The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel --- 24 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

nclosed you will find Part Twenty-four, your final lesson of this course.
If you have practiced each of the exercises a few minutes every day, as suggested, you
will have found that you can get out of life exactly what you wish by first putting into
life that which you wish, and you will probably agree with the student who said: "The
thought is almost overwhelming, so vast, so available, so definite, so reasonable and so
usable."
The fruit of this knowledge is, as it were, a gift of the Gods; it is the "truth" that
makes men free, not only free from every lack and limitation, but free from sorrow,
worry and care, and, is it not wonderful to realize that this law is no respecter of persons,
that it makes no difference what your habit of thought may be, the way has been
prepared.
If you are inclined to be religious, the greatest religious teacher the world has ever
known made the way so plain that all may follow. If your mental bias is toward physical
science, the law will operate with mathematical certainty. If you are inclined to be
philosophical, Plato or Emerson may be your teacher, but in either case, you may reach
degrees of power to which it is impossible to assign any limit.
An understanding of this principle, I believe, is the secret for which the ancient
Alchemists vainly sought, because it explains how gold in the mind may be transmuted
into gold in the heart and in the hand.

PART TWENTY-FOUR

1. When the scientists first put the Sun in the center of the Solar System and sent the
earth spinning around it, there was immense surprise and consternation. The whole idea
was self-evidently false; nothing was more certain than the movement of the Sun across
the sky, and anyone could see it descend behind the western hills and sink into the sea;
scholars raged and scientists rejected the idea as absurd, yet the evidence has finally
carried conviction in the minds of all.
2. We speak of a bell as a "sounding body," yet we know that all the bell can do is to
produce vibrations in the air. When these vibrations come at the rate of sixteen per
second, they cause a sound to be heard in the mind. It is also possible for the mind to
hear vibrations up to the rate of 38,000 vibrations per second. When the number
increases beyond this, all is silence again; so that we know that the sound is not in the
bell, it is in our own mind.
3. We speak and even think of the Sun as "giving light." Yet we know it is simply
giving forth energy which produces vibrations in the ether at the rate of four hundred
trillion a second, causing what are termed light waves, so that we know that we call light
is simply a form of energy and that the only light there is, is the sensation caused in the
mind by the motion of the waves. When the number increases, the light changes in color,
each change in color being caused by shorter and more rapid vibrations; so that although we speak of the rose as being red, the grass as being green, or the sky as being blue, we know that the colors exist only in our minds, and are the sensations experienced by us as the result of the vibrations of light waves. When the vibrations are reduced below four
hundred trillion a second, they no longer affect us as light, but we experience the
sensation of heat. It is evident, therefore, that we cannot depend upon the evidence of the senses for our information concerning the realities of things; if we did we should believe that the sun moved, that the world was flat instead of round, that the stars were bits of light instead of vast suns.
4. The whole range then of the theory and practice of any system of metaphysics
consists in knowing the Truth concerning yourself and the world in which you live; in
knowing that in order to express harmony, you must think harmony; in order to express
health you must think health; and in order to express abundance you must think
abundance; to do this you must reverse the evidence of the senses.
5. When you come to know that every form of disease, sickness, lack and limitation
are simply the result of wrong thinking, you will have come to know "the Truth which
shall make you free." You will see how mountains may be removed. If these mountains
consist only of doubt, fear, distrust or other forms of discouragement, they are none the
less real, and they need not only to be removed but to be "cast into the sea."
6. Your real work consists in convincing yourself of the truth of these statements.
When you have succeeded in doing this you will have no difficulty in thinking the truth,
and as has been shown, the truth contains a vital principle and will manifest itself.
7. Those who heal diseases by mental methods have come to know this truth, they
demonstrate it in their lives and the lives of others daily. They know that life, health and
abundance are Omnipresent, filling all space, and they know that those who allow
disease or lack of any kind to manifest, have as yet not come into an understanding of
this great law.
8. As all conditions are thought creations and therefore entirely mental, disease and
lack are simply mental conditions in which the person fails to perceive the truth; as soon
as the error is removed, the condition is removed.
9. The method for removing this error is to go into the Silence and know the Truth;
as all mind is one mind, you can do this for yourself or anyone else. If you have learned
to form mental images of the conditions desired, this will be the easiest and quickest
way to secure results; if not, results can be accomplished by argument, by the process of
convincing yourself absolutely of the truth of your statement.
10. Remember, and this is one of the most difficult as well as most wonderful
statements to grasp.... remember that no matter what the difficulty is, no matter where it
is, no matter who is affected, you have no patient but yourself; you have nothing to do
but to convince yourself of the truth which you desire to see manifested.
11. This is an exact scientific statement in accordance with every system of
Metaphysics in existence, and no permanent results are ever secured in any other way.
12. Every form of concentration, forming Mental Images, Argument, and
Autosuggestion are all simply methods by which you are enabled to realize the Truth.
13. If you desire to help someone, to destroy some form of lack, limitation or error,
the correct method is not to think of the person whom you wish to help; the intention to
help them is entirely sufficient, as this puts you in mental touch with the person. Then
drive out of your own mind any belief of lack, limitation, disease, danger, difficulty or
whatever the trouble might be. As soon as you have succeeded is doing this the result
will have been accomplished, and the person will be free.
14. But remember that thought is creative and consequently every time you allow
your thought to rest on any inharmonious condition, you must realize that such
conditions are apparent only, they have no reality, that spirit is the only reality and it can
never be less than perfect.
15. All thought is a form of energy, a rate of vibration, but a thought of the Truth is
the highest rate of vibration known and consequently destroys every form of error in
exactly the same way that light destroys darkness; no form of error can exist when the
"Truth" appears, so that your entire mental work consists in coming into an
understanding of the Truth. This will enable you to overcome every form of lack,
limitation or disease of any kind.
16. We can get no understanding of the truth from the world without; the world
without is relative only; Truth is absolute. We must therefore find it in the "world
within."
17. To train the mind to see Truth only is to express true conditions only, our ability to
do this will be an indication as to the progress we are making.
18. The absolute truth is that the "I" is perfect and complete; the real "I" is spiritual
and can therefore never be less than perfect; it can never have any lack, limitation, or
disease. The flash of genius does not have origin in the molecular motion of the brain; it
is inspired by the ego, the spiritual "I" which is one with the Universal Mind, and it is
our ability to recognize this Unity which is the cause of all inspiration, all genius. These
results are far reaching and have effect upon generations yet to come; they are the pillars
of fire which mark the path that millions follow.
19. Truth is not the result of logical training or of experimentation, or even of
observation; it is the product of a developed consciousness. Truth within a Caesar,
manifests in a Caesar's deportment, in his life and his action; his influence upon social
forms and progress. Your life and your actions and your influence in the world will
depend upon the degree of truth which you are enabled to perceive, for truth will not
manifest in creeds, but in conduct.
20. Truth manifests in character, and the character of a man, should be the
interpretation of his religion, or what to him is truth, and this will in turn be evidenced in
the character of his possession. If a man complains of the drift of his fortune he is just as
unjust to himself as if he should deny rational truth, though it stand patent and
irrefutable.
21. Our environment and the innumerable circumstances and accidents of our lives
already exist in the subconscious personality which attracts to itself the mental and
physical material which is congenial to its nature. Thus our future being determined
from our present, and if there should be apparent injustice in any feature or phase of our
personal life, we must look within for the cause, try to discover the mental fact which is
responsible for the outward manifestation.
22. It is this truth which makes you "free" and it is the conscious knowledge of this
truth which will enable you to overcome every difficulty.
23. The conditions with which you meet in the world without are invariably the result
of the conditions obtaining in the world within, therefore it follows with scientific
accuracy that by holding the perfect ideal in mind you can bring about ideal conditions
in your environment.
24. If you see only the incomplete, the imperfect, the relative, the limited, these
conditions will manifest in your life; but if you train your mind to see and realize the
spiritual ego, the "I" which is forever perfect and complete, harmonious; wholesome,
and healthful conditions only will be manifested.
25. As thought is creative, and the truth is the highest and most perfect thought which
anyone can think, it is self-evident that to think the truth is to create that which is true
and it is again evident that when truth comes into being that which is false must cease to
be. The Universal Mind is the totality of all mind which is in existence. Spirit is Mind,
because spirit is intelligent. The words are, therefore, synonymous.
27. The difficulty with which you have to contend is to realize that mind is not
individual. It is omnipresent. It exists everywhere. In other words, there is no place
where it is not. It is, therefore, Universal.
28. Men have, heretofore, generally used the word "God" to indicate this Universal,
creative principle; but the word "God" does not convey the right meaning. Most people
understand this word to mean something outside of themselves; while exactly the
contrary is the fact. It is our very life. Without it we would be dead. We would cease to
exist. The minute the spirit leaves the body, we are as nothing. Therefore, spirit is really,
all there is of us.
29. Now, the only activity which the spirit possesses is the power to think. Therefore,
thought must be creative, because spirit is creative. This creative power is impersonal
and your ability to think is your ability to control it and make use of it for the benefit of
yourself and others.
30. When the truth of this statement is realized, understood, and appreciated, you will
have come into possession of the Master-Key, but remember that only those who are
wise enough to understand, broad enough to weigh the evidence, firm enough to follow
their own judgment, and strong enough to make the sacrifice exacted, may enter and
partake.
31. This week, try to realize that this is truly a wonderful world in which we live, that
you are a wonderful being that many are awakening to a knowledge of the Truth, and as
fast as they awake and come into a knowledge of the "things which have been prepared
for them" they, too, realize that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into the heart of man," the splendors which exist for those who find themselves in the
Promised Land. They have crossed the river of judgment and have arrived at the point of
discrimination between the true and the false, and have found that all they ever willed or dreamed, was but a faint concept of the dazzling reality.

Part Twenty-Four - Study Questions

231. Upon what principle does the theory and practice of every system of Metaphysics
in existence depend?

232. What is the "Truth" concerning yourself?

233. What is the method of destroying any form of error?

234. Can we do this for others?

235. What is the Universal Mind?

236. Where is the Universal Mind?

237. What is the nature of the Universal Mind?

238. How may we act on the Universal Mind?

239. What is meant by thinking?

240. What will be the result?