AUTO-SUGGESTION CAN CONTROL MIND

"I make no claim that auto-suggestion can cure ills of an organic nature," said M. Emile Coue, famous exponent of the theory of auto-suggestion, in an interview given to a CRIMSON reporter during his visit to Boston.

"The subconscious mind," he said, "is far greater than the will as a guiding force in human life. If we can learn to control it, we can control and cure many of the illnesses which have a mental element in them. The victory which mind is capable of gaining over matter can obviously be put to the best use when mind, conscious and unconscious, is under our control. Auto-suggestion is nothing more than a method of obtaining this control, by hypnotizing the mind, so that it will act in the way we wish. This, I have found, can be accomplished by repeating over and over again what we wish to convince our subconscious mind is true.

"Cases which are most susceptible to my form of treatment are pains, such as lumbago and headaches, and such affectations as stuttering and general nervousness. Most illnesses of this class are entirely mental in their character, which explains their readiness to submit to auto-suggestion.

"I have frequently been questioned," he continued, "as to whether auto-suggestion should replace religion, and my reply is in the negative. By this I do not mean that religion is essential to success in this treatment because it is not. The only real connection between religion and auto-suggestion lies in the fact that both require faith for success. To combine the two is perfectly possible, and a reconciliation between them is certainly not difficult to effect.

"Auto-suggestion is really nothing more nor less than self-hypnotism," M. Coue said, in concluding. "I first conceived of it from a course in hypnotism which I took about 20 years ago. The idea of auto-suggestion then occurred to me, and I have since elaborated and improved on it. By the mind control the body, and by auto-suggestion the mind, and health is yours."