The Master Key System

With an Essay on Charles F. Haanel by Walter Barlow Stevens

Charles F. Haanel, Walter Barlow Stevens

• Publisher: White Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781528769204
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Mental Health & Wellbeing

Originally published as a 24-week correspondence course in 1912, "The Master Key System" is a classic self-help book written by Charles F. Haanel. The main ideas of the book were heavily influenced by the New Thought philosophy, and it was notably a significant source of inspiration for Rhonda Byrne's film and book "The Secret" (2006). Full of simple advice that has helped millions change their lives for the better, this seminal book will appeal to those looking to reach their full potential and is not to be missed by collectors of vintage literature of this ilk. Charles Francis Haanel 1866–1949) was an American philosopher, author and businessman most famous for his affiliation with the New Thought movement. Other notable works by this author include: "The Amazing Secrets of the Yogi" (1937) and "A Book About You" (1928). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with an autobiographical essay on Charles F. Haanel by Walter Barlow Stevens.

PART I

PART ONE.

1. All possession is based on consciousness. All gain is the result of an accumulative consciousness. All loss is the result of a scattering consciousness. 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 which we do not possess, and the only way to 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, 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 which 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 cerebrospinal 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. It is through the Solar Plexus, the organ of the sub-conscious mind, that we are related to the world within.

23. It is the equalization 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 co-operation and thus coordinate the finite and the Infinite. Our future is entirely under 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 Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent. 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 which 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 which 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. Thought is the vibratory force formed by converting static mind into dynamic mind.

30. As the sum of all attributes is 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 is therefore 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 exercise of exact principles.

33. It should be plain that when you get 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 co-operation 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; all are 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 which makes the world without. The world within is one with the Universal, the world in which “we live and move and have our being,” the great creative principle of the Universe; 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 a realization of the 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 only be found in the world within.

38. 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.

39. 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.

40. 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 blessings than these from a material and social standpoint.

41. The three steps necessary to bring desire into realization are Idealization, Visualization and Manifestation. The first step then is to sow the seed; this should be done in the Silence, but few of us know what the Silence is. It is a physical stillness. The time required is from fifteen minutes to half an hour daily. 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; continue this for three or four days or for a week until you secure full control of your physical being.

42. Many will find this extremely difficult, other 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.

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.

—Walker.

PART II

PART TWO.

1. The operations of the mind are produced by two parallel modes of activity, the one conscious, and the other sub-conscious. Prof. Davidson says: “He who thinks to illuminate the whole range of mental action by the light of his own consciousness is not unlike one who should go about to illuminate the universe with a rushlight.”

2. The sub-conscious, logical processes are carried on with a certainty and regularity which would be impossible if there existed the possibility of error. Our mind is so designed that it prepares for us the most important foundations of cognition, whilst we have not the slightest apprehension of the modus operandi.

3. The sub-conscious soul, like a benevolent stranger, works and makes provision for our benefit, pouring only the mature fruit into our lap; thus ultimate analysis of thought processes shows that the sub-conscious is the theatre of the most important mental phenomena.

4. It is through the sub-conscious that Shakespeare must have perceived, without effort, great truths which are hidden from the conscious mind of the student; that Phidias fashioned marble and bronze; that Raphael painted Madonnas and Beethoven composed symphonies.

5. Ease and perfection depend entirely upon the degree in which we cease to depend upon the consciousness; playing the piano, skating, operating the typewriter, the skilled trades, depend for their perfect execution on the process of the sub-conscious mind. The marvel of playing a brilliant piece on the piano, while at the same time conducting a vigorous conversation, shows the greatness of our sub-conscious powers.

6. We are all aware how dependent we are upon the sub-conscious, and the greater, the nobler, the more brilliant our thoughts are, the more it is obvious to ourselves that the origin lies beyond our ken. We find ourselves endowed with tact, instinct, sense of the beautiful in art, music, etc., of whose origin or dwelling place we are wholly unconscious.

7. The value of the sub-conscious is enormous; it inspires us; it warns us; it furnishes us with names, facts and scenes from the storehouse of memory. It directs our thoughts, tastes, and accomplishes tasks so intricate that no conscious mind, even if it had the power, has the capacity for.

8. We can walk at will; we can raise the arm whenever we choose to do so; we can give our attention through eye or ear to any subject at pleasure. On the other hand, we cannot stop our heartbeats nor the circulation of the blood, nor the growth of stature, nor the formation of nerve and muscle tissue, nor the building of the bones, nor many other important vital processes.

9. If we compare these two sets of action, the one decreed by the will of the moment, and the other proceeding in majestic, rhythmic course, subject to no vascillation, but constant at every moment, we stand in awe of the latter, and ask to have the mystery explained. We see at once that these are the vital processes of our physical life, and we can not avoid the inference that the...