Part 20 · Into the Silence · points 1–7 of 30 in this Part

The spirit of a thing is that thing

Without spirit, ownership is an empty shell.

7 numbered points · 2 study questions · 2 min read

The one line to keep

Without spirit, ownership is an empty shell.

All great things come through recognition — the sceptic receives nothing because he is not looking. Haanel goes further and says the spirit of a thing is that thing: you may own all the wealth in the world, but without its spirit you have only an image. Thinking is the true business of life, and power is the reward of understanding how it works. So long as you treat the surface as everything, you limit yourself to the surface.

Why this matters to you

Owning things without their spirit is how people end up comfortable and hollow. You are going after the substance.

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.

191. Upon what condition does power depend?

Upon recognition and use.

192. What is recognition?

Consciousness.

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Haanel's own words — points 1–7

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

The spirit of a thing is that thing; it is necessarily fixed, changeless and eternal. The spirit of you is – you; without the spirit you would be nothing. It becomes active through your recognition of it and its possibilities.

You may have all the wealth in Christendom, but unless you recognize it and make use of it, it will have no value. So with your spiritual wealth: Unless you recognize it and use it, it will have no value. The one and only condition of spiritual power is use or recognition.

All great things come through recognition; the scepter of power is consciousness, and thought is its messenger, and this messenger is constantly molding the realities of the invisible world into the conditions and environments of your objective world.

Thinking is the true business of life; power is the result. You are at all times dealing with the magical power of thought and consciousness. What results can you expect so long as you remain oblivious to the power which has been placed within your control?

So long as you do this, you limit yourself to superficial conditions and make of yourself a beast of burden for those who think; those who recognize their power; those who know that unless we are willing to think we shall have to work, and the less we think the more we shall have to work, and the less we shall get for our work.

The secret of power is a perfect understanding of the principles, forces, methods and combinations of Mind, and a perfect understanding of our relationship to the Universal Mind. It is well to remember that this principle is unchangeable; if this were not so, it would not be reliable – all principles are changeless.

This stability is your opportunity; you are its active attribute, the channel for its activity. The Universal can act only through the individual.