the pillars.

Autosuggestion succeeds by avoiding conflict. It replaces wrong
thought by right, literally applying in the sphere of science the
principle enunciated in the New Testament: "Resist not evil, but
overcome evil with good."

This doctrine is in no sense a negation of the will. It simply puts it
in its right place, subordinates it to a higher power. A moment's
reflection will suffice to show that the will cannot be more than the
servant of thought. We are incapable of exercising the will unless the
imagination has first furnished it with a goal. We cannot simply will,
we must will _something_, and that something exists in our minds as an
idea. The will acts rightly when it is in harmony with the idea in the
mind.

But what happens when, in the smooth execution of our idea, we are
confronted with an obstacle? This obstacle may exist outside us, as
did the golfer's bunker, but it must also exist as an idea in our minds
or we should not be aware of it.

As long as we allow this mental image to stay there, the efforts of our
will to overcome it only make it more irresistible. We run our heads
against it like a goat butting a brick wall. Indeed, in this way we
can magnify the smallest difficulty until it becomes insurmountable--we
can make mole-hills into mountains. This is precisely what the
neurasthenic does. The idea of a difficulty dwells unchanged in his
mind, and all his efforts to overcome it only increase its dimensions,
until it overpowers him and he faints in the effort to cross a street.

But as soon as we change the idea our troubles vanish. By means of the
intellect we can substitute for the blank idea of the obstacle that of
the means to overcome it. Immediately, the will is brought into
harmony again with thought, and we go forward to the triumphant
attainment of our end. It may be that the means adopted consist of a
frontal attack, the overcoming of an obstacle by force. But before we
bring this force into play, the mind must have approved it--must have
entertained the idea of its probable success. We must, in fact, have
thought of the obstacle as already smashed down and flattened out by
our attack. Otherwise, we should involve ourselves in the conflict
depicted above, and our force would be exhausted in a futile internal
battle. In a frontal attack against an obstacle we use effort, and
effort, to be effective, must be approved by the reason and preceded,
to some extent, b