so is hiding our heads in the sand; we hide from no one
and we escape from nothing.
This is no book on religion. I do not propose
to have here a struggle between Good and Evil-nor a
confrontation between God and the Devil.
I merely point out that evil and unhappiness
and suffering and trouble DO exist; that there is evidence
of them all around us, and that this evidence is undeniable.
We cannot escape by hiding our heads in the sands of un-
reality nor can we make them less specific by generaliza-
tions in the manner of Emile Coue.
I, therefore, would like to suggest an alternate
to the Coue approach of unspecific generalization. And
not merely an alternate approach, but an opposite one:
( 1) Clearly recognize and frankly ADMIT
the existence of whatever trouble comes to you. Face up
to it! Define it specifically. Confront it precisely.
(2) ACCEPT it! Not with defeatism and
abject submission, but with the unflinching realism that
it is so. There is no greater relief than the acceptance of
reality. There is no greater torment than the futility of
escapism.
( 3) Having realistically accepted trouble-
which you have defined specificaUy, so that you can attack
it precisely-ACT I You have a definite trouble. You do not
have to approach it in a general manner. You can strike at
its center, where the solution is.
There you have the alternate to the ostrich
escape from the reality of evil, unhappiness, suffering and
the inevitable troubles that flesh is heir to.