[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

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. Gauthé, 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 Maxéville. 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 COUÉ

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, Président 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.

René 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. Coué
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 Maxéville. 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 “séances,” 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-Pivérécourt, 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, Malzéville. 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 “séance,” 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 “séances” 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 (Eugène), aged 60, rue de la Côte, 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 “séance,” 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 COUÉ.

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 Coué.

A SURVEY OF THE “SÉANCES” AT M. COUÉ’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 séance 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. Coué, 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-Saône 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. Coué 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. Coué 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. Coué 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 Coué 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. Coué 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. Coué 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. COUÉ

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 Saône), May, 1918.

***

N. B.–It is worthy of remark that this lady never saw M. Coué, 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 à 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
séances, 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-Dié, 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 Marchè 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. Coué.

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-Clément (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 séance, 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 Coué 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 Marchè, 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 séances 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—-,
     à Soulosse.

***

A dedication to M. Coué by the author of a medical treatise:

To M. Coué 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. Coué

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. Coué’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. Coué, 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. Coué

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 séance, 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. Coué’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. Coué, 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. Coué 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, littéraire et artistique” of the
18th of December, 1920)

HOMAGE TO EMILE COUÉ

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 Coué, 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 Coué who at the
present time lives at Nancy, where he lately followed the work and experiments of
Liébault, the father of the doctrine of suggestions, for more than twenty years, I
say, Coué 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 Coué 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 Coué 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. Coué.

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 Coué 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
“séance.” 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. Coué 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, Coué 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. Coué 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. Coué himself: “Self Mastery.” All these
works may be found at M. Coué’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. COUÉ TO PARIS IN OCTOBER, 1919

The desire that the teachings of M. Coué 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. Coué.”

. . . A Polytechnician, a severe critic, thus defines M. Coué: “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. Coué 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 Coué

“EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE”

By Mme. Emile Leon, Disciple of M. Coué.

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 Coué 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 Coué 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. Coué calls a trick or mechanical
process: conscious autosuggestion.

M. Coué.–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. Coué (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. Coué.–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. Coué
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.
Coué 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 séance 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. Coué”.

A young woman comes to thank M. Coué 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 Coué.

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.
Coué, 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. Coué’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 Coué.

A young woman who has been entirely won over: “M. Coué 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. Coué’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.