I Carry Your Book with me to Class

Dear A.B. Curtiss, 

I have often carried your book with me to class so that when I'm having a hard moment I can pull it out and read one of your quotes. Usually that's enough to get me thinking out of neocortex rather than the subcortex. It's a comfort of sorts because although I don't know you, I know that you went through something that was very hard and you made it and are making it so therefore why can't I?

What I wonder is who do you read? I know you mentioned in your book that you enjoy reading about the lives of people who have said something that most people don't agree with, At least I think thats how you put it, or it was reading peoples lives who have had a very difficult life but have worked through it. What are some of these books if you don't mind me asking? I'd love to read up on this stuff. It gives me hope.

I just came across a book by a man named Jacques Lusseyran and thought of you. This man didn't have depression. He had the makings for a life of depression, At least in my eyes, but he transcended his circumstances and had quite a beautiful life. I guess I enjoy reading stories of people who have succeeded when everything was against them. That's why I enjoy reading your book so much. I love how you say that we have to be willing get on our hands and knees and look at the inner workings of our minds.

Looking for the truth is easy and hard at the same time. You say it is small. I believe you when you say that we have to be the truth about depression. That is a simple truth that I think if understood could solve a lot of pain. I think reading your truth/truths and others truths is powerful enough to get a person to not just think " That's such a nice idea I think I'll try that." Which only remains a nice idea, but really gets a person to believe that this is possible and here is how. When a person can see that it is possible there is more willingness to as you say "get on your knees and delve in."

So going back to my main question. Who or what did you read that showed you this was possible. I know that you came to it more by your own self than anything else because you lived it but I know that after reading all the quotes in your book from other authors you definitely had to search out that truth and you found it in your reading as well as your writing. Thanks again!! -T

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"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."  Winston Churchill

Dear T,

In the beginning of my quest to self-understanding I read Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Emerson and the Trancendentalists, Matthew Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics, Jose Silva's Mind Control, L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health, Edgar Cayce's books, Marcus Aurelius, Adele Davis' Eat Right to Keep Fit, Lau Tsu's Tao Te Ching, Rudolf Steiner, The Autobiography of a Yogi (Yogananda). I collected books of quotations and would pick them up and read them in snatches. I read Emile Coue's Auto suggestion, Claire Weeke's Hope and Help for your Nerves, Admiral Byrd's Alone, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (be sure and get the unabridged edition rather than the children's book) Moby Dick by Herman Melville (get the unabridged rather than the children’s book). 

Lately I've been reading The Thirteenth Step by a native American which is very inspiring, and a biography of Benjamin Franklin. I am reading more history today about the Founding Fathers--The Real Thomas Jefferson, the Real George Washington, Glenn Beck's The Original Argument about the Federalist Papers of Madison

Dear A. B.

Thanks so much for your quick reply. I started looking up these books online to see reviews, Seems like they are all really great. How on earth did you find all these books without google and amazon? I'm guessing you just came across these books by chance or searched them out or maybe they came in that box of books you talk about in your book? Anyways, now I just wonder what ones to read they all sound so great! I almost wonder if you took the best from all of them, used it in your life, and then applied it along with your personal experience to writing your book which would then mean that these books are unnecessary to read if I've already read your book. Like you say in your book there is a point where you just give up on reading all those self help books and work with your crippled self the best way you can.

I'm not crippled by any means but I do wonder if it is wise to read more books. I'm doing much better because of the wisdom you have shared but It's kind of funny how I've gotten to this point where I'm doing ok with life but dealing with the pain in my ribs and back is such a grind that it tends to pull me down. Haven't done hypnotism yet but I'm thinking of starting a club for people who deal with chronic pain conditions at my school and applying what I have read in your book.

Depression is pain that can go away with time. Chronic pain doesn't go away like we want it to and it is hard to say green frog green frog when pain is screaming just as loudly but I know that there is a way to make it hurt less and that's what I hope to find out. Thanks again for your help. -T

Dear T

I would suggest you read the books because we need to hear important things said in as many different ways as possible so that the  human wisdom alluded to will "sink in."  I belong to a metaphysical group and I have noticed that although some of the questions people pose to the leader of the group are really unanswerable, the different ways that people ask the questions are helpful in themselves and contain a flavor of their own wisdom. This is because you cannot get to Truth by the reasoning process, but it is the reasoning process that puts us on the right track where Truth can impact us. Hypnotism is very valuable for pain control. Start with Coue and Jose Silva's Mind Control. Some people control pain through the breathing process. I'll try to get you some information on that. A. B. Curtiss

Look up www.powerbreathing.com  A. B. Curtiss