Part 5 · The Magic Wand of the Picture · points 1–5 of 30 in this Part

Ninety per cent of you is habit

The subconscious can solve anything you hand it properly — but it runs on repetition.

5 numbered points · 2 study questions · 1 min read

The one line to keep

The subconscious can solve anything you hand it properly — but it runs on repetition.

At least ninety per cent of mental life is subconscious, and it can solve any problem given to it in the right way. It pervades the body and works without your supervision. Nothing about it is fixed: you can consciously choose and use better characteristics than the ones heredity handed you, if you are willing to repeat them long enough to become automatic.

Why this matters — Part 5

When life has been grim for a while, your imagination starts producing only disaster footage — it rehearses the worst automatically. You can't just switch that off; you have to give it somewhere else to go. A pleasant mental picture is not escapism. It is retraining the projector. And it is the smallest possible first step for a person who can't yet imagine a good future: start with a good room.

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.

41. What proportion of our mental life is subconscious?

At least ninety per cent.

42. Is this vast mental storehouse generally utilized?

No.

Your progress in this sublevel

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Checking what is saved…

Haanel's own words — points 1–5

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

At least ninety per cent of our mental life is subconscious, so that those who fail to make use of this mental power live within very narrow limits.

The subconscious can and will solve any problem for us if we know how to direct it. The subconscious processes are always at work; the only question is, are we to be simply passive recipients of this activity, or are we to consciously direct the work? Shall we have a vision of the destination to be reached, the dangers to be avoided, or shall we simply drift?

We have found that mind pervades every part of the physical body and is always capable of being directed or impressed by authority coming from the objective or the more dominant portion of the mind.

The mind, which pervades the body, is largely the result of heredity, which, in turn, is simply the result of all the environments of all past generations on the responsive and ever-moving life forces. An understanding of this fact will enable us to use our authority when we find some undesirable trait of character manifesting.

We can consciously use all the desirable characteristics with which we have been provided and we can repress and refuse to allow the undesirable ones to manifest.

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Complete Picture (Part Five)

Relax completely in your usual seat (Level 3 muscles, Level 4 clear mind).

See all steps

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

1Ninety per cent of you is habitThe subconscious can solve anything you hand it properly — but it runs on repetition.2You are being built by suggestionPlausible ideas get accepted and built. Audit what you accept.3The estate waiting for a claimantA better life is unoccupied. Three things claim it: sincerity, intention, action.4The life flowing through youThe Infinite Life flows through you — and only out of you if you let it.5This week: build the roomGive your mind somewhere pleasant to go, in full detail.

Part 5 · The Magic Wand of the Picture

Build the inner room first

All 5 sublevels All 24 parts Safety guidance