The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel --- 20 CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY

For many years there has been an endless discussion as to the origin of evil.
Theologians have told us that God is Love, and that God is Omnipresent. If this be true,
there is no place where God is not. Where, then, is Evil, Satan and Hell?
Let us see: God is Spirit. Spirit is the Creative Principle of the Universe. Man is
made in the image and likeness of God. Man is therefore a spiritual being. The only
activity which spirit possesses is the power to think. Thinking is therefore a creative
process. All form is therefore the result of the thinking process. The destruction of form
must also be a result of the thinking process. Fictitious representations of form are the
result of the creative power of thought, as in Hypnotism. Apparent representation of
form are the result of the creative power of thought, as in Spiritualism. Invention,
organization and constructive work of all kinds are the result of the creative power of
thought, as in concentration. When the creative power of thought is manifested for the
benefit of humanity, we call the result good. When the creative power of thought is
manifested in a destructive or evil manner, we call the result evil.
This indicates the origin of both good and evil; they are simply words which have
been coined in order to indicate the nature of the result of the thinking or creative
process. Thought necessarily precedes and predetermines action; action precedes and
predetermines condition.
Part Twenty will throw more light upon this important subject.

PART TWENTY

1. The spirit of a thing is that thing; it is necessarily fixed, changeless and eternal.
The spirit of you is -- you; without the spirit you would be nothing. It becomes active
through your recognition of it and its possibilities.
2. You may have all the wealth in Christendom, but unless you recognize it and
make use of it, it will have no value; so with your spiritual wealth: unless you recognize
it and use it, it will have no value. The one and only condition of spiritual power is use
or recognition.
3. All great things come through recognition; the scepter of power is consciousness,
and thought is its messenger, and this messenger is constantly molding the realities of
the invisible world into the conditions and environments of your objective world.
4. Thinking is the true business of life, power is the result. You are at all times
dealing with the magical power of thought and consciousness. What results can you
expect so long as you remain oblivious to the power which has been placed within your
control?
5. So long as you do this you limit yourself to superficial conditions, and make of
yourself a beast of burden for those who think; those who recognize their power; those
who know that unless we are willing to think we shall have to work, and the less we
think the more we shall have to work, and the less we shall get for our work.
6. The secret of power is a perfect understanding of the principles, forces, methods
and combinations of Mind, and a perfect understanding of our relationship to the
Universal Mind. It is well to remember that this principle is unchangeable; if this were
not so, it would not be reliable; all principles are changeless.
7. This stability is your opportunity; you are its active attribute, the channel for its
activity; the Universal can act only through the individual.
8. When you begin to perceive that the essence of the Universal is within yourself --
is you -- you begin to do things; you begin to feel your power; it is the fuel which fires
the imagination; which lights the torch of inspiration; which gives vitality to thought;
which enables you to connect with all the invisible forces of the Universe. It is this
power which will enable you to plan fearlessly, to execute masterfully.
9. But perception will come only in the Silence; this seems to be the condition
required for all great purposes. You are a visualizing entity. Imagination is your
workshop. It is here that your ideal is to be visualized.
10. As a perfect understanding of the nature of this power is a primary condition for
its manifestation, visualize the entire method over and over again, so that you may use it
whenever occasion requires. The infinity of wisdom is to follow the method whereby we
may have the inspiration of the omnipotent Universal Mind on demand at any time.
11. We can fail to recognize this world within, and so exclude it from our
consciousness, but it will still be the basic fact of all existence; and when we learn to recognize it, not only in ourselves, but in all persons, events, things and circumstances
we shall have found the "Kingdom of heaven" which we are told is "within" us.
12. Our failures are a result of the operation of exactly the same principle; the
principle is unchangeable; its operation is exact, there is no deviation; if we think lack,
limitation, discord, we shall find their fruits on every hand; if we think poverty,
unhappiness or disease, the thought messengers will carry the summons as readily as any other kind of thought and the result will be just as certain. If we fear a coming calamity,
we shall be able to say with Job, "the thing I feared has come upon me"; if we think
unkindly or ignorantly we shall thus attract to ourselves the results of our ignorance.
13. This power of thought, if understood and correctly used, is the greatest laborsaving device ever dreamed of, but if not understood or improperly used, the result will
in all probability be disastrous, as we have already seen; by the help of this power you
can confidently undertake things that are seemingly impossible, because this power is
the secret of all inspiration, all genius.
14. To become inspired means to get out of the beaten path, out of the rut, because
extraordinary results require extraordinary means. When we come into a recognition of
the Unity of all things and that the source of all power is within, we tap the source of
inspiration.
15. Inspiration is the art of imbibing, the art of self-realization; the art of adjusting the
individual mind to that of the Universal Mind; the art of attaching the proper mechanism
to the source of all power; the art of differentiating the formless into form; the art of
becoming a channel for the flow of Infinite Wisdom; the art of visualizing perfection;
the art of realizing the omnipresence of Omnipotence.
16. An understanding and appreciation of the fact that the infinite power is
omnipresent and is therefore in the infinitely small as well as the infinitely large will
enable us to absorb its essence; a further understanding of the fact that this power is
spirit and therefore indivisible will enable us to appreciate its present at all points at the
same time.
17. An understanding of these facts, first intellectually and then emotionally, will
enable us to drink deeply from this ocean of infinite power. An intellectual
understanding will be of no assistance; the emotions must be brought into action;
thought without feeling is cold. The required combination is thought and feeling.
18. Inspiration is from within. The Silence is necessary, the senses must be stilled, the muscles relaxed, repose cultivated. When you have thus come into possession of a sense of poise and power you will be ready to receive the information or inspiration or wisdom which may be necessary for the development of your purpose.
19. Do not confuse these methods with those of the clairvoyant; they have nothing in
common. Inspiration is the art of receiving and makes for all that is best in life; your
business in life is to understand and command these invisible forces instead of letting
them command and rule you. Power implies service; inspiration implies power; to
understand and apply the method of inspiration is to become a superman.
20. We can live more abundantly every time we breathe, if we consciously breathe
with that intention. The IF is a very important condition in this case, as the intention
governs the attention, and without the attention you can secure only the results which
every one else secures. That is, a supply equal to the demand.
21. In order to secure the larger supply your demand must be increased, and as you
consciously increase the demand the supply will follow, you will find yourself coming
into a larger and larger supply of life, energy and vitality.
22. The reason for this is not difficult to understand, but it is another of the vital
mysteries of life which does not seem to be generally appreciated. If you make it your
own, you will find it one of the great realities of life.
23. We are told that "In Him we live and move and have our being," and we are told
that "He" is a Spirit, and again that "He" is Love, so that every time we breathe, we
breathe this life, love, and spirit. This is Pranic Energy, or Pranic Ether, we could not
exist a moment without it. It is the Cosmic Energy; it is the Life of the Solar Plexus.
24. Every time we breathe we fill our lungs with air and at the same time vitalize our
body with this Pranic Ether which is Life itself, so that we have the opportunity of
making a conscious connection with All Life, All Intelligence and All Substance.
25. A knowledge of your relation and oneness with this Principle that governs the
Universe and the simple method whereby you can consciously identify yourself with it
gives you a scientific understanding of a law whereby you may free yourself from
disease, from lack or limitation of any kind; in fact, it enables you to breathe the "breath
of life" into your own nostrils.
26. This "breath of life" is a super-conscious reality. It is the essence of the "I am." It
is pure "Being" or Universal Substance, and our conscious unity with it enables us to localize it, and thus exercise the powers of this creative energy.
27. Thought is creative vibration and the quality of the conditions created will depend
upon the quality of our thought, because we cannot express powers which we do not
possess. We must "be" before we can "do" and we can "do" only to the extent to which
we "are," and so what we do will necessarily coincide with what we "are" and what we
are depends upon what we "think."
28. Every time you think you start a train of causation which will create a condition in
strict accordance with the quality of the thought which originated it. Thought which is in
harmony with the Universal Mind will result in corresponding conditions. Thought
which is destructive or discordant will produce corresponding results. You may use
thought constructively or destructively, but the immutable law will not allow you to
plant a thought of one kind and reap the fruit of another. You are free to use this
marvelous creative power as you will, but you must take the consequences.
29. This is the danger from what is called Will Power. There are those who seem to
think that by force of will they can coerce this law; that they can sow seed of one kind
and by "Will Power" make it bear fruit of another, but the fundamental principle of
creative power is in the Universal, and therefore the idea of forcing a compliance with
our wishes by the power of the individual will is an inverted conception which may
appear to succeed for a while but is eventually doomed to failure - because it
antagonizes the very power which it is seeking to use.
30. It is the individual attempting to coerce the Universal, the finite in conflict with
the Infinite. Our permanent well-being will be best conserved by a conscious
cooperation with the continuous forward movement of the Great Whole.
31. For your exercise this week, go into the Silence and concentrate on the fact that
"In him we live and move and have our being" is literally and scientifically exact! That
you ARE because He IS, that if He is Omnipresent He must be in you. That if He is all
in all you must be in Him! That He is Spirit and you are made in "His image and
likeness" and that the only difference between His spirit and your spirit is one of degree,
that a part must be the same in kind and quality as the whole. When you can realize this
clearly you will have found the secret of the creative power of thought, you will have
found the origin of both good and evil, you will have found the secret of the wonderful
power of concentration, you will have found the key to the solution of every problem
whether physical, financial, or environmental.

Part Twenty - Study Questions

191. Upon what condition does power depend?

192. What is recognition?

193. How do we become conscious of power?

194. What then is the true business of life?

195. What is correct scientific thinking?

196. How is this accomplished?

197. What is this Universal Mind?

198. What is the cause of all lack, limitation, disease and discord?

199. What is inspiration?

200. Upon what does the conditions with which we meet depend?