The Exercise in Week Four of “The Master Key System” Explained

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:31 — 29.1MB) | Embed

Week Four of The Master Key System — “Reversing the Process — From Cause to Effect” — is the last exercise that builds the “foundation” upon which all the following exercises will be built.

In this exercise, you will effectively master your ability to relax physically as well as mentally. You will master the control of you body and your emotions. You will learn to allow yourself to attain the “state” of physical and emotional control and well-being that will set you apart from the masses.

In short, you will learn to be a master of yourself rather than a plaything of circumstances. You will see your intellect rule and over-ride your emotions, thus allowing you to cast aside feelings of fear, anxiety, anger, and any other emotion that serves no useful purpose.

The Exercise in Week Four of The Master Key System

29. Last week I asked you to relax, to let go physically. This week, I am going to ask you to let go mentally. If you practiced the exercise given you last week fifteen or twenty minutes a day in accordance with the instructions, you can no doubt relax physically; and anyone who cannot consciously do this quickly and completely is not a master of himself. He has not obtained freedom; he is still a slave to conditions. But I shall assume that you have mastered the exercise and are ready to take the next step, which is mental freedom.

30. This week, after taking your usual position, remove all tension by completely relaxing, then mentally let go of all adverse conditions, such as hatred, anger, worry, jealousy, envy, sorrow, trouble, or disappointment of any kind.

31. You may say that you cannot “let go” of these things, but you can. You can do so by mentally determining to do so by voluntary intention and persistence.

32. The reason that some cannot do this is because they allow themselves to be controlled by the emotions instead of by their intellect. But the will guided by the intellect will gain the victory. You will not succeed the first time you try, but practice makes perfect, in this as in everything else, and you must succeed in dismissing, eliminating, and completely destroying these negative and destructive thoughts because they are the seed which is constantly germinating into discordant conditions of every conceivable kind and description.

The Exercise for Week Four Explained

The exercise for Week One was to keep your body still. That allowed you to gain control of your physical being.

The exercise for Week Two was to inhibit your thoughts. That allowed you to gain control of your thoughts.

The exercise for Week Three was to relax your physical body. That allowed you to achieve a physical state in which you can lose your tension at will.

The exercise in Week Four brings all of those ideas into one grand exercise in which you will learn to achieve a state of physical and mental well-being — a state that is necessary for one to achieve if you wish to not only get great benefits from the rest of the exercises in The Master Key System, but from any other technique in personal development that you may wish to explore.

Why is this so important?

Haanel explains why in point #32: “…you must succeed in dismissing, eliminating, and completely destroying these negative and destructive thoughts because they are the seed which is constantly germinating into discordant conditions of every conceivable kind and description.”

You must learn to master “letting go” of the feeling and emotions that damage you more than you imagine. Remember that one of the main points of studying The Master Key System is to learn how to think, how to really and truly use your brain.

Most people don’t. They allow their emotions to sway them, to rule them. Fear rules people. Anger moves people. Jealousy sways people. We see these in operation every day in others. And generally, the result of these operations are not very good. In fact, they are destructive.

Worse than that, those emotions enslave people in a web of shadows. Thus, Haanel writes that this exercise — this next step — will secure for you “mental freedom.”

The Benefits of the Exercise for Week Four

The benefits of this exercise are multitudinous. As already stated, it is necessary to master this exercise — to be able to achieve this “state” — so as to gain the benefits of the subsequent exercises in The Master Key System as well as any other personal development tools you wish to explore.

If you cannot rule your body and mind, then you are a still enslaved by perceptions and shadows — the shibboleths of your mind. Thus, pursuing any tools for your advancement would be like exercising in a gym only to return home and eating bad foods and indulging in bad habits such as smoking or excessive drinking. You gain nothing once all is said and done. Your good works are for nought.

Thus, the benefits of mastering this exercise is, to put it simply, just about everything! Your ability to “let go” frees you from the “world without” and puts you in command of the “world within.” It severs you from the world of circumstances and places you in the seat of ownership.

Master this exercise. The consequences of doing so are far-reaching.

Tips for the Best Practice of Week Four’s Exercise

The great thing about these first four exercises is that they can be practiced almost anywhere. Waiting in a doctor’s office? Do the exercise. Sitting on a bus? Relax and do the exercise. Have a break at work? Do the exercise.

You should have a “place” that you can do the exercises, though, Especially Week Four’s exercise. Here’s why.

Many people will find it difficult to “let go.” You may find it difficult to do so. You can do it — and you will do it — because you will relate it to something you do almost every day.

Let me ask you this: Do you work during the week? Do you have the trials and tribulations that most of us have during the week? A yelling boss? Indifferent co-workers? Tough commute? Impatient customers? Repetitive work?

Now, do you look forward to the weekend? Of course you do! That’s when you can leave that world behind and get on with your life. On Friday evening (or afternoon), you leave work and feel as if you unburdened yourself of the yolk that you must bear during the week and you look forward to enjoying life without the hassles of the office.

That’s exactly how you should view doing this exercise and why you should have a place where you can sequester yourself. Your place is going to be your “safe zone” — the place where you can get away from it all. And when you enter that place, you can feel exactly as you do on a Friday afternoon: as if you were relieving yourself of all the troubles and worries of your work week. The only difference is that you will be allowing yourself to drop (“let go”) your negative emotions — “hatred, anger, worry, jealousy, envy, sorrow, trouble, or disappointment of any kind” — and enter a state of relaxation, placidity, and perhaps even bliss.

Over time and with practice, you will be able to do this anywhere. Are you getting annoyed because you’re stuck in traffic? With mastery, you will be able to lose those feelings and become at peace with the situation. Did someone anger you with something they did? You will be able to drop that baggage and tend to the situation with tact and calmness.

And that will make you something that most people are not: a person to be admired and followed. A person of dignity, tact, and thought.

Mastering this exercise will change you — for the better.

Until next week, please get for yourself the best of everything…