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Part 7 · Train Your Imagination on a Friend · points 22–30 of 31 in this Part

Plant the seed and stop digging it up

Anxiety digs up the seed. Plant it, then work calmly.

9 numbered points · 3 study questions · 3 min read

The one line to keep

Anxiety digs up the seed. Plant it, then work calmly.

The law operates with perfect accuracy in both directions. Most people ruin their work by being too anxious about results: they plant the seed and then dig it up twice a day to check. Plant it, leave it undisturbed, and apply steady effort. Haanel adds the line that later writers loved: thought is the fire that creates the steam that turns the wheel of fortune.
Why this matters to you
You are allowed to work without checking the soil every hour. That anxiety is not diligence; it is doubt with a job.

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.

67. How are the necessary conditions for bringing about the materialization of your ideal in the objective world secured?

By the Law of Attraction. The natural law by which all conditions and experiences are brought about.

68. What three steps are necessary in order to bring this law into operation?

Earnest Desire, Confident Expectation, Firm Demand.

69. Why do many fail?

Because they concentrate on loss, disease and disaster. The law is operating perfectly; the things they fear are coming upon them.

Your progress in this sublevel
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Checking what is saved…

Haanel's own words — points 22–30

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

22

Create ideals only, give no thought to external conditions, make the world within beautiful and opulent and the world without will express and manifest the condition which you have within. You will come into a realization of your power to create ideals and these ideals will be projected into the world of effect.

23

For instance, a man is in debt. He will be continually thinking about the debt, concentrating on it, and as thoughts are causes the result is that he not only fastens the debt closer to him, but actually creates more debt. He is putting the great Law of Attraction into operation with the usual and inevitable result – Loss leads to greater "Loss."

24

What, then, is the correct principle? Concentrate on the things you want, not on the things you do not want. Think of abundance; idealize the methods and plans for putting the Law of Abundance into operation. Visualize the condition which the Law of Abundance creates; this will result in manifestation.

25

If the law operates perfectly to bring about poverty, lack and every form of limitation for those who are continually entertaining thoughts of lack and fear, it will operate with the same certainty to bring about conditions of abundance and opulence for those who entertain thoughts of courage and power.

26

This is a difficult problem for many. We are too anxious. We manifest anxiety, fear, and distress. We want to do something; we want to help. We are like a child who has just planted a seed and every fifteen minutes goes and stirs up the earth to see if it is growing. Of course, under such circumstances, the seed will never germinate, and yet this is exactly what many of us do in the mental world.

27

We must plant the seed and leave it undisturbed. This does not mean that we are to sit down and do nothing, by no means. We will do more and better work then we have ever done before, new channels will constantly be provided, new doors will open. All that is necessary is to have an open mind, be ready to act when the time comes.

28

Thought force is the most powerful means of obtaining knowledge, and if concentrated on any subject will solve the problem. Nothing is beyond the power of human comprehension, but in order to harness thought force and make it do your bidding, work is required.

29

Remember that thought is the fire that creates the steam that turns the wheel of fortune, upon which your experiences depend.

30

Ask yourself a few questions and then reverently await the response. Do you not now and then feel the self with you? Do you assert this self or do you follow the majority? Remember that majorities are always led, they never lead. It was the majority that fought, tooth and nail, against the steam engine, the power loom and every other advance or improvement ever suggested.

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Friend Visualisation (Part Seven)

Same seat, relaxed body, quiet 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 7 · Train Your Imagination on a Friend

Imagination is a muscle, not a mood