Analysis of Haanel’s Master Key System, Part 2, Sentences 6 to 13

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.)

Analysis of Haanel’s Master Key System, Practice in Part I, and First 5 Sentences in Part 2

We completed Part I a week ago, and I decided to take some time to do the practice as Haanel suggested we do. 15-20 minutes in quietude.  Well, it is not as if I were totally quiet because as we know the mind does what it is suppose to do and that is think. Or we can put it another way, as conscious creatures, being alive means being conscious, and we are aware of this via our thoughts. Yet, Haanel does not require us to do anything more than just sit still and undisturbed in a quiet place. I found myself looking forward to this time. I do meditate, but I use a guided meditation — most recently working with Reginald Ray. I like the body and earth guided meditations, but I also found that I liked just sitting.

Sitting for 1/2 hour with just myself was quite different. The time went by so slowly. Once,  I was sure at least 15 minutes had passed, but only 2 minutes had!  Ha!  When I was done, I felt very relaxed, a little hypnotic, a little spacey, and a newness about myself. I did not have a chance to review Part 1 in full, but I think the most important thoughts to bring with us for our study of Part 2 is that the mind has both a conscious and subconscious element to it. For there to be growth, unfoldment, or whatever it is that we are seeking beyond our material circumstances, we must work these two elements together. So, let’s begin our study of Part 2.

Haanel, in the first 5 sentences in Part 2, posits that the subconscious mind is a wholly mysterious, but an essential aspect of our mind.  It is the force behind all our greatest music, art, and all things creative. What’s beautiful, we find in sentence 4, is that it is quite accessible and does not require lots of effort to access. For us to have this readily  available and easy access, we must, as he theorizes in sentence 5, stop depending on the conscious mine.  How to do this?  Well, I am sure, Haanel will tell us as we move forward.

Analysis of Haanel’s Master Key System, Last Two Sentences, Part I

Well, we are at the end of Part I.  After tonight we will have completed Part I. But we still need to do the sitting exercise for 15 to 30 minutes. I was wondering if sentences 44 is tied to 43. Haanel in tells us that,  “it is in the application alone that the value consists….”  The he goes on to say in 44, “Now make the application….”  The application is the sitting quietly for 15-30 mins for a few days until we have complete control of the body. Don’t quite know how this exercise relates to the lesson, but plan to find out.

I did this today and found it to be very relaxing afterwards. Normally, I use a guided meditation (Reginald Ray’s Earth Mediation), but decided that my meditation today would consist of Haanel’s exercise. So, let’s spend this week sitting as Haanel has directed. I will let you know how I fare.

I plan to spend more time going over Part I again and will create some key words to think on when I am going about my day. I will do the sitting exercises as set forth, though.

Thanks for journeying with me. Life is good!

Analysis of Haanel’s Master Key System, Sentences 36-43, Part I

Haanel’s proposition is that if we understand the world within then we can control the world outside of ourselves. We are the cause and the world is the effect. He assures us that understanding the workings of this internal world will bring us the power to change the world without, as there is nothing outside ourselves that has any power greater than our power of thought. He even says as much in 42.  “We live in a fathomless sea of plastic mind substance, . . .  and takes form according to the mental demand.”  Our thoughts, the vibrational energy, impress themselves upon this substance.

Is Haanel’s thinking true?  If so, then we must, and I will even go so far as to  say we have an absolute duty to understand the in’s and out’s of this system. I think one question that arises is whether he is referring to my world — what’s going on in my individual life?  — or does and can this system reach out, into and encompass the entire known world. If the latter, what kind of world would I have instead of this one? There are some major changes I would like to cause.  If merely, the former, well, I have fewer concerns, but will experiment with these ideas to see and experience their truth, if possible.

Is Haanel here merely talking about changing our viewpoint on the events of the world? For example, there’s this notion that the soul makes a decision to return to the earth to accomplish a certain task to gain a particular understanding. From this perspective, the temporal human suffering has a purpose. Thus, for example, we are asked to view the millions who suffered and died during WWII as making soul-based choices to have that experience. Under this rubric, our response to the hundreds of millions who died is that all those souls made that decision and so it is okay that the suffering took place because it was for some good that is not understood at the human level.

Underlying that notion is the idea that human suffering is necessary, if you will, for the soul advancement. Perhaps, it is a lot more intricate than that, but the point is that by adhering to this soul-decision making theory  to interpret human suffering as something other than a real-world happening that can and should be eliminated, it offers an explanation that the suffering has a purpose that amounts to a good thing.

So, the question becomes as we move forward, along with our other questions, is: what is Haanel really proposing in real time, in our real lives on this Earth? What are the limitations, if any, to our consciously manifesting what we will?

Well, we shall see.

Analysis of Haanel’s Master Key System, Sentences 29-35, Part I

We are moving slowly through Part I. That’s a very good thing This lesson will cover sentences 29-35.

I think a distillation of our previous study is in order:

1. What we think determines what/who we are and that determines what we do. We must be before we do. Thinking and being are tied together.

2. Our thoughts arise from two centers:  the objective mind and the subconsicous mind. The former is associated with the body and the latter with emotions and allows us to access the Universal Mind.

3. Consciousness is necessary to coordinate these two centers.

4. When we are able to understand and coordinate these two centers, then we have harmony within and that harmony must manifest without.

Now, onward to our sentences for today.

Haanel posits that thought has this dynamic dimension to it. It vibrates within the human mind and because the human mind is connected to or contained within the Universal Mind, it is by virtue of this energy that thought somehow changes, fashions, or in some way affects the material world, and, consequently an image of that thought appears in the material world. Haanel does not use the word “image” and I don’t think I have captured what he really means, but that is what came to my mind upon reading sentence 30. This is how he puts it in sentence 30: “Therefore when the individual thinks, the thought is compelled by its nature to embody itself in an objective condition which will correspond to its origin.”  The objective condition is outside the mind.

Let’s take a minute, though, to see whether this is something we can grasp. Is what he saying here something we can connect with?

Again, let’s turn to quantum mechanics, as Haanel sees that all is connected, even down to the molecular level. (In 34, he speaks of the Universal Mind as being that connector and every atom is associated with the Universal Mind.  Let me note here that we do need to define “Universal Mind,” and I will be looking to see where Haanel defines it. For our purposes now, we will proceed on the vague notion that Universal Mind is that which resides in all things everywhere. Perhaps, akin to life force.)

I am sure you know about the famous experiment where a particle or atom can appear to be both a particle and a wave depending on circumstances.  So, what’s applicable to an atom is also applicable to us as complex organizations composed entirely of atoms. This is simplistic, I know, but am merely trying to relate Haanel’s thought to what we know about our world. Yesterday, I noted that science has found that there is such a great deal of space between an atom’s electrons and its nucleus.  The note on this in Wikipedia likens it to the nucleus being the size of a pea and the the orbit of the electron or electrons being the size of a football field. That’s amazing.  Perhaps, within that space is dark matter and dark energy at the molecular level. Thought, then being some kind of potent energy, can somehow disturb or change this space or affect the orbit of the electron and thereby change the material world. Or even attract to itself atoms/particles/matter, as Haanel suggests in sentence 34.  Would it be correct to say the mind is a generator? A generator of thoughts that vibrate out into Universal Mind and change things (at the speed of light or faster) at the subatomic level.

So, when Haanel in sentence 32 states that “All power is within” and under our control, we see that if our minds are the generator of thoughts and those thoughts vibrate to change matter, then we should take notice how to control our thinking to produce only that which we desire as Haanel implores us to do in sentence 31. He even ask us to come into conscious cooperation with this principle that he calls Omnipotent law in sentence 33.

Because even if we are not conscious of this great principle of the creative process, it happens anyway. What a better place to be as a conscious wielder of this awesome power! Yes, that is our quest!

Analysis of Haanel’s Master Key System, Sentences 22-28, Part I

In sentence 23, Haanel lets us in on the “great secret of life.” It is that we must understand the functions of the “two centers” of our being and coordinate these two centers for us to bring about the kind of good we seek. 

What are these two centers?  He tells us in sentence 19 that they are composed of the Objective Mind and the Subconscious Mind.  The latter he calls infinite because somehow it has access to Universal Mind and the former finite because it is limited by the scope of our sense perceptions.

I am not wholly convinced regarding these distinctions, but it is early still and proof may be forth coming or at least a more in-depth explanation. Still, perhaps I am distracted by language and definitions.  What can we glean from experience to relate to what Haanel is setting forth here in the sentences under study?

From experience we know that our thinking is influenced by the world around us. The world also gives content to our thoughts. “The ball is red.” “I like a red ball.”  “Pepper makes me sneeze and has a spicy hot taste. “The fire is hot.”  “Best be careful of that fire, it will burn me.” 

We also think about the thoughts created by our emotional responses to our world, which give rise to more thoughts. “Why do I hate loud noises?” “Our earth is beautiful and I love the sun.” “People make me feel good and I find that I like being out and about.”

And then there are thoughts that come to our minds without a nexus to anything outside ourselves or related to any known experience. For example, we know that many inventions have come about from a dream, or we have heard folks say, or we have even said ourselves, “something told me to call you or something told me to turn left.”  How do we explain an epiphany?

I think Haanel wants to capture this complexity by creating two systems that we can easily understand. Simple enough – we will grant him that and see what nugget we can cull from understanding and coordinating these two minds. In addition, in bifurcating our thought system, Haanel brings in a phenomenon called consciousness. We can think of consciousness, I presume, as the referee, the overseer, or perhaps, judge of these two systems.

We are not captives of our thinking.  It may seem that way, but we can step back and away from thought and see what it is that we think, how we think, and the power of our thoughts on our minds and bodies. Now, as far as this ability being tied to something Universal, I will just give him that as a first principle. Again, we can suspend our need for proof or deeper explanation, as it is still early in the game.

With my limited understanding of quantum mechanics, I think there is some basis for asserting  this Universal Consciousness principle.  I remember reading that there a great deal of space between the nucleus of an atom and its orbiting electron(s).  Modern astronomers theorize that there is more dark matter and energy than there is “normal” matter.  So, we can say the Universal is the space that makes up everything. As we are made up of atoms, we are more space than not. Therefore, we are part of the Universal, or even, we are the Universal.

As we move forward, we will look for how Haanel suggests that we coordinate these two systems and what more he has to say about them.

Exploring Haanel’s Master Key System, Part 1 Sentences 15-21

We are looking to see whether Charles Haanel’s Master Key System is helpful in our endeavor to fashion a world of good for all humanity. We start with his first principle:  the mind is the creator of our world, both what we see as being outside ourselves and which we perceive to be within.

Haanel seems a little scattered in this section. He does not go into depth, as he throws out ideas. He does, however, reiterates in different ways that the world we see outside ourselves is merely a reflection of our world within.  He brings in the idea of power and seems to link it to our ability to be brave, have hope, be exuberant and all the other qualities we deem positive. Harmony comes up again.

But I do think he provides a good starting point for us when he states that life is unfoldment in sentence 16.  For us to “see” this, we have to to be conscious of this. In sentence 17 he states as much:  “all possession is based on consciousness.” I think it is possible to interpret possession here in the sense of owning both on the metaphysical and material levels.

In sentence 18, he mentions the need for harmony — the role it places in our ability to be efficacious in our thinking. To acquire power he mentions in sentence 15 (men and women of power are courageous, trusting, faithful), we must be in harmony.  He does say, “in harmony with Natural Law.”  We will, of course, discover what this Law is as we move forward. He does not explain it in these few sentences.

The other interesting point is how he links the body to the working of the mind. He defines the objective mind as being a function of the brain — really, the body. Our body informs of us the world in which we live.  He asserts, though,  that it is through this mind that all manner of discomfort and destruction enters our mind. But, it is not something that happens, ipso facto, by its being connected to the body.  The destructiveness is the result of wrong thinking.

So, yes, the next question is:  what is wrong thinking?

Second 7 sentences of the 1st Part of The Master Key System

We are moving very slowly through Haanel’s Master Key System to discover if there is something there that will help us to manifest our deepest intent in this physical world. I am not interested in hypotheses or theories that have no practical affect in our everydayness.  We are looking for real time practicalities that will enable us to create a world that brings good to ourselves, our families, and others. What I am interested in is whether what Haanel says is realizable  in our everyday world. That’s our exploration. As they say, “the proof is in the pudding.”

In the first seven sentences, we found that Haanel’s first principle is: what we think is the impetus of creation. In other words, what we think is what we create — whether we are conscious of this fact or not. Simple enough. But how do we take control of what we think? We think all the time, but not only that, thoughts often seem to come from no where. Furthermore, thinking is what a mind is supposed to do.  So, he cannot be referring to not thinking as a means of control or have some great power where we would think only thoughts we want to think.

The next question is, once we become the conscious thinker, so to speak, will we be able to manifest our deepest desires? If not, what more is there for us to do? We will explore these issues as we move forward.

We see that for our studies tonight, Haanel states in sentence 8  that the world without is a mirror of the world within. In sentence 9 he goes on to say that harmonious thought means that we will see and experience a harmonious world. In sentence 11, he asserts that this harmony brings about optimism and affluence.  Optimism, as I interpret it means happiness, increase, heightened awareness. In other words, it is the root of all the good we seek.  Affluence means abundance, an increase in all those things we think proves beneficial to our reality.

Well, the question is how to we get to the point that our thoughts are harmonious? Is that even possible?  He states in sentence 10 that harmony of our thoughts depend on our ability to control our thoughts. How do we do that?

Wisdom is the key.  That is what he asserts in sentence 13 and 14.  We have to become conscious of this wisdom that we possess. What we will have to ascertain is how to become knowledgeable of and use this wisdom.  We shall search for this wisdom.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 14th, we shall see what else Charles Haanel has to say.

First 7 sentences of Pt. 1 of the Master Key System

First 7 sentences of Pt. 1 of the Master Key System

You are like me:  Wanting to know what your purpose is in this world. This magnificent world is so full of possibilities and yet we suffer so. You have suffered quite a bit in your life as I have mine. Many days of darkness, going through the fire, and you finally see the “light” or a glimmer thereof.  I see that light, too:  it is in me, as it is in you. Through this study, we will be building ourselves up to  to create the great and the good without.

As I stated in my original post, I will be exploring Charles Haanel’s seminal work, The Master Key System, to see whether it is true that we can manifest, create the kind of world we want to create. The assumption here is that we will be doing so for the good of ourselves, our families, and humanity. When we lift ourselves up, others will follow. The lifting up of ourselves means that we will lead others on the path of self-mastery with the great expectation that we will create a world in which human suffering will lessen.  So, with all that in mind, let’s begin.

Haanel places his thoughts in numbered sentences. I am not sure if that is how I will proceed because I think paragraphs represents whole thoughts, so to speak. But we shall see. Since this is not a critique of his work, but an analysis, I will see what works best in thinking through what he has written. We will also move slowly, so tonight we will be looking at the first 7 of 45 sentences or thoughts. I will leave the questions at the end of the chapter for you to do. On Sunday, I will do a recap and set the step for the next part.

Haanel’s first proposition is that increase or loss continues along its trajectory. I think the first paragraph is a little opaque, but ominous:  Don’t want to be in the loss category.

What we find in the first 7 sentences is Haanel’s thesis that we must become conscious of the workings of our minds. What does it do?  What is it really? How does it bear on our lives and the world around us? Looking at sentence 4, working in reverse order, we see that he posits that what we think bears directly on who we are. Who we are determines our actions in the world. And what we do depends on our being. It seems to be a circular argument, but if we start with what we think,  Haanel asserts that all derives from that. For example, if we think about how poor we are, then we will see ourselves as being without resources and we will not move in the world as if we have  resources, or access to the same, at our disposal. In contrast, if we think that we are prosperous, we will see ourselves as having access to many resources and interact with  the world from this perspective.

What does he mean in sentence 5 that we cannot express powers that we do not possess? He goes on to say: we cannot possess powers that we are not conscious of having. This means that knowledge of the mind’s power is available to all and for us to possess this power we must know about it. So, our first movement toward alleviating our own suffering and the world’s is to become conscious of the power of our minds and concomitantly the power of what we think, i.e., our minute thoughts. When we do so, as Haanel tells us, in paragraph 7, we discover the wonder of the mind and we can then act from a robust position of power.  So, when we understand our mind, we “find the solution for every problem, the cause of every effort.”  That is a great thing and worth the time and effort we will put into this study.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 13th, we will review sentences 8-15.

Purpose of my blog

This is my very first post. I want to explore whether and how our thoughts, either consciously or unconsciously, are the main factors in manifestation. Is it that simple?  To have the life we want all we need to do is to be mindful of our thoughts and to think only those thoughts that reflect what we want to bring into this world?

I chose the title Conscious Attorney because that is what I aspire to be. Conscious regarding my world, who I am, what I do, and how I interact with others.

I am a practicing attorney and sometimes I don’t like being an attorney because there is so much responsibility riding on what I do or don’t do for a client. There is so much to know and to think about, and I am not as brilliant as I want to be. And, sometimes, I don’t like the way some attorneys behave, particularly those with sharp edges. We can battle over the law, I think, without being nasty about it.

Being a Conscious Attorney simple means being aware of the important role I play in this world, even though it may be at a microcosmic level. To be the best in this role, I need to know how to be more creative and manifest that which will help me do exactly that.

I shall explore the seminal work of Charles F. Haanel, The Master Key System a chapter a week.