The Master Key System Chapter 24 deals with Alchemy.
The Alchemical process explained by Haanel is not the same as the one told in old fables.
There is no transmutation of lead into gold.
There is only a transformation of mind, so that ‘gold in the mind may be transmuted into gold in the heart and in the hand’.
Haanel begins by explaining how changes in vibrations lead to changes in perception.
For instance, a layman would assume that the sound he hears from a ringing bell is coming from the bell.
But if one were to change the frequency of the ring (changing the vibration) at a certain stage, the sound would no longer be detected by human ears.
This is the same principle used in dog whistles which irritate dogs but can’t be heard by humans.
It then becomes clear that sound is a construction of the mind made possible by our hardware (our ears).
Just because you can’t hear a sound doesn’t mean the vibrations are not there.
The same principle happens with light.
Only a small segment of light can be seen with human eyes.
Other sensitive forms of light (electromagnetic radiation) can be perceived with sensitive scientific instruments.
“…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.”
We cannot be slaves to our senses which by default are limited.
We need to focus on something which is not limited in its perception, and that is thought.
The Master Key System Chapter 24: Going Into The Silence
According to Haanel, the most powerful way to get in touch with the truth is by going into The Silence. The Silence is a term used for a calm meditation in which you close out the evidence of your senses and contemplate your inner world.
“…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.”
Mental imagery has been promoted by many mystics such as Neville Goddard with his SATS and even modern athletes like Eddie Hall and Roger Bannister.
It’s a powerful way to attune yourself with the ideal you want to create.
The more your imagined reality appears real to you, the quicker it will correspond in your outer reality.
This idea is succinctly explained through the hermetic axiom “As above, so below.”
The spiritual plane of mind becomes reflected on the physical plane of matter.
“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.”
This Mirror Principle suggests you look inside at your own being for any injustice which might be appearing in your outer world.
The world you currently live in has been paved by the decisions of your past.
To create a new future you need to change today’s thinking.
The Universal Mind & God
A great deal of The Master Key System deals with this idea of a Universal Mind.
Some might call it God, but the term God can become troublesome due to religious connotations.
God suggests separation and hierarchy whilst the Universal Mind suggests union.
“You will also be able to say, ‘It is not I that doeth the works, but the ‘Father’ that dwelleth within me. He doeth the works.’ You will come to know that the ‘Father’ is the Universal Mind and that He does really and truly dwell within you.”
Quoting Jesus, Haanel shows how all miracles are the result of complete faith in the unity between you and the all-pervading mind.
Great works can be accomplished only in relation to your understanding of the ‘Truth’.
What is the Truth?
Haanel explains it in the concluding paragraph of the book.
“…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.”
Thinking, imagination and emotion are on a higher realm than things on the physical.
Your ability to think allows you to tap in to the Universal Mind.
This is where all genius ideas of our greatest sages have come from.
“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.”
All of the greatest scientists and artists often speak along the same lines of ideas suddenly coming to them.
The creative process is like becoming possessed by an animated spirit.
The spirit uses you as a vessel to create.
But it will use only a receptive vessel to bring something new into the world.
Those plagued with the lower emotion (fear, greed, jealousy and stress) will not become attuned to the mind which supplies higher ideals.
You can attract only what you are.
The Master Key System Chapter 24 Exercise Explained
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.
The final exercise is a meditation which aims to help you get closer to the Truth.
What is the Truth?
In Haanel’s own words, it’s “The real “I” or ego is spiritual and can therefore never be less than perfect.”
The more you embody this truth, the more freedom you will have.
Do this, and you will be one step closer to living and dying well.