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Part 6 · Attention Is a Muscle · points 30–34 of 34 in this Part

Where the power comes from

Suffering has two sources: disease in the body and anxiety in the mind.

5 numbered points · 1 study question · 2 min read

The one line to keep

Suffering has two sources: disease in the body and anxiety in the mind.

Men are learning to put themselves in harmony with the Universal Mind, and circumstances follow the trend of their mental state: growth follows knowledge, action follows inspiration, opportunity follows perception. The individual is the channel through which the universal differentiates — which is why the supply never runs out. Haanel names the two great causes of human suffering plainly: bodily disease and mental anxiety, both traceable to breaking some natural law.
Why this matters — Part 6
If you are waiting to feel motivated before you start, this level explains the trap: interest follows attention, not the other way round. You don't decide to be interested and then look; you look, and interest arrives as a consequence. For someone whose motivation has drained away, that is very good news — you don't need the feeling. You need ten minutes and a photograph.

Study question 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.

60. What is changing conditions and multiplying results in the objective world?

Men are learning the basic methods of constructive thinking.

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Haanel's own words — points 30–34

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

30

Men are learning to place themselves in harmony with the Universal Mind. They are learning the unity of all things. They are learning the basic methods and principles of thinking, and this is changing conditions and multiplying results.

31

They are finding that circumstances and environment follow the trend of mental and spiritual progress. They find that growth follows knowledge, action follows inspiration, opportunity follows perception, always the spiritual first, then the transformation into the infinite and illimitable possibilities of achievement.

32

As the individual is the channel for the differentiation of the Universal, these possibilities are necessarily inexhaustible.

33

Thought is the process by which we may absorb the Spirit of Power, and hold the result in our inner consciousness until it becomes a part of our ordinary consciousness. The method of accomplishing this result by the persistent practice of a few fundamental principles, as explained in this System, is the master-key which unlocks the storehouse of Universal Truth.

34

The two great sources of human suffering at present are bodily disease and mental anxiety. These may be readily traced to the infringement of some Natural Law. This is, no doubt, owing to the fact that so far knowledge has largely remained partial, but the clouds of darkness which have accumulated through long ages are beginning to roll away and with them many of the miseries that attend imperfect information. "That a man can change himself, improve himself, re-create himself, control his environment, and master his own destiny is the conclusion of every mind who is wide-awake to the power of right thought in constructive action." - Larson

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Photograph Drill (Part Six)

Bring a photograph to your usual seat.

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 6 · Attention Is a Muscle

Motivation arrives after attention, not before