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Part 5 · The Magic Wand of the Picture · points 6–14 of 30 in this Part

You are being built by suggestion

Plausible ideas get accepted and built. Audit what you accept.

9 numbered points · 2 study questions · 3 min read

The one line to keep

Plausible ideas get accepted and built. Audit what you accept.

Much of your mental furniture came from other people — parents, teachers, friends, advertising, culture. An idea merely sounded plausible, the conscious mind accepted it, and it was passed down to be built. That is how most people are quietly constructing their conditions all day long. The remedy is a house-cleaning: examine the store, throw out what you never actually chose, and start keeping courageous thoughts on the shelf.
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.

44. Where has the conscious mind received its governing tendencies?

From heredity; this means that it is the result of all the environments of all past generations.

47. Of what is the material with which we construct our mental home composed?

The thoughts which we entertain.

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Haanel's own words — points 6–14

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

6

Again, this mind which pervades our physical body is not only the result of hereditary tendencies, but is the result of home, business and social environment, where countless thousands of impressions, ideas, prejudices and similar thoughts have been received.

7

Much of this has been received from others, the result of opinions, suggestions or statements; much of it is the result of our own thinking, but nearly all of it has been accepted with little or no examination or consideration.

8

The idea seemed plausible, the conscious received it, passed it on to the subconscious, where it was taken up by the Sympathetic System and passed on to be built into our physical body. "The word has become flesh."

9

This, then, is the way we are consistently creating and recreating ourselves; we are today the result of our past thinking, and we shall be what we are thinking today, the Law of Attraction is bringing to us, not the things we should like, or the things we wish for, or the things some one else has, but it brings us "our own," the things which we have created by our thought processes, whether consciously or unconsciously. Unfortunately, many of us are creating these things unconsciously.

10

If either of us were building a home for ourselves, how careful we would be in regard to the plans; how we should study every detail; how we should watch the material and select only the best of everything; and yet how careless we are when it comes to building our Mental Home, which is infinitely more important than any physical home, as everything which can possibly enter into our lives depends upon the character of the material which enters into the construction of our Mental Home.

11

What is the character of this material? We have seen that it is the result of the impressions which we have accumulated in the past and stored away in our subconscious Mentality. If these impressions have been of fear, of worry, of care, of anxiety, if they have been despondent, negative, doubtful, then the texture of the material which we are weaving today will be of the same negative material. Instead of being of any value, it will be mildewed and rotten and will bring us only more toil and care and anxiety. We shall be forever busy trying to patch it up and make it appear at least genteel.

12

But if we have stored away nothing but courageous thought, if we have been optimistic, positive, and have immediately thrown any kind of negative thought on the scrap pile, have refused to have anything to do with it, have refused to associate with it or become identified with it in any way, what then is the result? Our mental material is now of the best kind; we can weave any kind of material we want; we can use any color we wish; we know that the texture is firm, that the material is solid, that it will not fade, and we have no fear, no anxiety concerning the future; there is nothing to cover, there are no patches to hide.

13

These are psychological facts; there is no theory or guess work about these thinking processes; there is nothing secret about them; in fact, they are so plain that every one can understand them. The thing to do is to have a mental house-cleaning, and to have this house-cleaning every day, and keep the house clean. Mental, moral and physical cleanliness are absolutely indispensable if we are to make progress of any kind.

14

When this mental house-cleaning process has been completed, the material which is left will be suitable for the making of the kind of ideals or mental images which we desire to realize.

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

Part 5 · The Magic Wand of the Picture

Build the inner room first