This is a first extract from the amazing Master Key System, written by Charles F Haanel over 100 years ago, and a huge source of inspiration to Napoleon Hill and many other LOA pioneers.
PART ONE
1. That much gathers more is true on every plane of
existence and that loss leads to greater loss is equally true.
2. Mind is creative, and conditions, environment and all
experiences in life are the result of our habitual or predominant mental
attitude.
3. The attitude of mind necessarily depends upon what we
think.
Therefore, the secret of all power, all achievement and
all possession depends upon our method of thinking.
4. This is true because we must "be" before we
can "do," and we can "do" only to the extent which we
"are," and what we "are"
depends upon what we "think."
5. We cannot express powers that we do not possess. The
only way by which we may secure possession of power is to become conscious of
power, and we can never become conscious of power until we learn that all power
is from within.
6. There is a world within – a world of thought and
feeling and power; of light and life and beauty and, although invisible, its
forces are mighty.
7. The world within is governed by mind. When we discover
this world we shall find the solution for every problem, the cause for every
effect; and since the world within is subject to our control, all laws of power
and possession are also within our control.
8. The world without is a reflection of the world within.
What appears without is what has been found within. In the world within may be
found infinite Wisdom, infinite Power, infinite Supply of all that is
necessary, waiting for unfoldment, development and expression. If we recognize
these potentialities in the world within they will take form in the world
without.
9. Harmony in the world within will be reflected in the
world without by harmonious conditions, agreeable surroundings, the best of
everything. It is the foundation of health and a necessary essential to all
greatness, all power, all attainment, all achievement and all success.
10. Harmony in the world within means the ability to
control our thoughts, and to determine for ourselves how any experience is to
affect us.
11. Harmony in the world within results in optimism and
affluence; affluence within results in affluence without.
12. The world without reflects the circumstances and the
conditions of the consciousness within.
13. If we find wisdom in the world within, we shall have
the understanding to discern the marvelous possibilities that are latent in
this world within, and we shall be given the power to make these possibilities
manifest in the world without.
14. As we become conscious of the wisdom in the world
within, we mentally take possession of this wisdom, and by taking mental
possession we come into actual possession of the power and wisdom necessary to
bring into manifestation the essentials necessary for our most complete and
harmonious development.
15. The world within is the practical world in which the
men and women of power generate courage, hope, enthusiasm, confidence, trust
and faith, by which they are given the fine intelligence to see the vision and
the practical skill to make the vision real.
16. Life is an unfoldment, not accretion. What comes to
us in the world without is what we already possess in the world within.
17. All possession is based on consciousness. All gain is
the result of an accumulative consciousness. All loss is the result of a
scattering consciousness.
18. Mental efficiency is contingent upon harmony; discord
means confusion; therefore, he who would acquire power must be in harmony with
Natural Law.
19. We are related to the world without by the objective
mind.
The brain is the organ of this mind and the
cerebro-spinal system of nerves puts us in conscious communication with every
part of the body. This system of nerves responds to every sensation of light,
heat, odor, sound and taste.
20. When this mind thinks correctly, when it understands
the truth, when the thoughts sent through the cerebro-spinal nervous system to
the body are constructive, these sensations are pleasant, harmonious.
21. The result is that we build strength, vitality and
all constructive forces into our body, but it is through this same objective
mind that all distress, sickness, lack, limitation and every form of discord
and inharmony is admitted to our lives. It is therefore through the objective
mind, by wrong thinking, that we are related to all destructive forces.
22. We are related to the world within by the
subconscious mind. The solar plexus is the organ of this mind; the sympathetic
system of nerves presides over all subjective sensations, such as joy, fear,
love, emotion, respiration, imagination and all other subconscious phenomena.
It is through the subconscious that we are connected with the Universal Mind
and brought into relation with the Infinite constructive forces of the
Universe.
23. It is the coordination of these two centers of our
being, and the understanding of their functions, which is the great secret of
life. With this knowledge we can bring the objective and subjective minds into
conscious cooperation and thus coordinate the finite and the infinite. Our
future is entirely within our own control. It is not at the mercy of any
capricious or uncertain external power.
24. All agree that there is but one Principle or
Consciousness pervading the entire Universe, occupying all space, and being
essentially the same in kind at every point of its presence. It is all
powerful, all wisdom and always present. All thoughts and things are within
Itself. It is all in all.
25. There is but one consciousness in the universe able
to think; and when it thinks, its thoughts become objective things to it. As
this Consciousness is omnipresent, it must be present within every individual;
each individual must be a manifestation of that Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent
Consciousness.
26. As there is only one Consciousness in the Universe
that is able to think it necessarily follows that your consciousness is
identical with the Universal Consciousness, or, in other words, all mind is one
mind. There is no dodging this conclusion.
27. The consciousness that focuses in your brain cells is
the same consciousness which focuses in the brain cells of every other
individual. Each individual is but the individualization of the Universal, the
Cosmic Mind.
28. The Universal Mind is static or potential energy; it
simply is; it can manifest only through the individual, and the individual can
manifest only through the Universal. They are one.
29. The ability of the individual to think is his ability
to act on the Universal and bring it into manifestation. Human consciousness
consists only in the ability of man to think.
Mind in itself is believed to be a subtle form of static
energy, from which arises the activities called 'thought', which is the dynamic
phase of mind. Mind is static energy, thought is dynamic energy - the two
phases of the same thing. Thought is therefore the vibratory force formed by
converting static mind into dynamic mind.
30. As the sum of all attributes are contained in the
Universal Mind, which is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent, these
attributes must be present at all times in their potential form in every
individual. Therefore, when the individual thinks, the thought is compelled by
its nature to embody itself in an objectivity or condition which will
correspond with its origin.
31. Every thought therefore is a cause and every
condition an effect; for this reason it is absolutely essential that you
control your thoughts so as to bring forth only desirable conditions.
32. All power is from within, and is absolutely under
your control; it comes through exact knowledge and by the voluntary exercises
of exact principles.
33. It should be plain that when you acquire a thorough
understanding of this law, and are able to control your thought processes, you
can apply it to any condition; in other words, you will have come into
conscious cooperation with Omnipotent law which is the fundamental basis of all
things.
34. The Universal Mind is the life principle of every
atom which is in existence; every atom is continually striving to manifest more
life; all are intelligent, and all are seeking to carry out the purpose for
which they were created.
35. A majority of mankind lives in the world without; few
have found the world within, and yet it is the world within that makes the
world without; it is therefore creative and everything which you find in your
world without has been created by you in the world within.
36. This system will bring you into a realization of
power which will be yours when you understand this relation between the world
without and the world within. The world within is the cause, the world without
the effect; to change the effect you must change the cause.
37. You will at once see that this is a radically new and
different idea; most men try to change effects by working with effects. They
fail to see that this is simply changing one form of distress for another. To
remove discord, we must remove the cause, and this cause can be found only in
the world within.
38. All growth is from within. This is evident in all
nature.
Every plant, every animal, every human is a living
testimony to this great law, and the error of the ages is in looking for strength
or power from without.
39. The world within is the Universal fountain of supply,
and the world without is the outlet to the stream. Our ability to receive
depends upon our recognition of this Universal Fountain, this Infinite Energy
of which each individual is an outlet, and so is one with every other
individual.
40. Recognition is a mental process, mental action is
therefore the interaction of the individual upon the Universal Mind, and as the
Universal Mind is the intelligence which pervades all space and animates all
living things, this mental action and reaction is the law of causation, but the
principle of causation does not obtain in the individual but in the Universal
Mind. It is not an objective faculty but a subjective process, and the results
are seen in an infinite variety of conditions and experiences.
41. In order to express life there must be mind; nothing
can exist without mind. Everything which exists is some manifestation of this
one basic substance from which and by which all things have been created and
are continually being recreated.
42. We live in a fathomless sea of plastic mind
substance. This substance is ever alive and active. It is sensitive to the
highest degree. It takes form according to the mental demand.
Thought forms the mold or matrix from which the substance
expresses.
43. Remember that it is in the application alone that the
value consists, and that a practical understanding of this law will substitute
abundance for poverty, wisdom for ignorance, harmony for discord and freedom
for tyranny, and certainly there can be no greater blessing than these from a
material and social standpoint.
44. Now make the application: Select a room where you can
be alone and undisturbed; sit erect, comfortably, but do not lounge; let your
thoughts roam where they will but be perfectly still for from fifteen minutes
to half an hour; continue this for three or four days or for a week until you
secure full control of your physical being.
45. Many will find this extremely difficult; others will
conquer with ease, but it is absolutely essential to secure complete control of
the body before you are ready to progress.
Next week you will receive instructions for the next
step; in the meantime you must have mastered this one.
One of my favourite Audio series, Your Wish is Your Command, quotes the Master Key System as one of the core pioneering texts on the subject of deliberate creation. Check out YWIYC, free audio access at www.thesecretuk.co.uk/audio
