The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-31
By EMILE COUE


 forcibly in my contact with Amer l jeans than the ceaseless activity of their minds. Less precise. less un- erringly logical perhaps, in it's working than the French or Latin mind in general, the American mind l impresses me as more open in char acter, more pliable and more magin- | ative than the European. In many respects it is curiously Celtic in it's
 manifestati The Celts have all ways possessed strong imagination;
 ther- history and literature have been
 stamped by it. Maybe my own Celtic origin is responsible in a meas ure for my faith in the principles
 of suggestion. The Celtic weak | ness. however is a tendency often to I sacrifice reason to imagination, in-
 stead of disciplning 1t as one should | do. in order to attain real self-mas- 1 tery.
 The revelation of the American
 mind came to me through the ques l tions put to me at my lectures and in private conversations. In France, | few questions are put to me in pub | lie, and those which l am called upon to answer usually have a bearing on i the actual why and wherefor of my l theories The French mind prefers first to discuss and argue on the fun damentals of principle before ln- quiring into it's practical adaptabil iity to everyday life. The American mind. on the contrary, immediately ! sees the possibilities of it, and seeks 1 without more delay, to carry the idea further even than the author of it may have conceived. If the idea seems reasonable the American is
 ready to take it for granted. tempo
 rarily at least, that it's exponent thereof is right; but his own swift working brain and fertile imagina- i tion lead him to perceive 8 vista of developments along lines still un- traced.
 l To give an example. At a recent lecture I was asked: Gan auto-sug- eestion be adapted to business?' And at Cleveland perhaps one of my most appreciative and attentive audiences was one composed exclusively of business men who, fearing they might not all succeed in getting ad- mission to the ordinary public ones, lhad organized surprise seance at which they could have me all to i themselves. l told them what l had
 said in answer to the question quoted 1 above: O course, uto-suggestion l can be adapted to business. And 1 have leason to beleive that they were convinced As a matter of fact, in business, as in everything else, we employ it constantly. though often unconscously. The man of business, or the industrialist. or the salesman who has in his mind that he is going to succeed, that he is going t5 put through" his deal, will certainly do
 so-if it be materially possible, of l course, because there must neces- sarily be circumstances sometimes quite outside the control of one tndt- ividual. But apart from exceptional and unknown factors. nothing can prevent the realization of the projects of a man or woman imbued with the principles of suggestion. Such a person has confidence in himself. l His mind dwells on the clements of success His imagination is trained | in the same direction. And the idea
 .acomes. quite logically, reality. l might sDeal, of another aspect of the auestion, and show that man who lIInows the power of suggestion would know how to use it to in- fluence others; but that would carry me too far. The possibilities Of 1t, however, are obvious. although it
 should be clearly understood that am not alluding to anything even re-
 motely connected with hypnotism.
 Vaiue In Advertising
 Advertising. which is only man. Iner of employing the force of auto- suggestion, is always more effective when if is done with a proper knowl- edge of that force. Americans, by
 the way, must be gifted with it un- consciously, judging by the clever scientific welding of it manifested
 on all sides in the advertising meth
 ods over here.
 The handling of big staffs is also made easier by auto suggestion. The man who knows how to put himself | in the right frame of mind to ac- complish the task he has set himself, win know equally well how to stir and keep the enthusiasm of others working for him. Indeed even with out any conscious effort on his part, the personality of such man in evitably tunes the minds of his col laborators to the same chord of achievements.
 | An unusual query, but typical of the American habit of seeing things from every angle, was flung to me one day. "Would auto-suggestion be of any use to the uncivilized tribes l of Africa and Asia? And could they understand?" Now, that question seems at first sight to be almost on a par with the inquiry whether auto suggestion would benefit the insane, although very little reflection suf- | fees to reveal the difference.
 Whereas, the mind of the insane is obviously impervious to mere idea, which therefore cannot reach his subconscious mind. the mind of a healthy African, incapable as it may be to analyze an abstract theory. yet | is quite able to understand simple suggestion, either of moral or a physical character. So I replied that, in my opinion. there is no reason why auto suggestion should be less lefficacious with the African tribes man than with the citizen of New York. The missionary who persuaded the cannibal that If he persisted in | his scheme of making meal of him 1 theA result would be violent indiges- tiorA is a famous illustration of this Then I am frequently asked if the practice of auto-suggestion can be dangerous. Most certainly it can That is why we need to learn all about it. There are bad suggestions las well as 4ood. and the subcon-