neglect of this precaution might result in a +double fall if the person is heavy. + +_Third experiment_.--Place the subject facing you, the body still +stiff, the ankles flexible, and the feet joined and parallel. Put your +two hands on his temples without any pressure, look fixedly, +without moving the eyelids, at the root of his nose, and tell him to +think: "I am falling forward, I am falling forward . . ." and repeat to +him, stressing the syllables, "You are fall . . . ing . . . for . . . ward, +You are fall . . . ing . . . for . . . ward . . ." without ceasing to look +fixedly at him. + +_Fourth experiment_.--Ask the subject to clasp his hands as tight as +possible, that is to say, until the fingers tremble slightly, look at him +in the same way as in the preceding experiment and keep your hands +on his as though to squeeze them together still more tightly. Tell him +to think that he cannot unclasp his fingers, that you are going to +count three, and that when you say "three" he is to try to separate his +hands while thinking all the time: "I cannot do it, I cannot do it . . ." +and he will find it impossible. Then count very slowly, "one, two, +three", and add immediately, detaching the syllables: "You . . . +can . . . not . . . do . . . it. . . . You . . . can . . . not . . . +do . . . it. . . ." If the subject is thinking properly, "I cannot do +it", not only is he unable to separate his fingers, but the latter +clasp themselves all the more tightly together the more efforts he makes +to separate them. He obtains in fact exactly the contrary to what he +wants. In a few moments say to him: "Now think: 'I can do it,'" and +his fingers will separate themselves. + +Be careful always to keep your eyes fixed on the root of the subject's +nose, and do not allow him to turn his eyes away from yours for a +single moment. If he is able to unclasp his hands, do not think it is +your own fault, it is the subject's, he has not properly thought: "I +cannot". Assure him firmly of this, and begin the experiment again. + +Always use a tone of command which suffers no disobedience. I do +not mean that it is necessary to raise your voice; on the contrary it is +preferable to employ the ordinary pitch, but stress every word in a +dry and imperative tone. + +When these experiments have been successful, all the others succeed +equally well and can be easily obtained by carrying out to the letter +the instructions given above. + +Some subjects are very sensitive, and it is easy to recognize them by +the fact that the contraction of their fingers and limbs is easily +produced. After two or three successful experiments, it is no longer +necessary to say to them: "Think this", or "think that"; You need +only, for example, say to them simply--but in the imperative tone +employed by all good suggestionists--"Close your hands; now you +cannot open them". "Shut your eyes; now you cannot open them," +and the subject finds it absolutely impossible to open the hands or +the eyes in spite of all his efforts. Tell him in a few moments: "You +can do it now," and the de-contraction takes place instantaneously. + +These experiments can be varied to infinity. Here are a few more: +Make the subject join his hands, and suggest that they are welded +together; make him put his hand on the table, and suggest that it is +stuck to it; tell him that he is fixed to his chair and cannot rise; make +him rise, and tell him he cannot walk; put a penholder on the table +and tell him that it weighs a hundredweight, and that he cannot lift it, +etc., etc. + +In all these experiments, I cannot repeat too often, it is not +_suggestion_ properly so-called which produces the phenomena, but +the _autosuggestion_ which is consecutive to the suggestion of the +operator. + + +METHOD OF PROCEDURE IN CURATIVE SUGGESTION + +When the subject has passed through the preceding experiments and +has understood them, he is ripe for curative suggestion. He is like a +cultivated field in which the seed can germinate and develop, +whereas before it was but rough earth in which it would have +perished. + +Whatever ailment the subject suffers from, whether it is physical or +mental, it is important to proceed always in the same way, and to use +the same words with a few variations according to the case. + +Say to the subject: Sit down and close your eyes. I am not going to +try and put you to sleep as it is quite unnecessary. I ask you to close +your eyes simply in order that your attention may not be distracted +by the objects around you. Now tell yourself that every word I say is +going to fix itself in your mind, and be printed, engraved, and +encrusted in it, that, there, it is going to stay fixed, imprinted, and +encrusted, and that without your will or knowledge, in fact perfectly +unconsciously on your part, you yourself and your whole organism +are going to obey. In the first place I say that every day, three times +a day, in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, at the usual +meal times, you will feel hungry, that is to say, you will experience +the agreeable sensation which makes you think and say: "Oh! how +nice it will be to have something to eat!" You will then eat and enjoy +your food, without of course overeating. You will also be careful to +masticate it properly so as to transform it into a sort of soft paste +before swallowing it. In these conditions you will digest it properly, +and so feel no discomfort, inconvenience, or pain of any kind either +in the stomach or intestines. You will assimilate what you eat and +your organism will make use of it to make blood, muscle, strength +and energy, in a word: Life. + +Since you will have digested your food properly, the function of +excretion will be normal, and every morning, on rising, you will feel +the need of evacuating the bowels, and without ever being obliged to +take medicine or to use any artifice, you will obtain a normal and +satisfactory result. + +Further, every night from the time you wish to go to sleep till the +time you wish to wake next morning, you will sleep deeply, calmly, +and quietly, without nightmares, and on waking you will feel +perfectly well, cheerful, and active. + +Likewise, if you occasionally suffer from depression, if you are +gloomy and prone to worry and look on the dark side of things, from +now onwards you will cease to do so, and, instead of worrying and +being depressed and looking on the dark side of things, you are +going to feel perfectly cheerful, possibly without any special reason +for it, just as you used to feel depressed for no particular reason. I +say further still, that even if you have real reason to be worried and +depressed you are not going to be so. + +If you are also subject to occasional fits of impatience or ill-temper +you will cease to have them: on the contrary you will be always +patient and master of yourself, and the things which worried, +annoyed, or irritated you, will henceforth leave you absolutely +indifferent and perfectly calm. + +If you are sometimes attacked, pursued, haunted, by bad and +unwholesome ideas, by apprehensions, fears, aversions, temptations, +or grudges against other people, all that will be gradually lost sight +of by your imagination, and will melt away and lose itself as though +in a distant cloud where it will finally disappear completely. As a +dream vanishes when we wake, so will all these vain images +disappear. + +To this I add that all your organs are performing their functions +properly. The heart beats in a normal way and the circulation of the +blood takes place as it should; the lungs are carrying out their +functions, as also the stomach, the intestines, the liver, the biliary +duct, the kidneys and the bladder. If at the present moment any of +them is acting abnormally, that abnormality is becoming less every +day, so that quite soon it will have vanished completely, and the +organ will have recovered its normal function. Further, if there +should be any lesions in any of these organs, they will get better +from day to day and will soon be entirely healed. (With regard to +this, I may say that it is not necessary to know which organ is +affected for it to be cured. Under the influence of the autosuggestion +"Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better", the +unconscious acts upon the organ which it can pick out itself.) + +I must also add--and it is extremely important--that if up to the +present you have lacked confidence in yourself, I tell you that this +self-distrust will disappear little by little and give place to +self-confidence, based on the knowledge of this force of incalculable +power which is in each one of us. It is absolutely necessary for every +human being to have this confidence. Without it one can accomplish +nothing, with it one can accomplish whatever one likes, (within +reason, of course). You are then going to have confidence in +yourself, and this confidence gives you the assurance that you are +capable of accomplishing perfectly well whatever you wish to do, +--_on condition that it is reasonable_,--and whatever it is your duty to +do. + +So when you wish to do something reasonable, or when you have a +duty to perform, always think that it is _easy_, and make the words +_difficult, impossible, I cannot, it is stronger than I, I cannot prevent +myself from_. . . , disappear from your vocabulary; they are not +English. What is English is: "_It is easy and I can_ ". By considering +the thing easy it becomes so for you, although it might seem difficult +to others. You will do it quickly and well, and without fatigue, +because you do it without effort, whereas if you had considered it as +difficult or impossible it would have become so for you, simply +because you would have thought it so. + +To these general suggestions which will perhaps seem long and even +childish to some of you, but which are necessary, must be added +those which apply to the particular case of the patient you are +dealing with. + +All these suggestions must be made in a monotonous and soothing +voice (always emphasizing the essential words), which although it +does not actually send the subject to sleep, at least makes him feel +drowsy, and think of nothing in particular. + +When you have come to the end of the series of suggestions you +address the subject in these terms: "In short, I mean that from every +point of view, physical as well as mental, you are going to enjoy +excellent health, better health than that you have been able to enjoy +up to the present. Now I am going to count three, and when I say +'Three', you will open your eyes and come out of the passive state +in which you are now. You will come out of it quite naturally, +without feeling in the least drowsy or tired, on the contrary, you will +feel strong, vigorous, alert, active, full of life; further still, you will +feel very cheerful and fit in every way. 'ONE--TWO--THREE--' At +the word 'three' the subject opens his eyes, always with a smile and +an expression of well-being and contentment on his face." + +Sometimes,--though rarely,--the patient is cured on the spot; at other +times, and this is more generally the case, he finds himself relieved, +his pain or his depression has partially or totally disappeared, though +only for a certain lapse of time. + +In every case it is necessary to renew the suggestions more or less +frequently according to your subject, being careful always to space +them out at longer and longer intervals, according to the progress +obtained until they are no longer necessary,--that is to say when the +cure is complete. + +Before sending away your patient, you must tell him that he carries +within him the instrument by which he can cure himself, and that +you are, as it were, only a professor teaching him to use this +instrument, and that he must help you in your task. Thus, every +morning before rising, and every night on getting into bed, he must +shut his eyes and in thought transport himself into your presence, +and then repeat twenty times consecutively in a monotonous voice, +counting by means of a string with twenty knots in it, this little +phrase: + +"EVERY DAY, IN EVERY RESPECT, I AM GETTING BETTER +AND BETTER." In his mind he should emphasize the words "_in +every respect_" which applies to every need, mental or physical. +This general suggestion is more efficacious than special ones. + +Thus it is easy to realize the part played by the giver of the +suggestions. He is not a master who gives orders, but a friend, a +guide, who leads the patient step by step on the road to health. As all +the suggestions are given in the interest of the patient, the +unconscious of the latter asks nothing better than to assimilate them +and transform them into autosuggestions. When this has been done, +the cure is obtained more or less rapidly according to circumstances. + + +THE SUPERIORITY OF THIS METHOD + +This method gives absolutely marvelous results, and it is easy to +understand why. Indeed, by following out my advice, it is +impossible to fail, except with the two classes of persons mentioned +above, who fortunately represent barely 3 per cent of the whole. If, +however, you try to put your subjects to sleep right away, without +the explanations and preliminary experiments necessary to bring +them to accept the suggestions and to transform them into +autosuggestions you cannot and will not succeed except with +peculiarly sensitive subjects, and these are rare. Everybody may +become so by training, but very few are so sufficiently without the +preliminary instruction that I recommend, which can be done in a +few minutes. + +Formerly, imagining that suggestions could only be given during +sleep, I always tried to put my patient to sleep; but on discovering +that it was not indispensable, I left off doing it in order to spare him +the dread and uneasiness he almost always experiences when he is +told that he is going to be sent to sleep, and which often makes him +offer, in spite of himself, an involuntary resistance. If, on the +contrary, you tell him that you are not going to put him to sleep as +there is no need to do so, you gain his confidence. He listens to you +without fear or any ulterior thought, and it often happens--if not the +first time, anyhow very soon--that, soothed by the monotonous +sound of your voice, he falls into a deep sleep from which he +awakes astonished at having slept at all. + +If there are sceptics among you--as I am quite sure there are--all I +have to say to them is: "Come to my house and see what is being +done, and you will be convinced by fact." + +You must not however run away with the idea that autosuggestion +can only be brought about in the way I have described. It is possible +to make suggestions to people without their knowledge and without +any preparation. For instance, if a doctor who by his title alone has a +suggestive influence on his patient, tells him that he can do nothing +for him, and that his illness is incurable, he provokes in the mind of +the latter an autosuggestion which may have the most disastrous +consequences; if however he tells him that his illness is a serious +one, it is true, but that with care, time, and patience, he can be cured, +he sometimes and even often obtains results which will surprise him. + +Here is another example: if a doctor after examining his patient, +writes a prescription and gives it to him without any comment, the +remedies prescribed will not have much chance of succeeding; if, on +the other hand, he explains to his patient that such and such +medicines must be taken in such and such conditions and that they +will produce certain results, those results are practically certain to be +brought about. + +If in this hall there are medical men or brother chemists, I hope they +will not think me their enemy. I am on the contrary their best friend. +On the one hand I should like to see the theoretical and practical +study of suggestion on the syllabus of the medical schools for the +great benefit of the sick and of the doctors themselves; and on the +other hand, in my opinion, every time that a patient goes to see his +doctor, the latter should order him one or even several medicines, +even if they are not necessary. As a matter of fact, when a patient +visits his doctor, it is in order to be told what medicine will cure him. +He does not realize that it is the hygiene and regimen which do this, +and he attaches little importance to them. It is a medicine that he +wants. + +In my opinion, if the doctor only prescribes a regimen without any +medicine, his patient will be dissatisfied; he will say that he took the +trouble to consult him for nothing, and often goes to another doctor. +It seems to me then that the doctor should always prescribe +medicines to his patient, and, as much as possible, medicines made +up by himself rather than the standard remedies so much advertised +and which owe their only value to the advertisement. The doctor's +own prescriptions will inspire infinitely more confidence than So +and So's pills which anyone can procure easily at the nearest drug +store without any need of a prescription. + + +HOW SUGGESTION WORKS + +In order to understand properly the part played by suggestion or +rather by autosuggestion, it is enough to know that the _unconscious +self is the grand director of all our functions_. Make this believed, +as I said above, that a certain organ which does not function well +must perform its function, and instantly the order is transmitted. The +organ obeys with docility, and either at once or little by little +performs its functions in a normal manner. This explains simply and +clearly how by means of suggestion one can stop haemorrhages, +cure constipation, cause fibrous tumours to disappear, cure paralysis, +tubercular lesions, varicose, ulcers, etc. + +Let us take for example, a case of dental haemorrhage which I had +the opportunity of observing in the consulting room of M. Gauthe, a +dentist at Troyes. A young lady whom I had helped to cure herself +of asthma from which she had suffered for eight years, told me one +day that she wanted to have a tooth out. As I knew her to be very +sensitive, I offered to make her feel nothing of the operation. She +naturally accepted with pleasure and we made an appointment with +the dentist. On the day we had arranged we presented ourselves at +the dentist's and, standing opposite my patient, I looked fixedly at +her, saying: "You feel nothing, you feel nothing, etc., etc." and then +while still continuing the suggestion I made a sign to the dentist. In +an instant the tooth was out without Mlle. D---- turning a hair. As +fairly often happens, a haemorrhage followed, but I told the dentist +that I would try suggestion without his using a haemostatic, without +knowing beforehand what would happen. I then asked Mlle. D---- to +look at me fixedly, and I suggested to her that in two minutes the +haemorrhage would cease of its own accord, and we waited. The +patient spat blood again once or twice, and then ceased. I told her to +open her mouth, and we both looked and found that a clot of blood +had formed in the dental cavity. + +How is this phenomenon to be explained? In the simplest way. +Under the influence of the idea: "The haemorrhage is to stop", the +unconscious had sent to the small arteries and veins the order to stop +the flow of blood, and, obediently, they contracted _naturally_, as +they would have done artificially at the contact of a haemostatic like +adrenalin, for example. + +The same reasoning explains how a fibrous tumour can be made to +disappear. The unconscious having accepted the idea "It is to go" the +brain orders the arteries which nourish it, to contract. They do so, +refusing their services, and ceasing to nourish the tumour which, +deprived of nourishment, dies, dries up, is reabsorbed and +disappears. + + +THE USE OF SUGGESTION FOR THE CURE OF MORAL +AILMENTS AND TAINTS EITHER CONGENITAL OR +ACQUIRED + +Neurasthenia, so common nowadays, generally yields to suggestion +constantly practised in the way I have indicated. I have had the +happiness of contributing to the cure of a large number of +neurasthenics with whom every other treatment had failed. One of +them had even spent a month in a special establishment at +Luxemburg without obtaining any improvement. In six weeks he +was completely cured, and he is now the happiest man one would +wish to find, after having thought himself the most miserable. +Neither is he ever likely to fall ill again in the same way, for I +showed him how to make use of conscious autosuggestion and he +does it marvelously well. + +But if suggestion is useful in treating moral complaints and physical +ailments, may it not render still greater services to society, in +turning into honest folks the wretched children who people our +reformatories and who only leave them to enter the army of crime. +Let no one tell me it is impossible. The remedy exists and I can +prove it. + +I will quote the two following cases which are very characteristic, +but here I must insert a few remarks in parenthesis. To make you +understand the way in which suggestion acts in the treatment of +moral taints I will use the following comparison. Suppose our brain +is a plank in which are driven nails which represent the ideas, habits, +and instincts, which determine our actions. If we find that there +exists in a subject a bad idea, a bad habit, a bad instinct,--as it were, +a bad nail, we take another which is the good idea, habit, or instinct, +place it on top of the bad one and give a tap with a hammer--in other +words we make a suggestion. The new nail will be driven in perhaps +a fraction of an inch, while the old one will come out to the same +extent. At each fresh blow with the hammer, that is to say at each +fresh suggestion, the one will be driven in a fraction further and the +other will be driven out the same amount, until, after a certain +number of blows, the old nail will come out completely and be +replaced by the new one. When this substitution has been made, the +individual obeys it. + +Let us return to our examples. Little M----, a child of eleven living at +Troyes, was subject night and day to certain accidents inherent to +early infancy. He was also a kleptomaniac, and, of course, untruthful +into the bargain. At his mother's request I treated him by suggestion. +After the first visit the accidents ceased by day, but continued at +night. Little by little they became less frequent, and finally, a few +months afterwards, the child was completely cured. In the same +period his thieving propensities lessened, and in six months they had +entirely ceased. + +This child's brother, aged eighteen, had conceived a violent hatred +against another of his brothers. Every time that he had taken a little +too much wine, he felt impelled to draw a knife and stab his brother. +He felt that one day or other he would end by doing so, and he knew +at the same time that having done so he would be inconsolable. I +treated him also by suggestion, and the result was marvelous. After +the first treatment he was cured. His hatred for his brother had +disappeared, and they have since become good friends and got on +capitally together. I followed up the case for a long time, and the +cure was permanent. + +Since such results are to be obtained by suggestion, would it not be +beneficial--I might even say _indispensable_--to take up this +method and introduce it into our reformatories? I am absolutely +convinced that if suggestion were daily applied to vicious children, +more than 50 per cent could be reclaimed. Would it not be an +immense service to render society, to bring back to it sane and well +members of it who were formerly corroded by moral decay? + +Perhaps I shall be told that suggestion is a dangerous thing, and that +it can be used for evil purposes. This is no valid objection, first +because the practice of suggestion would only be confided [by the +patient] to reliable and honest people,--to the reformatory doctors, +for instance,--and on the other hand, those who seek to use it for evil +ask no one's permission. + +But even admitting that it offers some danger (which is not so) I +should like to ask whoever proffers the objection, to tell me what +thing we use that is not dangerous? Is it steam? gunpowder? +railways? ships? electricity? automobiles? aeroplanes? Are the +poisons not dangerous which we, doctors and chemists, use daily in +minute doses, and which might easily destroy the patient if, in a +moment's carelessness, we unfortunately made a mistake in +weighing them out? + + +A FEW TYPICAL CURES + +This little work would be incomplete if it did not include a few +examples of the cures obtained. It would take too long, and would +also perhaps be somewhat tiring if I were to relate all those in which +I have taken part. I will therefore content myself by quoting a few of +the most remarkable. + +Mlle. M---- D----, of Troyes, had suffered for eight years from +asthma which obliged her to sit up in bed nearly all night, fighting +for breath. Preliminary experiments show that she is a very sensitive +subject. She sleeps immediately, and the suggestion is given. From +the first treatment there is an enormous improvement. The patient +has a good night, only interrupted by one attack of asthma which +only lasts a quarter of an hour. In a very short time the asthma +disappears completely and there is no relapse later on. + +M. M----, a working hosier living at Sainte-Savine near Troyes, +paralyzed for two years as the result of injuries at the junction of the +spinal column and the pelvis. The paralysis is only in the lower +limbs, in which the circulation of the blood has practically ceased, +making them swollen, congested, and discolored. Several treatments, +including the antisyphilitic, have been tried without success. +Preliminary experiments successful; suggestion applied by me, and +autosuggestion by the patient for eight days. At the end of this time +there is an almost imperceptible but still appreciable movement of +the left leg. Renewed suggestion. In eight days the improvement is +noticeable. Every week or fortnight there is an increased +improvement with progressive lessening of the swelling, and so on. +Eleven months afterwards, on the first of November, 1906, the +patient goes downstairs alone and walks 800 yards, and in the month +of July, 1907, goes back to the factory where he has continued to +work since that time, with no trace of paralysis. + +M. A---- G----, living at Troyes, has long suffered from enteritis, for +which different treatments have been tried in vain. He is also in a +very bad state mentally, being depressed, gloomy, unsociable, and +obsessed by thoughts of suicide. Preliminary experiments easy, +followed by suggestion which produces an appreciable result from +the very day. For three months, daily suggestions to begin with, then +at increasingly longer intervals. At the end of this time, the cure is +complete, the enteritis has disappeared, and his _morals_ have +become excellent. As the cure dates back twelve years without the +shadow of a relapse, it may be considered as permanent. M. G----, is +a striking example of the effects that can be produced by suggestion, +or rather by autosuggestion. At the same time as I made suggestions +to him from the physical point of view, I also did so from the mental, +and he accepted both suggestions equally well. Every day his +confidence in himself increased, and as he was an excellent +workman, in order to earn more, he looked out for a machine which +would enable him to work at home for his employer. A little later a +factory owner having seen with his own eyes what a good workman +he was, entrusted him with the very machine he desired. Thanks to +his skill he was able to turn out much more than an ordinary +workman, and his employer, delighted with the result, gave him +another and yet another machine, until M. G----, who, but for +suggestion, would have remained an ordinary workman, is now in +charge of six machines which bring him a very hand some profit. + +Mme. D----, at Troyes, about 30 years of age. She is in the last +stages of consumption, and grows thinner daily in spite of special +nourishment. She suffers from coughing and spitting, and has +difficulty in breathing; in fact, from all appearances she has +only a few months to live. Preliminary experiments show +great sensitiveness, and suggestion is followed by immediate +improvement. From the next day the morbid symptoms begin to +lessen. Every day the improvement becomes more marked, the +patient rapidly puts on flesh, although she no longer takes special +nourishment. In a few months the cure is apparently complete. This +person wrote to me on the 1st of January, 1911, that is to say eight +months after I had left Troyes, to thank me and to tell me that, +although pregnant, she was perfectly well. + +I have purposely chosen these cases dating some time back, in order +to show that the cures are permanent, but I should like to add a few +more recent ones. + +M. X----, Post Office clerk at Luneville. Having lost one of his +children in January, 1910, the trouble produces in him a cerebral +disturbance which manifests itself by uncontrollable nervous +trembling. His uncle brings him to me in the month of June. +Preliminary experiments followed by suggestion. Four days +afterwards the patient returns to tell me that the trembling has +disappeared. I renew the suggestion and tell him to return in eight +days. A week, then a fortnight, then three weeks, then a month, pass +by without my hearing any more of him. Shortly afterwards his +uncle comes and tells me that he has just had a letter from his +nephew, who is perfectly well. He has taken on again his work as +telegraphist which he had been obliged to give up, and the day +before, he had sent off a telegram of 170 words without the least +difficulty. He could easily, he added in his letter, have sent off an +even longer one. Since then he has had no relapse. + +M. Y----, of Nancy, has suffered from neurasthenia for several years. +He has aversions, nervous fears, and disorders of the stomach and +intestines. He sleeps badly, is gloomy and is haunted by ideas of +suicide; he staggers when he walks like a drunken man, and can +think of nothing but his trouble. All treatments have failed and he +gets worse and worse; a stay in a special nursing home for such +cases has no effect whatever. M. Y---- comes to see me at the +beginning of October, 1910. Preliminary experiments comparatively +easy. I explain to the patient the principles of autosuggestion, and +the existence within us of the conscious and the unconscious self, +and then make the required suggestion. For two or three days +M. Y---- has a little difficulty with the explanations I have given him. +In a short time light breaks in upon his mind, and he grasps the whole +thing. I renew the suggestion, and he makes it himself too every day. +The improvement, which is at first slow, becomes more and more +rapid, and in a month and a half the cure is complete. The ex-invalid +who had lately considered himself the most wretched of men, now +thinks himself the happiest. + +M. E----, of Troyes. An attack of gout; the right ankle is inflamed +and painful, and he is unable to walk. The preliminary experiments +show him to be a very sensitive subject. After the first treatment he +is able to regain, without the help of his stick, the carriage which +brought him, and the pain has ceased. The next day he does not +return as I had told him to do. Afterwards his wife comes alone and +tells me that that morning her husband had got up, put on his shoes, +and gone off on his bicycle to visit his yards (he is a painter). It is +needless to tell you my utter astonishment. I was not able to follow +up this case, as the patient never deigned to come and see me again, +but some time afterward I heard that he had had no relapse. + +Mme. T----, of Nancy. Neurasthenia, dyspepsia, gastralgia, enteritis, +and pains in different parts of the body. She has treated herself for +several years with a negative result. I treat her by suggestion, and +she makes autosuggestions for herself every day. From the first day +there is a noticeable improvement which continues without +interruption. At the present moment this person has long been cured +mentally and physically, and follows no regimen. She thinks that she +still has perhaps a slight touch of enteritis, but she is not sure. + +Mme. X----, a sister of Mme. T----. Acute neurasthenia; she stays in +bed a fortnight every month, as it is totally impossible for her to +move or work; she suffers from lack of appetite, depression, and +digestive disorders. She is cured by one visit, and the cure seems to +be permanent as she has had no relapse. + +Mme. H----, at Maxeville. General eczema, which is particularly +severe on the left leg. Both legs are inflamed, above all at the ankles; +walking is difficult and painful. I treat her by suggestion. That same +evening Mme. H---- is able to walk several hundred yards without +fatigue. The day after the feet and ankles are no longer swollen and +have not been swollen again since. The eczema disappears rapidly. + +Mme. F----, at Laneuveville. Pains in the kidneys and the knees. The +illness dates from ten years back and is becoming worse every day. +Suggestion from me, and autosuggestion from herself. The +improvement is immediate and increases progressively. The cure is +obtained rapidly, and is a permanent one. + +Mme. Z----, of Nancy, felt ill in January, 1910, with congestion of +the lungs, from which she had not recovered two months later. She +suffers from general weakness, loss of appetite, bad digestive +trouble, rare and difficult bowel action, insomnia, copious +night-sweats. After the first suggestion, the patient feels much better, +and two days later she returns and tells me that she feels quite well. +Every trace of illness has disappeared, and all the organs are +functioning normally. Three or four times she had been on the point +of sweating, but each time prevented it by the use of conscious +autosuggestion. From this time Mme. Z---- has enjoyed perfectly +good health. + +M. X----, at Belfort, cannot talk for more than ten minutes or a +quarter of an hour without becoming completely aphonous. +Different doctors consulted find no lesion in the vocal organs, but +one of them says that M. X---- suffers from senility of the larynx, +and this conclusion confirms him in the belief that he is incurable. +He comes to spend his holidays at Nancy, and a lady of my +acquaintance advises him to come and see me. He refuses at first, +but eventually consents in spite of his absolute disbelief in the +effects of suggestion. I treat him in this way nevertheless, and ask +him to return two days afterwards. He comes back on the appointed +day, and tells me that the day before he was able to converse the +whole afternoon without becoming aphonous. Two days later he +returns again to say that his trouble had not reappeared, although he +had not only conversed a great deal but even sung the day before. +The cure still holds good and I am convinced that it will always do +so. + +Before closing, I should like to say a few words on the application +of my method to the training and correction of children by their +parents. + +The latter should wait until the child is asleep, and then one of them +should enter his room with precaution, stop a yard from his bed, and +repeat 15 or 20 times in a murmur all the things they wish to obtain +from the child, from the point of view of health, work, sleep, +application, conduct, etc. He should then retire as he came, taking +great care not to awake the child. This extremely simple process +gives the best possible results, and it is easy to understand why. +When the child is asleep his body and his conscious self are at rest +and, as it were, annihilated; his unconscious self however is awake; +it is then to the latter alone that one speaks, and as it is very +credulous it accepts what one says to it without dispute, so that, little +by little, the child arrives at making of himself what his parents +desire him to be. + + +CONCLUSION + +What conclusion is to be drawn from all this? + +The conclusion is very simple and can be expressed in a few words: +We possess within us a force of incalculable power, which, when we +handle it unconsciously is often prejudicial to us. If on the contrary +we direct it in a conscious and wise manner, it gives us the mastery +of ourselves and allows us not only to escape and to aid others to +escape, from physical and mental ills, but also to live in relative +happiness, whatever the conditions in which we may find ourselves. + +Lastly, and above all, it should be applied to the moral regeneration +of those who have wandered from the right path. + + + + +THOUGHTS AND PRECEPTS OF EMILE COUE + +_taken down literally by Mme. Emile Leon, his disciple._ + +Do not spend your time in thinking of illness you might have, for if +you have no real ones you will create artificial ones. + +*** + +When you make conscious autosuggestions, do it naturally, simply, +with conviction, and above all _without any effort._ If unconscious +and bad autosuggestions are so often realized, it is because they are +made without effort. + +*** + +Be sure that you will obtain what you want, and you will obtain it, +so long as it is within reason. + +*** + +To become master of oneself it is enough to think that one is +becoming so. . . . Your hands tremble, your steps falter, tell yourself +that all that is going to cease, and little by little it will disappear. +It is not in me but in yourself that you must have confidence, for it +is in yourself alone that dwells the force which can cure you. My part +simply consists in teaching you to make use of that force. + +*** + +Never discuss things you know nothing about, or you will only +make yourself ridiculous. + +Things which seem miraculous to you have a perfectly natural cause; +if they seem extraordinary it is only because the cause escapes you. +When you know that, you realize that nothing could be more natural. + +*** + +When the will and the imagination are in conflict, it is always the +imagination which wins. Such a case is only too frequent, and then +not only do we not do what we want, but just the contrary of what +we want. For example: the more we try to go to sleep, the more we +try to remember the name of some one, the more we try to stop +laughing, the more we try to avoid an obstacle, while _thinking that +we cannot do so,_ the more excited we become, the less we can +remember the name, the more uncontrollable our laughter becomes, +and the more surely we rush upon the obstacle. + +It is then the imagination and not the will which is the most +important faculty of man; and thus it is a serious mistake to advise +people to train their wills, it is the training of their imaginations +which they ought to set about. + +*** + +Things are not for us what they are, but what they seem; this +explains the contradictory evidence of persons speaking in all good +faith. + +*** + +By believing oneself to be the master of one's thoughts one becomes +so. + +*** + +Everyone of our thoughts, good or bad, becomes concrete, +materializes, and becomes in short a reality. + +We are what we make ourselves and not what circumstances make +us. + +*** + +Whoever starts off in life with the idea: "I shall succeed", always +does succeed because he does what is necessary to bring about this +result. If only one opportunity presents itself to him, and if this +opportunity has, as it were, only one hair on its head, he seizes it by +that one hair. Further, he often brings about unconsciously or not, +propitious circumstances. + +He who on the contrary always doubts himself, never succeeds in +doing anything. He might find himself in the midst of an army of +opportunities with heads of hair like Absalom, and yet he would not +see them and could not seize a single one, even if he had only to +stretch out his hand in order to do so. And if he brings about +circumstances, they are generally unfavorable ones. Do not then +blame fate, you have only yourself to blame. + +*** + +People are always preaching the doctrine of effort, but this idea must +be repudiated. Effort means will, and will means the possible +entrance of the imagination in opposition, and the bringing about of +the exactly contrary result to the desired one. + +*** + +Always think that what you have to do is easy, if possible. In this +state of mind you will not spend more of your strength than just +what is necessary; if you consider it difficult, you will spend ten, +twenty times more strength than you need; in other words you will +waste it. + +*** + +Autosuggestion is an instrument which you have to learn how to use +just as you would for any other instrument. An excellent gun in +inexperienced hands only gives wretched results, but the more +skilled the same hands become, the more easily they place the +bullets in the target. + +*** + +Conscious autosuggestion, made with confidence, with faith, with +perseverance, realizes itself mathematically, within reason. + +*** + +When certain people do not obtain satisfactory results with +autosuggestion, it is either because they lack confidence, or because +they make efforts, which is the more frequent case. To make good +suggestions it is absolutely necessary to do it _without effort._ The +latter implies the use of the _will,_ which must be entirely put aside. +One must have recourse _exclusively_ to the imagination. + +*** + +Many people who have taken care of their health all their life in vain, +imagine that they can be immediately cured by autosuggestion. It is +a mistake, for it is not reasonable to think so. It is no use expecting +from suggestion more than it can normally produce, that is to say, a +progressive improvement which little by little transforms itself into a +complete cure, when that is possible. + +*** + +The means employed by the healers all go back to autosuggestion, +that is to say that these methods, whatever they are, words, +incantations, gestures, staging, all produce in the patient the +autosuggestion of recovery. + +Every illness has two aspects unless it is exclusively a mental one. +Indeed, on every physical illness a mental one comes and attaches +itself. If we give to the physical illness the coefficient 1, the mental +illness may have the coefficient 1, 2, 10, 20, 50, 100, and more. In +many cases this can disappear instantaneously, and if its coefficient +is a very high one, 100 for instance, while that of the physical +ailment is 1, only this latter is left, a 101st of the total illness; +such a thing is called a miracle, and yet there is nothing miraculous +about it. + +*** + +Contrary to common opinion, physical diseases are generally far +more easily cured than mental ones. + +Buffon used to say: "Style is the man." We would put in that: "Man +is what he thinks". The fear of failure is almost certain to cause +failure, in the same way as the idea of success brings success, and +enables one always to surmount the obstacles that may be met with. + +*** + +Conviction is as necessary to the suggester as to his subject. It is this +conviction, this faith, which enables him to obtain results where all +other means have failed. + +*** + +It is not the person who acts, it is the method. + +*** + +. . . Contrary to general opinion, suggestion, or autosuggestion can +bring about the cure of organic lesions. + +Formerly it was believed that hypnotism could only be applied to the +treatment of nervous illnesses; its domain is far greater than that. It +is true that hypnotism acts through the intermediary of the nervous +system; but the nervous system dominates the whole organism. The +muscles are set in movement by the nerves; the nerves regulate the +circulation by their direct action on the heart, and by their action on +the blood vessels which they dilate or contract. The nerves act then +on all the organs, and by their intermediation all the unhealthy +organs may be affected. + +Docteur Paul Joire, _President of the Societe universelle d'Etudes +psychiques_ (Bull. No. 4 of the S. L. P.) + +*** + +. . . Moral influence has a considerable value as a help in healing. It +is a factor of the first order which it would be very wrong to neglect, +since in medicine as in every branch of human activity it is the +_spiritual forces_ which lead the world. + +Docteur Louis Renon, _Lecturing professor at the Faculty of +Medicine of Paris, and doctor at the Necker Hospital._ + +*** + +. . . Never lose sight of the great principle of autosuggestion: +_Optimism always and in spite of everything, even when events do +not seem to justify it._ + +Rene de Drabois, (Bull. 11 of the S. L. P. A.) + +*** + +Suggestion sustained by faith is a formidable force. + +Docteur A. L., Paris, (July, 1920.) + +To have and to inspire unalterable confidence, one must walk with +the assurance of perfect sincerity, and in order to possess this +assurance and sincerity, one must wish for _the good of others_ +more than one's own. + +"Culture de la Force Morale", by C. Baudouin. + + + +OBSERVATIONS ON WHAT AUTOSUGGESTION CAN DO + +Young B----, 13 years old, enters the hospital in January 1912. He +has a very serious heart complaint characterized by a peculiarity in +the respiration; he has such difficulty in breathing that he can only +take very slow and short steps. The doctor who attends him, one of +our best practitioners, predicts a rapid and fatal issue. The invalid +leaves the hospital in February, _no better._ A friend of his family +brings him to me and when I see him I regard him as a hopeless case, +but nevertheless I make him pass through the preliminary +experiments which are marvelously successful. After having made +him a suggestion and advised him to do the same thing for himself, I +tell him to come back in two days. When he does so I notice to my +astonishment a _remarkable_ improvement in his respiration and his +walking. I renew the suggestion and two days afterwards, when he +returns the improvement has continued, and so it is at every visit. So +rapid is the progress that he makes that, three weeks after the first +visit, my little patient is able to go _on foot_ with his mother to the +plateau of Villers. He can breathe with ease and almost normally, he +can walk without getting out of breath, and can mount the stairs, +which was impossible for him before. As the improvement is +steadily maintained, little B---- asks me if he can go and stay with +his grandmother at Carignan. As he seems well I advise him to do so, +and he goes off, but sends me news of himself from time to time. +His health is becoming better and better, he has a good appetite, +digests and assimilates his food well, and the feeling of oppression +has entirely disappeared. Not only can he walk like everybody else, +but he even runs and chases butterflies. + +He returns in October, and I can hardly recognize him, for the bent +and puny little fellow who had left me in May has become a tall +upright boy, whose face beams with health. He has grown 12 +centimeters and gained 19 lbs. in weight. Since then he has lived a +perfectly normal life; he runs up and down stairs, rides a bicycle, +and plays football with his comrades. + +Mlle. X----, of Geneva, aged 13. Sore on the temple considered by +several doctors as being of tubercular origin; for a year and a half it +has refused to yield to the different treatments ordered. She is taken +to M. Baudouin, a follower of M. Coue at Geneva, who treats her by +suggestion and tells her to return in a week. When she comes back +the sore has healed. + +Mlle. Z----, also of Geneva. Has had the right leg drawn up for 17 +years, owing to an abscess above the knee which had had to be +operated upon. She asks M. Baudouin to treat her by suggestion, and +hardly has he begun when the leg can be bent and unbent in a +normal manner. (There was of course a psychological cause in this +case.) + +Mme. Urbain Marie, aged 55, at Maxeville. Varicose nicer, dating +from more than a year and a half. First visit in September, 1915, and +a second one a week later. In a fortnight the cure is complete. + +Emile Chenu, 10 years old, Grande-Rue, 19 (a refugee from Metz). +Some unknown heart complaint with vegetations. Every night loses +blood by the mouth. Comes first in July, 1915, and after a few visits +the loss of blood diminishes, and continues to do so until by the end +of November it has ceased completely. The vegetations also seem to +be no longer there, and by August, 1916, there had been no relapse. + +M. Hazot, aged 48, living at Brin. Invalided the 15th of January, +1915, with _specific_ chronic bronchitis, which is getting worse +every day. He comes in to me in October, 1915. The improvement is +immediate, and has been maintained since. At the present moment, +although he is not completely cured, he is very much better. + +M. B----, has suffered for 24 years from frontal sinus, which had +necessitated eleven operations!! In spite of all that had been done the +sinus persisted, accompanied by intolerable pains. The physical state +of the patient was pitiable in the extreme; he had violent and almost +continuous pain, extreme weakness; lack of appetite, could neither +walk, read nor sleep, etc. His nerves were in nearly as bad a state as +his body, and in spite of the treatment of such men as Bernheim of +Nancy, Dejerine of Paris, Dubois of Bern, X---- of Strasburg, his ill +health not only continued but even grew worse every day. The +patient comes to me in September, 1915, on the advice of one of my +other patients. From that moment he made rapid progress and at the +present time (1921) he is perfectly well. It is a real resurrection. + +M. Nagengast, aged 18, rue Sellier, 39. Suffering from Pott's disease. +Comes to me in the beginning of 1914, having been encased for six +months in a plaster corset. Comes regularly twice a week to the +"seances," and makes for himself the usual suggestion morning and +evening. Improvement soon shows itself, and in a short time the +patient is able to do without his plaster casing. I saw him again in +April, 1916. He was completely cured, and was carrying on his +duties as postman, after having been assistant to an ambulance at +Nancy, where he had stayed until it was done away with. + +M. D----, at Jarville. Paralysis of the left upper eyelid. Goes to the +hospital where he receives injections, as a result of which the eyelid +is raised. The left eye was, however, deflected outwards for more +than 45 degrees, and an operation seemed to be necessary. It was at +this moment that he came to me, and thanks to autosuggestion the +eye went back little by little to its normal position. + +Mme. L----, of Nancy. Continuous pain in the right side of the face, +which had gone on for 10 years. She has consulted many doctors +whose prescriptions seemed of no use, and an operation is judged to +be necessary. The patient comes to me on the 25th of July, 1916, +and there is an immediate improvement. In about ten days' time the +pain has entirely vanished, and up to the 20th of December, there +had been no recurrence. + +T---- Maurice, aged 8 and a half, at Nancy: club feet. A first +operation cures, or nearly so, the left foot, while the right one still +remains crippled. Two subsequent operations do no good. The child +is brought to me for the first time in February, 1915; he walks pretty +well, thanks to two contrivances which hold his feet straight. The +first visit is followed by an immediate improvement, and after the +second, the child is able to walk in ordinary boots. The +improvement becomes more and more marked, by the 17th of April +the child is quite well. The right foot, however, is not now quite so +strong as it was, owing to a sprain which he gave it in February, +1916. + +Mlle X----, at Blainville. A sore on the left foot, probably of specific +origin. A slight sprain has brought about a swelling of the foot +accompanied by acute pains. Different treatments have only had a +negative effect, and in a little while a suppurating sore appears +which seems to indicate caries of the bone. Walking becomes more +and more painful and difficult in spite of the treatment. On the +advice of a former patient who had been cured, she comes to me, +and there is noticeable relief after the first visits. Little by little the +swelling goes down, the pain becomes less intense, the suppuration +lessens, and finally the sore heals over. The process has taken a few +months. At present the foot is practically normal, but although the +pain and swelling have entirely disappeared, the back flexion of the +foot is not yet perfect, which makes the patient limp slightly. + +Mme. R----, of Chavigny. Metritis dating from 10 years back. +Comes at the end of July, 1916. Improvement is immediate, the pain +and loss of blood diminish rapidly, and by the following 29th of +September both have disappeared. The monthly period, which lasted +from eight to ten days, is now over in four. + +Mme. H----, rue Guilbert-de-Piverecourt, at Nancy, aged 49. Suffers +from a varicose ulcer dating from September, 1914, which has +treated according to her doctor's advice, but without success. The +lower part of the leg is enormous (the ulcer, which is as large as a +two franc piece and goes right down to the bone, is situated above +the ankle). The inflammation is very intense, the suppuration +copious, and the pains extremely violent. The patient comes for the +first time in April, 1916, and the improvement which is visible after +the first treatment, continues without interruption. By the 18th of +February, 1917, the swelling has _entirely subsided,_ and the pain +and irritation have disappeared. The sore is still there, but it is no +larger than a pea and it is only a few millimeters in depth; it still +discharges very slightly. By 1920 the cure has long been complete. + +Mlle. D----, at Mirecourt, 16 years of age. Has suffered from attacks +of nerves for three years. The attacks, at first infrequent, have +gradually come at closer intervals. When she comes to see me on the +1st of April, 1917, she has had three attacks in the preceding +fortnight. Up to the 18th of April she did not have any at all. I may +add that this young lady, from the time she began the treatment, was +no longer troubled by the bad headaches from which she had +suffered almost constantly. + +Mme. M----, aged 43, rue d'Amance, 2, Malzeville. Comes at the +end of 1916 for violent pains in the head from which she has +suffered all her life. After a few visits they vanish completely. Two +months afterwards she realized that she was also cured of a prolapse +of the uterus which she had not mentioned to me, and of which she +was not thinking when she made her autosuggestion. (This result is +due to the words: _"in every respect"_ contained in the formula used +morning and evening.) + +Mme. D----, Choisy-le-Roi. Only one general suggestion from me in +July, 1916, and autosuggestion on her part morning and evening. In +October of the same year this lady tells me that she is cured of a +prolapse of the uterus from which she had suffered for more than +twenty years. Up to April, 1920, the cure is still holding good. +(Same remark as in the preceding case.) + +Mme. Jousselin, aged 60, rue des Dominicains, 6. Comes on the +20th of July, 1917, for a violent pain in the right leg, accompanied +by considerable swelling of the whole limb. She can only drag +herself along with groans, but after the "seance," to her great +astonishment, she can walk _normally_ without feeling the least +pain. When she comes back four days afterwards, she has had no +return of the pain and the swelling has subsided. This patient tells +me that since she has attended the "seances" she has also been cured +of white discharges, and of enteritis from which she had long +suffered. (Same remark as above.) In November the cure is still +holding good. + +Mlle. G. L.----, aged 15, rue du Montet, 88. Has stammered from +infancy. Comes on the 20th of July, 1917, and the stammering +ceases instantly. A month after I saw her again and she had had no +recurrence. + +M. Ferry (Eugene), aged 60, rue de la Cote, 56. For five years has +suffered from rheumatic pains in the shoulders and in the left leg. +Walks with difficulty leaning on a stick, and cannot lift the arms +higher than the shoulders. Comes on the 17th of September, 1917. +After the first "seance," the pains vanish completely and the patient +can not only take long strides but even _run._ Still more, he can +whirl both arms like a windmill. In November the cure is still +holding good. + +Mme. Lacour, aged 63, chemin des Sables. Pains in the face dating +from more than twenty years back. All treatments have failed. An +operation is advised, but the patient refuses to undergo it. She comes +for the first time on July 25th, 1916, and four days later the pain +ceases. The cure has held good to this day. + +Mme. Martin, Grande-Rue (Ville-Vieille), 105. Inflammation of the +uterus of 13 years standing, accompanied by pains and white and red +discharges. The period, which is very painful, recurs every 22 or 23 +days and lasts 10-12 days. Comes for the first time on the 15th of +November, 1917, and returns regularly every week. There is visible +improvement after the first visit, which continues rapidly until at the +beginning of January, 1918, the inflammation has entirely +disappeared; the period comes at more regular intervals and without +the slightest pain. A pain in the knee which the patient had had for +13 years was also cured. + +Mme. Castelli, aged 41, living at Einville (M.-et M.). Has suffered +from intermittent rheumatic pains in the right knee for 13 years. Five +years ago she had a more violent attack than usual, the leg swells as +well as the knee, then the lower part of the limb atrophies, and the +patient is reduced to walking very painfully with the aid of a stick or +crutch. She comes for the first time on the 5th of November, 1917. +She goes away _without the help of either crutch or stick._ Since +then she no longer uses her crutch at all, but occasionally makes use +of her stick. The pain in the knee comes back from time to time, but +only very slightly. + +Mme. Meder, aged 52, at Einville. For six months has suffered from +pain in the right knee accompanied by swelling, which makes it +impossible to bend the leg. Comes for the first time on Dec. 7th, +1917. Returns on Jan. 4th, 1918, saying that she has almost ceased +to suffer and that she can walk normally. After that visit of the 4th, +the pain ceases entirely, and the patient walks like other people. + +EMILE COUE. + + + +EDUCATION AS IT OUGHT TO BE + +It may seem paradoxical but, nevertheless, the Education of a child +ought to begin before its birth. + +In sober truth, if a woman, a few weeks after conception, makes a +mental picture of the sex of the child she is going to bring forth into +the world, of the physical and moral qualities with which she desires +to see it endowed and if she will continue during the time of +gestation to impress on herself the same mental image, the child will +have the sex and qualities desired. + +Spartan women only brought forth robust children, who grew to be +redoubtable warriors, because their strongest desire was to give such +heroes to their country; whilst, at Athens, mothers had intellectual +children whose mental qualities were a hundredfold greater than +their physical attributes. + +The child thus engendered will be apt to accept readily good +suggestions which may be made to him and to transform them into +autosuggestion which later, will influence the course of his life. For +you must know that all our words, all our acts, are only the result of +autosuggestions caused, for the most part, by the suggestion of +example or speech. + +How then should parents, and those entrusted with the education of +children avoid provoking bad autosuggestions and, on the other +hand, influence good autosuggestions? + +In dealing with children, always be even-tempered and speak in a +gentle but firm tone. In this way they will become obedient without +ever having the slightest desire to resist authority. + +Above all--above all, avoid harshness and brutality, for there the risk +is incurred of influencing an autosuggestion of cruelty accompanied +by hate. + +Moreover, avoid carefully, in their presence, saying evil of anyone, +as too often happens, when, without any deliberate intention, the +absent nurse is picked to pieces in the drawing-room. + +Inevitably this fatal example will be followed, and may produce +later a real catastrophe. + +Awaken in them a desire to know the reason of things and a love of +Nature, and endeavor to interest them by giving all possible +explanations very clearly, in a cheerful, good-tempered tone. You +must answer their questions pleasantly, instead of checking them +with--"What a bother you are, do be quiet, you will learn that later." + +Never on any account say to a child, "You are lazy and good for +nothing" because that gives birth in him to the very faults of which +you accuse him. + +If a child is lazy and does his tasks badly, you should say to him one +day, even if it is not true, "There this time your work is much better +than it generally is. Well done". The child, flattered by the +unaccustomed commendation, will certainly work better the next +time, and, little by little, thanks to judicious encouragement, will +succeed in becoming a real worker. + +At all costs avoid speaking of illness before children, as it will +certainly create in them bad autosuggestions. Teach them, on the +contrary, that health is the normal state of man, and that sickness is +an anomaly, a sort of backsliding which may be avoided by living in +a temperate, regular way. + +Do not create defects in them by teaching them to fear this or that, +cold or heat, rain or wind, etc. Man is created to endure such +variations without injury and should do so without grumbling. + +Do not make the child nervous by filling his mind with stories of +hob-goblins and were-wolves, for there is always the risk that +timidity contracted in childhood will persist later. + +It is necessary that those who do not bring up then children +themselves should choose carefully those to whom they are +entrusted. To love them is not sufficient, they must have the +qualities you desire your children to possess. + +Awaken in them the love of work and of study, making it easier by +explaining things carefully and in a pleasant fashion, and by +introducing in the explanation some anecdote which will make the +child eager for the following lesson. + +Above all impress on them that Work is essential for man, and that +he who does not work in some fashion or another, is a worthless, +useless creature, and that all work produces in the man who engages +in it a healthy and profound satisfaction; whilst idleness, so longed +for and desired by some, produces weariness, neurasthenia, disgust +of life, and leads those who do not possess the means of satisfying +the passions created by idleness, to debauchery and even to crime. + +Teach children to be always polite and kind to all, and particularly to +those whom the chance of birth has placed in a lower class than their +own, and also to respect age, and never to mock at the physical or +moral defects that age often produces. + +Teach them to love all mankind, without distinction of caste. That +one must always be ready to succor those who are in need of help, +and that one must never be afraid of spending time and money for +those who are in need; in short, that they must think more of others +than of themselves. + +In so doing an inner satisfaction is experienced that the egoist ever +seeks and never finds. + +Develop in them self-confidence, and teach that, before embarking +upon any undertaking, it should be submitted to the control of +reason, thus avoiding acting impulsively, and, after having reasoned +the matter out, one should form a decision by which one abides, +unless, indeed, some fresh fact proves you may have been mistaken. + +Teach them above all that every one must set out in life with a very +definite idea that he will succeed, and that, under the influence of +this idea he will inevitably succeed. Not indeed, that he should +quietly remain expecting events to happen, but because, impelled by +this idea, he will do what is necessary to make it come true. + +He will know how to take advantage of opportunities, or even +perhaps of the single opportunity which may present itself, it may be +only a single thread or hair, whilst he who distrusts himself is a +Constant Guignard with whom nothing succeeds, because his efforts +are all directed to that end. + +Such a one may indeed swim in an ocean of opportunities, provided +with heads of hair like Absalom himself, and he will be unable to +seize a single hair, and often determines himself the causes which +make him fail; whilst he, who has the idea of success in himself, +often gives birth, in an unconscious fashion, to the very +circumstances which produce that same success. + +But above all, let parents and masters preach by example. A child is +extremely suggestive, let something turn up that he wishes to do, +and he does it. + +As soon as children can speak, make them repeat morning and +evening, twenty times consecutively: + +"Day by day, in all respects, I grow better", which will produce in +them an excellent physical, moral and healthy atmosphere. + +If you make the following suggestion you will help the child +enormously to eliminate his faults, and to awaken in him the +corresponding desirable qualities. + +Every night when the child is asleep, approach quietly, so as not to +awaken him, to within about three or four feet from his bed. Stand +there, murmuring in a low monotonous voice the thing or things you +wish him to do. + +Finally, it is desirable that all teachers should, every morning, make +suggestions to their pupils, somewhat in the following fashion. + +Telling them to shut their eyes, they should say: "Children, I expect +you always to be polite and kind to everyone, obedient to your +parents and teachers, when they give you an order, or tell you +anything; you will always listen to the order given or the fact told +without thinking it tiresome; you used to think it tiresome when you +were reminded of anything, but now you understand very well that it +is for your good that you are told things, and consequently, instead +of being cross with those who speak to you, you will now be +grateful to them. + +"Moreover you will now love your work, whatever it may be; in +your lessons you will always enjoy those things you may have to +learn, especially whatever you may not till now have cared for. + +"Moreover when the teacher is giving a lesson in class, you will now +devote all your attention, solely and entirely to what he says, instead +of attending to any silly things said or done by your companions, +and without doing or saying anything silly yourself. + +"Under these conditions as you are all intelligent, for, children, you +are all intelligent, you will understand easily and remember easily +what you have learned. It will remain embedded in your memory, +ready to be at your service, and you will be able to make use of it as +soon as you need it. + +"In the same way when you are working at your lessons alone, or at +home, when you are accomplishing a task or studying a lesson, you +will fix your attention solely on the work you are doing, and you +will always obtain good marks for your lessons." + +This is the Counsel, which, if followed faithfully and truly from +henceforth, will produce a race endowed with the highest physical +and moral qualities. + +Emile Coue. + + + +A SURVEY OF THE "SEANCES" AT M. COUE'S + +The town thrills at this name, for from every rank of society people +come to him and everyone is welcomed with the same benevolence, +which already goes for a good deal. But what is extremely poignant +is at the end of the seance to see the people who came in gloomy, +bent, almost hostile (they were in pain), go away like everybody else; +unconstrained, cheerful, sometimes radiant (they are no longer in +pain!!). With a strong and smiling goodness of which he has the +secret, M. Coue, as it were, holds the hearts of those who consult +him in his hand; he addresses himself in turn to the numerous +persons who come to consult him, and speaks to them in these terms: + +"Well, Madame, and what is your trouble? . . ." + +Oh, you are looking for two many whys and wherefores; what does +the cause of your pain matter to you? You are in pain, that is +enough . . . I will teach you to get rid of that. . . . + +--- + +And you, Monsieur, your varicose ulcer is already better. That is +good, very good indeed, do you know, considering you have only +been here twice; I congratulate you on the result you have obtained. +If you go on doing your autosuggestions properly, you will very +soon be cured. . . . You have had this ulcer for ten years, you say? +What does that matter? You might have had it twenty and more, and +it could be cured just the same. + +--- + +And you say that you have not obtained any improvement? . . . Do +you know why? . . . Simply because you lack confidence in yourself. +When I tell you that you are better, you feel better at once, don't you? +Why? Because you have faith in me. Just believe in yourself and +you will obtain the same result. + +--- + +Oh, Madame not so many details, I beg you! By looking out for the +details you create them, and you would want a list a yard long to +contain all your maladies. As a matter of fact, with you it is the +mental outlook which is wrong. Well, make up your mind that it is +going to get better and it will be so. It's as simple as the +Gospel. . . . + +--- + +You tell me you have attacks of nerves every week. . . . Well, from +to-day you are going to do what I tell you and you will cease to have +them. . . . + +--- + +You have suffered from constipation for a long time? . . . What does +it matter how long it is? . . . You say it is forty years? Yes, I heard +what you said, but it is none the less true that you can be cured +to-morrow; you hear, to-morrow, on condition, naturally, of your doing +exactly what I tell you to do, in the way I tell you to do it. . . . + +--- + +Ah! you have glaucoma, Madame. I cannot absolutely promise to +cure you of that, for I am not sure that I can. That does not mean that +you cannot be cured, for I have known it to happen in the case of a +lady of Chalon-sur-Saone and another of Lorraine. + +Well, Mademoiselle, as you have not had your nervous attacks since +you came here, whereas you used to have them every day, you are +cured. Come back sometimes all the same, so that I may keep you +going along the right lines. + +--- + +The feeling of oppression will disappear with the lesions which will +disappear when you assimilate properly; that will come all in good +time, but you mustn't put the cart before the horse . . . it is the same +with oppression as with heart trouble, it generally diminishes very +quickly. . . . + +--- + +Suggestion does not prevent you from going on with your usual +treatment. . . . As for the blemish you have on your eye, and which is +lessening almost daily, the opacity and the size are both growing +less every day. + +--- + +To a child (in a clear and commanding voice): "Shut your eyes, I +am not going to talk to you about lesions or anything else, you +would not understand; the pain in your chest is going away, and you +won't want to cough any more." + +--- + +_Observation.--_It is curious to notice that all those suffering from +chronic bronchitis are immediately relieved and their morbid +symptoms rapidly disappear. . . . Children, are very easy and very +obedient subjects; their organism almost always obeys immediately +to suggestion. + +--- + +To a person who complains of fatigue: Well, so do I. There are also +days when it tires me to receive people, but I receive them all the +same and all day long. Do not say: _"I cannot help it." "One can +always overcome oneself."_ + +_Observation.--_The idea of fatigue necessarily brings fatigue, and +the idea that we have a duty to accomplish always gives us the +necessary strength to fulfill it. The mind can and must remain master +of the animal side of our nature. + +--- + +The cause which prevents you from walking, whatever it is, is going +to disappear little by little every day: you know the proverb: +_Heaven helps those who help themselves._ Stand up two or three +times a day supporting yourself on two persons, and say to yourself +firmly: _My kidneys are not so weak that I cannot do it, on the +contrary I can. . . ._ + +--- + +After having said: "Every day, in every respect, I am getting better +and better," add: "The people who are pursuing me _cannot_ pursue +me any more, they are not pursuing me. . . ." + +--- + +What I told you is quite true; it was enough to think that you had no +more pain for the pain to disappear; _do not think then that it may +come back or it will come back. . . ._ + +(A woman, sotto voice, "What patience he has! What a wonderfully +painstaking man!") + +--- + +ALL THAT WE THINK BECOMES TRUE FOR US. WE MUST +NOT THEN ALLOW OURSELVES TO THINK WRONGLY. + +--- + +THINK "MY TROUBLE IS GOING AWAY," JUST AS YOU +THINK YOU CANNOT OPEN YOUR HANDS. + +The more you say: _"I will not,"_ the more surely the contrary +comes about. You must say: _"It's going away,"_ and think it. Close +your hand and think properly: "Now I cannot open it." Try! (she +cannot), you see that your will is not much good to you. + +_Observation.--This is the essential point of the method._ In order to +make auto-suggestions, you must eliminate the _will_ completely +and only address yourself to the _imagination,_ so as to avoid a +conflict between them in which the will would be vanquished. + +--- + +To become stronger as one becomes older seems paradoxical, but it +is true. + +--- + +For diabetes: Continue to use therapeutic treatments; I am quite +willing to make suggestions to you, but I cannot promise to cure you. + +_Observation._--I have seen diabetes completely cured several +times, and what is still more extraordinary, the albumen diminish +and even disappear from the urine of certain patients. + +--- + +This obsession must be a real nightmare. The people you used to +detest are becoming your friends, you like them and they like you. + +Ah, but to _will_ and to _desire_ is not the _same_ thing. + +--- + +Then, after having asked them to close their eyes, M. Coue gives to +his patients the little suggestive discourse which is to be found in +"Self Mastery." When this is over, he again addresses himself to +each one separately, saying to each a few words on his case: + +To the first: "You, Monsieur, are in pain, but I tell you that, from +to-day, the cause of this pain whether it is called arthritis or anything +else, is going to disappear with the help of your unconscious, and +the cause having disappeared, the pain will gradually become less +and less, and in a short time it will be nothing but a moment." + +To the second person: "Your stomach does not function properly, it +is more or less dilated. Well, as I told you just now, your digestive +functions are going to work better and better, and I add that the +dilatation of the stomach is going to disappear little by little. Your +organism is going to give back progressively to your stomach the +force and elasticity it had lost, and by degrees as this phenomenon is +produced, the stomach will return to its primitive form and will +carry out more and more easily the necessary movements to pass +into the intestine the nourishment it contains. At the same time the +pouch formed by the relaxed stomach will diminish in size, the +nutriment will not longer stagnate in this pouch, and in consequence +the fermentation set up will end by totally disappearing." + +To the third: "To you, Mademoiselle, I say that whatever lesions you +may have in your liver, your organism is doing what is necessary to +make the lesions disappear every day, and by degrees as they heal +over, the symptoms from which you suffer will go on lessening and +disappearing. Your liver then functions in a more and more normal +way, the bile it secretes is alcaline and no longer acid, in the right +quantity and quality, so that it passes naturally into the intestines and +helps intestinal digestion." + +To the fourth: "My child, you hear what I say; every time you feel +you are going to have an attack, you will hear my voice telling you +as quick as lightning: 'No, no! my friend, you are not going to have +that attack, and it is going to disappear before it comes. . . .'" + +To the fifth, etc., etc. + +When everyone has been attended to, M. Coue tells those present to +open their eyes, and adds: "You have heard the advice I have just +given you. Well, to transform it into reality, what you must do is this: +_As long as you live,_ every morning before getting up, and every +evening as soon as you are in bed, you must shut your eyes, so as to +concentrate your attention, and repeat twenty times following, +moving your _lips_ (that is indispensable) and counting +_mechanically_ on a string with twenty knots in it the following +phrase: _'Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and +better.'"_ + +There is no need to think of anything in particular, as the words _"in +every respect"_ apply to everything. This autosuggestion must be +made with confidence, with faith, with the certainty of obtaining +what is desired. The greater the conviction of the person, the greater +and the more rapid will be the results obtained. + +Further, every time that in the course of the day or night you feel +any physical or mental discomfort, _affirm_ to yourself that you will +not consciously contribute to it, and that you are going to make it +vanish; then isolate yourself as much as possible, and passing your +hand over your forehead if it is something mental, or on whatever +part that is painful if it is something physical, repeat _very quickly,_ +moving the lips, the words: "It is going, it is going . . ., etc., etc." as +long as it is necessary. With a little practice, the mental or physical +discomfort will disappear in about 20 to 25 seconds. Begin again +every time it is necessary. + +For this as for the other autosuggestions it is necessary to act with +the same confidence, the same conviction, the same faith, and above +all without effort. + +M. Coue also adds what follows: "If you formerly allowed yourself +to make bad autosuggestions because you did it unconsciously, now +that you know what I have just taught you, you must no longer let +this happen. And if, in spite of all, you still do it, you must only +accuse yourself, and say _'Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.'"_ + +And now, if a grateful admirer of the work and of the founder of the +method may be allowed to say a few words, I will say. "Monsieur +Coue shows us luminously that the power to get health and +happiness is within us: we have indeed received this gift." + +Therefore, suppressing, first of all, every cause of suffering _created +or encouraged by ourselves,_ then putting into practice the favorite +maxim of Socrates: "Know thyself," and the advice of Pope: "That I +may reject none of the benefits that Thy goodness bestows upon +me," let us take possession of the entire benefit of autosuggestion, +let us become this very day members of the "Lorraine Society of +applied Psychology;" let us make members of it those who may be +in our care (it is a good deed to do to them). + +By this means we shall follow first of all the great movement of the +future of which M. E. Coue is the originator (he devotes to it his +days, his nights, his worldly goods, and refuses to accept . . . but +hush; no more of this! lest his modesty refuses to allow these lines to +be published without alteration), but above all by this means we +shall know exactly the days and hours of his lectures at Paris, Nancy +and other towns, where he devotedly goes to sow the good seed, and +where we can go too to see him, and hear him and consult him +personally, and with his help awake or stir up in ourselves the +personal power that everyone of us has received of becoming happy +and well. + +May I be allowed to add that when M. Coue has charged an entrance +fee for his lectures, they have brought in thousands of francs for the +Disabled and others who have suffered through the war. + +E. Vs----oer. + +_Note._--Entrance is free to the members of the Lorraine Society of +applied Psychology. + + + +EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS ADDRESSED TO M. COUE + +The final results of the English secondary Certificate have only been +posted up these two hours, and I hasten to tell you about it, at least +in so far as it concerns myself. I passed the viva voce _with flying +colors,_ and scarcely felt a trace of the nervousness which used to +cause me such an intolerable sensation of nausea before the tests. +During the latter I was astonished at my own calm, which gave those +who listened to me the impression of perfect self-possession on my +part. In short, it was just the tests I dreaded most which contributed +most to my success. The jury placed me Second, and I am infinitely +grateful to you for help, which undoubtedly gave me an advantage +over the other candidates . . ., etc. (The case is that of a young lady, +who, on account of excessive nervousness, had failed in 1915. The +nervousness having vanished under the influence of autosuggestion, +she passed successfully, being-placed 2nd out of more than 200 +competitors.) + + Mlle. V----, + _Schoolmistress, August,_ 1916. + +*** + +It is with very great pleasure that I write to thank you most sincerely +for the great benefit I have received from your method. Before I +went to you I had the greatest difficulty in walking 100 yards, +without being out of breath, whereas now I can go miles without +fatigue. Several times a day and quite easily, I am able to walk in 40 +minutes from the rue du Bord-de-l'Eau to the rue des Glacis, that is +to say, nearly four kilometers. The asthma from which I suffered has +almost entirely disappeared. + +Yours most gratefully. + + Paul Chenot, + _Rue de Strasbourg,_ 141 _Nancy, Aug.,_ 1917. + +*** + +I do not know how to thank you. Thanks to you I can say that I am +almost entirely cured, and I was only waiting to be so in order to +express my gratitude. I was suffering from two varicose ulcers, one +on each foot. That on the right foot, which was _as big as my hand,_ +is entirely _cured._ It seemed to disappear by magic. For weeks I +had been confined to my bed, but almost immediately after I +received your letter the ulcer healed over so that I could get up. That +on the left foot is not yet absolutely healed, but will soon be so. +Night and morning I do, and always shall, recite the prescribed +formula, in which I have entire confidence. I may say also that my +legs were as hard as a stone and I could not bear the slightest touch. +Now I can press them without the least pain, and I can walk once +more, which is the greatest joy. + + Mme. Ligny, + _Mailleroncourt-Charette (Haute Saone), May,_ 1918. + +*** + +N. B.--It is worthy of remark that this lady never saw M. Coue, and +that it is only thanks to a letter he wrote her on April 15th, that she +obtained the result announced in her letter of May 3rd. + +*** + +I am writing to express my gratitude, for thanks to you I have +escaped the risk of an operation which is always a very dangerous +one. I can say more: you have saved my life, for your method of +autosuggestion has done alone what all the medicines and treatments +ordered for the terrible intestinal obstruction from which I suffered +for 19 days, had failed to do. From the moment when I followed +your instructions and applied your excellent principles, my functions +have accomplished themselves quite naturally. + + Mme. S----, + _Pont a Mousson, Feb.,_ 1920. + +*** + +I do not know how to thank you for my happiness in being cured. +For more than 15 years I had suffered from attacks of asthma, which +caused the most painful suffocations every night. Thanks to your +splendid method, and above all, since I was present at one of your +seances, the attacks have disappeared as if by magic. It is a real +miracle, for the various doctors who attended me all declared that +there was no cure for asthma. + + Mme. V----, + _Saint-Die, Feb.,_ 1920. + +*** + +I am writing to thank you with all my heart for having brought to my +knowledge, a new therapeutic method, a marvellous instrument +which seems to act like the magic wand of a fairy, since, thanks to +the simplest means, it brings about the most extraordinary results. +From the first I was extremely interested in your experiments, and +after my own personal success with your method, I began ardently +to apply it, as I have become an enthusiastic supporter of it. + + Docteur Vachet, + _Vincennes, May,_ 1920. + +*** + +For 8 years I have suffered from prolapse of the uterus. I have used +your method of autosuggestion for the last five months, and am now +completely cured, for which I do not know how to thank you enough. + + Mme. Soulier, + _Place du Marche Toul, May,_ 1920. + +*** + +I have suffered terribly for 11 years without respite. Every night I +had attacks of asthma, and suffered also from insomnia and general +weakness which prevented any occupation. Mentally, I was +depressed, restless, worried, and was inclined to make mountains +out of mole hills. I had followed many treatments without success, +having even undergone in Switzerland the removal of the turbinate +bone of the nose without obtaining any relief. In Nov., 1918, I +became worse in consequence of a great sorrow. While my husband +was at Corfu (he was an officer on a warship), I lost our only son in +six days from influenza. He was a delightful child of ten, who was +the joy of our life; alone and overwhelmed with sorrow, I +reproached myself bitterly for not having been able to protect and +save our treasure. I wanted to lose my reason or to die. . . . When my +husband returned (which was not until February), he took me to a +new doctor who ordered me various remedies and the waters of +Mont-Dore. I spent the month of August in that station, but on my +return I had a recurrence of the asthma, and I realized with despair +that _"in every respect"_ I was getting worse and worse. It was then +that I had the pleasure of meeting you. Without expecting much +good from it, I must say, I went to your October lectures, and I am +happy to tell you that by the end of November I was cured. Insomnia, +feelings of oppression, gloomy thoughts, disappeared as though by +magic, and I am now well and strong and full of courage. With +physical health I have recovered my mental equilibrium, and but for +the ineffaceable wound caused by my child's loss, I could say that I +am perfectly happy. Why did I not meet you before? My child +would have known a cheerful and courageous mother. Thank you +again and again, M. Coue. + +Yours most gratefully, + + E. Itier, + _Rue de Lille, Paris, April,_ 1920. + +*** + +I can now take up again the struggle I have sustained for 30 years, +and which had exhausted me. + +I found in you last August a wonderful and providential help. +Coming home to Lorraine for a few days, ill, and with my heart full +of sorrow, I dreaded the shock which I should feel at the sight of the +ruins and distress . . . and went away comforted and in good health. I +was at the end of my tether, and unfortunately I am not religious. I +longed to find some one who could help me, and meeting you by +chance at my cousin's house you gave me the very help I sought. I +can now work in a new spirit, I suggest to my unconscious to +re-establish my physical equilibrium, and I do not doubt that I shall +regain my former good health. A very noticeable improvement has +already shown itself, and you will better understand my gratitude +when I tell you that, suffering from diabetes with a renal +complication, I have had several attacks of glaucoma, but my eyes +are now recovering their suppleness. Since then my sight has +become almost normal, and my general health has much improved. + + Mlle. Th----, + _Professor at the Young Ladies' College at Ch----, Jan.,_ 1920. + +*** + +I read my thesis with success, and was awarded the highest mark +and the congratulations of the jury. Of all these "honours" a large +share belongs to you, and I do not forget it. I only regretted that you +were not present to hear your name referred to with warm and +sympathetic interest by the distinguished Jury. You can consider that +the doors of the University have been flung wide open to your +teaching. Do not thank me for it, for I owe you far more than you +can owe me. + + Ch. Baudouin, + _Professor at the Institut. J.-J. Rousseau, Geneva._ + +*** + +. . . I admire your courageousness, and am quite sure that it will help +to turn many friends into a useful and intelligent direction. I confess +that I have personally benefited by your teaching, and have made +my patients do so too. + +At the Nursing Home we try to apply your method collectively, and +have already obtained visible results in this way. + + Docteur Berillon, + _Paris, March,_ 1920. + +*** + +. . . I have received your kind letter as well as your very interesting +lecture. + +I am glad to see that you make a rational connection between hetero +and autosuggestion, and I note particularly the passage in which you +say that the will must not intervene in autosuggestion. That is what a +great number of professors of autosuggestion, unfortunately +including a large number of medical men, do not realize at all. I also +think that an absolute distinction should be established between +autosuggestion and the training of the will. + + Docteur Van Velsen, + _Brussels, March,_ 1920. + +*** + +What must you think of me? That I have forgotten you? Oh, no, I +assure you that I think of you with the most grateful affection, and I +wish to repeat that your teachings are more and more efficacious; I +never spend a day without using autosuggestion with increased +success, and I bless you every day, for your method is the true one. +Thanks to it, I am assimilating your excellent directions, and am +able to control myself better every day, and I feel that I am +_stronger. . . ._ I am sure that you would find it difficult to recognize +in this woman, so active in spite of her 66 years, the poor creature +who was so often ailing, and who only began to be well, thanks to +you and your guidance. May you be blessed for this, for the sweetest +thing in the world is to do good to those around us. You do much, +and do a little, for which I thank God. + + Mme. M----, + _Cesson-Saint-Brieuc._ + +*** + +As I am feeling better and better since I began to follow your +method of autosuggestion, I should like to offer you my sincere +thanks. The lesion in the lungs has disappeared, my heart is better. I +have no more albumen, in short I am quite well. + + Mme. Lemaitre, + _Richemont, June,_ 1920. + +*** + +Your booklet and lecture interested us very much. It would be +desirable for the good of humanity that they should be published in +several languages, so that they might penetrate to every race and +country, and thus reach a greater number of unfortunate people who +suffer from the wrong use of that all-powerful (and almost divine) +faculty, the most important to man, as you affirm and prove so +luminously and judiciously, which we call the Imagination. I had +already read many books on the will, and had quite an arsenal of +formulae, thoughts, aphorisms, etc. Your phrases are conclusive. I +do not think that ever before have "compressed tablets of self +confidence."--as I call your healing phrases--been condensed into +typical formulae in such an intelligent manner. + + Don Enrique C----, + _Madrid._ + +*** + +Your pamphlet on "the self-control" contains very strong arguments +and very striking examples. I think that the substitution of +imagination for the power of the will is a great progress. It is milder +and more persuasive. + + A. F----, + _Reimiremont._ + +*** + +. . . I am happy to be able to tell you that my stomach is going on +well. My metritis is also much better. My little boy had a gland in +his thigh as big as an egg which is gradually disappearing. + + E. L----, + _Saint-Clement (M-et-M.)_ + +*** + +After I had undergone three operations in my left leg on account of a +local tuberculosis, that leg became ill again in September, 1920. +Several doctors declared that a new operation was necessary. They +were about to open my leg from the knee to the ankle, and if the +operation had failed, they would have had to perform an amputation. + +As I had heard of your wondrous cures I came and saw you for the +first time on the 6th of November, 1920. After the seance, I felt +immediately a little better. I exactly followed your instructions and +went three times to you. At the third time, I could tell you that I was +completely cured. + + Mme. L----, + _Henry (Lorraine)._ + +*** + +. . . I will not wait any longer to thank you heartily for all the good I +owe you. Autosuggestion has positively transformed me and I am +now getting much better than I have been these many years. The +symptoms of illness have disappeared little by little, the morbid +symptoms have become rarer and rarer, and all the functions of the +body work now normally. The result is that, after having become +thinner and thinner during several years I have regained several +kilos in a few months. + +I cannot do otherwise than bless the Coue system. + + L----, + _Cannes (A. M.)._ + +*** + +Since 1917, my little girl has been suffering from epileptic crises. +Several doctors had told me that about the age of 14 or 15 they +would disappear or become worse. Having heard of you, I sent her +to you from the end of December till May. Now her cure is complete, +for during six months she has had no relapse. + + Perrin (Charles), + _Essey-les Nancy._ + +*** + +For eight years, I had suffered from a sinking of the uterus. After +having practiced your autosuggestion for five months, I have been +radically cured. I don't know how to express my deep gratitude. + + Mme. Soulie, + 6, _Place du Marche, Toul._ + +*** + +. . . Having suffered from a glaucoma since 1917, I have consulted +two oculists who told me that only an operation would put an end to +my sufferings, but unfortunately neither of them would assure me of +a good result. + +In the month of June, 1920, after having attended one of your +seances I felt much better. In September I ceased to use the drops of +pilocarpine which were the daily bread of my eye, and since then I +have felt no more pain. My pupil is no more dilated, my eyes are +normal; it is a real miracle. + + Mme. M----, + _a Soulosse._ + +*** + +A dedication to M. Coue by the author of a medical treatise: + +To M. Coue who knew how to dissect the human soul and to extract +from it a psychologic method founded on conscious autosuggestion. + +The master is entitled to the thanks of all; he has cleverly succeeded +in disciplining the vagrant (Imagination) and in associating it +usefully with the will. + +Thus he has given man the means of increasing tenfold his moral +force by giving him confidence in himself. + + Docteur P. R., + _Francfort._ + +*** + +. . . It is difficult to speak of the profound influence exercised on me +by your so kindly allowing me to view so often your work. Seeing it +day by day, as I have done, it has impressed me more and more, and +as you yourself said, there seems no limits to the possibilities and +future scope of the principles you enunciate, not only in the physical +life of children but also in possibilities for changing the ideas now +prevalent in punishment of crime, in government, in fact, in all the +relations of life. . . . + + Miss Josephine M. Richardson. + +*** + +. . . When I came, I expected a great deal, but what I have seen, +thanks to your great kindness, exceeds greatly my expectation. + + Montagu S. Monier-Williams, M. D., + _London._ + + + +FRAGMENTS FROM LETTERS +Addressed to Mme. Emile Leon, Disciple of M. Coue + +For some time I have been wanting to write and thank you +most sincerely for having made known to me this method of +autosuggestion. Thanks to your good advice the attacks of nerves to +which I was subject, have entirely disappeared, and I am certain that +I am quite cured. Further, I feel myself surrounded by a superior +force which is an unfaltering guide, and by whose aid I surmount +with ease the difficulties of life. + + Mme. F----, + _Rue de Bougainville,_ 4, _Paris._ + +*** + +Amazed at the results obtained by the autosuggestion which you +made known to me, I thank you with all my heart. + +For a year I have been entirely cured of articular rheumatism of the +right shoulder from which I had suffered for eight years, and from +chronic bronchitis which I had had still longer. The numerous +doctors I had consulted declared me incurable, but thanks to you and +to your treatment, I have found with perfect health the conviction +that I possess the power to keep it. + + Mme. L. T----, + _Rue du Laos,_ 4, _Paris._ + +*** + +I want to tell you what excellent results M. Coue's wonderful +method has produced in my case, and to express my deep gratitude +for your valuable help. I have always been anaemic, and have had +poor health, but after my husband's death I became much worse. I +suffered with my kidneys, I could not stand upright, I also suffered +from nervousness and aversions. All that has gone and I am a +different person. I no longer suffer, I have more endurance, and I am +more cheerful. My friends hardly recognize me, and I feel a new +woman. I intend to spread the news of this wonderful method, so +clear, so simple, so beneficent, and to continue to get from it the best +results for myself as well. + + M. L. D----, + _Paris, June,_ 1920. + +*** + +I cannot find words to thank you for teaching me your good method. +What happiness you have brought to me! I thank God who led me to +make your acquaintance, for you have entirely transformed my life. +Formerly I suffered terribly at each monthly period and was obliged +to lie in bed. Now all is quite regular and painless. It is the same +with my digestion, and I am no longer obliged to live on milk as I +used, and I have no more pain, which is a joy. My husband is +astonished to find that when I travel I have no more headaches, +whereas before I was always taking tablets. Now, thanks to you, I +need no remedies at all, but I do not forget to repeat 20 times +morning and evening, the phrase you taught me: "Every day, in +every respect, I am getting better and better." + + B. P----, + _Paris, October,_ 1920. + +*** + +In re-reading the method I find it more and more superior to all the +developments inspired by it. It surpasses all that has been invented +of so-called scientific systems, themselves based on the uncertain +results of an uncertain science, which feels its way and deceives +itself, and of which the means of observation are also fairly +precarious in spite of what the learned say, M. Coue, on the other +hand, suffices for everything, goes straight to the aim, attains it with +certainty and in freeing his patient carries generosity and knowledge +to its highest point, since he leaves to the patient himself the merit of +this freedom, and the use of a marvellous power. No, really, there is +nothing to alter in this method. It is as you so strikingly say: a +Gospel. To report faithfully his acts and words and spread his +method, that is what must be done, and what I shall do myself as far +as is in any way possible. + + P. C. + +*** + +I am amazed at the results that I have obtained and continue to +obtain daily, by the use of the excellent method you have taught me +of conscious autosuggestion. I was ill mentally and physically. Now +I am well and am also nearly always cheerful. That is to say that my +depression has given way to cheerfulness, and certainly I do not +complain of the change, for it is very preferable, I assure you. How +wretched I used to be! I could digest nothing; now I digest perfectly +well and the intestines act naturally. I also used to sleep so badly, +whereas now the nights are not long enough; I could not work, but +now I am able to work hard. Of all my ailments nothing is left but an +occasional touch of rheumatism, which I feel sure will disappear like +the rest by continuing your good method. I cannot find words to +express my deep gratitude to you. + + Mme. Friry, + _Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris._ + + +EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS +_Addressed to Mlle. Kaufmant, Disciple of M. Coue_ + +As I have been feeling better and better since following the method +of autosuggestion which you taught me, I feel I owe you the +sincerest thanks, I am now qualified to speak of the great and +undeniable advantages of this method, as to it alone I owe my +recovery. I had a lesion in the lungs which caused me to spit blood. I +suffered from lack of appetite, daily vomiting, loss of flesh, and +obstinate constipation. The spitting of blood, lessened at once and +soon entirely disappeared. The vomiting ceased, the constipation no +longer exists, I have got back my appetite, and in two months I have +gained nearly a stone in weight. In the face of such results observed, +not only by parents and friends, but also by the doctor who has been +attending me for several months, it is impossible to deny the good +effect of autosuggestion and not to declare openly that it is to your +method that I owe my return to life. I authorize you to publish my +name if it is likely to be of service to others, and I beg you to believe +me. + +Yours most gratefully. + + Jeanne Gilli, + 15, _Av. Borriglione, Nice, March,_ 1918. + +*** + +I consider it a duty to tell you how grateful I am to you for +acquainting me with the benefits of autosuggestion. Thanks to you, I +no longer suffer from those agonizing and frequent heart stoppages, +and I have regained my appetite which I had lost for months. Still +more, as a hospital nurse, I must thank you from my heart for the +almost miraculous recovery of one of my patients, seriously ill with +tuberculosis, which caused him to vomit blood constantly and +copiously. His family and myself were very anxious when heaven +sent you to him. After your first visit the spitting of blood ceased, +his appetite returned, and after a few more visits made by you to his +sick bed, all the organs little by little resumed their normal functions. +At last one day we had the pleasant surprise and joy of seeing him +arrive at your private seance, where, before those present, he himself +made the declaration of his cure, due to your kind intervention. +Thank you with all my heart. + +Yours gratefully and sympathetically, + + A. Kettner, + 26, _Av. Borriglione, Nice, March,_ 1918. + +*** + +. . . From day to day I have put off writing to you to thank you for +the cure of my little Sylvain. I was in despair, the doctors telling me +that there was nothing more to be done but to try the sanitorium of +Arcachon or Juicoot, near Dunkirk. I was going to do so when Mine. +Collard advised me to go and see you. I hesitated, as I felt sceptical +about it; but I now have the proof of your skill, for Sylvain has +completely recovered. His appetite is good, his pimples and his +glands are completely cured, and what is still more extraordinary, +since the first time that we went to see you he has not coughed any +more, not even once; the result is, that since the month of June he +has gained 6 lbs.; I can never thank you enough and I proclaim to +everyone the benefits we have received. + + Mme. Poirson, + _Liverdun, August,_ 1920. + +*** + +How can I prove to you my deep gratitude? You have saved my life. +I had a displaced heart, which caused terrible attacks of suffocation, +which went on continually; in fact they were so violent that I had no +rest day or night, in spite of daily injections of morphia. I could eat +nothing without instant vomiting. I had violent pains in the head +which became all swollen, and as a result I lost my sight. I was in a +lamentable state and my whole organism suffered from it. I had +abscesses on the liver. The doctor despaired of me after having tried +everything; blood letting, cupping and scarifying, poultices, ice, and +every possible remedy, without any improvement. I had recourse to +your kindness on the doctor's advice. + +After your first visits the attacks became less violent and less +frequent, and soon disappeared completely. The bad and troubled +nights became calmer, until I was able to sleep the whole night +through without waking. The pains I had in the liver ceased +completely. I could begin to take my food again, digesting it +perfectly well, and I again experienced the feeling of hunger which I +had not known for months. My headaches ceased, and my eyes, +which had troubled me so much, are quite cured, since I am now +able to occupy myself with a little manual work. + +At each visit that you paid me, I felt that my organs were resuming +their natural functions. I was not the only one to observe it, for the +doctor who came to see me every week found me much better, and +finally there came recovery, since I could get up after having been in +bed eleven months. I got up without any discomfort, not even the +least giddiness, and in a fortnight I could go out. It is indeed thanks +to you that I am cured, for the doctor says that for all that the +medicines did me, I might just as well have taken none. + +After having been given up by two doctors who held out no hope of +cure, here I am cured all the same, and it is indeed a complete cure, +for now I can eat meat, and I eat a pound of bread every day. How +can I thank you, for I repeat, it is thanks to the suggestion you taught +me that I owe my life. + + Jeanne Grosjean, + _Nancy, Nov.,_ 1920. + +*** + +. . . Personally the science of autosuggestion--for I consider it as +entirely a _science--_has rendered me great services; but truth +compels me to declare that if I continue to interest myself +particularly in it, it is because I find in it the means of exercising +true charity. + +In 1915 when I was present for the first time at M. Coue's lectures, I +confess that I was entirely sceptical. Before facts a _hundred times_ +repeated in my presence, I was obliged to surrender to evidence, and +recognize that autosuggestion always acted, though naturally in +different degrees, on organic diseases. The only cases (and those +were very rare) in which I have seen it fail are nervous cases, +neurasthenia or imaginary illness. + +There is no need to tell you again that M. Coue, like yourself, but +even more strongly, insists on this point: "that he never performs a +miracle or cures anybody, but that he shows people how to cure +themselves." I confess that on this point I still remain a trifle +incredulous, for if M. Coue does not actually cure people, he is a +powerful aid to their recovery, in "giving heart" to the sick, in +teaching them never to despair, in uplifting them, in leading them . . . +higher than themselves into moral spheres that the majority of +humanity, plunged in materialism, has never reached. + +The more I study autosuggestion, the better I understand the divine +law of confidence and love that Christ preached us: "Thou shalt love +thy neighbor" and by giving a little of one's heart and of one's moral +force to help him to rise if he has fallen and to cure himself if he is +ill. Here also from my Christian point of view, is the application of +autosuggestion which I consider as a beneficial and comforting +science which helps us to understand that as the children of God, we +all have within us forces whose existence we did not suspect, which +properly directed, serve to elevate us morally and to heal us +physically. + +Those who do not know your science, or who only know it +imperfectly, should not judge it without having seen the results it +gives and the good it does. Believe me to be your faithful admirer. + + M. L. D----, + _Nancy, November,_ 1920. + + + +THE MIRACLE WITHIN + +_(Reprinted from the "Renaissance politique, litteraire et artistique" +of the 18th of December,_ 1920) + +HOMAGE TO EMILE COUE + +In the course of the month of September, 1920, I opened for the first +time the book of Charles Baudouin, of Geneva, professor at the +Institute J. J. Rousseau in that town. + +This work, published by the firm of Delachaux and Niestle, 26, rue +Saint-Dominique, Paris, is called: "Suggestion et Autosuggestion". +The author has dedicated it: _"To Emile Coue, the initiator and +benefactor, with deep gratitude"._ + +I read it and did not put down the book until I had reached the end. + +The fact is that it contains the very simple exposition of a +magnificently humanitarian work, founded on a theory which may +appear childish just because it is within the scope of everyone. And +if everyone puts it into practice, the greatest good will proceed from +it. + +After more than twenty years of indefatigable work, Emile Coue +who at the present time lives at Nancy, where he lately followed the +work and experiments of Liebault, the father of the doctrine of +suggestions, for more than twenty years, I say, Coue has been +occupied exclusively with this question, but particularly in order to +bring his fellow creatures to cultivate _autosuggestion._ + +At the beginning of the century Coue had attained the object of his +researches, and had disengaged the general and immense force of +autosuggestion. After innumerable experiments on thousands of +subjects, _he showed the action of the unconscious in organic +cases._ This is new, and the great merit of this profoundly, modest +learned man, is to have found a remedy for terrible ills, reputed +incurable or terribly painful, without any hope of relief. + +As I cannot enter here into long scientific details I will content +myself by saying how the learned man of Nancy practises his +method. + +The chiselled epitome of a whole life of patient researches and of +ceaseless observations, is a brief formula which is to be repeated +morning and evening. + +It must be said in a low voice, with the eyes closed, in a position +favourable to the relaxing of the muscular system, it may be in bed, +or it may be in an easy chair, and in a tone of voice as if one were +reciting a litany. + +Here are the magic words: _"Every day, in every respect, I am +getting better and better"._ + +They must be said twenty times following, with the help of a string +with twenty knots in it, which serves as a rosary. This material detail +has its importance; it ensures mechanical recitation, which is +essential. + +While articulating these words, _which are registered by the +unconscious,_ one must not think of anything particular, neither of +one's illness nor of one's troubles, one must be passive, just with the +desire that all may be for the best. The formula _"in every respect"_ +has a general effect. + +This desire must be expressed without passion, without will, with +gentleness, _but with absolute confidence._ + +For Emile Coue at the moment of autosuggestion, _does not call in +the will in any way, on the contrary;_ there must be no question of +the will at that moment, but the _imagination,_ the great motive +force infinitely more active than that which is usually invoked, the +imagination alone must be brought into play. + +"Have confidence in yourself," says this good counsellor, "believe +firmly that all will be well". And indeed all is well for those who +have faith, fortified by perseverance. + +As deeds talk louder than words, I will tell you what happened to +myself before I had ever seen M. Coue. + +I must go back then to the month of September when I opened M. +Charles Baudouin's volume. At the end of a substantial exposition, +the author enumerates the cure of illnesses such as enteritis, eczema, +stammering, dumbness, a sinus dating from twenty years back which +had necessitated eleven operations, metritis, salpingitis, fibrous +tumours, varicose veins, etc., lastly and above all, deep tubercular +sores, and the last stages of phthisis (case of Mme. D----, of Troyes, +aged 30 years, who has become a mother since her cure; case was +followed up, but there was no relapse). All this is often testified to +by doctors in attendance on the patients. + +These examples impressed me profoundly; _there_ was the miracle. +It was not a question of nerves, but of ills which medicine attacks +without success. This cure of tuberculosis was a revelation to me. + +Having suffered for two years from acute neuritis in the face, I was +in horrible pain. Four doctors, two of them specialists, had +pronounced the sentence which would be enough, of itself alone, to +increase the trouble by its fatal influence on the mind: "Nothing to +be done!" This "nothing to be done" had been for me the worst of +autosuggestions. + +In possession of the formula: "Every day, in every respect . . .", etc., I +recited it with a faith which, although it had come suddenly, was +none the less capable of removing mountains, and throwing down +shawls and scarves, bareheaded, I went into the garden in the rain +and wind repeating gently _"I am going to be cured,_ I shall have no +more neuritis, it is going away, it will not come back, etc. . . ." The +next day I was cured and never any more since have I suffered from +this abominable complaint, which did not allow me to take a step out +of doors and made life unbearable. It was an immense joy. The +incredulous will say: "It was all nervous." Obviously, and I give +them this first point. But, delighted with the result, I tried the Coue +Method for an oedema of the left ankle, resulting from an affection +of the kidneys reputed incurable. In two days the oedema had +disappeared. I then treated fatigue and mental depression, etc., and +extraordinary improvement was produced, and I had but one idea: to +go to Nancy to thank my benefactor. + +I went there and found the excellent man, attractive by his goodness +and simplicity, who has become my friend. + +It was indispensable to see him in his field of action. He invited me +to a popular "seance." I heard a concert of gratitude. Lesions in the +lungs, displaced organs, asthma, Pott's disease (!), paralysis, the +whole deadly horde of diseases were being put to flight. I saw a +paralytic, who sat contorted and twisted in his chair, get up and walk. +M. Coue had spoken, he demanded confidence, great, immense +confidence in oneself. He said: "Learn to cure yourselves, you can +do so; I have never cured anyone. The power is within you +yourselves, call upon your spirit, make it act for your physical and +mental good, and it will come, it will cure you, you will be strong +and happy". Having spoken, Coue approached the paralytic: "You +heard what I said, do you believe that you will walk?" "Yes."--"Very +well then, get up!" The woman got up, she walked, and went round +the garden. The miracle was accomplished. + +A young girl with Pott's disease, whose vertebral column became +straight again after three visits, told me what an intense happiness it +was to feel herself coming back to life after having thought herself a +hopeless case. + +Three women, cured of lesions in the lungs, expressed their delight +at going back to work and to a normal life. Coue in the midst of +those people whom he loves, seemed to me a being apart, for this +man ignores money, all his work is gratuitous, and his extraordinary +disinterestedness forbids his taking a farthing for it. "I owe you +something", I said to him, "I simply owe you everything. . . ." "No, +only the pleasure I shall have from your continuing to keep well. . . ." + +An irresistible sympathy attracts one to this simple-minded +philanthropist; arm in arm we walked round the kitchen garden +which he cultivates himself, getting up early to do so. Practically a +vegetarian, he considers with satisfaction the results of his work. +And then the serious conversation goes on: "In your _mind_ you +possess an _unlimited_ power. It acts on matter if we know how to +domesticate it. The imagination is like a horse without a bridle; if +such a horse is pulling the carriage in which you are, he may do all +sorts of foolish things and take you to your death. But harness him +properly, drive him with a sure hand, and he will go wherever you +like. Thus it is with the mind, the imagination. They must be +directed for our own good. Autosuggestion, formulated with the lips, +is an order which the unconscious receives, it carries it out unknown +to ourselves and above all at night, so that the evening +autosuggestion is the most important. It gives marvelous results." + +When you feel a physical pain, add the formula _"It is going +away . . .",_ very quickly repeated, in a kind of droning voice, +placing your hand on the part where you feel the pain, or on the +forehead, if it is a mental distress. + +For the method acts very efficaciously on the mind. After having +called in the help of the soul for the body, one can ask it again for all +the circumstances and difficulties of life. + +There also I know from experience that events can be singularly +modified by this process. + +You know it to-day, and you will know it better still by reading M. +Baudouin's book, and then his pamphlet: _"Culture de la force +morale",_ and then, lastly, the little succinct treatise written by M. +Coue himself: _"Self Mastery."_ All these works may be found at M. +Coue's. + +If however I have been able to inspire in you the desire of making +this excellent pilgrimage yourself, you will go to Nancy to fetch the +booklet. Like myself you will love this unique man, unique by +reason of his noble charity and of his love for his fellows, as Christ +taught it. + +Like myself also, you will be cured physically and mentally. Life +will seem to you better and more beautiful. That surely is worth the +trouble of trying for. + + M. Burnat-Provins. + + + +SOME NOTES ON THE JOURNEY OF M. COUE TO PARIS IN +OCTOBER, 1919 + +The desire that the teachings of M. Coue in Paris last October should +not be lost to others, has urged me to write them down. Putting aside +this time the numerous people, physically or mentally ill, who have +seen their troubles lessen and disappear as the result of his +beneficent treatment, let us begin by quoting just a few of his +teachings. + +_Question._--Why is it that I do not obtain better results although I +use your method and prayer? + +_Answer._--Because, probably, at the back of your mind there is an +_unconscious doubt,_ or because you make _efforts._ Now, +remember that efforts are determined by the will; if you bring the +will into play, you run a serious risk of bringing the imagination into +play too, but in the contrary direction, which brings about just the +reverse of what you desire. + +_Question._--What are we to do when something troubles us? + +_Answer._--When something happens that troubles you, _repeat_ at +once "No, that does not trouble me at all, not in the least, the fact is +rather agreeable than otherwise." In short, the idea is to work +ourselves up in a good sense instead of in a bad. + +_Question._--Are the preliminary experiments indispensable if they +are unacceptable to the pride of the subject? + +_Answer._--No, they are not indispensable, but they are of great +utility; for although they may seem childish to certain people, they +are on the contrary extremely serious; they do indeed prove three +things: + +1. That every idea that we have in our minds becomes _true_ for us, +and has a tendency to transform itself into action. + +2. That when there is a conflict between the imagination and the will, +it is always the imagination which wins; and in this case we do +exactly the _contrary_ of what we wish to do. + +3. That it is easy for us to put into our minds, _without any effort,_ +the idea that we wish to have, since we have been able without effort +to think in succession: "I cannot," and then "I can." + +The preliminary experiments should not be repeated at home; alone, +one is often unable to put oneself in the right physical and mental +conditions, there is a risk of failure, and in this case one's +self-confidence is shaken. + +_Question._--When one is in pain, one cannot help thinking of one's +trouble. + +_Answer._--Do not be afraid to think of it; on the contrary, do think +of it, but to say to it, "I am not _afraid_ of you." + +If you go anywhere and a dog rushes at you barking, look it firmly +in the eyes and it will not bite you; but if you fear it, if you turn back, +he will soon have his teeth in your legs. + +_Question._--And if one does a retreat? + +_Answer._--Go backwards. + +_Question._--How can we realize what we desire? + +_Answer._--By often repeating what you desire: "I am gaining +assurance," and you will do so; "My memory is improving," and it +really does so; "I am becoming absolutely master of myself," and +you find that you are becoming so. + +If you say the contrary, it is the contrary which will come about. + +What you say persistently and very quickly _comes to pass_ (within +the domain of the reasonable, of course). + +Some testimonies: + +A young lady to another lady: "How simple it is! There is nothing to +add to it: he seems inspired. Do you not think that there are beings +who radiate influence?" + +. . . An eminent Parisian doctor to numerous doctors surrounding +him: "I have entirely come over to the ideas of M. Coue." + +. . . A Polytechnician, a severe critic, thus defines M. Coue: "He is a +Power." + +. . . Yes, he is a Power of Goodness. Without mercy for the bad +autosuggestions of the "defeatist" type, but indefatigably painstaking, +active and smiling, to help everyone to develop their personality, +and to teach them to cure themselves, which is the characteristic of +his beneficent method. + +How could one fail to desire from the depths of one's heart that all +might understand and seize the "good news" that M. Coue brings? +"It is the awakening, possible for everyone, of the personal power +which he has _received_ of being happy and well." + +It is, _if one consents,_ the full development of this power which +can transform one's life. + +Then, and is it not quite rightly so? it is the strict duty (and at the +same time the happiness) of those who have been initiated, to spread +by every possible means the knowledge of this wonderful method, +the happy results of which have been recognized and verified by +_thousands_ of persons, to make it known to those who suffer, who +are sad, or who are overburdened . . . to all! and to help them to put it +into practice. + +Then, thinking of France, triumphant but bruised, of her defenders +victorious but mutilated, of all the physical and moral suffering +entailed by the war; may those who-have the power (the greatest +power ever given to man is the power of doing good [Socrates]) see +that the inexhaustible reservoir of physical and moral forces that the +"Method" puts within our reach may soon become the-patrimony of +all the nation and through it of humanity. + +Mme. Emile Leon, +_Collaborator, in Paris, of M. Emile Coue_ + + + +"EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE" + +By Mme. Emile Leon, Disciple of M. Coue. + +When one has been able to take advantage of a great benefit; when +this benefit is within reach of everyone, although almost everyone is +ignorant of it, is it not an urgent and absolute duty (for those who are +initiated) to make it known to those around them? For all can make +their own the amazing results of the "Emile Coue Method." + +To drive away pain is much . . . but how much more is it to lead into +the possession of a new life _all_ those who suffer. . . . + +Last April we had the visit of M. Emile Coue at Paris, and here are +some of his teachings: + +_Question._--Question of a theist: I think it is unworthy of the +Eternal to make our obedience to his will, depend on what M. Coue +calls a trick or mechanical process: conscious autosuggestion. + +_M. Coue._--Whether we wish it or not, our imagination always +overrules our will, when they are in conflict. We can lead it into the +right path indicated by our reason, by _consciously_ employing the +mechanical process that we employ _unconsciously_ often to lead +into the wrong. + +And the thoughtful questioner says to herself: "Yes, it is true, in this +elevated sphere of thought, conscious autosuggestion has the power +to free us from obstacles _created by ourselves,_ which might as it +were put a veil between us and God, just as a piece of stuff, hanging +in a window, can prevent the sun from coming into a room." + +_Question._--How ought one to set about bringing those dear to one +who may be suffering, to make themselves good autosuggestions +which would set them free? + +_Answer._--Do not insist or lecture them about it. Just remind them +simply that I advise them to make an autosuggestion with the +_conviction_ that they will obtain the result they want. + +_Question._--How is one to explain to oneself and to explain to +others that the repetition of the same words: "I am going to sleep. . . . +It is going away . . ." etc., has the power to produce the effect, and +above all so powerful an effect that it is a certain one? + +_Answer._--The repetition of the same words forces one to think +them, and when we think them they become true for us and +transform themselves into reality. + +_Question._--How is one to keep inwardly the mastery of oneself? + +_Answer._--To be master of oneself it is enough to think that one is +so, and in order to think it, one should often repeat it without making +any effort. + +_Question._--And outwardly, how is one to keep one's liberty? + +_Answer._--Self mastery applies just as much physically as +mentally. + +_Question_(Affirmation).--It is impossible to escape trouble or +sadness, if we do not do as we should, it would not be just, and +autosuggestion, cannot . . . and ought not to prevent _just suffering._ + +_M. Coue_(very seriously and affirmatively).--Certainly and +assuredly it ought not to be so, but it is so often . . . at any rate for a +time. + +_Question._--Why did that patient who has been entirely cured, +continually have those terrible attacks? + +_Answer._--He expected his attacks, he feared them . . . and so he +_provoked_ them; if this gentleman gets well into his mind the idea +that he will have no more attacks, he will not have any; if he thinks +that he will have them, he will indeed do so. + +_Question._--In what does your method differ from others. + +_Answer._--The differ not the _will_ which rules us but the +_imagination;_ that is the basis, the fundamental basis. + +_Question._--Will you give me a summary of your "Method" for +Mme. R----, who is doing an important work? + +_M. E. Coue._--Here is the summary of the "Method" in a few +words: Contrary to what is taught, it is not our will which makes us +act, but our imagination (the unconscious). If we often do act as we +_will,_ it is because at the same time we think that we can. If it is +not so, we do exactly the reverse of what we wish. Ex: The more a +person with insomnia _determines_ to sleep, the more excited she +becomes; the more we _try_ to remember a name which we think +we have forgotten, the more it escapes us (it comes back only if, in +your mind, you replace the idea: "I have forgotten", by the idea "it +will come back"); the more we strive to prevent ourselves from +laughing, the more our laughter bursts out; the more we _determine_ +to avoid an obstacle, when learning to bicycle, the more we rush +upon it. + +We must then apply ourselves to directing our _imagination_ which +now directs us; in this way we easily arrive at becoming masters of +ourselves physically and morally. + +How are we to arrive at this result? By the practice of conscious +_autosuggestion._ + +Conscious autosuggestion is based on this principle. Every idea that +we have in our mind becomes true for us and tends to realize itself. + +Thus, if we _desire_ something, we can obtain it at the end of a +more or less long time, if we often repeat that this thing is going to +come, or to disappear, according to whether it is a good quality or a +fault, either physical or mental. + +Everything is included by employing night and morning the general +formula: "Every day, _in every respect,_ I am getting better and +better". + +_Question._--For those who are sad--who are in distress? + +_Answer._--As long as you think: "I am sad", you _cannot_ be +cheerful, and in order to think something, it is enough to say without +effort: "I do think this thing--"; as to the distress it will disappear, +however violent it may be, _that_ I _can_ affirm. + +A man arrives bent, dragging himself painfully along, leaning on +two sticks; he has on his face an expression of dull depression. As +the hall is filling up, M. E. Coue enters. After having questioned this +man, he says to him something like this: "So you have had +rheumatism for 32 years and you cannot walk. Don't be afraid, it's +not going to last as long as that again." + +Then after the preliminary experiments: "Shut your eyes, and repeat +very quickly indeed, moving your lips, the words: 'It is going, it is +going' (at the same time M. Coue passes his hand over the legs of +the patient, for 20 to 25 seconds). Now you are no longer in pain, get +up and walk (the patient walks) quickly! quicker! more quickly still! +and since you can walk so well, you are going to run; run! Monsieur, +run!" The patient runs (joyously, almost as if he had recovered his +youth), to his great astonishment, and also to that of the numerous +persons present at the seance of April 27th, 1920. (Clinic of Dr. +Berillon.) + +A lady declares: "My husband suffered from attacks of asthma for +many years, he had such difficulty in breathing that we feared a fatal +issue; his medical adviser, Dr. X---- had given him up. He was +almost radically cured of his attacks, after only one visit from M. +Coue". + +A young woman comes to thank M. Coue with lively gratitude. Her +doctor, Dr. Vachet, who was with her in the room, says that the +cerebral anaemia from which she had suffered for a long while, +which he had not succeeded in checking by the usual means, had +disappeared as if by magic through the use of conscious +autosuggestion. + +Another person who had had a fractured leg and could not walk +without pain and limping, could at once walk normally. No more +pain, no more limping. + +In the hall which thrills with interest, joyful testimonies break out +from numerous persons who have been relieved or cured. + +A doctor: "Autosuggestion is the weapon of healing". As to this +philosopher who writes (he mentions his name), he relies on the +_genius_ of Coue. + +A gentleman, a former magistrate, whom a lady had asked to +express his appreciation, exclaims in a moved tone: "I cannot put my +appreciation into words--I think it is admirable--" A woman of the +world, excited by the disappearance of her sufferings: "Oh, M. Coue, +one could kneel to you--You are the merciful God!" Another lady, +very much impressed herself, rectifies: "No, his messenger". + +An aged lady: It is delightful, when one is aged and fragile, to +replace a feeling of general ill health by that of refreshment and +general well-being, and M. E. Coue's method can, I affirm for I have +proved it, produce this happy result, which is all the more complete +and lasting since it relies on the all-powerful force which is within +us. + +A warmly sympathetic voice calls him the modest name he prefers +to that of "Master": Professor Coue. + +A young woman who has been entirely won over: "M. Coue goes +straight to his aim, attains it with sureness, and, in setting free his +patient, carries generosity and knowledge to its highest point, since +he leaves to the patient himself the merit of his liberation and the use +of a marvellous power". + +A literary man, whom a lady asks to write a little _"chef d'oeuvre"_ +on the beneficent "Method" refuses absolutely, emphasizing the +simple words which, used according to the Method, help to make all +suffering disappear: "IT IS GOING AWAY--_that_ is the _chef-d'oeuvre!"_ +he affirms. + +And the thousands of sick folks who have been relieved or cured +will not contradict him. + +A lady who has suffered much declares: "In re-reading the 'Method' +I find it more and more superior to the developments it has inspired; +there is really nothing to take away nor add to this 'Method'--all +that is left is to spread it. I shall do so in every possible way." + +And now in conclusion I will say: Although M. Coue's modesty +makes him reply to everyone: + +I have no magnetic fluid-- + +I have no influence-- + +I have never cured anybody-- + +My disciples obtain the same results as myself-- + +"I can say in all sincerity that they tend to do so, instructed as they +are in the _valuable 'Method',_ and when, in some far distant future, +the thrilling voice of its author called to a higher sphere can no +longer teach it here below, the 'Method', his work, will help in +aiding, comforting, and curing thousands and thousands of human +beings: it must be _immortal,_ and communicated to the entire +world by generous France--for the man of letters was right, and +knew how to illuminate in a word this true simple, and marvellous +help in conquering pain: 'IT IS GOING AWAY--! _There is the +chef-d'oeuvre!'"_ + + B. K. (Emile-Leon). + Paris, June 6th, 1920. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Self Mastery Through Conscious +Autosuggestion, by Emile Coue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF MASTERY *** + +***** This file should be named 27203.txt or 27203.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/0/27203/ + +Produced by Ruth Hart + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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