Autosuggestion is not a
pseudo-religion like Christian Science or "New Thought." It is a
scientific method based on the discoveries of psychology. The traditional
psychology was regarded by the layman, not without some cause, as a dull and
seemingly useless classification of our conscious faculties. But within the past
twenty-five years the science has undergone a great change. A revolution has
taken place in it which seems likely to provoke a revolution equally profound
in the wider limits of our common life. From a preoccupation with the conscious
it has turned to the Unconscious (or subconscious), to the vast area of mental
activity which exists outside the circle of our awareness. In doing so it has
grasped at the very roots of life itself, has groped down to the depths where
the "life-force," the élan vital, touches our individual being. What
this may entail in the future we can only dimly guess. Just as the discovery of
America altered the balance of the Old World, shifting it westward to the
shores of the Atlantic, so the discovery and investigation of the Unconscious
seems destined to shift the balance of human life.
***
Every idea which enters the conscious mind, if it is
accepted by the Unconscious, is transformed by it into a reality and forms
henceforth a permanent element in our life.
This
is the process called "Spontaneous
Autosuggestion." It is a law by which the mind of man has always
worked, and by which all our minds are working daily.
***
One
other interesting fact emerges from an examination of the foregoing examples.
In each case we find that the idea which occupied the mind was of a final
state, an accomplished fact. The golfer was thinking of his ball dropping into
the bunker, the tennis-player of his defeat, the examinee of his failure. In
each case the Unconscious realised the thought in its own way, chose inevitably
the means best suited to arrive at its end—the realisation of the idea. In the
case of the golfer the most delicate physical adjustments were necessary.
Stance, grip and swing all contributed their quota, but these physical adjustments
were performed unconsciously, the conscious mind being unaware of them. From
this we see that we need not suggest the way in which our aim is to be
accomplished. If we fill our minds with the thought of the desired end,
provided that end is possible, the Unconscious will lead us to it by the
easiest, most direct path.
Here
we catch a glimpse of the truth behind what is called "luck." We are
told that everything comes to him who waits, and this is literally true,
provided he waits in the right frame of mind. Some men are notoriously lucky in
business; whatever they touch seems to "turn to gold." The secret of
their success lies in the fact that they confidently expect to succeed. There
is no need to go so far as the writers of the school of "New Thought,"
and claim that suggestion can set in motion transcendental laws outside man's
own nature. It is quite clear that the man who expects success, of whatever
kind it may be, will unconsciously take up the right attitude to his
environment; will involuntarily close with fleeting opportunity, and by his
inner fitness command the circumstances without.
Man
has often been likened to a ship navigating the seas of life. Of that ship the
engine is the will and Thought is the helm. If we are being directed out of our
true course it is worse than useless to call for full steam ahead; our only
hope lies in changing the direction of the helm.
BY
1922
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