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In this comparatively large work the author has attempted to formulate a concept of the laws and rules of life, with methods of influencing these processes to the practical benefit of the individual. His ideas in general seem to be a mixture of philosophy and psychology which he has moulded into a theory of “desuggestion.” He found this approach useful in dissolving his own neurotic tendencies and therefore has given the present theories to the world with a hope that others may be equally benefited by their application in the problems of life.
The core of the doctrine of desuggestion is “Cease to fancy things which are nonexistent or are entirely different from what you suppose— and you will achieve success; your understanding will grow; your mind and your nerves will enjoy the advantages of mental hygiene; and you will become the artificer of your own happiness,” but this is in no respect an easy or simple thing to achieve. It cannot be done by repeating a formula or by talking with a psychoanalyst, but one must get down to the business of close, critical self-scrutiny to be successful.
The author emphasizes the importance of environmental influences in behavior and conceives of the individual as composed of an ego, a neuroglandular apparatus, and the mneme, the “ego” is pared down to a mere principle of “individuation,” the neuroglandular systems represent the inherited tendencies to react (the Taxisms), and the mneme is the sum total of all engrams, inherited (memory traces) and acquired. Psychoanalysis and suggestion, the “two rival ways of influencing and moulding the psyche,” are often successful, but sometimes fail and may even do