this, too, being a subject which has been very little considered from
a practical point of view.

But, above all things, I beg the reader, laying aside all prejudice or
preconceived opinion, and neither believing nor disbelieving what he
reads, to simply _try it_--that is to test it in his own person to
what degree he can influence his will, or bring about subsequent
states of mind, by the very easy processes laid down. If I could hope
that all opinion of my book would be uttered only by those who had
thus put it to the test, I should be well assured as to its future.

And also I beg all readers, and especially reviewers, to note that I
advise that the auto-suggestive process, by aid of sleep, _shall be
discontinued as soon as the experimenter begins to feel an increase in
the power of the will_; the whole object of the system being to
acquire a perfectly free clear Will as soon as possible. Great
injustice was done, as regards the first edition of this work, by a
very careless though eminent critic, who blamed the author for not
having done what the latter had carefully recommended in his book.

There are four stages of advance towards the truth: firstly,
Disbelief; secondly, Doubt, which is, in fact, only a fond advance
towards Disbelief; thirdly, Agnosticism, which is Doubt mingled with
Inquiry; and, finally, pure and simple Inquiry or Search, without any
preconceived opinion or feeling whatever. It is, I trust, only in the
spirit of the latter, that I have written; therefore I say to the
reader, Neither, believe nor disbelieve in anything which I have said,
but, as it is an easy thing to try, experiment for yourself, and judge
by the result. In fact, as a satisfactory and conclusive experiment
will not require more time, and certainly not half the pains which