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Part 10 · The Square and the Circle · points 1–6 of 24 in this Part

Abundance is a law, not a stroke of luck

Wealth is the offspring of power, and power is an effect of knowledge.

6 numbered points · 2 study questions · 3 min read

The one line to keep

Wealth is the offspring of power, and power is an effect of knowledge.

Abundance is described as a natural law of the universe, not a favour granted to the fortunate. All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions come from wealth; and power follows knowledge of cause and effect. He insists that spiritual power sits on a higher plane than physical power because it decides how physical forces get used — the electrician does not invent electricity, he learns its rules and then does things nobody thought possible.
Why this matters — Part 10
Self-belief after repeated failure does not come back through compliments; it comes back through evidence of control. You cannot think your way into confidence, but you can build a square on a mental wall, move a point toward you, and know — with the same certainty you have about your own name — that you directed that. Small, absurd, real. That is how a person starts trusting themselves again.

Study questions for this sublevel

Haanel put a review question at the end of every part. Answer out loud first — the recall is what moves it into memory.

91. What is Wealth?

Wealth is the offspring of power.

92. Of what value are possessions?

Possessions are of value only as they confer power.

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Haanel's own words — points 1–6

Quoted exactly from The Master Key System (1912, public domain). The translation above is ours; this is his.

1

Abundance is a natural law of the Universe. The evidence of this law is conclusive; we see it on every hand. Everywhere Nature is lavish, wasteful, extravagant. Nowhere is economy observed in any created thing. Profusion is manifested in everything. The millions and millions of trees and flowers and plants and animals and the vast scheme of reproduction where the process of creating and recreating is forever going on, all indicates the lavishness with which Nature has made provision for man. That there is an abundance for everyone is evident, but that many fail to participate in this abundance is also evident; they have not yet come into a realization of the Universality of all substance, and that mind is the active principle whereby we are related to the things we desire.

2

All wealth is the offspring of power; possessions are of value only as they confer power. Events are significant only as they affect power; all things represent certain forms and degrees of power.

3

Knowledge of cause and effect as shown by the laws governing electricity, chemical affinity and gravitation, enables man to plan courageously and execute fearlessly. These laws are called Natural Laws, because they govern in the physical world, but all power is not physical power; there is also mental power, and there is moral and spiritual power.

4

Spiritual power is superior because it exists on a higher plane. It has enabled man to discover the law by which these wonderful forces of Nature could be harnessed and made to do the work of hundreds and thousands of men. It has enabled man to discover laws whereby time and space have been annihilated and the law of gravitation to be overcome. The operation of this law is dependent upon spiritual contact, as Henry Drummond says:

5

"In the physical world as we know it, there exists the organic and the inorganic. The inorganic of the mineral world is absolutely cut off from the plant or animal world; the passage is hermetically sealed. These barriers have never yet been crossed. No change of substance, no modification of environment, no chemistry, no electricity, no form of energy, no evolution of any kind can ever endow a single atom of the mineral world with the attribute of Life.”

6

"Only by the bending down into this dead world of some living form can those dead atoms be gifted with the properties of vitality; without this contact with life they remain fixed in the inorganic sphere forever. Huxley says that the doctrine of Biogenesis (or life only from life) is victorious all along the line, and Tyndall is compelled to say: 'I affirm that no shred of trustworthy evidence exists to prove that life in our day has ever appeared independent of antecedent life.'

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Will Drill (Part Ten)

Usual seat. Relax body, calm mind (Levels 3 and 4 are prerequisites — Haanel assumes them).

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Sit with it

Guided stillness timer

The sit is the whole foundation of the course: still body, watched breath, no phone. Pick five minutes if fifteen feels like a hill.

Open the timer

Keep going

Part 10 · The Square and the Circle

Proof, on the wall of your mind, that you can command it