The Master Key System Chapter 5 Summary
The Master Key System Chapter 5 deals with The Law of Attraction, the subconscious mind, and the importance of guarding your mind against negative impressions.
Charles Haanel begins by explaining how the manifestation process does not require the belief in ‘woo woo’ or mind magic.
He explains that thought.
“…obeys natural laws; it sets in motion natural forces; it releases natural energies; it manifests in your conduct and actions, and these in turn react upon your friends and acquaintances, and eventually upon the whole of your environment.”
Many people are put off The Law of Attraction because of the sheer number of scams surrounding the topic.
The idea of merely thinking about what you want whilst doing nothing in the physical world somehow helping you achieve your goals is ridiculous.
Haanel who is believed to have popularized the phrase ‘Law of Attraction’, explains how magic is not needed.
Everything works in accordance with natural law.
Thinking sets forth the compulsion to act.
Acts create habits, which when persisted change your outer conditions.
The Master Key system Chapter 5 Big Idea: The Subconscious Mind
Haanel once again mentions the importance of the subconscious mind.
“At least ninety per cent of our mental life is subconscious, so that those who fail to make use of this mental power live within very narrow limits.”
People who do not use this hidden power are limiting themselves to only a fraction of their potential.
Relying on willpower is a losing battle as willpower tends to deplete over time.
Most of your actions are dictated by hidden programs.
Programs your subconscious mind blindly follows without discernment.
But what has led to us having these programs?
Haanel believes they are the result of “home, business, and social environment where countless thousands of impressions, ideas, prejudices, and similar thoughts have been received”.
Every interaction in your life is programming your mind.
Many of these interactions and impressions are not significant and do not have the power to create drastic change.
But when they are repeated thousands of times, the subconscious mind has no choice but to accept them as truths.
This is why it’s so important to protect your mind from disempowering beliefs.
Negative impressions such as news broadcasts have the power to program your mind in ways contrary to your goals.
The key to overcoming negative impressions is to respect your mind as if it were a valued asset like your home.
The Home Analogy
Imagine you were tasked with building your own home.
You would likely put a lot of energy into the task to ensure you got everything right.
You would use the best materials, ensuring the foundation was steady.
You wouldn’t build on an earthquake fault line, too close to raising seas, or any other potential danger.
You certainly wouldn’t let random people from the street move into the house and have their way with it.
We will do all this for our physical homes, but “how careless we are when it comes to building our Mental Home”?
It’s easy to take care of our physical home because it’s tangible, whereas it’s harder to do the same for our mental home because it’s intangible.
Haanel’s metaphor is similar to James Allen’s idea of the mind being like a garden.
The seeds you plant in the garden are of the utmost importance.
If you value your mind, Haanel recommends you
“have a mental housecleaning, and to have this housecleaning every day; and keep the house clean.”
A mental house cleaning simply means taking stock of negative impressions and removing them from your mind on a daily basis.
This is best done in the morning and at night before bed.
Journaling can be a productive exercise to help you remove negative clutter from the mind.
Meditation can also help you clear your mind.
It’s important for you to learn how to catch negative impressions before you allow them to penetrate your subconscious.
This is how you strengthen The Watchman at the Gate.
The Master Key system Chapter 5 Big Idea: The Law of Attraction
“We are today the result of our past thinking, and we shall be what we are thinking today. The Law of Attraction is bringing to us not the things we should like, or the things we wish for, or the things someone else has, but it brings us ‘our own’.”
— Charles Haanel
Wishing and desiring are not enough to create anything.
To create change in your life you need to embody what you want.
You need to ‘be’ it not simply wish for it.
When we see ourselves as the men and women we would like to be, the subconscious takes note and begins creating the physical equivalent.
Thoughts are the first principles of creation for this reason.
Haanel explains how as humans we are spiritual beings with a connection to the Universal Mind.
We have biological and physical inheritances which we receive from our ancestors; our ability to create through thinking is our spiritual inheritance.
This trait is uniquely human and has allowed us to change our worlds.
Animals follow instinct and many have not changed the way they conduct business in thousands of years.
A chicken from 10,000 years ago will behave exactly the same as a chicken from today.
A human from 10,000 years ago might as well be a different creature.
This is our spiritual gift of creation at work.
“We are each of us but the channel through which the Omnipotent power is being differentiated into form; unless we give out the channel is obstructed and we can receive no more.”
— Charles Haanel
To get more, you need to make use of what you currently have.
Haanel gives some practical examples of this principle.
“The athlete who wishes to get strong must make use of the strength he has…The financier who wishes to make money must make use of the money he has, for only by using it can he get more…The merchant who does not keep his goods going out will soon have none coming in; the corporation which fails to give efficient service will soon lack customers; the attorney who fails to get results will soon lack clients…”
So if you wish to get more wealth, you need to become grateful for the wealth you currently possess.
You need to use it with as much respect as a real estate tycoon or business magnate.
You need to ‘be’ wealth, so you can attract more of yourself.
If you are constantly deceiving people, focusing on saving over earning, and worrying about money, you will never attract more.
The Master Key System Chapter 5 Exercise Explained
“Now, go to your room, take the same seat, the same position as heretofore, and mentally select a place which has pleasant associations. Make a complete mental picture of it — see the buildings, the grounds, the trees, friends, associations, everything complete.”
This exercise is meant to strengthen your visualization abilities.
You want to be able to create inner citadels which you can retreat to and restore yourself from negative impressions.
This is how you clean your mental house.
Even the Stoic Philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius used this strategy.
“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
— Marcus Aurelius
Haanel warns us that we will likely forget our task and think of things not relating to our citadel.
The key is to persist until this becomes second nature.
Controlling your thoughts is the master key.
Do this, and you will be one step closer to living and dying well.