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Part 3 · Relax the Body, Free the Mind · points 8–14 of 33 in this Part

When the sun dims

Resistant thought dims it. Non-resistant thought expands it.

7 numbered points · 2 study questions · 3 min read

The one line to keep

Resistant thought dims it. Non-resistant thought expands it.

When that radiation is interrupted, you feel the opposites quickly: lack, limitation, fear, disharmony, a sense of being cut off. Haanel then gives the lever. Conscious thought is master of this centre, and non-resistant thought expands it while resistant thought shuts it down. In plain words: soften, allow, stop bracing against life — and the centre opens again.
Why this matters — Part 3
Depression and defeat both live in a clenched body — jaw, shoulders, stomach, breath held high in the chest. When you are low, you cannot argue your way out of it, but you can unclench. Haanel had no brain scans, yet he put relaxation in lesson three because he knew a mind in a knotted body cannot think a single new thought. Start where you actually have power: the muscles.

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.

23. What is the central point of distribution for energy which the body is constantly generating?

The solar plexus.

24. How may this distribution be interrupted?

By resistant, critical, discordant thoughts, but especially fear.

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Haanel's own words — points 8–14

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

8

If there is any interruption of this radiation the sensations are unpleasant, the flow of life and energy to some part of the body is stopped, and this is the cause of every ill to the human race, physical, mental or environmental.

9

Physical because the sun of the body is no longer generating sufficient energy to vitalize some part of the body; mental because the conscious mind is dependent upon the subconscious mind for the vitality necessary to support its thought, and environmental, because the connection between the subconscious mind and the Universal mind, is being interrupted.

10

The Solar Plexus is the point at which the part meets with the whole, where the finite becomes Infinite, where the Uncreate becomes create, the Universal becomes individualized, the Invisible becomes visible. It is the point at which life appears and there is no limit to the amount of life an individual may generate from this Solar centre.

11

This centre of energy is Omnipotent because it is the point of contact with all life and all intelligence. It can therefore accomplish whatever it is directed to accomplish, and herein lies the power of the conscious mind; the subconscious can and will carry out such plans and ideas as may be suggested to it by the conscious mind.

12

Conscious thought, then, is master of this sun centre from which the life and energy of the entire body flows and the quality of the thought which we entertain determines the quality of the thought which this sun will radiate, and the character of the thought which our conscious mind entertains will determine the character of the thought which this sun will radiate, and the nature of the thought which our conscious mind entertains will determine the nature of thought which this sun will radiate, and consequently will determine the nature of the experience which will result.

13

It is evident, therefore, that all we have to do is let our light shine; the more energy we can radiate, the more rapidly shall we be enabled to transmute undesirable conditions into sources of pleasure and profit. The important question, then, is how to let this light shine; how to generate this energy.

14

Non-resistant thought expands the Solar Plexus; resistant thought contracts it. Pleasant thought expands it; unpleasant thought contracts it. Thoughts of courage, power, confidence and hope all produce a corresponding state, but the one arch enemy of the Solar Plexus which must be absolutely destroyed before there is any possibility of letting any light shine is fear. This enemy must be completely destroyed; he must be eliminated; he must be expelled forever; he is the cloud which hides the sun, which causes a perpetual gloom.

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Full Let-Go (Part Three)

Sit in your usual place. Be still, calm your surface thoughts for a minute.

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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.

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Keep going

Part 3 · Relax the Body, Free the Mind

Tension is thinking you can't stop