The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel --- 13 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Physical science is responsible for the marvelous age of invention in which we are
now living, but spiritual science is now setting out on a career whose possibilities no one
can foretell.
Spiritual science has previously been the football of the uneducated, the
superstitious, the mystical, but men are now interested in definite methods and
demonstrated facts only.
We have come to know that thinking is a spiritual process, that vision and
imagination preceded action and event, that the day of the dreamer has come.
The following lines by Mr. Herbert Kaufman are interesting in this connection.
"They are the architects of greatness, their vision lies within their souls, they peer
beyond the veils and mists of doubt and pierce the walls of unborn Time. The belted
wheel, the trail of steel, the churning screw, are shuttles in the loom on which they
weave their magic tapestries. Makers of Empire, they have fought for bigger things than
crowns and higher seats than thrones. Your homes are set upon the land a dreamer found.
The pictures on its walls are visions from a dreamer's soul. They are the chose few -- the
blazers of the way. Walls crumble and Empires fall, the tidal wave sweeps from the sea
and tears a fortress from its rocks. The rotting nations drop off from Time's bough, and
only things the dreamer's make live on."
Part Thirteen which follows tells why the dreams of the dreamer come true. It
explains the law of causation by which dreamers, inventors, authors, financiers, bring
about the realization of their desires. It explains the law by which the thing pictured
upon our mind eventually becomes our own.
PART THIRTEEN
1. It has been the tendency, and, as might be proved, a necessity for science to seek
the explanation of everyday facts by a generalization of those others which are less
frequent and form the exception. Thus does the eruption of the volcano manifest the heat
which is continually at work in the interior of the earth and to which the latter owes
much of her configuration.
2. Thus does the lightning reveal a subtle power constantly busy to produce changes
in the inorganic world, and, as dead languages now seldom heard were once ruling
among the nations, so does a giant tooth in Siberia, or a fossil in the depth of the earth,
not only bear record of the evolution of past ages, but thereby explains
3. In this way a generalization of facts which are rare, strange, or form the exception,
has been the magnetic needle guiding to all the discoveries of inductive science.
4. This method is founded upon reason and experience and thereby destroyed
superstition, precedent and conventionality.
5. It is almost three-hundred years since Lord Bacon recommended this method of
study, to which the civilized nations owe the greater part of their prosperity and the more
valuable part of their knowledge; purging the mind from narrow prejudices,
denominated theories, more effectually than by the keenest irony; calling the attention of
men from heaven to earth more successfully by surprising experiments than by the most
forcible demonstration of their ignorance; educating the inventive faculties more
powerfully by the near prospect of useful discoveries thrown open to all, than by talk of
bringing to light the innate laws of our mind.
6. The method of Bacon has seized the spirit and aim of the great philosophers of
Greece and carried them into effect by the new means of observation which another age
offered; thus gradually revealing a wondrous field of knowledge in the infinite space of
astronomy, in the microscopic egg of embryology, and the dim age of geology;
disclosing an order of the pulse which the logic of Aristotle could never have unveiled,
and analyzing into formerly unknown elements the material combinations which no
dialectic of the scholastics could force apart.
7. It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; it has extinguished diseases; it has
increased the fertility of the soil; it has given new securities to the mariner; it has
spanned great rivers with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the
thunderbolt from heaven to earth; it has lighted up night with the splendor of day; it has
extended the range of human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human muscles;
it has accelerated motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse,
correspondence, all friendly offices, all dispatch of business; it has enabled men to
descend into the depths of the sea, to soar into the air, to penetrate securely into the
noxious recesses of the earth.
8. This then is the true nature and scope of induction. But the greater the success
which men have achieved in the inductive science, the more does the whole tenor of
their teachings and example impress us with the necessity of observing carefully,
patiently, accurately, with all the instruments and resources at our command the
individual facts before venturing upon a statement of general laws.
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9. To ascertain the bearing of the spark drawn from the electric machine under every
variety of circumstances, that we thus may be emboldened with Franklin to address, in
the form of a kite, the question to the cloud about the nature of the lightning. To assure
ourselves of the manner in which bodies fall with the exactness of a Galileo, that with
Newton we may dare to ask the moon about the force that fastens it to the earth.
10. In short, by the value we set upon truth, by our hope in a steady and universal
progress, not to permit a tyrannical prejudice to neglect or mutilate unwelcome facts, but
to rear the superstructure of science upon the broad and unchangeable basis, of full
attention paid to the most isolated as well as the most frequent phenomena.
11. An ever-increasing material may be collected by observation, but the accumulated
facts are of very different value for the explanation of nature, and as we esteem most
highly those useful qualities of men which are of the rarest occurrence, so does natural
philosophy sift the facts and attach a pre-eminent importance to that striking class which
cannot be accounted for by the usual and daily observation of life.
12. If then, we find that certain persons seem to possess unusual power, what are we
to conclude? First, we may say, it is not so, which is simply an acknowledgment of our
lack of information because every honest investigator admits that there are many strange
and previously unaccountable phenomena constantly taking place. Those, however, who
become acquainted with the creative power of thought, will no longer consider them
unaccountable.
13. Second, we may say that they are the result of supernatural interference, but a
scientific understanding of Natural Laws will convince us that there is nothing
supernatural. Every phenomenon is the result of an accurate definite cause, and the
cause is an immutable law or principle, which operates with invariable precision,
whether the law is put into operation consciously or unconsciously.
14. Third, we may say that we are on "forbidden ground," that there are some things
which we should not know. This objection was used against every advance in human
knowledge. Every individual who ever advanced a new idea, whether a Columbus, a
Darwin, a Galileo, a Fulton or an Emerson, was subjected to ridicule or persecution; so
that this objection should receive no serious consideration; but, on the contrary, we
should carefully consider every fact which is brought to our attention; by doing this we
will more readily ascertain the law upon which it is based.
15. It will be found that the creative power of thought will explain every possible
condition or experience, whether physical, mental or spiritual.
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16. Thought will bring about conditions in correspondence with the predominant
mental attitude. Therefore, if we fear disaster, as fear is a powerful form of thought,
disaster will be the certain result of our thinking. It is this form of thought which
frequently sweeps away the result of many years of toil and effort.
17. If we think of some form of material wealth we may secure it. By concentrated
thought the required conditions will be brought about, and the proper effort put forth,
which will result in bringing about the circumstances necessary to realize our desires;
but we often find that when we secure the things we thought we wanted, they do not
have the effect we expected. That is, the satisfaction is only temporary, or possibly is the
reverse of what we expected.
18. What, then, is the proper method of procedure? What are we to think in order to
secure what we really desire? What you and I desire, what we all desire, what every one
is seeking, is Happiness and Harmony. If we can be truly happy we shall have
everything the world can give. If we are happy ourselves we can make others happy.
19. But we cannot be happy unless we have, health, strength, congenial friends,
pleasant environment, sufficient supply, not only to take care of our necessities but to
provide for those comforts and luxuries to which we are entitled.
20. The old orthodox way of thinking was to be "a worm," to be satisfied with our
portion whatever it is; but the modern idea is to know that we are entitled to the best of
everything, that the "Father and I are one" and that the "Father" is the Universal Mind,
the Creator, the Original Substance from which all things proceed.
21. Now admitting that this is all true in theory, and it has been taught for two
thousand years, and is the essence of every system of Philosophy or Religion, how are
we to make it practical in our lives? How are we to get the actual, tangible results here
and now?
22. In the first place, we must put our knowledge into practice. Nothing can be
accomplished in any other way. The athlete may read books and lessons on physical
training all his life, but unless he begins to give out strength by actual work he will never
receive any strength; he will eventually get exactly what he gives; but he will have to
give it first. It is exactly the same with us; we will get exactly what we give, but we shall
have to give it first. It will then return to us many fold, and the giving is simply a mental
process, because thoughts are causes and conditions are effects; therefore in giving
thoughts of courage, inspiration, health or help of any kind we are setting causes in
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motion which will bring about their effect.
23. Thought is a spiritual activity and is therefore creative, but make no mistake,
thought will create nothing unless it is consciously, systematically, and constructively
directed; and herein is the difference between idle thinking, which is simply a
dissipation of effort, and constructive thinking, which means practically unlimited
achievement.
24. We have found that everything we get comes to us by the Law of Attraction. A
happy thought cannot exist in an unhappy consciousness; therefore the consciousness
must change, and, as the consciousness changes, all conditions necessary to meet the
changed consciousness must gradually change, in order to meet the requirements of the
new situation.
25. In creating a Mental Image or an Ideal, we are projecting a thought into the
Universal Substance from which all things are created. This Universal Substance is
Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient. Are we to inform the Omniscient as to the
proper channel to be used to materialize our demand? Can the finite advise the Infinite?
This is the cause of failure; of every failure. We recognize the Omnipresence of the
Universal Substance, but we fail to appreciate the fact that this substance is not only
Omnipresent, but is Omnipotent and Omniscient, and consequently will set causes in
motion concerning which we may be entirely ignorant.
26. We can best conserve our interests by recognizing the Infinite Power and Infinite
Wisdom of the Universal Mind, and in this way become a channel whereby the Infinite
can bring about the realization of our desire. This means that recognition brings about
realization, therefore for your exercise this week make use of the principle, recognize
the fact that you are a part of the whole, and that a part must be the same in kind and
quality as the whole; the only difference there can possibly by, is in degree.
27. When this tremendous fact begins to permeate your consciousness, when you
really come into a realization of the fact that you (not your body, but the Ego), the "I,"
the spirit which thinks is an integral part of the great whole, that it is the same in
substance, in quality, in kind, that the Creator could create nothing different from
Himself, you will also be able to say, "The Father and I are one" and you will come into
an understanding of the beauty, the grandeur, the transcendental opportunities which
have been placed at your disposal.
Part Thirteen - Study Questions
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121. What is the method by which natural philosophers obtain and apply their
knowledge?
122. How may we be certain that this method is correct?
123. What classes of facts are esteemed most highly?
124. Upon what is this principle founded?
125. What does it destroy?
126. How have these laws been discovered?
127. How may we account for much of the strange and heretofore unexplainable
phenomena which is constantly taking place?
128. Why is this so?
129. What is the result of this knowledge?
130. How will our best interest be conserved?