Part 15 · Knowledge Does Not Apply Itself · points 1–6 of 36 in this Part
Laws built to grow you
Obstacles are not punishments. They are indicators.
6 numbered points · 2 study questions · 2 min read
Obstacles are not punishments. They are indicators.
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.
141. What determines the degree of harmony which we attain?
Our ability to obtain what we require for our growth from each experience.
142. What do difficulties and obstacles indicate?
That they are necessary for our wisdom and spiritual growth.
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.
The laws under which we live are designed solely for our advantage. These laws are immutable and we cannot escape from their operation.
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.
Difficulties, disharmonies, and obstacles, indicate that we are either refusing to give out what we no longer need, or refusing to accept what we require.
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.
We cannot obtain what we lack if we cling tenaciously 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.
The ability to obtain 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.
Put it to work
The Insight Program (Part Fifteen)
Usual seat, focus on the fact that knowledge of the creative power of thought is not the same as possession of the art of thinking.
See all stepsGuided 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 timerKeep going
The gap between knowing and living — and the ladder across it