Charles F. Haanel
INTRODUCTION — PART FOUR
Enclosed herewith I hand you Part Four. This part will show you why what you think,
or do, or feel, is an indication of what you are.
Thought is energy and energy is power, and it is because all the religions, sciences
and philosophies with which the world has heretofore been familiar have been based
upon the manifestation of this energy instead of the energy itself, that the world has been
limited to effects, while causes have been ignored or misunderstood.
For this reason we have God and the Devil in religion, positive and negative in
science, and good and bad in philosophy.
The master key reverses the process; it is interested only in cause, and the letters
received from students tell a marvelous story; they indicate conclusively that students are
finding the cause whereby they may secure for themselves health, harmony, abundance,
and whatever else may be necessary for their welfare and happiness.
Life is expressive and it is our business to express ourselves harmoniously and
constructively. Sorrow, misery, unhappiness, disease and poverty are not necessities and
we are constantly eliminating them.
But this process of eliminating consists in rising above and beyond limitation of any
kind. He who has strengthened and purified his thought need not concern himself about
microbes, and he who has come into an understanding of the law of abundance will go at
once to the source of supply. It is thus that fate, fortune, and destiny will be controlled as
readily as a captain controls his ship, or an engineer, his train.
PART FOUR
- The “I” of you is not the physical body; that is simply an instrument which the “I”
uses to carry out its purposes; the “I” cannot be the Mind, for the mind is simply
another instrument which the “I” uses with which to think, reason, and plan. - Your personality is made up of countless individual characteristics, peculiarities,
habits, and traits of character; these are the result of your former method of
thinking, but they have nothing to do with the real “I.” - This is because the individual is a part of the Universal. A part cannot antagonize
any other part, but, on the contrary, the welfare of each part depends upon a
recognition of the interest of the whole. - Those who recognize this principle have a great advantage in the affairs of life.
They do not wear themselves out. They can eliminate vagrant thoughts with
facility. They can readily concentrate to the highest possible degree on any
subject. They do not waste time or money upon objects which can be of no
possible benefit to them. - If you cannot do these things it is because you have thus far not made the
necessary effort. Now is the time to make the effort. The result will be exactly in
proportion to the effort expended. One of the strongest affirmations which you
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can use for the purpose of strengthening the will and realizing your power to
accomplish, is, “I can be what I will to be.”
- If you make use of this affirmation, use it continuously, night and morning, and as
often during the day as you think of it, and continue to do so until it becomes a
part of you; form the habit. - Unless you do this, you had better not start at all, because modern psychology
tells us that when we start something and do not complete it, or make a resolution
and do not keep it, we are forming the habit of failure; absolute, ignominious
failure. If you do not intend to do a thing, do not start; if you do start, see it
through even if the heavens fall; if you make up your mind to do something, do it;
let nothing, no one, interfere; the “I” in you has determined, the thing is settled;
the die is cast, there is no longer any argument. - If you carry out this idea, beginning with small things which you know you can
control and gradually increase the effort, but never under any circumstances
allowing your “I” to be overruled, you will find that you can eventually control
yourself, and many men and women have found to their sorrow that it is easier to
control a kingdom that to control themselves. - This is not so strange or impossible as it may appear when you remember that the
“World Within” is controlled by the “I” and that this “I” is a part or one with the
Infinite “I” which is the Universal Energy or Spirit, usually called God. - This is not a mere statement or theory made for the purpose of confirming or
establishing an idea, but it is a fact which has been accepted by the best religious
thought as well as the best scientific thought. - Herbert Spender said: “Amid all the mysteries by which we are surrounded,
nothing is more certain than that we are ever in the presence of an Infinite and
Eternal Energy from which all things proceed.” - Lyman Abbott, in an address delivered before the Alumni of Bangor Theological
Seminary, said: “We are coming to think of God as dwelling in man rather than as
operating on men from without.” - The more we give the more we shall get; we must become a channel whereby the
Universal can express activity. The Universal is constantly seeking to express
itself, to be of service, and it seeks the channel whereby it can find the greatest
activity, where it can do the most good, where it can be of greatest service to
mankind. - The Universal cannot express through you as long as you are busy with your
plans, your own purposes; quiet the senses, seek inspiration, focus the mental
activity on the within, dwell in the consciousness of your unity with
Omnipotence. “Still water runs deep;” contemplate the multitudinous
opportunities to which you have spiritual access by the Omnipresence of power. - These mental activities pertain to the world within, to the world of cause; and
conditions and circumstances which result are the effect. It is thus that you
become a creator. This is important work, and the higher, loftier, grander and
more noble ideals which you can conceive, the more important the work will
become. - Thought is a mode of motion and is carried by the law of vibration the same as
light or electricity. It is given vitality by the emotions through the law of love; it
takes form and expression by the law of growth; it is a product of the spiritual “I”,
hence its Divine, spiritual, and creative nature. - From this it is evident that in order to express power, abundance or any other
constructive purpose, the emotions must be called upon to give feeling to the
thought so that it will take form. How may this purpose be accomplished? This is
the vital point; how may we develop the faith, the courage, the feeling, which will
result in accomplishment? - The reply is, by exercise; mental strength is secured in exactly the same way that
physical strength is secured, by exercise. We think something, perhaps with
difficulty the first time; we think the same thing again, and it becomes easier this
time; we think it again and again; it then becomes a mental habit. We continue to
think the same thing; finally it becomes automatic; we can no longer help thinking
this thing; we are now positive of what we think; there is no longer any doubt
about it. We are sure; we know. - Last week I asked you to relax, to let go physically. This week, I am going to ask
you to let go mentally. If you practiced the exercise given you last week fifteen or
twenty minutes a day in accordance with the instructions, you can no doubt relax
physically; and anyone who cannot consciously do this quickly and completely is
not a master of himself. He has not obtained freedom; he is still a slave to
conditions. But I shall assume that you have mastered the exercise and are ready
to take the next step, which is mental freedom. - This week, after taking your usual position, remove all tension by completely
relaxing, then mentally let go of all adverse conditions, such as hatred, anger,
worry, jealousy, envy, sorrow, trouble or disappointment of any kind. - You may say that you cannot “let go” of these things, but you can; you can do so
by mentally determining to do so, by voluntary intention and persistence. - The reason that some cannot do this is because they allow themselves to be
controlled by the emotions instead of by their intellect. But those who will be
guided by the intellect will gain the victory. You will not succeed the first time
you try, but practice makes perfect, in this as in everything else, and you must
succeed in dismissing, eliminating and completely destroying these negative and
destructive thoughts; because they are the seed which is constantly germinating
into discordant conditions of every conceivable kind and description.
“There is nothing truer than that the quality of thought which we entertain correlates
certain externals in the outside world. This is the Law from which there is no escape. And
it is this Law, this correlative of the thought with its object, that from time immemorial
has led the people to believe in special providence.” — Wilmans
Originally published at https://fourthinitiate.com on November 5, 2020.
