PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
To my American readers a special word of gratitude is due for their generosity to this little book. I hope that it has given them as much encouragement and help as they have given me.
In America, the home of so many systems of mental healing, it is perhaps even more necessary than in Europe to insist on the distinctive features of M. Coué's teaching. It is based, not on transcendental or mystical postulates, but on the simple and acknowledged facts of psychology. This does not mean that it has no relation to religion. On the contrary it has a very close one. Indeed I hope in a future volume to point out its deep significance for the Christian churches. But that relationship remains in M. Coué's teaching unexpressed. The powers he has revealed are part of the natural endowment of the human mind. Therefore they are available to all men, independently of adherence or non-adherence to any sect or creed.
The method of M. Coué is in no sense opposed to the ordinary practice of medicine. It is not intended to supplant it but to supplement it. It is a new ally, bringing valuable reinforcements to the common crusade against disease and unhappiness.
Induced Autosuggestion does not involve, as several hasty critics have assumed, an attack upon the Will. It simply teaches that during the actual formulation of suggestions, that is for a few minutes daily, the Will should be quiescent. At other times the exercise of the Will is encouraged; indeed we are shown how to use it properly, that is without friction or waste of energy.
C. H. B.
19 October, 1922.