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Do not create defects in them by teaching them to fear this or that, cold or heat, rain or wind, etc. Man is created to endure such variations without injury and should do so without grumbling.
Do not make the child nervous by filling his mind with stories of hob-goblins and were-wolves, for there is always the risk that timidity contracted in childhood will persist later.
It is necessary that those who do not bring up then children themselves should choose carefully those to whom they are entrusted. To love them is not sufficient, they must have the qualities you desire your children to possess.
Awaken in them the love of work and of study, making it easier by explaining things carefully and in a pleasant fashion, and by introducing in the explanation some anecdote which will make the child eager for the following lesson.
Above all impress on them that Work is essential for man, and that he who does not work in some fashion or another, is a worthless, useless creature, and that all work produces in the man who engages in it a healthy and profound satisfaction; whilst idleness, so longed for and desired by some, produces weariness, neurasthenia, disgust of life, and leads those who do not possess the means of satisfying the passions created by idleness, to debauchery and even to crime.
Teach children to be always polite and kind to all, and particularly to those whom the chance of birth has placed in a lower class than their own, and also to respect age, and never to mock at the physical or moral defects that age often produces.
Teach them to love all mankind, without distinction of caste. That one must always be ready to succor those who are in need of help, and that one must never be afraid of spending time and money for those who are in need; in short, that they must think more of others than of themselves.
In so doing an inner satisfaction is experienced that the egoist ever seeks and never finds.
Develop in them self-confidence, and teach that, before embarking upon any undertaking, it should be submitted to the control of reason, thus avoiding acting impulsively, and, after having reasoned the matter out, one should form a decision by which one abides, unless, indeed, some fresh fact proves you may have been mistaken.
Teach them above all that every one must set out in life with a very definite idea that he will succeed, and that, under the influence of this idea he will inevitably succeed. Not indeed, that he should quietly remain expecting events to happen, but because, impelled by this idea, he will do what is necessary to make it come true.
He will know how to take advantage of opportunities, or even perhaps of the single opportunity which may present itself, it may be only a single thread or hair, whilst he who distrusts himself is a Constant Guignard with whom nothing succeeds, because his efforts are all directed to that end.
Such a one may indeed swim in an ocean of opportunities, provided with heads of hair like Absalom himself, and he will be unable to seize a single hair, and often determines himself the causes which make him fail; whilst he, who has the idea of success in himself, often gives birth, in an unconscious fashion, to the very circumstances which produce that same success.
But above all, let parents and masters preach by example. A child is extremely suggestive, let something turn up that he wishes to do, and he does it.
As soon as children can speak, make them repeat morning and evening, twenty times consecutively:
"Day by day, in all respects, I grow better", which will produce in them an excellent physical, moral and healthy atmosphere.
If you make the following suggestion you will help the child enormously to eliminate his faults, and to awaken in him the corresponding desirable qualities.
Every night when the child is asleep, approach quietly, so as not to awaken him, to within about three or four feet from his bed. Stand there, murmuring in a low monotonous voice the thing or things you wish him to do.
Finally, it is desirable that all teachers should, every morning, make suggestions to their pupils, somewhat in the following fashion.
Telling them to shut their eyes, they should say: "Children, I expect you always to be polite and kind to everyone, obedient to your parents and teachers, when they give you an order, or tell you anything; you will always listen to the order given or the fact told without thinking it tiresome; you used to think it tiresome when you were reminded of anything, but now you understand very well that it is for your good that you are told things, and consequently, instead of being cross with those who speak to you, you will now be grateful to them.
"Moreover you will now love your work, whatever it may be; in your lessons you will always enjoy those things you may have to learn, especially whatever you may not till now have cared for.
"Moreover when the teacher is giving a lesson in class, you will now devote all your attention, solely and entirely to what he says, instead of attending to any silly things said or done by your companions, and without doing or saying anything silly yourself.
"Under these conditions as you are all intelligent, for, children, you are all intelligent, you will understand easily and remember easily what you have learned. It will remain embedded in your memory, ready to be at your service, and you will be able to make use of it as soon as you need it.
"In the same way when you are working at your lessons alone, or at home, when you are accomplishing a task or studying a lesson, you will fix your attention solely on the work you are doing, and you will always obtain good marks for your lessons."
This is the Counsel, which, if followed faithfully and truly from henceforth, will produce a race endowed with the highest physical and moral qualities.
Emile Coue.
A SURVEY OF THE "SEANCES" AT M. COUE'S
The town thrills at this name, for from every rank of society people come to him and everyone is welcomed with the same benevolence, which already goes for a good deal. But what is extremely poignant is at the end of the seance to see the people who came in gloomy, bent, almost hostile (they were in pain), go away like everybody else; unconstrained, cheerful, sometimes radiant (they are no longer in pain!!). With a strong and smiling goodness of which he has the secret, M. Coue, as it were, holds the hearts of those who consult him in his hand; he addresses himself in turn to the numerous persons who come to consult him, and speaks to them in these terms:
"Well, Madame, and what is your trouble? . . ."
Oh, you are looking for two many whys and wherefores; what does the cause of your pain matter to you? You are in pain, that is enough . . . I will teach you to get rid of that. . . .
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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.
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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.
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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. . . .
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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. . . .
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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. . . .
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Ah! you have glaucoma, Madame. I cannot absolutely promise to cure you of that, for I am not sure that I can. That does not mean that you cannot be cured, for I have known it to happen in the case of a lady of Chalon-sur-Saone and another of Lorraine.
Well, Mademoiselle, as you have not had your nervous attacks since you came here, whereas you used to have them every day, you are cured. Come back sometimes all the same, so that I may keep you going along the right lines.
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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. . . .
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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. . . .
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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. . . ."
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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!")
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ALL THAT WE THINK BECOMES TRUE FOR US. WE MUST NOT THEN ALLOW OURSELVES TO THINK WRONGLY.
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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.
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To become stronger as one becomes older seems paradoxical, but it is true.
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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.
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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.
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Then, after having asked them to close their eyes, M. Coue gives to his patients the little suggestive discourse which is to be found in "Self Mastery." When this is over, he again addresses himself to each one separately, saying to each a few words on his case:
To the first: "You, Monsieur, are in pain, but I tell you that, from to-day, the cause of this pain whether it is called arthritis or anything else, is going to disappear with the help of your unconscious, and the cause having disappeared, the pain will gradually become less and less, and in a short time it will be nothing but a moment."
To the second person: "Your stomach does not function properly, it is more or less dilated. Well, as I told you just now, your digestive functions are going to work better and better, and I add that the dilatation of the stomach is going to disappear little by little. Your organism is going to give back progressively to your stomach the force and elasticity it had lost, and by degrees as this phenomenon is produced, the stomach will return to its primitive form and will carry out more and more easily the necessary movements to pass into the intestine the nourishment it contains. At the same time the pouch formed by the relaxed stomach will diminish in size, the nutriment will not longer stagnate in this pouch, and in consequence the fermentation set up will end by totally disappearing."
To the third: "To you, Mademoiselle, I say that whatever lesions you may have in your liver, your organism is doing what is necessary to make the lesions disappear every day, and by degrees as they heal over, the symptoms from which you suffer will go on lessening and disappearing. Your liver then functions in a more and more normal way, the bile it secretes is alcaline and no longer acid, in the right quantity and quality, so that it passes naturally into the intestines and helps intestinal digestion."
To the fourth: "My child, you hear what I say; every time you feel you are going to have an attack, you will hear my voice telling you as quick as lightning: 'No, no! my friend, you are not going to have that attack, and it is going to disappear before it comes. . . .'"
To the fifth, etc., etc.
When everyone has been attended to, M. Coue tells those present to open their eyes, and adds: "You have heard the advice I have just given you. Well, to transform it into reality, what you must do is this: As long as you live, every morning before getting up, and every evening as soon as you are in bed, you must shut your eyes, so as to concentrate your attention, and repeat twenty times following, moving your lips (that is indispensable) and counting mechanically on a string with twenty knots in it the following phrase: 'Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better.'"
There is no need to think of anything in particular, as the words "in every respect" apply to everything. This autosuggestion must be made with confidence, with faith, with the certainty of obtaining what is desired. The greater the conviction of the person, the greater and the more rapid will be the results obtained.
Further, every time that in the course of the day or night you feel any physical or mental discomfort, affirm to yourself that you will not consciously contribute to it, and that you are going to make it vanish; then isolate yourself as much as possible, and passing your hand over your forehead if it is something mental, or on whatever part that is painful if it is something physical, repeat very quickly, moving the lips, the words: "It is going, it is going . . ., etc., etc." as long as it is necessary. With a little practice, the mental or physical discomfort will disappear in about 20 to 25 seconds. Begin again every time it is necessary.
For this as for the other autosuggestions it is necessary to act with the same confidence, the same conviction, the same faith, and above all without effort.
M. Coue also adds what follows: "If you formerly allowed yourself to make bad autosuggestions because you did it unconsciously, now that you know what I have just taught you, you must no longer let this happen. And if, in spite of all, you still do it, you must only accuse yourself, and say 'Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.'"
And now, if a grateful admirer of the work and of the founder of the method may be allowed to say a few words, I will say. "Monsieur Coue shows us luminously that the power to get health and happiness is within us: we have indeed received this gift."
Therefore, suppressing, first of all, every cause of suffering created or encouraged by ourselves, then putting into practice the favorite maxim of Socrates: "Know thyself," and the advice of Pope: "That I may reject none of the benefits that Thy goodness bestows upon me," let us take possession of the entire benefit of autosuggestion, let us become this very day members of the "Lorraine Society of applied Psychology;" let us make members of it those who may be in our care (it is a good deed to do to them).
By this means we shall follow first of all the great movement of the future of which M. E. Coue is the originator (he devotes to it his days, his nights, his worldly goods, and refuses to accept . . . but hush; no more of this! lest his modesty refuses to allow these lines to be published without alteration), but above all by this means we shall know exactly the days and hours of his lectures at Paris, Nancy and other towns, where he devotedly goes to sow the good seed, and where we can go too to see him, and hear him and consult him personally, and with his help awake or stir up in ourselves the personal power that everyone of us has received of becoming happy and well.
May I be allowed to add that when M. Coue has charged an entrance fee for his lectures, they have brought in thousands of francs for the Disabled and others who have suffered through the war.
E. Vs——oer.
Note.—Entrance is free to the members of the Lorraine Society of applied Psychology.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS ADDRESSED TO M. COUE
The final results of the English secondary Certificate have only been posted up these two hours, and I hasten to tell you about it, at least in so far as it concerns myself. I passed the viva voce with flying colors, and scarcely felt a trace of the nervousness which used to cause me such an intolerable sensation of nausea before the tests. During the latter I was astonished at my own calm, which gave those who listened to me the impression of perfect self-possession on my part. In short, it was just the tests I dreaded most which contributed most to my success. The jury placed me Second, and I am infinitely grateful to you for help, which undoubtedly gave me an advantage over the other candidates . . ., etc. (The case is that of a young lady, who, on account of excessive nervousness, had failed in 1915. The nervousness having vanished under the influence of autosuggestion, she passed successfully, being-placed 2nd out of more than 200 competitors.)
Mlle. V——, Schoolmistress, August, 1916.
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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.
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I do not know how to thank you. Thanks to you I can say that I am almost entirely cured, and I was only waiting to be so in order to express my gratitude. I was suffering from two varicose ulcers, one on each foot. That on the right foot, which was as big as my hand, is entirely cured. It seemed to disappear by magic. For weeks I had been confined to my bed, but almost immediately after I received your letter the ulcer healed over so that I could get up. That on the left foot is not yet absolutely healed, but will soon be so. Night and morning I do, and always shall, recite the prescribed formula, in which I have entire confidence. I may say also that my legs were as hard as a stone and I could not bear the slightest touch. Now I can press them without the least pain, and I can walk once more, which is the greatest joy.
Mme. Ligny, Mailleroncourt-Charette (Haute Saone), May, 1918.
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N. B.—It is worthy of remark that this lady never saw M. Coue, and that it is only thanks to a letter he wrote her on April 15th, that she obtained the result announced in her letter of May 3rd.
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I am writing to express my gratitude, for thanks to you I have escaped the risk of an operation which is always a very dangerous one. I can say more: you have saved my life, for your method of autosuggestion has done alone what all the medicines and treatments ordered for the terrible intestinal obstruction from which I suffered for 19 days, had failed to do. From the moment when I followed your instructions and applied your excellent principles, my functions have accomplished themselves quite naturally.
Mme. S——, Pont a Mousson, Feb., 1920.
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I do not know how to thank you for my happiness in being cured. For more than 15 years I had suffered from attacks of asthma, which caused the most painful suffocations every night. Thanks to your splendid method, and above all, since I was present at one of your seances, the attacks have disappeared as if by magic. It is a real miracle, for the various doctors who attended me all declared that there was no cure for asthma.
Mme. V——, Saint-Die, Feb., 1920.
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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.
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For 8 years I have suffered from prolapse of the uterus. I have used your method of autosuggestion for the last five months, and am now completely cured, for which I do not know how to thank you enough.
Mme. Soulier, Place du Marche Toul, May, 1920.
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I have suffered terribly for 11 years without respite. Every night I had attacks of asthma, and suffered also from insomnia and general weakness which prevented any occupation. Mentally, I was depressed, restless, worried, and was inclined to make mountains out of mole hills. I had followed many treatments without success, having even undergone in Switzerland the removal of the turbinate bone of the nose without obtaining any relief. In Nov., 1918, I became worse in consequence of a great sorrow. While my husband was at Corfu (he was an officer on a warship), I lost our only son in six days from influenza. He was a delightful child of ten, who was the joy of our life; alone and overwhelmed with sorrow, I reproached myself bitterly for not having been able to protect and save our treasure. I wanted to lose my reason or to die. . . . When my husband returned (which was not until February), he took me to a new doctor who ordered me various remedies and the waters of Mont-Dore. I spent the month of August in that station, but on my return I had a recurrence of the asthma, and I realized with despair that "in every respect" I was getting worse and worse. It was then that I had the pleasure of meeting you. Without expecting much good from it, I must say, I went to your October lectures, and I am happy to tell you that by the end of November I was cured. Insomnia, feelings of oppression, gloomy thoughts, disappeared as though by magic, and I am now well and strong and full of courage. With physical health I have recovered my mental equilibrium, and but for the ineffaceable wound caused by my child's loss, I could say that I am perfectly happy. Why did I not meet you before? My child would have known a cheerful and courageous mother. Thank you again and again, M. Coue.
Yours most gratefully,
E. Itier, Rue de Lille, Paris, April, 1920.
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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.
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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.
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. . . 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.
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. . . 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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. . . I am happy to be able to tell you that my stomach is going on well. My metritis is also much better. My little boy had a gland in his thigh as big as an egg which is gradually disappearing.
E. L——, Saint-Clement (M-et-M.)
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After I had undergone three operations in my left leg on account of a local tuberculosis, that leg became ill again in September, 1920. Several doctors declared that a new operation was necessary. They were about to open my leg from the knee to the ankle, and if the operation had failed, they would have had to perform an amputation.
As I had heard of your wondrous cures I came and saw you for the first time on the 6th of November, 1920. After the seance, I felt immediately a little better. I exactly followed your instructions and went three times to you. At the third time, I could tell you that I was completely cured.
Mme. L——, Henry (Lorraine).
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. . . I will not wait any longer to thank you heartily for all the good I owe you. Autosuggestion has positively transformed me and I am now getting much better than I have been these many years. The symptoms of illness have disappeared little by little, the morbid symptoms have become rarer and rarer, and all the functions of the body work now normally. The result is that, after having become thinner and thinner during several years I have regained several kilos in a few months.
I cannot do otherwise than bless the Coue system.
L——, Cannes (A. M.).
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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.
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For eight years, I had suffered from a sinking of the uterus. After having practiced your autosuggestion for five months, I have been radically cured. I don't know how to express my deep gratitude.
Mme. Soulie, 6, Place du Marche, Toul.
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. . . Having suffered from a glaucoma since 1917, I have consulted two oculists who told me that only an operation would put an end to my sufferings, but unfortunately neither of them would assure me of a good result.
In the month of June, 1920, after having attended one of your seances I felt much better. In September I ceased to use the drops of pilocarpine which were the daily bread of my eye, and since then I have felt no more pain. My pupil is no more dilated, my eyes are normal; it is a real miracle.
Mme. M——, a Soulosse.
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A dedication to M. Coue by the author of a medical treatise:
To M. Coue who knew how to dissect the human soul and to extract from it a psychologic method founded on conscious autosuggestion.
The master is entitled to the thanks of all; he has cleverly succeeded in disciplining the vagrant (Imagination) and in associating it usefully with the will.
Thus he has given man the means of increasing tenfold his moral force by giving him confidence in himself.
Docteur P. R., Francfort.
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. . . 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.
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. . . When I came, I expected a great deal, but what I have seen, thanks to your great kindness, exceeds greatly my expectation.
Montagu S. Monier-Williams, M. D., London.
FRAGMENTS FROM LETTERS Addressed to Mme. Emile Leon, Disciple of M. Coue
For some time I have been wanting to write and thank you most sincerely for having made known to me this method of autosuggestion. Thanks to your good advice the attacks of nerves to which I was subject, have entirely disappeared, and I am certain that I am quite cured. Further, I feel myself surrounded by a superior force which is an unfaltering guide, and by whose aid I surmount with ease the difficulties of life.
Mme. F——, Rue de Bougainville, 4, Paris.
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Amazed at the results obtained by the autosuggestion which you made known to me, I thank you with all my heart.
For a year I have been entirely cured of articular rheumatism of the right shoulder from which I had suffered for eight years, and from chronic bronchitis which I had had still longer. The numerous doctors I had consulted declared me incurable, but thanks to you and to your treatment, I have found with perfect health the conviction that I possess the power to keep it.
Mme. L. T——, Rue du Laos, 4, Paris.
***
I want to tell you what excellent results M. Coue's wonderful method has produced in my case, and to express my deep gratitude for your valuable help. I have always been anaemic, and have had poor health, but after my husband's death I became much worse. I suffered with my kidneys, I could not stand upright, I also suffered from nervousness and aversions. All that has gone and I am a different person. I no longer suffer, I have more endurance, and I am more cheerful. My friends hardly recognize me, and I feel a new woman. I intend to spread the news of this wonderful method, so clear, so simple, so beneficent, and to continue to get from it the best results for myself as well.
M. L. D——, Paris, June, 1920.
***
I cannot find words to thank you for teaching me your good method. What happiness you have brought to me! I thank God who led me to make your acquaintance, for you have entirely transformed my life. Formerly I suffered terribly at each monthly period and was obliged to lie in bed. Now all is quite regular and painless. It is the same with my digestion, and I am no longer obliged to live on milk as I used, and I have no more pain, which is a joy. My husband is astonished to find that when I travel I have no more headaches, whereas before I was always taking tablets. Now, thanks to you, I need no remedies at all, but I do not forget to repeat 20 times morning and evening, the phrase you taught me: "Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better."
B. P——, Paris, October, 1920.
***
In re-reading the method I find it more and more superior to all the developments inspired by it. It surpasses all that has been invented of so-called scientific systems, themselves based on the uncertain results of an uncertain science, which feels its way and deceives itself, and of which the means of observation are also fairly precarious in spite of what the learned say, M. Coue, on the other hand, suffices for everything, goes straight to the aim, attains it with certainty and in freeing his patient carries generosity and knowledge to its highest point, since he leaves to the patient himself the merit of this freedom, and the use of a marvellous power. No, really, there is nothing to alter in this method. It is as you so strikingly say: a Gospel. To report faithfully his acts and words and spread his method, that is what must be done, and what I shall do myself as far as is in any way possible.
P. C.
***
I am amazed at the results that I have obtained and continue to obtain daily, by the use of the excellent method you have taught me of conscious autosuggestion. I was ill mentally and physically. Now I am well and am also nearly always cheerful. That is to say that my depression has given way to cheerfulness, and certainly I do not complain of the change, for it is very preferable, I assure you. How wretched I used to be! I could digest nothing; now I digest perfectly well and the intestines act naturally. I also used to sleep so badly, whereas now the nights are not long enough; I could not work, but now I am able to work hard. Of all my ailments nothing is left but an occasional touch of rheumatism, which I feel sure will disappear like the rest by continuing your good method. I cannot find words to express my deep gratitude to you.
Mme. Friry, Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS Addressed to Mlle. Kaufmant, Disciple of M. Coue
As I have been feeling better and better since following the method of autosuggestion which you taught me, I feel I owe you the sincerest thanks, I am now qualified to speak of the great and undeniable advantages of this method, as to it alone I owe my recovery. I had a lesion in the lungs which caused me to spit blood. I suffered from lack of appetite, daily vomiting, loss of flesh, and obstinate constipation. The spitting of blood, lessened at once and soon entirely disappeared. The vomiting ceased, the constipation no longer exists, I have got back my appetite, and in two months I have gained nearly a stone in weight. In the face of such results observed, not only by parents and friends, but also by the doctor who has been attending me for several months, it is impossible to deny the good effect of autosuggestion and not to declare openly that it is to your method that I owe my return to life. I authorize you to publish my name if it is likely to be of service to others, and I beg you to believe me.
Yours most gratefully.
Jeanne Gilli, 15, Av. Borriglione, Nice, March, 1918.
***
I consider it a duty to tell you how grateful I am to you for acquainting me with the benefits of autosuggestion. Thanks to you, I no longer suffer from those agonizing and frequent heart stoppages, and I have regained my appetite which I had lost for months. Still more, as a hospital nurse, I must thank you from my heart for the almost miraculous recovery of one of my patients, seriously ill with tuberculosis, which caused him to vomit blood constantly and copiously. His family and myself were very anxious when heaven sent you to him. After your first visit the spitting of blood ceased, his appetite returned, and after a few more visits made by you to his sick bed, all the organs little by little resumed their normal functions. At last one day we had the pleasant surprise and joy of seeing him arrive at your private seance, where, before those present, he himself made the declaration of his cure, due to your kind intervention. Thank you with all my heart.
Yours gratefully and sympathetically,
A. Kettner, 26, Av. Borriglione, Nice, March, 1918.
***
. . . From day to day I have put off writing to you to thank you for the cure of my little Sylvain. I was in despair, the doctors telling me that there was nothing more to be done but to try the sanitorium of Arcachon or Juicoot, near Dunkirk. I was going to do so when Mine. Collard advised me to go and see you. I hesitated, as I felt sceptical about it; but I now have the proof of your skill, for Sylvain has completely recovered. His appetite is good, his pimples and his glands are completely cured, and what is still more extraordinary, since the first time that we went to see you he has not coughed any more, not even once; the result is, that since the month of June he has gained 6 lbs.; I can never thank you enough and I proclaim to everyone the benefits we have received.
Mme. Poirson, Liverdun, August, 1920.
***
How can I prove to you my deep gratitude? You have saved my life. I had a displaced heart, which caused terrible attacks of suffocation, which went on continually; in fact they were so violent that I had no rest day or night, in spite of daily injections of morphia. I could eat nothing without instant vomiting. I had violent pains in the head which became all swollen, and as a result I lost my sight. I was in a lamentable state and my whole organism suffered from it. I had abscesses on the liver. The doctor despaired of me after having tried everything; blood letting, cupping and scarifying, poultices, ice, and every possible remedy, without any improvement. I had recourse to your kindness on the doctor's advice.
After your first visits the attacks became less violent and less frequent, and soon disappeared completely. The bad and troubled nights became calmer, until I was able to sleep the whole night through without waking. The pains I had in the liver ceased completely. I could begin to take my food again, digesting it perfectly well, and I again experienced the feeling of hunger which I had not known for months. My headaches ceased, and my eyes, which had troubled me so much, are quite cured, since I am now able to occupy myself with a little manual work.
At each visit that you paid me, I felt that my organs were resuming their natural functions. I was not the only one to observe it, for the doctor who came to see me every week found me much better, and finally there came recovery, since I could get up after having been in bed eleven months. I got up without any discomfort, not even the least giddiness, and in a fortnight I could go out. It is indeed thanks to you that I am cured, for the doctor says that for all that the medicines did me, I might just as well have taken none.
After having been given up by two doctors who held out no hope of cure, here I am cured all the same, and it is indeed a complete cure, for now I can eat meat, and I eat a pound of bread every day. How can I thank you, for I repeat, it is thanks to the suggestion you taught me that I owe my life.
Jeanne Grosjean, Nancy, Nov., 1920.
***
. . . Personally the science of autosuggestion—for I consider it as entirely a science—has rendered me great services; but truth compels me to declare that if I continue to interest myself particularly in it, it is because I find in it the means of exercising true charity.
In 1915 when I was present for the first time at M. Coue's lectures, I confess that I was entirely sceptical. Before facts a hundred times repeated in my presence, I was obliged to surrender to evidence, and recognize that autosuggestion always acted, though naturally in different degrees, on organic diseases. The only cases (and those were very rare) in which I have seen it fail are nervous cases, neurasthenia or imaginary illness.
There is no need to tell you again that M. Coue, like yourself, but even more strongly, insists on this point: "that he never performs a miracle or cures anybody, but that he shows people how to cure themselves." I confess that on this point I still remain a trifle incredulous, for if M. Coue does not actually cure people, he is a powerful aid to their recovery, in "giving heart" to the sick, in teaching them never to despair, in uplifting them, in leading them . . . higher than themselves into moral spheres that the majority of humanity, plunged in materialism, has never reached.
The more I study autosuggestion, the better I understand the divine law of confidence and love that Christ preached us: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor" and by giving a little of one's heart and of one's moral force to help him to rise if he has fallen and to cure himself if he is ill. Here also from my Christian point of view, is the application of autosuggestion which I consider as a beneficial and comforting science which helps us to understand that as the children of God, we all have within us forces whose existence we did not suspect, which properly directed, serve to elevate us morally and to heal us physically.
Those who do not know your science, or who only know it imperfectly, should not judge it without having seen the results it gives and the good it does. Believe me to be your faithful admirer.
M. L. D——, Nancy, November, 1920.
THE MIRACLE WITHIN
(Reprinted from the "Renaissance politique, litteraire et artistique" of the 18th of December, 1920)
HOMAGE TO EMILE COUE
In the course of the month of September, 1920, I opened for the first time the book of Charles Baudouin, of Geneva, professor at the Institute J. J. Rousseau in that town.
This work, published by the firm of Delachaux and Niestle, 26, rue Saint-Dominique, Paris, is called: "Suggestion et Autosuggestion". The author has dedicated it: "To Emile Coue, the initiator and benefactor, with deep gratitude".
I read it and did not put down the book until I had reached the end.
The fact is that it contains the very simple exposition of a magnificently humanitarian work, founded on a theory which may appear childish just because it is within the scope of everyone. And if everyone puts it into practice, the greatest good will proceed from it.
After more than twenty years of indefatigable work, Emile Coue who at the present time lives at Nancy, where he lately followed the work and experiments of Liebault, the father of the doctrine of suggestions, for more than twenty years, I say, Coue has been occupied exclusively with this question, but particularly in order to bring his fellow creatures to cultivate autosuggestion.
At the beginning of the century Coue had attained the object of his researches, and had disengaged the general and immense force of autosuggestion. After innumerable experiments on thousands of subjects, he showed the action of the unconscious in organic cases. This is new, and the great merit of this profoundly, modest learned man, is to have found a remedy for terrible ills, reputed incurable or terribly painful, without any hope of relief.
As I cannot enter here into long scientific details I will content myself by saying how the learned man of Nancy practises his method.
The chiselled epitome of a whole life of patient researches and of ceaseless observations, is a brief formula which is to be repeated morning and evening.
It must be said in a low voice, with the eyes closed, in a position favourable to the relaxing of the muscular system, it may be in bed, or it may be in an easy chair, and in a tone of voice as if one were reciting a litany.
Here are the magic words: "Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better".
They must be said twenty times following, with the help of a string with twenty knots in it, which serves as a rosary. This material detail has its importance; it ensures mechanical recitation, which is essential.
While articulating these words, which are registered by the unconscious, one must not think of anything particular, neither of one's illness nor of one's troubles, one must be passive, just with the desire that all may be for the best. The formula "in every respect" has a general effect.
This desire must be expressed without passion, without will, with gentleness, but with absolute confidence.
For Emile Coue at the moment of autosuggestion, does not call in the will in any way, on the contrary; there must be no question of the will at that moment, but the imagination, the great motive force infinitely more active than that which is usually invoked, the imagination alone must be brought into play.
"Have confidence in yourself," says this good counsellor, "believe firmly that all will be well". And indeed all is well for those who have faith, fortified by perseverance.
As deeds talk louder than words, I will tell you what happened to myself before I had ever seen M. Coue.
I must go back then to the month of September when I opened M. Charles Baudouin's volume. At the end of a substantial exposition, the author enumerates the cure of illnesses such as enteritis, eczema, stammering, dumbness, a sinus dating from twenty years back which had necessitated eleven operations, metritis, salpingitis, fibrous tumours, varicose veins, etc., lastly and above all, deep tubercular sores, and the last stages of phthisis (case of Mme. D——, of Troyes, aged 30 years, who has become a mother since her cure; case was followed up, but there was no relapse). All this is often testified to by doctors in attendance on the patients.
These examples impressed me profoundly; there was the miracle. It was not a question of nerves, but of ills which medicine attacks without success. This cure of tuberculosis was a revelation to me.
Having suffered for two years from acute neuritis in the face, I was in horrible pain. Four doctors, two of them specialists, had pronounced the sentence which would be enough, of itself alone, to increase the trouble by its fatal influence on the mind: "Nothing to be done!" This "nothing to be done" had been for me the worst of autosuggestions.
In possession of the formula: "Every day, in every respect . . .", etc., I recited it with a faith which, although it had come suddenly, was none the less capable of removing mountains, and throwing down shawls and scarves, bareheaded, I went into the garden in the rain and wind repeating gently "I am going to be cured, I shall have no more neuritis, it is going away, it will not come back, etc. . . ." The next day I was cured and never any more since have I suffered from this abominable complaint, which did not allow me to take a step out of doors and made life unbearable. It was an immense joy. The incredulous will say: "It was all nervous." Obviously, and I give them this first point. But, delighted with the result, I tried the Coue Method for an oedema of the left ankle, resulting from an affection of the kidneys reputed incurable. In two days the oedema had disappeared. I then treated fatigue and mental depression, etc., and extraordinary improvement was produced, and I had but one idea: to go to Nancy to thank my benefactor.
I went there and found the excellent man, attractive by his goodness and simplicity, who has become my friend.
It was indispensable to see him in his field of action. He invited me to a popular "seance." I heard a concert of gratitude. Lesions in the lungs, displaced organs, asthma, Pott's disease (!), paralysis, the whole deadly horde of diseases were being put to flight. I saw a paralytic, who sat contorted and twisted in his chair, get up and walk. M. Coue had spoken, he demanded confidence, great, immense confidence in oneself. He said: "Learn to cure yourselves, you can do so; I have never cured anyone. The power is within you yourselves, call upon your spirit, make it act for your physical and mental good, and it will come, it will cure you, you will be strong and happy". Having spoken, Coue approached the paralytic: "You heard what I said, do you believe that you will walk?" "Yes."—"Very well then, get up!" The woman got up, she walked, and went round the garden. The miracle was accomplished.
A young girl with Pott's disease, whose vertebral column became straight again after three visits, told me what an intense happiness it was to feel herself coming back to life after having thought herself a hopeless case.
Three women, cured of lesions in the lungs, expressed their delight at going back to work and to a normal life. Coue in the midst of those people whom he loves, seemed to me a being apart, for this man ignores money, all his work is gratuitous, and his extraordinary disinterestedness forbids his taking a farthing for it. "I owe you something", I said to him, "I simply owe you everything. . . ." "No, only the pleasure I shall have from your continuing to keep well. . . ."
An irresistible sympathy attracts one to this simple-minded philanthropist; arm in arm we walked round the kitchen garden which he cultivates himself, getting up early to do so. Practically a vegetarian, he considers with satisfaction the results of his work. And then the serious conversation goes on: "In your mind you possess an unlimited power. It acts on matter if we know how to domesticate it. The imagination is like a horse without a bridle; if such a horse is pulling the carriage in which you are, he may do all sorts of foolish things and take you to your death. But harness him properly, drive him with a sure hand, and he will go wherever you like. Thus it is with the mind, the imagination. They must be directed for our own good. Autosuggestion, formulated with the lips, is an order which the unconscious receives, it carries it out unknown to ourselves and above all at night, so that the evening autosuggestion is the most important. It gives marvelous results."
When you feel a physical pain, add the formula "It is going away . . .", very quickly repeated, in a kind of droning voice, placing your hand on the part where you feel the pain, or on the forehead, if it is a mental distress.
For the method acts very efficaciously on the mind. After having called in the help of the soul for the body, one can ask it again for all the circumstances and difficulties of life.
There also I know from experience that events can be singularly modified by this process.
You know it to-day, and you will know it better still by reading M. Baudouin's book, and then his pamphlet: "Culture de la force morale", and then, lastly, the little succinct treatise written by M. Coue himself: "Self Mastery." All these works may be found at M. Coue's.
If however I have been able to inspire in you the desire of making this excellent pilgrimage yourself, you will go to Nancy to fetch the booklet. Like myself you will love this unique man, unique by reason of his noble charity and of his love for his fellows, as Christ taught it.
Like myself also, you will be cured physically and mentally. Life will seem to you better and more beautiful. That surely is worth the trouble of trying for.
M. Burnat-Provins.
SOME NOTES ON THE JOURNEY OF M. COUE TO PARIS IN OCTOBER, 1919
The desire that the teachings of M. Coue in Paris last October should not be lost to others, has urged me to write them down. Putting aside this time the numerous people, physically or mentally ill, who have seen their troubles lessen and disappear as the result of his beneficent treatment, let us begin by quoting just a few of his teachings.
Question.—Why is it that I do not obtain better results although I use your method and prayer?
Answer.—Because, probably, at the back of your mind there is an unconscious doubt, or because you make efforts. Now, remember that efforts are determined by the will; if you bring the will into play, you run a serious risk of bringing the imagination into play too, but in the contrary direction, which brings about just the reverse of what you desire.
Question.—What are we to do when something troubles us?
Answer.—When something happens that troubles you, repeat at once "No, that does not trouble me at all, not in the least, the fact is rather agreeable than otherwise." In short, the idea is to work ourselves up in a good sense instead of in a bad.
Question.—Are the preliminary experiments indispensable if they are unacceptable to the pride of the subject?
Answer.—No, they are not indispensable, but they are of great utility; for although they may seem childish to certain people, they are on the contrary extremely serious; they do indeed prove three things:
1. That every idea that we have in our minds becomes true for us, and has a tendency to transform itself into action.
2. That when there is a conflict between the imagination and the will, it is always the imagination which wins; and in this case we do exactly the contrary of what we wish to do.
3. That it is easy for us to put into our minds, without any effort, the idea that we wish to have, since we have been able without effort to think in succession: "I cannot," and then "I can."
The preliminary experiments should not be repeated at home; alone, one is often unable to put oneself in the right physical and mental conditions, there is a risk of failure, and in this case one's self-confidence is shaken.
Question.—When one is in pain, one cannot help thinking of one's trouble.
Answer.—Do not be afraid to think of it; on the contrary, do think of it, but to say to it, "I am not afraid of you."
If you go anywhere and a dog rushes at you barking, look it firmly in the eyes and it will not bite you; but if you fear it, if you turn back, he will soon have his teeth in your legs.
Question.—And if one does a retreat?
Answer.—Go backwards.
Question.—How can we realize what we desire?
Answer.—By often repeating what you desire: "I am gaining assurance," and you will do so; "My memory is improving," and it really does so; "I am becoming absolutely master of myself," and you find that you are becoming so.
If you say the contrary, it is the contrary which will come about.
What you say persistently and very quickly comes to pass (within the domain of the reasonable, of course).
Some testimonies:
A young lady to another lady: "How simple it is! There is nothing to add to it: he seems inspired. Do you not think that there are beings who radiate influence?"
. . . An eminent Parisian doctor to numerous doctors surrounding him: "I have entirely come over to the ideas of M. Coue."
. . . A Polytechnician, a severe critic, thus defines M. Coue: "He is a Power."
. . . Yes, he is a Power of Goodness. Without mercy for the bad autosuggestions of the "defeatist" type, but indefatigably painstaking, active and smiling, to help everyone to develop their personality, and to teach them to cure themselves, which is the characteristic of his beneficent method.
How could one fail to desire from the depths of one's heart that all might understand and seize the "good news" that M. Coue brings? "It is the awakening, possible for everyone, of the personal power which he has received of being happy and well."
It is, if one consents, the full development of this power which can transform one's life.
Then, and is it not quite rightly so? it is the strict duty (and at the same time the happiness) of those who have been initiated, to spread by every possible means the knowledge of this wonderful method, the happy results of which have been recognized and verified by thousands of persons, to make it known to those who suffer, who are sad, or who are overburdened . . . to all! and to help them to put it into practice.
Then, thinking of France, triumphant but bruised, of her defenders victorious but mutilated, of all the physical and moral suffering entailed by the war; may those who-have the power (the greatest power ever given to man is the power of doing good [Socrates]) see that the inexhaustible reservoir of physical and moral forces that the "Method" puts within our reach may soon become the-patrimony of all the nation and through it of humanity.
Mme. Emile Leon, Collaborator, in Paris, of M. Emile Coue
"EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE"
By Mme. Emile Leon, Disciple of M. Coue.
When one has been able to take advantage of a great benefit; when this benefit is within reach of everyone, although almost everyone is ignorant of it, is it not an urgent and absolute duty (for those who are initiated) to make it known to those around them? For all can make their own the amazing results of the "Emile Coue Method."
To drive away pain is much . . . but how much more is it to lead into the possession of a new life all those who suffer. . . .
Last April we had the visit of M. Emile Coue at Paris, and here are some of his teachings:
Question.—Question of a theist: I think it is unworthy of the Eternal to make our obedience to his will, depend on what M. Coue calls a trick or mechanical process: conscious autosuggestion.
M. Coue.—Whether we wish it or not, our imagination always overrules our will, when they are in conflict. We can lead it into the right path indicated by our reason, by consciously employing the mechanical process that we employ unconsciously often to lead into the wrong.
And the thoughtful questioner says to herself: "Yes, it is true, in this elevated sphere of thought, conscious autosuggestion has the power to free us from obstacles created by ourselves, which might as it were put a veil between us and God, just as a piece of stuff, hanging in a window, can prevent the sun from coming into a room."
Question.—How ought one to set about bringing those dear to one who may be suffering, to make themselves good autosuggestions which would set them free?
Answer.—Do not insist or lecture them about it. Just remind them simply that I advise them to make an autosuggestion with the conviction that they will obtain the result they want.
Question.—How is one to explain to oneself and to explain to others that the repetition of the same words: "I am going to sleep. . . . It is going away . . ." etc., has the power to produce the effect, and above all so powerful an effect that it is a certain one?
Answer.—The repetition of the same words forces one to think them, and when we think them they become true for us and transform themselves into reality.
Question.—How is one to keep inwardly the mastery of oneself?
Answer.—To be master of oneself it is enough to think that one is so, and in order to think it, one should often repeat it without making any effort.
Question.—And outwardly, how is one to keep one's liberty?
Answer.—Self mastery applies just as much physically as mentally.
Question(Affirmation).—It is impossible to escape trouble or sadness, if we do not do as we should, it would not be just, and autosuggestion, cannot . . . and ought not to prevent just suffering.
M. Coue(very seriously and affirmatively).—Certainly and assuredly it ought not to be so, but it is so often . . . at any rate for a time.
Question.—Why did that patient who has been entirely cured, continually have those terrible attacks?
Answer.—He expected his attacks, he feared them . . . and so he provoked them; if this gentleman gets well into his mind the idea that he will have no more attacks, he will not have any; if he thinks that he will have them, he will indeed do so.
Question.—In what does your method differ from others.
Answer.—The differ not the will which rules us but the imagination; that is the basis, the fundamental basis.
Question.—Will you give me a summary of your "Method" for Mme. R——, who is doing an important work?
M. E. Coue.—Here is the summary of the "Method" in a few words: Contrary to what is taught, it is not our will which makes us act, but our imagination (the unconscious). If we often do act as we will, it is because at the same time we think that we can. If it is not so, we do exactly the reverse of what we wish. Ex: The more a person with insomnia determines to sleep, the more excited she becomes; the more we try to remember a name which we think we have forgotten, the more it escapes us (it comes back only if, in your mind, you replace the idea: "I have forgotten", by the idea "it will come back"); the more we strive to prevent ourselves from laughing, the more our laughter bursts out; the more we determine to avoid an obstacle, when learning to bicycle, the more we rush upon it.
We must then apply ourselves to directing our imagination which now directs us; in this way we easily arrive at becoming masters of ourselves physically and morally.
How are we to arrive at this result? By the practice of conscious autosuggestion.
Conscious autosuggestion is based on this principle. Every idea that we have in our mind becomes true for us and tends to realize itself.
Thus, if we desire something, we can obtain it at the end of a more or less long time, if we often repeat that this thing is going to come, or to disappear, according to whether it is a good quality or a fault, either physical or mental.
Everything is included by employing night and morning the general formula: "Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better".
Question.—For those who are sad—who are in distress?
Answer.—As long as you think: "I am sad", you cannot be cheerful, and in order to think something, it is enough to say without effort: "I do think this thing—"; as to the distress it will disappear, however violent it may be, that I can affirm.
A man arrives bent, dragging himself painfully along, leaning on two sticks; he has on his face an expression of dull depression. As the hall is filling up, M. E. Coue enters. After having questioned this man, he says to him something like this: "So you have had rheumatism for 32 years and you cannot walk. Don't be afraid, it's not going to last as long as that again."
Then after the preliminary experiments: "Shut your eyes, and repeat very quickly indeed, moving your lips, the words: 'It is going, it is going' (at the same time M. Coue passes his hand over the legs of the patient, for 20 to 25 seconds). Now you are no longer in pain, get up and walk (the patient walks) quickly! quicker! more quickly still! and since you can walk so well, you are going to run; run! Monsieur, run!" The patient runs (joyously, almost as if he had recovered his youth), to his great astonishment, and also to that of the numerous persons present at the seance of April 27th, 1920. (Clinic of Dr. Berillon.)
A lady declares: "My husband suffered from attacks of asthma for many years, he had such difficulty in breathing that we feared a fatal issue; his medical adviser, Dr. X—— had given him up. He was almost radically cured of his attacks, after only one visit from M. Coue".
A young woman comes to thank M. Coue with lively gratitude. Her doctor, Dr. Vachet, who was with her in the room, says that the cerebral anaemia from which she had suffered for a long while, which he had not succeeded in checking by the usual means, had disappeared as if by magic through the use of conscious autosuggestion.
Another person who had had a fractured leg and could not walk without pain and limping, could at once walk normally. No more pain, no more limping.
In the hall which thrills with interest, joyful testimonies break out from numerous persons who have been relieved or cured.
A doctor: "Autosuggestion is the weapon of healing". As to this philosopher who writes (he mentions his name), he relies on the genius of Coue.
A gentleman, a former magistrate, whom a lady had asked to express his appreciation, exclaims in a moved tone: "I cannot put my appreciation into words—I think it is admirable—" A woman of the world, excited by the disappearance of her sufferings: "Oh, M. Coue, one could kneel to you—You are the merciful God!" Another lady, very much impressed herself, rectifies: "No, his messenger".
An aged lady: It is delightful, when one is aged and fragile, to replace a feeling of general ill health by that of refreshment and general well-being, and M. E. Coue's method can, I affirm for I have proved it, produce this happy result, which is all the more complete and lasting since it relies on the all-powerful force which is within us.
A warmly sympathetic voice calls him the modest name he prefers to that of "Master": Professor Coue.
A young woman who has been entirely won over: "M. Coue goes straight to his aim, attains it with sureness, and, in setting free his patient, carries generosity and knowledge to its highest point, since he leaves to the patient himself the merit of his liberation and the use of a marvellous power".
A literary man, whom a lady asks to write a little "chef d'oeuvre" on the beneficent "Method" refuses absolutely, emphasizing the simple words which, used according to the Method, help to make all suffering disappear: "IT IS GOING AWAY—that is the chef-d'oeuvre!" he affirms.
And the thousands of sick folks who have been relieved or cured will not contradict him.
A lady who has suffered much declares: "In re-reading the 'Method' I find it more and more superior to the developments it has inspired; there is really nothing to take away nor add to this 'Method'—all that is left is to spread it. I shall do so in every possible way."
And now in conclusion I will say: Although M. Coue's modesty makes him reply to everyone:
I have no magnetic fluid—
I have no influence—
I have never cured anybody—
My disciples obtain the same results as myself—
"I can say in all sincerity that they tend to do so, instructed as they are in the valuable 'Method', and when, in some far distant future, the thrilling voice of its author called to a higher sphere can no longer teach it here below, the 'Method', his work, will help in aiding, comforting, and curing thousands and thousands of human beings: it must be immortal, and communicated to the entire world by generous France—for the man of letters was right, and knew how to illuminate in a word this true simple, and marvellous help in conquering pain: 'IT IS GOING AWAY—! There is the chef-d'oeuvre!'"
B. K. (Emile-Leon). Paris, June 6th, 1920.
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