In the first Week of The Master Key System, Charles F. Haanel describes what he calls the “world within” and the “world without.”

What did he mean by those terms?

The world within is one’s mind.

It’s one’s thoughts.

It’s one’s feelings.

As Mr. Haanel wrote, it’s forces are mighty.

The world without, on the other hand, Mr. Haanel described as a “reflection of the world within.”

The world within can alter the world without. It happens all the time. It’s part of the interplay that happens betwixt the two. It’s what I like to call the “Dance.”

There are many examples of the Dance all about us. One need only look through the surface — as Mr. Haanel instructs in The Master Key System — to see the movements and interactions and interplay taking place.

The influence of the world without and the world within (and vice versa) is possible because, as Haanel wrote, we “live in a fathomless sea of plastic mind substance.”

Everything that we see and have and that moves us and influences us are ideas.

This world of ideas — this world in which we swim and which in turn moves us — is what Mr. Haanel meant when he wrote “plastic mind substance.” Think how often the world is changed by an idea — an idea brought to fruition by one’s actions and daring.

The car …

… the light bulb …

… the indoor toilet …

… the computer …

… the cellular phone …

… Each and every idea that in turn changed us and changed the world in which we “swim.”

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Be the change by reading great books because they change you and you change the world.