The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel --- 11 CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Your life is governed by law - by actual, immutable principles that never vary.
Law is in operation at all times; in all places. Fixed laws underlie all human actions. For
this reason, men who control giant industries are enabled to determine with absolute
precision just what percentage of every hundred thousand people will respond to any
given set of conditions.
It is well, however, to remember that while every effect is the result of a cause, the
effect in turn becomes a cause, which creates other effects, which in turn create still
other causes; so that when you put the law of attraction into operation you must
remember that you are starting a train of causation for good or otherwise which may
have endless possibilities.
We frequently hear it said, "A very distressing situation came into my life, which
could not have been the result of my thought, as I certainly never entertained any
thought which could have such a result." We fail to remember that like attracts like in the
mental world, and that the thought which we entertain brings to us certain friendships,
companionship's of a particular kind, and these in turn bring about conditions and
environment, which in turn are responsible for the conditions of which we complain.

PART ELEVEN

1. Inductive reasoning is the process of the objective mind by which we compare a
number of separate instances with one another until we see the common factor that gives rise to them all.
2. Induction proceeds by comparison of facts; it is this method of studying nature
which has resulted in the discovery of a reign of law which has marked an epoch in
human progress.
3. It is the dividing line between superstition and intelligence; it has eliminated the
elements of uncertainty and caprice from men's lives and substituted law, reason, and
certitude.
4. It is the "Watchman at the Gate" mentioned in a former lesson.
5. When, by virtue of this principle, the world to which the senses were accustomed
had been revolutionized; when the sun had been arrested in his course, the apparently
flat earth had been shaped into a ball and set whirling around him; when the inert matter
 had been resolved into active elements, and the universe presented itself wherever we directed the telescope and microscope, full of force, motion and life; we are constrained
to ask by what possible means the delicate forms of organization in the midst of it are
kept in order and repair.
6. Like poles and like forces repel themselves or remain impenetrable to each other,
and this cause seems in general sufficient to assign a proper place and distance to stars,
men and forces. As men of different virtues enter into partnership, so do opposite poles
attract each other, elements that have no property in common like acids and gases cling
to each other in preference and a general exchange is kept up between the surplus and
the demand.
7. As the eye seeks and receives satisfaction from colors complementary to those
which are given, so does need, want and desire, in the largest sense, induce, guide and
determine action.
8. It is our privilege to become conscious of the principle and act in accordance with
it. Cuvier sees a tooth belonging to an extinct race of animals. This tooth wants a body
for the performance of its function, and it defines the peculiar body it stands in need of
with such precision that Cuvier is able to reconstruct the frame of this animal.
9. Perturbations are observed in the motion of Uranus. Leverrier needs another star
at a certain place to keep the solar system in order, and Neptune appears in the place and hour appointed.
10. The instinctive wants of the animal and the intellectual wants of Cuvier, the wants
of nature and of the mind of Leverrier were alike, and thus the results; here the thoughts
of an existence, there an existence. A well-defined lawful want, therefore, furnishes the
reason for the more complex operations of nature.
11. Having recorded correctly the answers furnished by nature and stretched our
senses with the growing science over her surface; having joined hands with the levers
that move the earth; we become conscious of such a close, varied and deep contact with
the world without, that our wants and purposes become no less identified with the
harmonious operations of this vast organization, than the life, liberty, and happiness of
the citizen is identified with the existence of his government.
12. As the interests of the individual are protected by the arms of the country, added
to his own; and his needs may depend upon certain supply in the degree that they are felt more universally and steadily; in the same manner does conscious citizenship in the Republic of nature secure us from the annoyances of subordinate agents by alliance with
superior powers; and by appeal to the fundamental laws of resistance or inducement
offered to mechanical or chemical agents, distribute the labor to be performed between
them and man to the best advantage of the inventor.
13. If Plato could have witnessed the pictures executed by the sun with the assistance
of the photographer, or a hundred similar illustrations of what man does by induction, he
would perhaps have been reminded of the intellectual midwifery of his master and, in
his own mind might have arisen the vision of a land where all manual, mechanical labor
and repetition is assigned to the power of nature, where our wants are satisfied by purely
mental operations set in motion by the will, and where the supply is created by the
demand.
14. However distant that land may appear, induction has taught men to make strides
toward it and has surrounded him with benefits which are, at the same time, rewards for
past fidelity and incentives for more assiduous devotion.
15. It is also an aid in concentrating and strengthening our faculties for the remaining
part, giving unerring solution for individual as well as universal problems, by the mere
operations of mind in the purest form.
16. Here we find a method, the spirit of which is, to believe that what is sought has
been accomplished, in order to accomplish it: a method, bequeathed upon us by the same
Plato who, outside of this sphere, could never find how the ideas became realities.
17. This conception is also elaborated by Swedenborg in his doctrine of
correspondences; and a still greater teacher has said, "What things soever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24) The
difference of the tenses in this passage is remarkable.
18. We are first to believe that our desire has already been fulfilled, its
accomplishment will then follow. This is a concise direction for making use of the
creative power of thought by impressing on the Universal subjective mind, the particular
thing which we desire as an already existing fact.
19. We are thus thinking on the plane of the absolute and eliminating all consideration
of conditions or limitation and are planting a seed which, if left undisturbed, will finally
germinate into external fruition.
20. To review: Inductive reasoning is the process of the objective mind, by which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we see the common
factor that gives rise to them all. We see people in every civilized country on the globe,
securing results by some process which they do not seem to understand themselves, and to which they usually attach more or less mystery. Our reason is given to us for the
purpose of ascertaining the law by which these results are accomplished.
21. The operation of this thought process is seen in those fortunate natures that
possess everything that others must acquire by toil, who never have a struggle with
conscience because they always act correctly, and can never conduct themselves
otherwise than with tact, learn everything easily, complete everything they begin with a
happy knack, live in eternal harmony with themselves, without ever reflecting much
what they do, or ever experiencing difficulty or toil.
22. The fruit of this thought is, as it were, a gift of the gods, but a gift which few as
yet realize, appreciate, or understand. The recognition of the marvelous power which is
possessed by the mind under proper conditions and the fact that this power can be
utilized, directed, and made available for the solution of every human problem is of
transcendental importance.
23. All truth is the same, whether stated in modern scientific terms or in the language
of apostolic times. There are timid souls who fail to realize that the very completeness of
truth requires various statements -- that no one human formula will show every side of
it.
24. Changing, emphasis, new language, novel interpretations, unfamiliar perspectives,
are not, as some suppose, signs of departure from truth but on the contrary, they are
evidence that the truth is being apprehended in new relations to human needs, and is
becoming more generally understood.
25. The truth must be told to each generation and to every people in new and different
terms, so that when the Great Teacher said -- "Believe that ye receive and ye shall
receive" or, when Paul said -- "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen" or, when modern science says -- "The law of attraction is the law by
which thought correlates with its object", each statement when subjected to analysis, is
found to contain exactly the same truth. The only difference being in the form of
presentation.
26. We are standing on the threshold of a new era. The time has arrived when man has
learned the secrets of mastery and the way is being prepared for a new social order, more
wonderful than anything every heretofore dreamed of. The conflict of modern science with theology, the study of comparative religions, the tremendous power of new social
movements, all of these are but clearing the way for the new order. They may have
destroyed traditional forms which have become antiquated and impotent, but nothing of
value has been lost.
27. A new faith has been born, a faith which demands a new form of expression, and
this faith is taking form in a deep consciousness of power which is being manifested, in
the present spiritual activity found on every hand.
28. The spirit which sleeps in the mineral, breathes in the vegetable, moves in the
animal and reaches its highest development in man is the Universal Mind, and it
behooves us to span the gulf between being and doing, theory and practice, by
demonstrating our understanding of the dominion which we have been given.
29. By far the greatest discovery of all the centuries is the power of thought. The
importance of this discovery has been a little slow in reaching the general consciousness,
but it has arrived, and already in every field of research the importance of this greatest of
all great discoveries is being demonstrated.
30. You ask in what does the creative power of thought consist? It consists in creating
ideas, and these in turn objectify themselves by appropriating, inventing, observing,
discerning, discovering, analyzing, ruling, governing, combining, and applying matter
and force. It can do this because it is an intelligent creative power.
31. Thought reaches its loftiest activity when plunged into its own mysterious depth;
when it breaks through the narrow compass of self and passes from truth to truth to the
region of eternal light, where all which is, was or ever will be, melt into one grand
harmony.
32. From this process of self contemplation comes inspiration which is creative
intelligence, and which is undeniably superior to every element, force or law of nature,
because it can understand, modify, govern and apply them to its own ends and purposes
and therefore possess them.
33. Wisdom begins with the dawn of reason, and reason is but an understanding of the
knowledge and principles whereby we may know the true meaning of things. Wisdom,
then, is illuminated reason, and this wisdom leads to humility, for humility is a large part
of Wisdom.
34. We all know many who have achieved the seemingly impossible, who have realized life-long dreams, who have changed everything including themselves. We have
sometimes marveled at the demonstration of an apparently irresistible power, which
seemed to be ever available just when it was most needed, but it is all clear now. All that
is required is an understanding of certain definite fundamental principles and their
proper application.
35. For your exercise this week, concentrate on the quotation taken from the Bible,
"Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall
have them"; notice that there is no limitation, "Whatsoever things" is very definite and
implies that the only limitation which is placed upon us in our ability to think, to be
equal to the occasion, to rise to the emergency, to remember that Faith is not a shadow,
but a substance, "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Death is but the natural process whereby all material forms are thrown into the crucible
for reproduction in fresh diversity.

Part Eleven - Study Questions

101. What is inductive reasoning?
102. What has this method of studying accomplished?
103. What is it that guides and determines action?
104. What is the formula for the unerring solution of every individual problem?
105. What great Teachers advocated it?
106. What is the result of this thought process?
107. Why is it scientifically exact?
108. What is Faith?
109. What is the Law of Attraction?
110. What importance do you attach to an understanding of this law?