(An excerpt from “The Strangest Secret Library” – available on Amazon.)

Detonating Caps Claude Bristol Magic of Believing

“He who does not know what the world is does not know where he is. And he who does not know for what purpose the world exists, does not know who he is, nor what the world is.” – A FIRST CENTURY MESSAGE

For those of you who seek to learn and make progress, I gently lay this in your laps. I do so without the slightest fear but that it will turn your world entirely upside down – bringing you health, wealth, success and happiness, providing you understand and accept.

Don t Misuse It

Remember T.N.T. is a dangerously high explosive so when you gather it closely, handle it gently. Down through the centuries its power has destroyed those who sought to misuse it, therefore exercise great care that it is used only for good.

It can be proved by the teachings of the Bible, certain well established laws of physics, and last but not least, just plain common sense. Read and determine for yourself whether or not the proofs I offer stand by themselves.

Some of you may see only the spiritual side, others recognize the scientific truths, and still others may accept it as just a practical operating device to put you on the road to success. No matter – many know the truth and for you who will open your minds the light will pour in with dazzling white brilliancy.

Feel In Your Pocket

I’m indebted to an old friend of mine, an expert on X-Ray, and electrical high frequency apparatus, who, when I was a boy experimenting with electricity, put the first bit of powerful T.N.T. in my pocket. Then I didn’t know what it was and didn’t understand, but fortunately it has remained there all through the years. As I look back I realize why he didn’t make me understand what it was. He believed in me and knew that when I was ready to accept it I would. It’s taken nearly 30 years, during which time I sought up and down the highways, looking, seeking and searching for the Secret – T.N.T. All of the time there was some in my pocket – mine for the mere reaching.

However, I’ve got a firm grip on it now and I will divide it graciously, knowing if used wisely it will blow away all obstacles and straighten out the road on which you’ve been wanting to travel all your life.

For many years I was a newspaper man and frequently I was behind the scenes. I met great men and women, interviewed famous people. Naturally I studied them and tried to understand what peculiar qualities they possessed that placed them above the others, but their secret evaded me.

Then came the war and I wondered why others made progress while I seemed to be “blocked” in my own ambitions. The war did teach me, however, that I could sleep in the mud, eat moldy bread and live to laugh about it. This is part of my T.N.T. – so remember what I learned. It helped me to give Old Man Fear a solar plexus blow and I believe it will help you.

Hoping to find a royal road to fortune I read hundreds of the so-called “Success” books and they took me nowhere. I did the same with books on philosophy, psychology and still the great Secret kept just a jump ahead of me. I joined secret fraternal organizations, hoping that I might find that which I sought.

However, just like the bit of T.N.T. in my pocket the Secret was in every book, in the great orders, everywhere, and in fact, right under my very nose but something kept me from it. You will have to determine for yourself what keeps you from it if you don’t get it from T.N.T. It’s there – if you don’t find it in the printed word look between the lines – as I’ve done my best to present it to you.

Are You Afraid?

Following the war I became a member of a coast-wide investment banking organization and during the years I cherished quite a dream – as did thousands of others in all lines of business – only to discover that the air castles which I built were on an unstable foundation. That something which turned the world upside down financially entirely obliterated my air castles, and I became Afraid. I got lost in the fog. Everywhere I turned something fell in on me.

As an executive of the organization my responsibilities multiplied. Our business, due to the economic changes which were taking place in the world, faced a crisis, and many people failing to understand the catastrophe which had overtaken business everywhere were critical. All of which brought worry and many sleepless nights. I found myself dreading to go to my work – fearing that each day would bring added misery. The weeks went on and conditions got worse and worse. I was baffled. Several times I talked about getting out of the business and one day in the latter part of June, 1931, I made up my mind to leave. I mentioned it to one of the women with whom I had been associated for several years and saw nothing but reproach in her eyes. That night I tried to sleep. Again I found it impossible. I paced the floor for hours – when at about 3:30 in the morning I suddenly stopped and sat down. I was face to face with myself. I could follow the inclination to run and leave the others to carry on by themselves, or I could stay and do my share; a duty which I knew was mine. I caught myself saying almost aloud: “Right is right. It’s always been right. It can’t be otherwise;” something I had been taught since infancy.

Suddenly there appeared to be an unfoldment. Out of the air came a voice saying: “What have you been seeking all these years? What were you taught? What did you learn? Where have you been? Where are you going? I jumped to my feet crying: “I know it. I’ve got it now. It’s the secret. That’s what they tried to teach you. It is the Royal Secret, too.”

Something told me that I would find those identical words in a book which had many years before been given me and which I had tried to read, failed to understand and put aside. It was written by a great man, Albert Pike, a mystic, a poet and a scholar. Grabbing it from the shelf – feverishly I ran through the pages. The words were there and I understood immediately.

Open Your Mind

I now had the key. I could see a broad smooth highway and at the end of that highway a perfect flood of gorgeously beautiful radiance. “That’s the road you are on now. What a simpleton you have been! They tried to teach you, they tried to help you and you kept your mind closed – thinking that you alone could find the road and stay on it.”

I was nearly overcome with the sheer joy of it all. My fears, my worries had disappeared. I smiled. I knew that I was right and that everything would be right for me from then on. I slept like a baby.

There was a different atmosphere in the office that day. The oppressive black clouds which hung over us began to fade away.

I told the woman – she with the reproachful eyes – what had happened, and she smiled a knowing smile. She helped me get back on the track and I can never repay her.

As one learned man said: “All of us are born with the ability to differentiate between right and wrong, and with the ability to achieve, but some of us must run head-on into a stone wall, smash ourselves to bits before we really know what it’s all about.” I hit the wall with a terrific crash and it was the greatest and finest thing that ever happened to me.

Many noting the transformation asked for an explanation. I told some of my closest friends, and now it’s for all of you because I know I can do good.

I keep the door of my private office open as I find I can do much for those who wish to talk with me.

The morale of our whole organization was at its lowest ebb.

Everyone was discouraged. Afraid. By the very necessity of things we had to do an about-face.

Right Is Right

My job was doing everything I could to help the other fellow because I knew it was right. At first I was perplexed as to the methods I should employ to help them, but I used my own system in calling upon the subconscious, and the inner voice said that I should talk to them.

Some were skeptical, but I said to myself; “I can prove that I am right,” and during the week that followed I spent every waking hour reviewing the books that I had studied through the years.

Naturally the Bible came first; then followed studies in Yoga-ism, the philosophies of the old Greek and Roman masters and of the later day teachers and students. I again deliberated over the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Re-read Hudson’s Law of Psychic Phenomena , another book, “The Gist of It,” written by a brilliant physician, Haydon Rochester.

Again I studied my books on physics, electricity and those on the vibrations of light and discovered that not only was I right, as I knew I would be, but that peculiarly the same general basic principles ran