Haanel in Part 2, sentences 6-13 tells us more about the workings of the subconscious and conscious minds. Remember, his thesis in Part I is that, it is the understanding and the coordination of these two minds that is the source of our power to create the world we desire. Understanding and coordination result in a harmonious condition within ourselves that is reflected in the world without.
Here is what Haanel says in sentence 9 of Part I: “Harmony in the world within will be reflected in the world without by harmonious conditions, agreeable surroundings, the best of everything. It is the foundation of health and a necessary essential to all greatness, all power, all attainment, all achievement and all success.”
This is a strong and attractive claim. It seems simple. To have the kind of life that we seek as humans on this earth, all we must do is to understand and bring into harmony our conscious and subconscious minds.
So, I reiterate: The only purpose of our inquiry is to determine whether there is any truth to this claim. We shall see over the course of this study whether understanding the functions of these two systems and the coordination of the same will yield the results Haanel declares.
In sentence 9, Haanel sees the subconscious mind as the constant, permanent and dependable power within us. But its value does not stop there, as Haanel points out in 8: “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 for.” The subconscious mind is also responsible for the vital functions of our physical bodies.
In sentence 10, he reintroduces the conscious mind as the Objective Mind and the subconscious as the Subjective Mind. If we remember in Part I, sentence 19, Haanel introduces the concept of the Objective Mind and in 22, the Subjective Mind. The former connects us to the world without and the latter he sees as being “connected to the Universal Mind” and it is also through this Subjective Mind that we are “brought into relation with the Infinite constructive forces of the Universe.”
The Universal Mind is not readily defined in Part I to my satisfaction. I assume that I know what Haanel means when he says in sentence 28 that “[t]he Universal Mind is static or potential energy; it simply is; it can manifest only through the individual, and the individual can manifest only through the Universal. They are one.” (I shall consider this a first principle, which means I will accept the definition as is without seeking any further proof of the same. I image it as dark energy or dark matter, which may or may not be correct.)
This subconscious mind seems powerful indeed, and based on all Haanel says it does and is, we must get to know this mind better.
The conscious mind, as we saw in Part I, sentences 20 and 21, has the ability to either think correctly or incorrectly. Correct thinking, as Haanel posits in sentences 20, relates to whether we see the good, and in thinking incorrectly, we see the opposite. We get more insight in Part 2 as to why Haanel interprets the conscious mind as having such power over our interpretation of our world: the conscious mind discriminates and reasons, which is the basis of our ability to make choices. It also connects us to the world outside ourselves via our senses.
Although he does not wax eloquent about the conscious mind, we see in the first part of sentence 13 that it plays a very important role for purposes of our inquiry: it has the ability to direct the subconscious mind.
More on this relationship …
(Let’s continue the exercise as he suggested in Part I, but let’s add the exercises in Part 2. We are to sit as instructed in Part I, but this time we are to be mindful of our thoughts so that we can “control . . . all thoughts of care, worry and fear [to] enable [us] to entertain only the kind of thoughts [we]desire.” We are to continue this exercise until we have gained complete mastery.)
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