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Part 3 · Relax the Body, Free the Mind · points 21–28 of 33 in this Part

How to impress the subconscious

Say what you want. Never dictate how it must arrive.

8 numbered points · 2 study questions · 3 min read

The one line to keep

Say what you want. Never dictate how it must arrive.

Here is the method. Decide exactly what you want, hold it steadily, and hand it to the subconscious as a settled fact — then stop supervising. The finite cannot instruct the Infinite: you state the destination, not the route. This is the same simple, effective method every inventor and artist has leaned on. Repeated calmly, it sets causes in motion and the machinery does the rest.
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.

27. How may fear be completely eliminated?

By an understanding and recognition of the true source of all power.

28. What determines the experiences with which we meet in life?

Our predominant mental attitude.

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Haanel's own words — points 21–28

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

21

As the following statement is of considerable importance, I will put it in several ways, so that you cannot fail to get the full significance of it. If you are religiously inclined, I would say, you can let your light shine. If your mind has a bias toward physical science, I would say you can wake the Solar Plexus; or, if you prefer the strictly scientific interpretation, I will say that you can impress your subconscious mind.

22

I have already told you what the result of this impression will be. It is the method in which you are now interested. You have already learned that the subconscious is intelligent and that it is creative, and responsive to the will of the conscious mind. What, then, is the most natural way of making the desired impression? Mentally concentrate on the object of your desire; when you are concentrating you are impressing upon the subconscious.

23

This is not the only way, but it is a simple and effective way, and the most direct way, and consequently the way in which the best results are secured. It is the method which is producing such extraordinary results that many think that miracles are being accomplished.

24

It is the method by which every great inventor, every great financier, every great statesman has been enabled to convert the subtle and invisible force of desire, faith and confidence into actual, tangible, concrete facts in the objective world.

25

The subconscious mind is a part of the Universal mind. The Universal mind is the creative principle of the Universe; a part must be the same in kind and quality as the whole. This means that this creative power is absolutely unlimited; it is not bound by precedent of any kind, and consequently has no prior existing pattern by which to apply its constructive principle.

26

We have found that the subconscious mind is responsive to our conscious will, which means that the unlimited creative power of the Universal Mind is within control of the conscious mind of the individual.

27

When making a practical application of this principle, in accordance with the exercises given in the subsequent lessons, it is well to remember that it is not necessary to outline the method by which the subconscious will produce the results you desire. The finite can not inform the Infinite. You are simply to say what you desire, not how you are to obtain it.

28

You are the channel by which the undifferentiated is being differentiated, and this differentiation is being accomplished by appropriation. It only requires recognition to set causes in motion which will bring about results in accordance with your desire, and this is accomplished because the Universal can act only through the individual, and the individual can act only through the Universal; they are one.

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