The Master Key System Chapter 2 Summary
The Master Key System Chapter 2 is all about the subconscious and conscious minds.
Charles Haanel states that the subconscious mind is the key to opening the gates to man’s ability to manifest.
“The ability to receive and manifest this power depends upon the ability to recognize the Infinite Energy ever dwelling in man.”
The Depth of the Psyche
Haanel explains the depth of the psyche through an interesting quote by the philosopher Donald Davidson.
“He who thinks to illuminate the whole range of mental action by the light of his own consciousness is not unlike one who should go about to illuminate the universe with a rushlight.”
You cannot uncover all the mysteries of your subconscious mind through conscious analysis alone.
The subconscious is vast and connected to Universal Mind (Infinite Intelligence) as stated in The Master Key System Lesson One.
The legendary Sigmund Freud and his pupil Carl Jung both understood this fact.
Both men created their own models of the unconscious which depicted a complex state of affairs.
The Master Key System Chapter 2 Big Idea: The Subconscious Mind
“The subconscious soul, like a benevolent stranger, works and makes provision for our benefit, pouring only the mature fruit into our lap.”
Haanel explains how the subconscious mind blocks out information which doesn’t benefit us. What is presented to the conscious mind are the fruits.
The information which is deemed useful.
Science has shown this through work on the reticular activating system (RAS) – a network of neurons near the brain stem that helps us filter out information.
There is a great deal of work which happens unconsciously, from breathing to walking and talking.
The subconscious is behind even more complex activities.
“…playing the piano, skating, operating the typewriter, the skilled trades, depend for their perfect execution on the process of the subconscious mind.”
Haanel claims that many of the great works done by geniuses were not the result of the conscious mind but the subconscious.
He believes the likes of Shakespeare, Beethoven and the artist Raphael all drew inspiration from the subconscious mind.
A similar argument can be made for geniuses like Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, who also mentioned drawing information from a higher source.
“The nobler, the more brilliant our thoughts are, the more it is obvious to ourselves that the origin lies beyond our ken.”
— Haanel
You have likely experienced gaining a deep insight whilst going for a walk or taking a shower.
You were minding your own business when suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, a brilliant idea strikes you.
This is the type of insight which comes directly from the subconscious.
It doesn’t come from deliberate conscious analysis, the answer comes from somewhere else.
Beyond Conscious Awareness
“The value of the subconscious is enormous: It inspires us; it warns us; it furnishes us with names, facts, and scenes from the storehouse of memory. It directs our thoughts, tastes, and accomplishes tasks so intricate that no conscious mind, even if it had the power, has the capacity.”
— Haanel
When we become receptive to our subconscious minds, we become privy to information we otherwise couldn’t have known.
In his book ‘Blink’, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the concept of ‘Thin Slicing’.
Thin Slicing is when the subconscious mind makes incredibly intricate snap judgements within seconds.
You walk into a room and get a bad vibe from someone, and they turn out to be a criminal.
You decide to slow down at the traffic light and a truck runs through a red light.
“The subconscious mind perceives by intuition. Hence, its processes are rapid. It does not wait for the slow methods of conscious reasoning. In fact, it cannot employ them.”
— Haanel
These snap judgements hint at our ability to access information beyond our conscious awareness.
What is also beyond our conscious awareness is the intelligence which keeps us alive.
Despite any effort of will, you cannot stop your heart from beating.
You can’t stop your bones from growing or a wound from healing.
There seems to be a restriction on what we can control and what we can’t.
Like a video game programmer, our creator has stopped us from tampering with certain parameters.
Why?
Perhaps we can focus on creating our life instead of using all our efforts to stay alive.
The Master Key System Chapter 2 Big Idea: Conscious vs Subconscious Mind
“Of these two powers, the outward and changeable has been termed the “Conscious Mind,” or the “Objective Mind” (dealing with outward objects). The interior power is called the “Subconscious Mind,” or the “Subjective Mind,” and besides its work on the mental plane it controls the regular functions which make physical life possible.”
— Haanel
When you put your hand out to reach for a pencil, you are using your conscious mind.
When you randomly think about a pencil, you will likely be using your subconscious mind.
Both minds are intimately tied together.
The conscious mind influences the subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind can then influence our actions.
Haanel describes the conscious mind as having ‘the power of reasoning whether inductive, deductive, analytical’.
When you reason out a decision through a process such as the Socratic Method, you are using your conscious mind.
When you see a plot of data and make sense of it through some equation or formula, you are using the conscious mind.
The conscious mind tends to follow logical processes, the subconscious is more chaotic and creative.
The conscious mind has a hidden power most people do not use; it has the ability to direct the subconscious mind.
Haanel calls the conscious mind ‘The Watchman at the Gate’.
The Watchman at the Gate
Imagine that your subconscious mind is a prestigious club.
Everybody and their mother wants to get inside this club.
But if everybody was let in, all chaos would ensue, the ethos would be ruined, and no one would want to enter the club anymore.
To stop this desecration of the club the manager hires a guard.
He stands at the door and allows access to only the people on the list.
This watchman at the gate is a well-trained conscious mind.
Every day you are being programmed from various directions.
Much of this programming is negative and will affect your ability to create an abundant life.
“It is often true that conditions of fear, worry, poverty, disease, inharmony, and evils of all kinds dominate us by reason of false suggestions accepted by the unguarded subconscious mind.”
— Haanel
To stop this, you need to guard your inputs diligently and disregard things not aligned with your higher ideals.
“The conscious mind ought to be on duty during every waking hour.”
This has become more important in the age of social media where programming happens at a rate higher than ever before.
Moments of Passion
Continuing with this Watchman at the Gate analogy, imagine that the guard decides to have a drink.
He accidentally gets drunk and falls asleep.
What do you think is going to happen?
Everybody is going to run into the club and all hell will break loose.
This is what happens when we are in heightened states of emotion.
It’s easier for us to get programmed by unwanted beliefs.
“During the wild excitement of panic, or during the height of anger, or the impulses of the irresponsible mob, or at any other time of unrestrained passion, the conditions are most dangerous. The subconscious mind is then open to the suggestion of fear, hatred, selfishness, greed, self-depreciation, and other negative forces derived from surrounding persons or circumstances.”
Always be on watch and work towards mastering your emotions.
Stoicism is a great tool for maintaining emotional equilibrium so you can retain sovereignty over your mind.
Charles Haanel’s advice on training the subconscious mind
“Those who have learned to trust the subconscious find that they have infinite resources at their command.”
— Haanel
Haanel goes on to explain how the subconscious mind seems to solve many difficult problems in business and life.
If you have a good relationship with it, it will show you the path to victory every time.
It does this because it draws information from the Universal Mind.
But before this can happen, you need to develop alignment between your conscious and subconscious mind (something taught in the ‘Hacking the Subconscious’ Course).
Breaking bad subconscious habits
Whenever your mind has accepted unproductive beliefs, ‘the sure method of overcoming them is by the use of a strong counter suggestion, frequently repeated, which the mind must accept’.
This can come through affirmations, visualization or any other subconscious mind technique you resonate with.
The idea is to train the mind to accept the opposing belief through sheer force.
You can’t unlearn a language you have learned.
You can however learn a new language to a higher degree and override much of the older language.
This is how it is with beliefs.
You need to create new and stronger beliefs which become the default program of your subconscious mind.
Charles Haanel explains ‘The Law of Attraction’
Remember that the subconscious mind controls many of our bodily functions, and this hints at its connection to the Universal Mind.
Universal Mind is a creative force responsible for the creation of our whole universe.
Since we share the essence of the Universal Mind, we, too, have the capacity to create.
As the Hermetic philosophers believed in The Law of Mentalism,
‘The Universe is Mental which exists in the mind of the All’ – The Kyballion
The mind operates at a higher plane than the physical so thought has the capacity to create.
Since we are connected to the All, we can create on our plane of existence.
This happens through concentrated and directed thought.
“When we do this we place our mind in harmony with the Universal Mind, we come in tune with the Infinite, we set in operation the mightiest force in existence — the creative power of the Universal Mind. This, as everything else, is governed by natural law, and this law is the ‘Law of Attraction’.”
— Charles Haanel
The Master Key System Lesson 2 Exercise Explained
Haanel asks us to
“Be perfectly still as before, but inhibit all thought. This will give you control over all thoughts of care, worry, and fear, and will enable you to entertain only the kind of thoughts you desire. Continue this exercise until you gain complete mastery.”
Many people struggle with this, and that’s the point!
Haanel warns us in advance that we will not be able to silence the mind for more than a few seconds at a time.
The exercise is more demonstrative than anything else.
Its aim is to show you how many thoughts are floating around your mind.
Stopping your thoughts for more than a few seconds is possible only for very advanced meditators who have practised for years.
Haanel doesn’t expect you to eliminate what the Buddhists call ‘monkey mind’, but he wants you to learn to become more attentive to it.
This practice will allow your Watchman at the Gate to become more discerning when negative programming tries to enter your subconscious mind.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out The Master Key System Chapter 1 Summary.
Do this, and you will be one step closer to living and dying well.