The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel --- 12 CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part Twelve is enclosed herewith. In the fourth paragraph you will find the
following statement: "You must first have the knowledge of your power; second, the
courage to dare; third, the faith to do." If you concentrate upon the thoughts given, if you
give them your entire attention, you will find a world of meaning in each sentence, and
will attract to yourself other thoughts in harmony with them, and you will soon grasp the
full significance of the vital knowledge upon which you are concentrating.
Knowledge does not apply itself; we as individuals must make the application,
and the application consists in fertilizing the thought with a living purpose.
The time and thought which most persons waste in aimless effort would
accomplish wonders if properly directed with some special object in view. In order to do
this, it is necessary to center your mental force upon a specific thought and hold it there,
to the exclusion of all other thoughts. If you have ever looked through the viewfinder of
a camera, you found that when the object was not in focus, the impression was indistinct
and possibly blurred, but when the proper focus was obtained the picture was clear and
distinct. This illustrates the power of concentration. Unless you can concentrate upon the
object which you have in view, you will have but a hazy, indifferent, vague, indistinct
and blurred outline of your ideal and the results will be in accordance with your mental
picture.

PART TWELVE

1. There is no purpose in life that cannot be best accomplished through a scientific
understanding of the creative power of thought.
2. This power to think is common to all. Man is, because he thinks. Man's power to
think is infinite, consequently his creative power is unlimited.
3. We know that thought is building for us the thing we think of and actually
bringing it nearer, yet we find it difficult to banish fear, anxiety or discouragement, all of
which are powerful thought forces, and which continually send the things we desire
further away, so that it is often one step forward and two steps backward.
4. The only way to keep from going backward is to keep going forward. Eternal
vigilance is the price of success. There are three steps, and each one is absolutely
essential. You must first have the knowledge of your power; second, the courage to dare;
third, the faith to do.
5. With this as a basis you can construct an ideal business, an ideal home, ideal
friends, and an ideal environment. You are not restricted as to material or cost. Thought
is omnipotent and has the power to draw on the Infinite bank of primary substance for
all that it requires. Infinite resources are therefore at your command.
6. But your ideal must be sharp, clear-cut, definite; to have one ideal today, another
tomorrow, and a third next week, means to scatter your forces and accomplish nothing;
your result will be a meaningless and chaotic combination of wasted material.
7. Unfortunately this is the result which many are securing, and the cause is self
evident. If a sculptor started out with a piece of marble and a chisel and changed his
ideal every fifteen minutes, what result could he expect? And why should you expect
any different result in molding the greatest and most plastic of all substances, the only
real substance?
8. The result of this indecision and negative thought is often found in the loss of
material wealth. Supposed independence which required many years of toil and effort
suddenly disappears. It is often found then that money and property are not
independence at all. On the contrary, the only independence is found to be a practical
working knowledge of the creative power of thought.
9. This practical working method cannot come to you until you learn that the only
real power which you can have is the power to adjust yourself to Divine and
unchangeable principles. You cannot change the Infinite, but you can come into an
understanding of Natural laws. The reward of this understanding is a conscious
realization of your ability to adjust your thought faculties with the Universal Thought
which is Omnipresent. Your ability to cooperate with this Omnipotence will indicate the
degree of success with which you meet.
10. The power of thought has many counterfeits which are more or less fascinating,
but the results are harmful instead of helpful.
11. Of course, worry, fear, and all negative thoughts produce a crop after their kind;
those who harbor thoughts of this kind must inevitably reap what they have sown.
12. Again, there are the Phenomena seekers who gormandize on the so-called proofs
and demonstration obtained at materializing seances. They throw open their mental
doors and soak themselves in the most poisonous currents which can be found in the
psychic world. They do not seem to understand that it is the ability to become negative,
receptive and passive, and thus drain themselves of all their vital force, which enables them to bring about these vibratory thought forms.
13. There are also the Hindu worshipers, who see in the materializing phenomena
which are performed by the so-called adepts, a source of power, forgetting, or never
seeming to realize that as soon as the will is withdrawn the forms wither, and the
vibratory forces of which they are composed vanish.
14. Telepathy, or thought transference, has received considerable attention, but as it
requires a negative mental state on the part of the receiver, the practice is harmful. A
thought may be sent with the intention of hearing or seeing, but it will bring the penalty
attached to the inversion of the principle involved.
15. In many instances, hypnotism is positively dangerous to the subject as well as the
operator. No one familiar with the laws governing in the mental world would think of
attempting to dominate the will of another, for by so doing, he will gradually (but surely)
divest himself of his own power.
16. All of these perversions have their temporary satisfaction and for some a keen
fascination, but there is an infinitely greater fascination in a true understanding of the
world of power within, a power which increases with use; is permanent instead of
fleeing; which not only is potent as a remedial agency to bring about the remedy for past
error or results of wrong thinking, but is a prophylactic agency protecting us from all
manner and form of danger, and finally is an actual creative force with which we can
build new conditions and new environment.
17. The law is that thought will correlate with its object and bring forth in the material
world the correspondence of the thing thought or produced in the mental world. We then
discern the absolute necessity of seeing that every thought has the inherent germ of truth
in order that the law of growth will bring into manifestation good, for good alone can
confer any permanent power.
18. The principle which gives the thought the dynamic power to correlate with its
object, and therefore to master every adverse human experience, is the law of attraction,
which is another name for love. This is an eternal and fundamental principle, inherent in
all things, in every system of Philosophy, in every Religion, and in every Science. There
is no getting away from the law of love. It is feeling that imparts vitality to thought.
Feeling is desire, and desire is love. Thought impregnated with love becomes invincible.
19. We find this truth emphasized wherever the power of thought is understood, The
Universal Mind is not only Intelligence, but it is substance, and this substance is the attractive force which brings electrons together by the law of attraction so that they form
atoms; the atoms in turn are brought together by the same law and form molecules;
molecules take objective forms; and so we find that the law of love is the creative force
behind every manifestation, not only of atoms, but of worlds, of the Universe, of
everything of which the imagination can form any conception.
20. It is the operation of this marvelous law of attraction which has caused men in all
ages and all times to believe that there must be some personal being who responded to
their petitions and desires, and manipulated events in order to comply with their
requirements.
21. It is the combination of Thought and Love which forms the irresistible force,
called the law of attraction. All natural laws are irresistible, the law of Gravitation, or
Electricity, or any other law operates with mathematical exactitude. There is no
variation; it is only the channel of distribution which may be imperfect. If a bridge falls,
we do not attribute the collapse to any variation of the law of gravitation. If a light fails
us, we do not conclude that the laws governing electricity cannot be depended upon, and
if the law of attraction seems to be imperfectly demonstrated by an inexperienced or
uninformed person, we are not to conclude that the greatest and most infallible law upon
which the entire system of creation depends has been suspended. We should rather
conclude that a little more understanding of the law is required, for the same reason that
a correct solution of a difficult problem in Mathematics is not always readily and easily
obtained.
22. Things are created in the mental or spiritual world be fore they appear in the
outward act or event. by the simple process of governing our thought forces today, we
help create the events which will come into our lives in the future, perhaps even
tomorrow. Educated desire is the most potent means of bringing into action the law of
attraction.
23. Man is so constituted that he must first create the tools, or implements by which
he gains the power to think. The mind cannot comprehend an entirely new idea until a
corresponding vibratory brain cell has been prepared to receive it. This explains why it is
so difficult for us to receive or appreciate an entirely new idea; we have no brain cell
capable of receiving it; we are therefore incredulous; we do not believe it.
24. If, therefore, you have not been familiar with the Omnipotence of the law of
attraction, and the scientific method by which it can be put into operation, or if you have
not been familiar with the unlimited possibilities which it opens to those who are
enabled to take advantage of the resources it offers, begin now and create the necessary brain cells which will enable you to comprehend the unlimited powers which may be yours by cooperating with Natural Law. This is done by concentration or attention.
25. The intention governs the attention. Power comes through repose. It is by
concentration that deep thoughts, wise speech, and all forces of high potentiality are
accomplished.
26. It is in the Silence that you get into touch with the Omnipotent power of the
subconscious mind from which all power is evolved.
27. He who desires wisdom, power, or permanent success of any kind will find it only
within; it is an unfoldment. The unthinking may conclude that the silence is very simple
and easily attained, but it should be remembered that only in absolute silence may one
come into contact with Divinity itself; may learn of the unchangeable law and open for
himself the channels by which persistent practice and concentration lead to perfection.
28. This week go to the same room, take the same chair, the same position as
previously; be sure to relax, let go, both mentally and physically; always do this; never
try to do any mental work under pressure; see that there are no tense muscles or nerves,
that you are entirely comfortable. Now realize your unity with omnipotence; get into
touch with this power, come into a deep and vital understanding, appreciation, and
realization of the fact that your ability to think is your ability to act upon the Universal
Mind, and bring it into manifestation, realize that it will meet any and every
requirement; that you have exactly the same potential ability which any individual ever
did have or ever will have, because each is but an expression or manifestation of the
One, all are parts of the whole, there is no difference in kind or quality, the only
difference being one of degree.

Part Twelve - Study Questions

111. How may any purpose in life be best accomplished?

112. What three steps are absolutely essential?

113. How is the practical working knowledge secured?

114. What is the reward of an understanding of these laws?

115. What will indicate the degree of success with which we meet?

116. What is the principle which gives thought its dynamic power?

117. Why is this law irresistible?

118. Why then does it sometimes seem to be difficult to find the solution to our problems in life?

119. Why is it impossible for the mind to grasp an entirely new idea?

120. How is wisdom secured?