The Project Gutenberg EBook of Self Mastery Through Conscious
Autosuggestion, by Emile Coué
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Title: Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion
Author: Emile Coué
Release Date: November 8, 2008 [EBook #27203]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF MASTERY ***
Produced by Ruth Hart
[Note: many of the people quoted in this text are identified only by
their initials along with either a dash or three periods. For
consistency's sake, I have used four dashes for each person instead
of periods. I have also added quotation marks where appropriate.
Finally, I have made the following spelling change: I congraulate
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SELF MASTERY THROUGH CONSCIOUS
AUTOSUGGESTION
by
EMILE COUÉ
AMERICAN LIBRARY SERVICE
PUBLISHERS
500 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK
Copyright 1922
_by_
AMERICAN LIBRARY SERVICE
_All Translation Rights Reserved_
CONTENTS
Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion, by _Emile Coué_ 5
Thoughts and Precepts, by _Emile Coué_ 36
Observations on What Autosuggestion Can Do, by _Emile Coué_ 43
Education As It Ought To Be, by _Emile Coué_ 50
A Survey of the "Séances" at M. Emile Coué's 55
Letters from Patients Treated by the Coué Method 62, 72, 75
The Miracle Within, by _M. Burnet-Provins_ 80
Some Notes on the Journey of M. Coué to Paris in October, 1919 85
Everything for Everyone! by Mme. Emile Leon 88
[Illustration of Emile Coué]
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.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Self Mastery Through Conscious
Autosuggestion, by Emile Coué
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