The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel --- 10 CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

If you get a thorough understanding of the thought contained in Part Ten, you will
have learned that nothing happens without a definite cause.

You will be enabled to formulate your plans in accordance with exact knowledge.

You will know how to control any situation by bringing adequate causes into play.

When you win, as you will, you will know exactly why.

The ordinary man, who has no definite knowledge of cause and effect, is governed by
his feelings or emotions.

He thinks chiefly to justify his action.

If he fails as a businessman, he says that luck is against him.

If he dislikes music, he says that music is an expensive luxury.

If he is a poor office man, he says that he could succeed better at some outdoor work.

If he lacks friends, he says his individuality is too fine to be appreciated.

He never thinks his problem through to the end.

In short, he does not know that every effect is the result of a certain definite cause, but he seeks to console himself with explanations and excuses.

He thinks only in self-defense.

On the contrary, the man who understands that there is no effect without an adequate  cause thinks impersonally. He gets down to bedrock facts regardless of consequences.

He is free to follow the trail of truth wherever it may lead.

He sees the issue clear to the end, and he meets the requirements fully and fairly, and the result is that the world gives him all that it has to give, in friendship, honor, love and approval.

PART TEN

1. Abundance is a natural law of the Universe. The evidence of this law is
conclusive; we see it on every hand. Everywhere Nature is lavish, wasteful, extravagant.
Nowhere is economy observed in any created thing. Profusion is manifested in
everything. The millions and millions of trees and flowers and plants and animals and
the vast scheme of reproduction where the process of creating and recreating is forever
going on, all indicates the lavishness with which Nature has made provision for man.
That there is an abundance for everyone is evident, but that many fail to participate in
this abundance is also evident; they have not yet come into a realization of the
Universality of all substance, and that mind is the active principle whereby we are
related to the things we desire.
2. All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions are of value only as they confer power. Events are significant only as they affect power; all things represent certain forms and degrees of power.
3. Knowledge of cause and effect as shown by the laws governing electricity,
chemical affinity and gravitation, enables man to plan courageously and execute
fearlessly. These laws are called Natural Laws, because they govern in the physical
world, but all power is not physical power; there is also mental power, and there is moral
and spiritual power.
4. Spiritual power is superior because it exists on a higher plane. It has enabled man
to discover the law by which these wonderful forces of Nature could be harnessed and
made to do the work of hundreds and thousands of men. It has enabled man to discover
laws whereby time and space have been annihilated and the law of gravitation to be
overcome. The operation of this law is dependent upon spiritual contact, as Henry
Drummond well says:
5. "In the physical world as we know it, there exists the organic and the inorganic.
The inorganic of the mineral world is absolutely cut off from the plant or animal world;
the passage is hermetically sealed. These barriers have never yet been crossed. No
change of substance, no modification of environment, no chemistry, no electricity, no
form of energy, no evolution of any kind can ever endow a single atom of the mineral
world with the attribute of Life."
6. "Only by the bending down into this dead world of some living form can those
dead atoms be gifted with the properties of vitality; without this contact with life they
remain fixed in the inorganic sphere forever. Huxley says that the doctrine of Biogenesis (or life only from life) is victorious all along the line, and Tyndall is compelled
to say: 'I affirm that no shred of trustworthy evidence exists to prove that life in our day
has ever appeared independent of antecedent life.'
7. "Physical laws may explain the inorganic, Biology explains and accounts for the
development of the organic, but of the point of contact Science is silent. A similar
passage exists between the Natural world and the Spiritual world; this passage is
hermetically sealed on the natural side. The door is closed; no man can open it, no
organic change, no mental energy, no moral effort, no progress of any kind can enable
any human being to enter the spiritual world."
8. But as the plant reaches down into the mineral world and touches it with the
mystery of Life, so the Universal Mind reaches down into the human mind and endows
it with new, strange, wonderful and even marvelous qualities. All men or women who
have every accomplished anything in the world of industry, commerce or art have accomplished because of this process.
9. Thought is the connecting link between the Infinite and the finite, between the
Universal and the individual. We have seen that there is an impassable barrier between
the organic and the inorganic, and that the only way that matter can unfold is to be
impregnated with life; as a seed reaches down into the mineral world and begins to
unfold and reach out, the dead matter begins to live, a thousand invisible fingers begin to
weave a suitable environment for the new arrival, and as the law of growth begins to
take effect, we see the process continue until the Lily finally appears, and even
"Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these".
10. Even so, a thought is dropped into the invisible substance of the Universal Mind,
that substance from which all things are created, and as it takes root, the law of growth
begins to take effect and we find that conditions and environment are but the objective
form of our thought.
11. The law is that Thought is an active vital form of dynamic energy which has the
power to correlate with its object and bring it out of the invisible substance from which
all things are created into the visible or objective world. This is the law by which, and
through which all things come into manifestation; it is the Master Key by which you are
admitted into the Secret Place of the Most High and are "given dominion over all
things." With an understanding of this law you may "decree a thing and it shall be
established unto thee."
12. It could not be otherwise; if the soul of the Universe as we know it is the
Universal Spirit, then the Universe is simply the condition which the Universal Spirit
has made for itself. We are simply individualized spirit and are creating the conditions
for our growth in exactly the same way.
13. This creative power depends upon our recognition of the potential power of spirit
or mind and must not be confused with Evolution. Creation is the calling into existence
of that which does not exist in the objective world. Evolution is simply the unfolding of
potentialities involved in things which already exist.
14. In taking advantage of the wonderful possibilities opened up to us through the
operation of this law, we must remember that we ourselves contribute nothing to its
efficacy as the Great Teacher said: "It is not I that doeth the works, but the Father that
dwelleth in me, He doeth the work". We must take exactly the same position; we can do
nothing to assist in the manifestation, we simply comply with the law, and the Alloriginating Mind will bring about the result.
15. The great error of the present day is the idea that Man has to originate the
intelligence whereby the Infinite can proceed to bring about a specific purpose or result.
Nothing of this kind is necessary; the Universal Mind can be depended upon to find the
ways and means for bringing about any necessary manifestation. We must, however,
create the ideal, and this ideal should be perfect.
16. We know that the laws governing Electricity have been formulated in such a way
that this invisible power can be controlled and used for our benefit and comfort in
thousands of ways. We know that messages are carried around the world, that ponderous machinery does its bidding, that it now illuminates practically the whole world, but we know too that if we consciously or ignorantly violate its law by touching a live wire,
when it is not properly insulated, the result will be unpleasant and possibly disastrous. A
lack of understanding of the laws governing in the invisible world has the same result,
and many are suffering the consequences all the time.
17. It has been explained that the law of causation depends upon polarity, a circuit
must be formed; this circuit cannot be formed unless we operate in harmony with the
law. How shall we operate in harmony with the law unless we know what the law is?
How shall we know what the Law is? By study, by observation.
18. We see the law in operation everywhere; all nature testifies to the operation of the
law by silently, constantly expressing itself in the law of growth. Where there is growth,
there must be life; where there is life there must be harmony, so that everything that has
life is constantly attracting to itself the conditions and the supply which is necessary for
its most complete expression.
19. If your thought is in harmony with the creative Principle of Nature, it is in tune
with the Infinite Mind, and it will form the circuit, it will not return to you void; but it is
possible for you to think thoughts that are not in tune with the Infinite, and when there is
no polarity, the circuit is not formed. What, then, is the result? What is the result when a
dynamo is generating electricity, the circuit is cut off and there is no outlet? The dynamo
stops.
20. It will be exactly the same with you, if you entertain thoughts which are not in
accordance with the Infinite and cannot therefore be polarized; there is no circuit, you
are isolated, the thoughts cling to you, harass you, worry you, and finally bring about
disease and possibly death; the physician may not diagnose the case exactly in this way,
he may give it some fancy name which has been manufactured for the various ills which
are the result of wrong thinking, but the cause is the same nevertheless.
21. Constructive thought must necessarily be creative, but creative thought must be
harmonious, and this eliminates all destructive or competitive thought.
22. Wisdom, strength, courage and all harmonious conditions are the result of power
and we have seen that all power is from within; likewise, every lack, limitation or
adverse circumstance is the result of weakness, and weakness is simply absence of
power; it comes from nowhere, it is nothing -- the remedy then is simply to develop
power, and this is accomplished in exactly the same manner that all power is developed,
by exercise.
23. This exercise consists in making an application of your knowledge. Knowledge
will not apply itself. You must make the application. Abundance will not come to you
out of the sky, neither will it drop into your lap, but a conscious realization of the law of
attraction and the intention to bring it into operation for a certain, definite and specific
purpose, and the will to carry out this purpose will bring about the materialization of
your desire by a natural law of transference. If you are in business, it will increase and
develop along regular channels, possibly new or unusual channels of distribution will be
opened and when the law becomes fully operative, you will find that the things you seek
are seeking you.
24. This week select a blank space on the wall, or any other convenient spot, from
where you usually sit, mentally draw a black horizontal line about six inches long, try to
see the line as plainly as though it were painted on the wall; now mentally draw two
vertical lines connecting with this horizontal line at either end; now draw another
horizontal line connecting with the two vertical lines; now you have a square. Try to see
the square perfectly; when you can do so draw a circle within the square; now place a
point in the center of the circle; now draw the point toward you about 10 inches; now
you have a cone on a square base; you will remember that your work was all in black;
change it to white, to red, to yellow.
25. If you can do this, you are making excellent progress and will soon be enabled to
concentrate on any problem you may have in mind.

Part Ten - Study Questions

91. What is Wealth?
92. Of what value are possessions?
93. Of what value is a knowledge of cause and effect?
94. How does life originate in the inorganic world?
95. What is the connecting link between the finite and the Infinite?
96. Why is that so?
97. Upon what does causation depend?
98. Why do many fail to secure harmonious conditions?
99. What is the remedy?
100. What will be the result?