Tony note: I’m a big fan of Haanel’s teaching and in particular his classic book, The Master Key System. With a lot of focus on the Law of Attraction made popular the last few years with the global success of the movie and book The Secret, this book is the real deal and foundation for most of today’s popular books on the subject. Here’s a partial excerpt of the books Forward from author Charles Haanel.
Some men seem to attract success, power, wealth, attainment, with very little conscious effort. Others conquer with great difficulty. Still others fail altogether to reach their ambitions, desires and ideals. Why is this so? Why should some men realize their ambitions easily, others with difficulty, and still others not at all? The cause cannot be physical, else the most perfect men physically, would be the most successful. The difference, therefore must be mental – must be in the mind. Hence mind must be the creative force, must constitute the sole difference between men. It is mind, therefore, which overcomes environment and every other obstacle in the path of men.
When the creative power of thought is fully understood, its effect will be seen to be marvelous. But such results cannot be secured without the proper application, diligence, and concentration. The student will find that the laws governing in the mental and spiritual world are as fixed and infallible as in the material world. To secure the desired results, then, it is necessary to know the law and to comply with it. A proper compliance with the law will be found to produce the desired result with invariable exactitude. The student who learns that power comes from within, that he is weak only because he has depended on help from outside, and who unhesitatingly throws himself on his own thought, instantly rights himself, stands erect, assumes a dominant attitude and works miracles.
It is evident , therefore, that he who fails to fully investigate and take advantage of the wonderful progress which is being made in this last and greatest science, will soon be as far behind as the man who would refuse to acknowledge and accept the benefits that have accrued to mankind through an understanding of the laws of electricity.
Of course, mind creates negative conditions just as readily as favorable conditions, and when we consciously or unconsciously visualize every kind of lack, limitation and discord, we create those conditions. This is what many are unconsciously doing all the time.
This law as well as every other law is no respecter of persons, but it is in constant operation and is relentlessly bringing to each individual exactly what he has created. In other words, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Abundance, therefore, depends upon recognition of the laws of abundance, and the fact that mind is not only the creator, but the only creator of all there is. Certainly nothing can be created before we know that it can be created, and then make the proper effort. There is no more electricity in the world today than there was fifty years ago, but until someone recognized by the law by which it could be made of service, we received no benefit. Now that the law is understood, practically the whole world is lit by it. So with the law of abundance; it is only those who recognize the law and place themselves in harmony with it, who share in its benefits.
Charles Haanel, 1866-1949, was a successful business man turned writer and publisher. His best known work, The Master Key System sold hundreds of thousands of copies after its initial release in 1912. He influenced many including another icon of the personal development industry, Dr. Napoleon Hill who wrote the legendary book Think and Grow Rich in 1937.
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