You must realize by now that your conscious mind is the “watchman atthe gate,” and its chief function is to protect your subconscious mind fromfalse impressions. You are now aware of one of the basic laws of mind:Your subconscious mind is amenable to suggestion. As you know, yoursubconscious mind does not make comparisons or contrasts, neither doesit reason and think things out for itself. This latter function belongs toyour conscious mind. It simply reacts to the impressions given to it byyour conscious mind. It does not show a preference for one course of action over another.The following is a classic example of the tremendous power of suggestion.Suppose you approach a timid looking passenger on board ship and say tohim something like this: “You look very ill. How pale you are! I feel certainyou are going to be seasick. Let me help you to your cabin.” The passenger turns pale. Your suggestion of seasickness associates itself with hisown fears and forebodings. He accepts your aid down to the berth, andthere your negative suggestion, which was accepted by him, is realized.
It is true that different people will react in different ways to the same suggestion because of their subconscious conditioning or belief. For example,if you go to a sailor on the ship and say to him sympathetically, “My dearfellow, you’re looking very ill. Aren’t you feeling sick? You look to me as ifyou are going to be seasick.”According to his temperament he either laughs at your “joke,” or expresses mild irritation. Your suggestion fell on deaf ears in this instance because your suggestion of seasickness was associated in his mind with hisown immunity from it. Therefore, it called up not fear or worry, but selfconfidence.The dictionary says that a suggestion is the act or instance of puttingsomething into one’s mind, the mental process by which the thought oridea suggested is entertained, accepted, or put into effect. You must remember that a suggestion cannot impose something on the subconsciousmind against the will of the conscious mind. In other words, your conscious mind has the power to reject the suggestion given. In the case of the sailor, he had not fear of seasickness. He had convinced himself of hisimmunity and the negative suggestion had absolutely no power to evokefear.The suggestion of seasickness to the other passenger called forth his indwelling fear of seasickness. Each of us has his own inner fears, beliefsand opinions. These inner assumptions rule and govern our lives. A suggestion has no power in and of itself except it is accepted mentally byyou. This causes your subconscious powers to flow in a limited and restricted way according to the nature of the suggestion.
Every two or three years I give a series of lectures at the London TruthForum in Caxton Hall. This is a forum I founded a number of years ago.Dr Evelyn Fleet, the director, told me about an article which appeared inthe English newspapers dealing with the power of suggestion. This is thesuggestion a man gave to his subconscious mind over a period of abouttwo years. “I would give my right arm to see my daughter cured.” It appeared that his daughter had a crippling form of arthritis, together with aso-called incurable form of skin disease. Medical treatment had failed toalleviate the condition, and the father had an intense longing for hisdaughter’s healing, and expressed his desire in the words just quoted.Dr Evelyn Fleet said that the newspaper article pointed out that one daythe family was out riding when their car collided with another. The father’sright arm was torn off at the shoulder and immediately the daughter’sarthritis and skin condition vanished.You must make certain to give your subconscious only suggestions whichheal, bless, elevate and inspire you in all ways. Remember that your subconscious mind cannot take a joke. It takes you at your word.
Illustrations of autosuggestion: Autosuggestion means suggesting something definite and specific to oneself. Hebert Parkyn, in his excellent manual of autosuggestion, records the following incident. It has its amusingside, so that one remembers it. “A New York visitor in Chicago looks at hiswatch, which is set an hour ahead of Chicago time, and tells a Chicagofriend that it is twelve o’clock. The Chicago friend, not considering the difference in time between Chicago and New York, tells the New Yorker thathe is hungry and that he must go to lunch.”Autosuggestion may be used to banish various fears and other negativeconditions. A young singer was invited to give an audition. She had beenlooking forward to the interview, but on three previous occasions she hadfailed miserably due to fear of failure. This young lady had a very goodvoice, but she had been saying to herself, “When the time comes for me to sing, maybe they won’t like me. I will try, but I’m full of fear and anxiety.”Her subconscious mind accepted these negative autosuggestions as a request and proceeded to manifest them and bring them into her experience. The cause was an involuntary autosuggestion, i.e. silent fearthoughts emotionalized and subjectified.She overcame it by the following technique: Three times a day she isolated herself in a room. She sat down comfortably in an armchair, relaxedher body and closed her eyes. She stilled her mind and body as best shecould. Physical inertia favors mental passivity and renders the mind morereceptive to suggestion. She counteracted the fear suggestion by sayingto herself, “I sing beautifully, I am poised, serene, confident and calm.”She repeated this statement slowly, quietly and with feeling from five toten times at each sitting. She had three such “sittings” every day and oneimmediately prior to sleep. At the end of a week she was completelypoised and confident. When the invitation to audition came, she gave aremarkable, wonderful audition.
A woman, aged seventy-five, was in the habit of saying to herself, “I amlosing my memory.” She reversed the procedure and practiced inducedautosuggestion several times a day as follows: “My memory from todayon is improving in every department. I shall always remember whatever Ineed to know at every moment of time and point of space. The impressions received will be clearer and more definite. I shall retain them automatically and with ease. Whatever I wish to recall will immediatelypresent itself in the correct form in my mind. I am improving rapidly every day, and very soon my memory will be better than it has ever beenbefore.” At the end of three weeks, her memory was back to normal andshe was delighted.
Many men who complained of irritability and bad temper proved to bevery susceptible to autosuggestion and obtained marvelous results by using the following statements three or four times a day – morning, noonand night prior to sleep for about a month. “Henceforth, I shall grow moregood humored. Joy, happiness and cheerfulness are now becoming mynormal states of mind. Every day I am becoming more and more lovableand understanding. I am now becoming the center of cheer and good willto all those about me, infecting them with good humor. This happy, joyousand cheerful mood is now becoming my normal, natural state of mind. Iam grateful.”
Some illustrations and comments on heterosuggestion: Heterosuggestionmeans suggestions from another person. In all ages the power of suggestion has played a part in the life and though of man in every period oftime and in each country of the earth. In many parts of the world it is thecontrolling power in religion.Suggestion may be used to discipline and control ourselves, but it canalso be used to take control and command over others who do not knowthe laws of mind. In its constructive form it is wonderful and magnificent.In its negative aspects it is one of the most destructive of all the responsepatterns of the mind, resulting in patterns of misery, failure, suffering,sickness and disaster
From infancy on, the majority of us have been given many negative suggestions. Not knowing how to thwart them, we unconsciously acceptedthem. Here are some of the negative suggestions: “You can’t,” “You’ll never amount to anything,” “You mustn’t,” “You’ll fail,” “You haven’t got achance,” “You’re all wrong,” “It’s no use,” “It’s not what you know, butwho you know,” “the world is going to the dogs,” “What’s the use, nobodycares,” “It’s no use trying so hard,” “You’re too old now,” “Things are getting worse and worse,” “Life is an endless grind,” “Love is for the birds,”“You just can’t win,” “Pretty soon you’ll be bankrupt,” “Watch out, you’llget the virus,” “You can’t trust a soul,” etc.Unless, as an adult, you use use constructive autosuggestion, which is reconditioning therapy, the impressions made on you in the past can causebehavior patterns that cause failure in your personal and social life. Autosuggestion is a means releasing you from the mass of negative verbalconditioning that might otherwise distort your life pattern, making the development of good habits difficult.
Pick up the paper any day and you can read dozens of items that couldsow the seeds of futility, fear, worry and impending doom. If accepted byyou, these thoughts of fear could cause you to lose the will for life. Knowing that you can reject all these negative suggestions by giving your subconscious mind constructive autosuggestions, you counteract all these destructive ideas.Check regularly on the negative autosuggestions that people make toyou. You do not have to be influenced by destructive heterosuggestion. Allof us have suffered from it in our childhood and in our teens. If you lookback, you can easily recall how parents, friends, relatives, teachers andassociates contributed in a campaign of negative suggestions. Study thethings said to you and you will discover much of it was in the form of propaganda. The purpose of much of what was said was to control you or in still fear into you.This heterosuggestion process goes on in every home, office, factory andclub. You will find that many of these suggestions are for the purpose ofmaking you think, feel and act as others want you to and in ways that areto their advantage.
Here is an illustration of heterosuggestion: A relative of mine went to acrystal ball gazer in India who told him that he had a bad heart and predicted that he would die at the next new moon. He began to tell all members of his family about this prediction, and he arranged his will.This powerful suggestion entered into his subconscious mind because heaccepted it completely. My relative also told me that this crystal gazer wasbelieved to have some strange occult powers and she could do harm orgood to a person. He died as predicted not knowing that he was the causeof his own death. I supposed many of us have heard similar stupid, ridiculous, superstitious stories.Let us look at what happened in the light of our knowledge of the way thesubconscious mind works. Whatever the conscious, reasoning mind ofman believes; the subconscious mind will accept and act upon. My relative was happy, healthy, vigorous and robust when he went to see the fortuneteller. She gave him a very negative suggestion, which he accepted.He became terrified and constantly dwelt upon the fact that he was goingto die at the next new moon. He proceeded to tell everyone about it, andhe prepared for the end. The activity took place in his own mind and hisown thought was the cause. He brought about his own so-called death, orrather destruction of the physical body, by his fear and expectation of theend.The woman who predicted his death had no more power than the stonesand sticks in the field. Her suggestion had no power to create or bringabout the end she suggested. If he had known the laws of his mind, hewould have completely rejected the negative suggestion and refused togive her words any attention, knowing in his heart that he was governedand controlled by his own thought and feeling. Like tin arrows aimed at abattleship, her prophecy could have been completely neutralized and dissipated without hurting him.The suggestions of others in themselves have absolutely no power whatever over you except the power that you give them through your ownthoughts. You have to give your mental consent; you have to entertainthe thought. Then, it becomes your thought, and you do the thinking. Remember, you have the capacity to choose. Choose life! Choose love!Choose health! Choose abundance!
Your mind works like a syllogism. This means that whatever majorpremise your conscious mind assumes to be true determines the conclusion your subconscious mind comes to in regard to any particular questionor problem in your mind. If your premise is true, the conclusion must betrue as in the following example:Every virtue is laudable;Kindness is a virtue;Therefore, kindness is laudable.Another example is as follows:All formed things change and pass away;The Pyramids of Egypt are formed things;Therefore, some day the Pyramids will pass away.The first statement is referred to as the major premise, and the right conclusion must necessarily follow the right premise.A college professor, who attended some of my science of mind lectures inMay, 1962, at Town Hall, New York, said to me, “Everything in my life istopsy-turvy, and I have lost health, wealth and friends. Everything I touchturns out wrong.”I explained to him that he should establish a major premise in his thinking, that the Infinite Intelligence of his subconscious mind was guiding,directing and prospering him spiritually, mentally and materially. Then, hissubconscious mind would automatically direct him wisely in his investments, decisions, and also heal his body and restore his mind to peaceand tranquility.This professor formulated an overall picture of the way he wanted his lifeto be, and this was his major premise: “Infinite Intelligence leads andguides me in all my ways. Perfect health is mine, and the Law of Harmonyoperates in my mind and body. Beauty, love, peace and abundance aremine. The principle of right action and divine order govern my entire life. Iknow my major premise is based on the eternal truths of life, and I know,feel and believe that my subconscious mind responds according to the nature of my conscious mind thinking.”He wrote me as follows: “I repeated the above statements slowly, quietlyand lovingly several times a day knowing that they were sinking deepdown into my subconscious mind, and that results must follow. I amdeeply grateful for the interview you gave me and I would like to add thatall departments of my life are changing for the better. It works!”
Your subconscious mind is all-wise and knows the answers to all questions. It does not argue with you or talk back to you. It does not say, “Youmust not impress me with that.” For example, when you say, “I can’t dothis,” “I am too old now,” “I can’t meet this obligation,” “I was born on thewrong side of the tracks,” “I don’t know the right politician,” you are impregnating your subconscious with these negative thoughts and it responds accordingly. You are actually blocking your own good, therebybringing lack, limitation and frustration into your life.When you set up obstacles, impediments and delays in your consciousmind, you are denying the wisdom and intelligence resident in your subconscious mind. You are actually saying in effect that your subconsciousmind cannot solve your problem. This leads to mental and emotional congestion, followed by sickness and neurotic tendencies. To realize your desire and overcome your frustration, affirm boldly several times a day:“The Infinite Intelligence, which gave me this desire leads, guides and reveals to me the perfect plan for the unfolding of my desire. I know thedeeper wisdom of my subconscious is now responding and what I feel andclaim within is expressed in the without. There is a balance, equilibriumand equanimity.”If you say, “There is no way out; I am lost; there is no way out of thisdilemma; I am stymied and blocked,” you will get no answer or responsefrom your subconscious mind. If you want the subconscious to work foryou, give it the right request, and attain its cooperation. It is alwaysworking for you. It is controlling your heartbeat this minute and also yourbreathing. It heals a cut on your finger and its tendency is lifeward, forever seeking to take care of you and preserve you. Your subconscious has amind of its own, but it accepts your patterns of thought and imagery.When you are seeking an answer to a problem, your subconscious will respond, but it expects you to come to a decision and to a true judgment inyour conscious mind. You must acknowledge the answer is in your subconscious mind. However, if you say, “I don’t think there is any way out; Iam all mixed up and confused; why don’t I get an answer?” you are neutralizing your prayer. Like the soldier marking time, you do not get anywhere.Still the wheels of your mind, relax, let go, and quietly affirm: “My subconscious knows the answer. It is responding to me now. I give thanksbecause I know the infinite intelligence of my subconscious knows allthings and is revealing the perfect answer to me now. My real convictionis now setting free the majesty and glory of my subconscious mind. I rejoice that it is so.”
1. Think good, and good follows. Think evil, and evil follows. You are what
you think all day long.
2. Your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It accepts what your
conscious mind decrees. If you say, “I can’t afford it,” it may be true, but
do not say it. Select a better thought, decree. “I’ll buy it, I accept it in my
mind.”
3. You have the power to choose. Choose health and happiness. You can
choose to be friendly or you can choose to be unfriendly. Choose to be cooperative, joyous, friendly, lovable and the whole world will respond. This
is the best way to develop a wonderful personality.
4. Your conscious mind is the “watchman at the gate.” Its chief function is
to protect your subconscious mind from false impressions. Choose to believe that something good can happen and is happening now. Your greatest power is your capacity to choose. Choose happiness and abundance.
5. The suggestions and statements of others have no power to hurt you.
The only power is the movement of your own thought. You can choose to
reject the thoughts or statements of others and affirm the good. You have
the power to choose how you will react.
6. Watch what you say. You have to account for every idle word. Never
say, “I will fail; I will lose my job; I can’t pay the rent.” Your subconscious
cannot take a joke. It brings all these things to pass.
7. Your mind is not evil. No force of nature is evil. It depends how you use
the powers of nature. Use your mind to bless, heal and inspire all people
everywhere.
8. Never say, “I can’t.” Overcome that fear by substituting the following:
“I can do all things through the power of my subconscious mind.”
9. Begin to think from the standpoint of the eternal truths and principles
of life and not from the standpoint of fear, ignorance and superstition. Do
not let others do your thinking for you. Choose your own thoughts and
make your own decisions.
10. You are the captain of your soul (subconscious mind) and the master
of your fate. Remember, you have the capacity to choose. Choose life!
Choose love! Choose health! Choose happiness!
11. Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your
subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine guidance, right action and all the blessings of life.