ge of his own clear head and sure foot.

This brings us to a point which is of great practical importance in the
performance of curative autosuggestion. No idea presented to the mind
can realise itself unless the mind accepts it.

Most of the errors made hitherto in this field have been due to the
neglect of this fundamental fact. If a patient is suffering from
severe toothache it is not of the slightest use to say to him: "You
have no pain." The statement is so grossly opposed to the fact that
"acceptation" is impossible. The patient will reject the suggestion,
affirm the fact of his suffering, and so, by allowing his conscious
mind to dwell on it, probably make it more intense.

We are now in a position to formulate the basic law of autosuggestion
as follows:--

_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.

The reader will see from the examples cited and from others which he
will constantly meet that the thoughts we think determine not only our
mental states, our sentiments and emotions, but the delicate actions
and adjustments of our physical bodies. Trembling, palpitation,
stammering, blushing--not to speak of the pathological states which
occur in neurosis--are due to modifications and changes in the
blood-flow, in muscular action and in the working of the vital organs.
These changes are not voluntary and conscious ones, they are determined
by the Unconscious and come to us often with a shock of surprise.

It must be evident that if we fill our conscious minds with ideas of
health, joy, goodness, efficiency, and can ensure their acceptation by
the Unconscious, these ideas too will become realities, capable of
lifting us on to a new plane of being. The difficulty which has
hitherto so frequently brought these hopes to naught is that of
ensuring acceptation. This will be treated in the next chapter.

To sum up, the whole process of Autosuggestion consists of two steps:
(1) The acceptation of an idea. (2) Its transformation into a reality.
Both these operations are performed by the Unconscious. Whether the
idea is originated in the mind of the subject or is presented from
without by the agency of another person is