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This is the thirteenth episode of the Master Key Coaching Teleseminars (Happy Halloween, anyone?) and with it comes an exploration into Week Nine of The Master Key System. You may have noticed something different about this week’s update: it appeared online a little later than usual. Is there a reason for that?

I’m glad you asked because yes, there is. In order to encourage participation in the live call — which occurs every Monday evening beginning at 8:05 pm EST — I decided to delay uploading the audio of the call for one week. hence, the people who listen and participate live are rewarded and those who don’t … Well, I can’t say that they’re being punished, because they — or possible you — are not. I don’t want anyone to think or feel that way. I understand that many have busy schedules or live in different time zones. We all have to make commitments, though, and we all have to sometimes “do what we gotta do.” The live call is important not only because it provides the source for this podcast/recording, but because it allows people to interact and ask questions or make comments. As I’ve said quite a few times, that is the really fun part of the call and more often than not provides the greater food for thought.

Additionally, the time delay allows me time to write these summaries without the feeling of being rushed.

Make sense?

Now, let’s get into this week’s call.

I often receive emails about what I say on the calls. Mostly good; sometimes not so good. Generally, it never fails that when I say something that I think is controversial and that I think I’ll receive massive emails about, the emails never come. On the other hand, when I say something that I think is innocuous, I become deluged with emails — some calling for my head on a platter! That’s what happened after last week’s call.

I made the comment about someone making toilets for a living and made the comment asking if anyone really thinks someone could be “passionate” about producing “porcelain potentates.” I thought it was funny and said that merely to show a point about how by merely following one’s passion, the money doesn’t always follow; sometimes we don’t necessarily follow our passions to earn money. It helps, sometimes; and if we can arrange so that our source of income is tightly tied with something we love doing, then we are very fortunate. It doesn’t always work that way, though. I posted a video at www.masterkeycoaching.com in which Mike Rowe, the “Dirty Jobs” guy, delivered a speech on just this topic. Have a look at it, if you will. It contains much food for thought.

That being said, the person who emailed me wrote asking how did I know that the person who manufactured toilets wasn’t passionate about them? Maybe they were! Just because I think it’s silly — or dirty or whatever — doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way.

Well, you know what? The person who emailed me is absolutely correct! I don’t know how that person thinks or feels. As I wrote, though, I was merely illustrating a point. All of our passions are different — and they are all focused on different things. While the person manufacturing toilets may not be passionate about toilets, he may be passionate about making money or building a business or … Any of a thousand possible reasons.

The greater point that I’d like to address here is that when you listen to me speak, I generally avoid any “jingo-ism.” I don’t spout Hallmark-ian one-liners and aver that that that is the way to live. Trite tropes have their place, but I want to impart something deeper to you. That why I carefully choose many of my words. (I try for all, but language … It sometimes gets in the way.) When you hear me speak, you hear me qualify statements I make with the words “sometimes” or “generally” or more often than not.” I do that purposefully because there are no one hundred percent methods and philosophies. Most that we study only increases the chance (possibilities) of becoming “successful.” It’s up to us to find the time and place in which something works for us. Sometimes we “turn the other cheek” while at other times we “fight back.” Sometimes it’s difficult to discern when to do what, but that’s where wisdom comes into play — and we only attain that as we move along, experience, and learn.

One thing that I have found to be true almost axiomatically is that success always comes from people doing what other people are either unwilling or unable to do — or both! We hit on that tangentially on our first few episodes here. I’ll be posting more about that at www.theaxioms.com. Stay tuned!

I hope this helps you to understand the conversation we had last week. If not, zap me an email or ask a question during one of the calls. That’s why I’m here.

Let’s get into Week Nine.

Week Nine is an interesting week because Haanel brings a lot of disparate thoughts and ideas together here. As we progress further into the book, we’ll see more and more how some things that seem not to belong actually do. We’ll also see how the exercises are coming to a “head.” You may have been getting that impression already. If so, then good; you’re ahead of the curve. If not, keep working with the process and the exercises. You’ll get it.

In the Letter of Transmittal, Haanel once again reminds us of the “formula” for getting what we want.

Action is the blossom of thought, and conditions are the result of action.

I don’t want to beat a dead horse — or even a living one! — but I’ve been saying that for just about every episode of these teleseminars. I keep repeating it because of all the “disinformation” being touted about “manifesting” and the “law of attraction.” Yes, everything we have and everything that is around us began with a thought — the process doesn’t stop there, though, with merely thinking. There is the planning and the action that is required to bring us “our own.” A person thinking about writing a book will never “manifest” a book until he takes the time and expends the effort in doing what needs to be done to write a book: the planning, the outlining, the rough draft, the editing, letting other people see and criticize it, re-drafting, re-writing, fixing errors, making passages more clear, hunting and citing sources … Get it?

Action is part of the process that Haanel espouses. Haanel’s writing in The Master Key System teach us how to think — properly, correctly, and with taking action in mind. As I said in our very first episode, when you realize this and really study this book with that in mind, you will become a very powerful and potent person.

Following from that, Haanel then implores us to go further.

To know the Truth is the underlying condition necessary in every business transaction or social relation.

This is a funny statement. Not funny as in “ha-ha,” but funny as in peculiar and something that causes many people much puzzlement.

I think that there are two ways to look at that statement. One is mostly of my own making; the other is more in line with the gist of Haanel’s background — that being Christian Science and the Unitarian philosophy.

My view is that the “Truth” to which Haanel is referring (and please note that “Truth” is spelled with a capital “T”) is the intrinsic meaning or value of something or what we’re doing. If we embark on something without the knowledge of what it is we’re really doing — or why we’re doing it — then we are more apt to make mistakes or overlook opportunities.

This quest for seeing the thing as it really is — for seeing the “soul” of something, for lack of a better word — is what all of the exercises in The Master Key System are building within us. Instead of seeing or being fooled by appearances or ornament, we are seeing the thing (or event or experience) as it really is. Look back to the exercise in Week Eight (the one with the battleship) to see it in action. We’re not just disassembling the ship, we are taking it back to its root cause — its core — its soul. As we do that with everything that we experience, we gain a greater understanding of what something is. It’s very powerful and holds the potential to open many doors for you.

I call the process of breaking something down to its core “distillation.” Exactly like taking water and converting it to steam to rid it of impurities, that is, in many respects, the same thing we are doing with the exercises that Haanel provided for us. We are “distilling” reality to see past the shibboleths of our mind and to see reality free of preconception, ornament, and impurities.

For example, many people are befuddled by business, but each and every business can be reduced to merely the buying and selling of a good or service. You have something people want and you sell it to them at a price that is greater than (hopefully!) than what it costs you to produce or provide it. Most of the things over and above that are just ornament: a clown as your mascot to help you sell hamburgers; the beautiful design of your computer that “just works”; the uniforms of the junk haulers.

Below the surface of what we see is the root of what is actually happening. It is an idea come to life. It is the flower sprouting petals and the bird spreading its wings.

As we’ll see later in the upcoming weeks, beyond (or underneath) that core are the things that add to our “power.”

For now, just look for the core — the intrinsic value or meaning of what it is.

The other view, the view that is possibly more in line with Haanel’s background, is that we are seeking “spiritual Truths.” Frankly, I think that what I described and what Haanel describes reach for the same goal: understanding. Haanel couches his view, though, in his idea that we are all working as part of the “Universal Mind” or “Consciousness.” I think that’s fine and when you listen to this episode, it’s up to you to choose which you think serves you better — or you can, of course, appreciate and use both. That’s what makes all these ideas so much fun.

For the exercise in Week Nine, Haanel instructs us to visualize a flower growing from seed.

This week visualize a plant. Take a flower, the one you most admire, and bring it from the unseen into the seen. Plant the tiny seed, water it, care for it, place it where it will get the direct rays of the morning sun. See the seed burst; it is now a living thing, something which is alive and beginning to search for the means of subsistence. See the roots penetrating the earth, watch them shoot out in all directions and remember that they are living cells dividing and subdividing and that they will soon number millions, that each cell is intelligent, that it knows what it wants and knows how to get it. See the stem shoot forward and upward, watch it burst through the surface of the earth, see it divide and form branches, see how perfect and symmetrical each branch is formed, see the leaves begin to form, and then the tiny stems, each one holding aloft a bud, and as you watch you see the bud begin to unfold and your favorite flower comes to view; and now if you will concentrate intently you will become conscious of a fragrance. It is the fragrance of the flower as the breeze gently sways the beautiful creation which you have visualized.

When you are enabled to make your vision clear and complete you will be enabled to enter into the spirit of a thing; it will become very real to you; you will be learning to concentrate and the process is the same, whether you are concentrating on health, a favorite flower, an ideal, a complicated business proposition, or any other problem of life.

This is an extension of what we did last week with the battleship. It’s an example of a “thought experiment” and something that when you master it will help you in many aspects of your life.

We had an interesting Question & Answer session this week with us once again delving into the idea of healing ourselves with our minds. I won’t write anything about it here so you can listen for yourself what ideas were discussed. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Until next week, when we may revisit Week Nine for a few moments to hit a couple of ideas that I missed and perhaps venture into Week Ten.

I will “see” you next week. Please let me know if I can be of service to you. I wish you and yours the best of everything.