The Washington herald., 1922-12-14
By DR.. EMILE COUE.

TT is sufficient. to think q pain
is going, to feel 1t indeed
l. little by little disappear. In
versely. it is enough to think
that one suffers in order to feel
the pain begin to come immedi-
atelyt
know certain people who pre-
dict in advance that they will
have a sick headache on a GER
tain day. in certain circum-
stances. 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 autosugges-
ton.
/ know that one generally
passes for mad in the eyes Of the
world IL one dares to put forward
ideas which It is not accustomed
to hear.
At the risk Of being thought
so. I say that II certain people
are i'll mentally and physically, it
is that they imagine themselves
to be Ill mentally or physically.
II certain others are paralytic.
without having any lesion to ac-
count for it. it is because they
imagine themselves to be para
lyzed. 1t is among such persons
that the most extraordinary cures
are produced.
II others. again. are happy or
unhappy. it Is that they imagine
themselves OF be 50. 1t is pos
sible for two people in exactly
the same circumstances % be the
one perfectly happy. the other
absolutely wretched.
Neurasthenia. stammering, aver
sions. kleptomania, certain cases of
paralysis, are nothing but the
result OF unconscious autosugges-
ton, that is to say, the result OF
the action Of the unconscious upon
the physical and moral being.
But IL our unconscious is the
source of many Of our ills. IL can
also bring about the cure OF our
physical and mental ailments. 1t
cannot only repair the i'll it has
done, but cure real illnesses, so
strong is its action upon our or
ganism.
Shut yourself up alone in a
room, seat yourself in an arm
chair. close your eyes to avoid
any distraction. and concentrate
your mind for a few moments on
thinking:
such and such a thing is 60
ing to disappear. or such and
such a thing is coming to pass"
POWER OF WILL.
II you have really made the
autosuggestion-th is to say,
II your unconscious has assllni-
lated the idea that you have pre-
sented 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 with n us unrecognized,
and we can only know Of their
existence by the effect they pro-
duce.)
But, above all. and this Is an
essential point, the will must not
be brought into play in practicing
autosuggestion: for il the will is
not in agreement with the imagi-
nation-if one thinks: Il W II make
such and such a thing happen.
and the Imagination says: You
are willing 1t. but it is not 60
.ng to be'-not only does one
not obtain what one wants, but
even exactly the reverse is
brought about!
This axiom is Of capital i'm
portance. 1t explains why re-
suits are so unsatisfactory when,
in treating moral ailments, one
strives to re-educate the will 1t
is the training of the imagination
which is necessary. 1t 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 1 have made daily for twenty
years, and which 1 have ex
amined with minute care, I have
been able to deduct the following
conclusion which I have summed
up as laws:
1. when the will and tht
Imagination are antagonistic, Il
IL always the ina s;nation which
wins. without any exception.
3. In the conflict between thu
U3u ss.d tl,a ay,.a 1iu allan fha forr1