Part Sixteen - The Master Key System

The vibratory activities of the planetary Universe are governed by a Law of Periodicity. Everything that lives has periods of birth, growth, fruitage, and decline. These periods are governed by the Septimal Law.  

The Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the moon, the harmonies of sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, atomic structure. It governs the life of individuals and of nations, and it dominates the activities of the commercial world. 

Life is growth, and growth is change, each seven years period takes us into a new cycle. The first seven years is the period of infancy. The next seven the period of childhood, representing the beginning of individual responsibility. The next seven represents the period of adolescence. The fourth period marks the attainment of full growth. The fifth period is the constructive period, when man begin to acquire property, possessions, a home and family. The next from 35 to 42, is a period of reactions and changes, and this in turn is followed by a period of reconstruction, adjustment and recuperation, so as to be ready for a new cycle of sevens, beginning with the fiftieth year.  

There are many who think that the world is just bout to pass out of the sixth period; that it will soon enter into the seventh period, the period of readjustment, reconstruction and harmony; the period which is frequently referred to as the Millennium.  

Those familiar with these cycles will not be disturbed when things seem to go wrong, but can apply the principle outlined in these lessons with the full assurance that a higher Law will invariably control all other Laws, and that through an understanding and conscious operation of Spiritual Laws, we can convert every seeming difficulty into a blessing.  

PART SIXTEEN

1. Wealth is a product of labor. Capital is an effect, not a cause; a servant, not a master; a means, not an end. 
2. The most commonly accepted definition of wealth is that it consists of all useful and agreeable things which possess exchange value. It is this exchange value which is the predominant characteristic of wealth.  
3. When we consider the small addition made by wealth to the happiness of the possessor, we find that the true value consists not in its utility but in its exchange.  
4. This exchange value makes it a medium for securing the things of real value whereby our ideals may be realized.  
5. Wealth should then never be desired as an end, but simply as a means of accomplishing an end. Success is contingent upon a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of riches, and he who aspires to such success must formulate an ideal for which he is willing to strive.  
6. With such an ideal in mind, the ways and means can and will be provided, but the mistake must not be made of substituting the means for the end. There must be a definite fixed purpose, an ideal.  
7. Prentice Mulford said: "The man of success is the man possessed of the greatest Spiritual understanding and every great fortune comes of superior and truly Spiritual power". Unfortunately, there are those who fail to recognize this power; they forget that Andrew Carnegie's mother had to help support the family when they came to America, that Harriman's father was a poor clergyman with a salary of only $200 a year, that Sir Thomas Lipton started with only 25 cents. These men had no other power to depend upon, but it did not fail them.  
8. The power to create depends entirely upon Spiritual power; there are three steps, idealization, visualization and materialization. Every Captain of industry depends upon this power exclusively. In an article in Everybody's Magazine, Henry M. Flagler, the Standard Oil multi-millionaire, admitted that the secret of his success was his power to see a thing in its completeness. The following conversation with the reporter shows his power of idealization, concentration and visualization, all Spiritual powers: 
9. "Did you actually vision to yourself the whole thing? I mean, did you, or could you, really close your eyes and see the tracks? And the trains running? And hear the whistles blowing? Did you go as far as that?" "Yes". "How clearly?" "Very clearly". 
10. Here we have a vision of the Law, we see "Cause and Effect", we see that Thought necessarily precedes and determines action. If we are wise, we shall come into a realization of the tremendous fact that no arbitrary condition can exist for a moment, and that human experience is the result of an orderly and harmonious sequence.   
11. The successful businessman is more often than not an idealist and is every striving for higher and higher standards. The subtle forces of Thought as they crystallize in our daily moods is what constitutes life.   
12. Thought is the plastic material with which we build images of our growing conception of life. Use determines its existence. As in all other things our ability to recognize it and use it properly is the necessary condition for attainment.  
13. Premature wealth is but the forerunner of humiliation and disaster, because we cannot permanently retain anything which we do not merit or which we have not earned.  
14. The conditions with which we meet in the World Without, correspond to the conditions which we find in the World Within. This is brought about by the Law of Attraction. How then shall we determine what is to enter into the World Within? 
15. Whatever enters the Mind through the senses or the Objective Mind will impress the Mind and result in a mental image which will become a pattern for the creative energies. These experiences are largely the result of environment, chance, past thinking and other forms of negative Thought, and must be subjected to careful analysis before being entertained. On the other hand, we can form our own mental images, through our own interior processes of Thought regardless of the Thoughts of others, regardless of exterior conditions, regardless of environment of every kind, and it is by the exercise of this power that we can control our own destiny, body, mind and soul.  
16. It is by the exercise of this power that we take our fate out of the hands of chance, and consciously make for ourselves the experiences which we desire, because when we consciously realize a condition, that condition will eventually manifest in our lives; it is therefore evident that in the last analysis thinking is the one great cause in life.  
17. Therefore, to control Thought is to control circumstances, conditions, environment, and destiny.  
18. How then are we to control Thought; what is the process? To think is to create a Thought, but the result of the Thought will depend upon its form, its quality and its vitality.  
19. The form will depend upon the mental images from which it emanates; this will depend upon the depth of the impression, the predominance of the idea, the clarity of the vision, the boldness of the image.   
20. The quality depends upon its substance, and this depends upon the material of which the Mind is composed; if this material has been woven from Thoughts of vigor, strength, courage, determination, the Thought will possess these qualities.  
21. And finally, the vitality depends upon the feeling with which the Thought is impregnated. If the Thought is constructive, it will possess vitality; it will have life, it will grow, develop, expand, it will be creative; it will attract to itself everything necessary for its complete development.  
22. If the Thought is destructive, it will have within itself the germ of its own dissolution; it will die, but in the process of dying, it will bring sickness, disease, and every other form of discord.  
23. This we call evil, and when we bring it upon ourselves, some of us are disposed to attribute our difficulties to a Supreme Being, but this Supreme Being is simply Mind in equilibrium.   
24. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is.  
25. Our ability to differentiate it into form is our ability to manifest good or evil.  
26. Good and evil therefore are not entities, they are simply words which we use to indicate the result of our actions, and these actions are in turn predetermined by the character of our Thought.  
27. If our Thought is constructive and harmonious we manifest good; if it is destructive and discordant we manifest evil.  
28. If you desire to visualize a different environment, the process is simply to hold the ideal in Mind, until your vision has been made real; give no Thought to persons, places or things; these have no place in the absolute; the environment you desire will contain everything necessary; the right persons, and the right things will come at the right time and in the right place.  
29. It is sometimes not plain how character, ability, attainment, achievement, environment and destiny can be controlled through the Power of Visualization, but this is an exact scientific fact.  
30. You will readily see that what we think determines the quality of Mind, and that the quality of Mind in turn determines our ability and mental capacity, and you can readily understand that the improvement in our ability will naturally be followed by increase in attainment and a greater control of circumstances.  
31. It will thus be seen that Natural Laws work in a perfectly natural and harmonious manner; everything seems to "just happen". If you want any evidence of this fact simply compare results of your efforts in your own life, when your actions were prompted by high ideals and when you had selfish or ulterior motives in Mind. You will need no further evidence.  
32. If you wish to bring about the realization of any desire, form a mental picture of success in your Mind, by consciously visualizing your desire; in this way you will be compelling success, you will be externalizing it in your life by scientific methods.  
33. We can only see what already exists in the Objective World, but what we visualize, already exists in the Spiritual World, and this visualization is a substantial token of what will one day appear in the Objective World, if we are faithful to our ideal. The reason for this is not difficult; visualization is a form of imagination; this process of thinking forms impressions on the Mind, and these impressions in turn form concepts and ideals, and they in turn are the plans from which the Master architect will weave the future.  
34. The psychologists have come to the conclusion that there is but one sense, the sense of feeling, and that all other senses are but modifications of this one sense; this being true, we know why feeling is the very fountain head of power, why the emotions so easily overcome the intellect, and why we must put feeling into our Thought, if we wish results. Thought and feeling is the irresistible combination.  
35. Visualization must, of course, be directed by the will; we are to visualize exactly what we want; we must be careful not to let the imagination run riot. Imagination is a good servant but a poor master, and unless it is controlled it may easily lead us into all kinds of speculations and conclusions which have no basis or foundation of fact whatever. Every kind of plausible opinion is liable to be accepted without any analytical examination and the inevitable result is mental chaos.  
36. We must therefore construct only such mental images as are known to be scientifically true. Subject every idea to a searching analysis and accept nothing which is not scientifically exact. When you do this you will attempt nothing but what you know you can carry out and success will crown your efforts; this is what businessmen call far-sightedness; it is much the same as Insight, and is one of the great secrets of success in all important undertakings.  
37. For your exercise this week, try to bring yourself to a realization of the important fact that harmony and happiness are states of consciousness and do not depend upon the possession of things. That things are effects and come as a consequence of correct mental states. So that is we desire material possession of any kind our chief concern should be to acquire the mental attitude which will bring about the result desired. This mental attitude is brought about by a realization of our Spiritual nature and our unity with the Universal Mind which is the substance of all things. This realization will bring about everything which is necessary for our complete enjoyment. This is scientific or correct thinking. When we succeed in bringing about this mental attitude, it is comparatively easy to realize our desire as an already accomplished fact; when we can do this we shall have found the "Truth" which makes us "free" from every lack or limitation of any kind.  

A Man Might Frame And Let Loose A Star, To Roll In Its Orbit, And Yet Not Have Done So Memorable A Thing Before God As He Who Lets A Golden-Orbed Thought To Roll Through The Generations Of Time.

- H. W. Beecher 

STUDY QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS:-

1. Upon what does wealth depend? 

=> Upon an understanding of the creative nature of Thought. 

2. Upon what does its true value consist? 

=> Upon its exchange value.   

3. Upon what does success depend?

=> Upon Spiritual Power.  

4. Upon what does this power depend? 

=> Upon use; use determines its existence.  

5. How may we take our fate out of the hands of chance? 

=> By consciously realizing the conditions which we desire to see manifested in our lives. 

6. What then is the great business of life? 

=> Thinking. 

7. Why is this so? 

=> Because Thought is Spiritual and therefore creative. To consciously control Thought is therefore to control circumstances, conditions, environment and destiny.   

8. What is the source of all evil? 

=> Destructive thinking.  

9. What is the source of all good? 

=> Scientific correct thinking.  

10. What is scientific thinking? 

=> A recognition of the creative nature of Spiritual energy and our ability to control it.  

The Greatest Events Of An Age Are Its Best Thoughts. It is The Nature Of Thought To Find Its Way Into Action.

- Bovee 

Part Fifteen - The Master Key System

Experiments with parasites found on plants indicate that even the lowest order of life is enabled to take advantage of Natural Law. This experiment was made by Jacques Loch, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the Rockefeller Institute.  

"In order to obtain the material, potted rose bushes are brought into a room and placed in front of a closed window. If the plants are allowed to dry out, the aphids (parasites), previously wingless, change to winged insects. After the metamorphosis, the animals leave the plants, fly to the window and then creep upward on the glass".  

It is evident that these tiny insects found that the plants on which they had been thriving were dead, and that they could therefore secure nothing more to eat and drink from this source. The only method by which they could save themselves from starvation was to grow temporary wings and fly, which they did.  

Experiments such as these indicate that Omniscience as well as Omnipotence is Omnipresent and that the tiniest living thing can take advantage of it in an emergency. 

Part Fifteen will tell you more about the Law under which we live. It will explain that these Laws operate to our advantage; that all conditions and experiences that come to us are for our benefit; that we gain strength in proportion to the effort expended, and that our happiness is best attained through a conscious cooperation with Natural Laws.   

PART FIFTEEN 

1. The Laws under which we live are designed solely for our advantage. These Laws are immutable and we cannot escape from their operation.  
2. All the great Eternal forces act in solemn silence, but it is in our power to place ourselves in harmony with them and thus express a life of comparative peace and happiness.    
3. Difficulties, inharmonies, and obstacles, indicate that we are either refusing to give out what we no longer need, or refusing to accept what we require.   
4. Growth is attained through an exchange of the old for the new, of the good for the better; it is a conditional or reciprocal action, for each of us is a complete thought entity and this completeness makes it possible for us to receive only as we give.   
5. We cannot obtain what we lack if we tenaciously cling to what we have. We are able to consciously control our conditions as we come to sense the purpose of what we attract, and are able to extract from each experience only what we require for our further growth. Our ability to do this determines the degree of harmony or happiness we attain.   
6. The ability to appropriate what we require for our growth, continually increases as we reach higher planes and broader visions, and the greater our abilities to know what we require, the more certain we shall be to discern its presence, to attract it and to absorb it. Nothing may reach us except what is necessary for our growth. 
7. All conditions and experiences that come to us do so for our benefit. Difficulties and obstacles will continue to come until we absorb their wisdom and gather from them the essentials of further growth.    
8. That we reap what we sow is mathematically exact. We gain permanent strength exactly to the extent of the effort required to overcome difficulties.   
9. The inexorable requirements of growth demand that we exert the greatest degree of attraction for what is perfectly in accord with us. Our highest happiness will be best attained through our understanding of, and conscious cooperation with Natural Laws.   
10. In order to possess vitality Thought must be impregnated with love. Love is a product of the emotions. It is therefore essential that the emotions be controlled and guided by the intellect and reason.   
11. It is love which imparts vitality to Thought and thus enables it to germinate. The Law of Attraction, or the Law of Love, for they are one and the same, will bring to it the necessary material for its growth and maturity.    
12. The first form which Thought will find is language, or words; this determines the importance of words; they are the first manifestation of Thought - the vessels in which Thought in carried. They take hold of the ether and by setting it in motion reproduce the Thought to others in the form of sound.  
13. Thought may lead to action of any kind, but whatever the action, it is simply the Thought attempting to express itself in visible form. It is evident, therefore, that if we wish desirable conditions, we can afford to entertain only desirable Thoughts.  
14. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that if we wish to express abundance in our lives, we can afford to think abundance only, and as words are only Thoughts taking form, we must be especially careful to use nothing but constructive and harmonious language, which when finally crystallized into objective forms, will prove to our advantage.   
15. We cannot escape from the pictures we incessantly photograph on the Mind, and this photography of erroneous conceptions is exactly what is being done by the use of words, when we use any form of language which is not identified with our welfare.  
16. We manifest more and more life as our Thought becomes clarified and takes higher planes. This is obtained with greater facility as we use word pictures that are clearly defined, and relieved of the conceptions attached to them on lower planes of Thought.  
17. It is with words that we must express our Thoughts, and if we are to make use of higher forms of Truth, we may use only such material as has been carefully and intelligently selected with this purpose in view.   
18. This wonderful power of clothing Thoughts in the form of words is what differentiates man from the rest of the animal kingdom; by the use of the written word he has been enabled to look back over the centuries and see the stirring scenes by which he has come into his present inheritance.   
19. He has been enabled to come into communion with the greatest writers and thinkers of all time, and the combined record which we possess today is therefore the expression of Universal Thought as it has been seeking to take form in the Mind of Man.   
20. We know that the Universal Thought has for its goal the creation of form, and we know that the individual Thought is likewise forever attempting to express itself in form, and we know that the word is a Thought form, and a sentence is a combination of Thought forms, therefore, if we wish our ideal to be beautiful or strong, we must see that the words out of which this temple will eventually be created are exact, that they are put together carefully, because accuracy in building words and sentences is the highest form of architecture in civilization and is a passport to success.    
21. Words are Thoughts and are therefore an invisible and invincible power which will finally objectify themselves in the form they are given.    
22. Words may become mental places that will live forever, or they may become shacks which the first breeze will carry away. They may delight the eye as well as the ear; they may contain all knowledge; in them we find the history of the past as well as the hope of the future; they are living messengers from which every human and superhuman activity is born.    
23. The beauty of the word consists in the beauty of the Thought; the power of the word consists in the power of the Thought, and the power of the Thought consists in its vitality. How shall we identify a vital Thought? What are its distinguishing characteristics? It must have principle. How shall we identify principle?  
24. There is a principle of Mathematics, but none of error; there is a principle of health, but none of disease; there is a principle of Truth, but none of dishonesty; there is a principle of light, but none of darkness, and there is a principle of abundance, but none of poverty.   
25. How shall we know that this is true? Because if we apply the principle of Mathematics correctly we shall be certain of our results. Where there is health there will be no disease. If we know the Truth we cannot be deceived by error. If we let in light there can be no darkness, and where there is abundance there can be no poverty.   
26. These are self-evident facts, but the all-important Truth that a Thought containing principle is vital and therefore contains life and consequently takes root, and eventually but surely and certainly displaces the negative Thoughts, which by their very nature can contain no vitality, is one which seems to have been overlooked. 
27. But this is a fact which will enable you to destroy every manner of discord, lack and limitation.   
28. There can be no question but that he who "is wise enough to understand" will readily recognize that the creative power of Thought places an invincible weapon in his hands and makes him a master of destiny.  
29. In the physical world there is a Law of Compensation which is that "the appearance of a given amount of energy anywhere means the disappearance of the same amount somewhere else", and so we find that we can get only what we give; if we pledge ourselves to a certain action we must be prepared to assume the responsibility for the development of that action. The Subconscious cannot reason. It takes us at our word; we have asked for something; we are now to receive it; we have made our bed, we are now to lie in it; the die has been cast; the threads will carry out the pattern we have made.  
30. For this reason Insight must be exercised so that the Thought which we entertain contains no mental, moral or physical germ which we do not wish objectified in our lives.   
31. Insight is a faculty of the Mind whereby we are enabled to examine facts and conditions at long range, a kind of human telescope; it enables us to understand the difficulties, as well as the possibilities, in any undertaking.   
32. Insight enables us to be prepared for the obstacles which we shall meet; we can therefore overcome them before they have any opportunity of causing difficulty. 
33. Insight enables us to plan to advantage and turn our Thought and attention in the right direction, instead of into channels which can yield no possible return.  
34. Insight is therefore absolutely essential for the development of any great achievement, but with it we may enter, explore and possess any mental field.   
35. Insight is a product of the World Within and is developed in the Silence, by concentration.   
36. For your exercise this week, concentrate on Insight; take your accustomed position and focus the Thought on the fact that to have a knowledge of the creative power of Thought does not mean to possess the art of thinking. Let the Thought dwell on the fact that knowledge does not apply itself. That our actions are not governed by knowledge, but by custom, precedent and habit. That the only way we can get ourselves to apply knowledge is by a determined conscious effort. Call to Mind the fact that knowledge unused passes from the Mind, that the value of the information is in the application of the principle; continue this line of Thought until you gain sufficient insight to formulate a definite program for applying this principle to your own particular problem.   

Think truly, and thy Thoughts Shall the world's famine feed; Speak truly, and each word of thine Shall be a fruitful seed; Live truly, and thy life shall be A great and noble creed. 

- Horatio Bonar 

STUDY QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS:-

1. What determines the degree of harmony which we attain? 

=> Our ability to appropriate what we require for our growth from each experience.  

2. What do difficulties and obstacles indicate? 

=> That they are necessary for our wisdom and Spiritual growth.  

3. How may these difficulties be avoided? 

=> By a conscious understanding of and cooperation with Natural Laws.  

4. What is the principle by which Thought manifests itself in form? 

=> The Law of Attraction.  

5. How is the necessary material secured by which the growth, development and maturity of the idea take form? 

=> The Law of Love, which is the creative principle of the Universe, imparts vitality to the Thought, and the Law of Attraction brings the necessary substance by the Law of Growth.  

6. How are desirable conditions secured? 

=> By entertaining desirable Thoughts only.  

7. How are undesirable conditions brought about? 

=> By thinking, discussing and visualizing conditions of lack, limitation, disease, inharmony and discord of every kind. This mental photography of erroneous conceptions is taken up by the Subconscious and the Law of Attraction will inevitable crystallize it into objective form. That we reap what we sow is scientifically exact. 

8. How can we overcome every kind of fear, lack, limitation, poverty and discord? 

=> By substituting principle for error.   

9. How may we recognize principle? 

=> By a conscious realization of the fact that Truth invariably destroys error. We do not have to laboriously shovel the darkness out; all that is necessary is to turn on the light. The same principle applies to every form of negative Thought.  

10. What is the value of Insight? 

=> It enables us to understand the value of making application of the knowledge which we gain. Many seem to think that knowledge will automatically apply itself, which is by no means true.  

To Every Man There Openeth A Way, And The High Soul Climbs The High Way, And The Low Soul Gropes The Low; And In Between On The Misty Flats, The Rest Drift To And Fro. But To Every Man There Openeth A High Way And A Low And Every Man Decideth The Way His Soul Shall Go.