Harmony in the world within will be reflected in the world without
by harmonious conditions, agreeable surroundings, the best of everything.

Haanel has already told us that the world outside ourselves is a reflection of the world within. (point 8). He now expands on that concept. You will only know harmony in the world outside yourself when you experience harmony within yourself. If you think about that for just a few moments you will accept the truth of what Haanel says.
When you are not at peace in your own sense of being, then you are in a constant state of angst, where your body is in a constant state of readiness for fight or flight, which are the two instinctual responses to danger. Depending on your personality and your upbringing, whenever you find yourself even slightly challenged, you will choose one of those two options.
So, someone bumps you as you walk down the street. If you are in a state of conflict within yourself you will see that simple act as a sign of aggression. Your immediate reaction is to turn and size up the “challenger”, which is what the other person has become.
Chances are, they are doing the same! In a volatile situation like that it only takes the smallest of sparks to set a blaze of inappropriately expressed anger.
That is even more the case when the two of you are in cars. Road rage is rife within the community in which I live, even to the point of people being killed for having driven at the speed limit!
But Haanel focuses on the other end of the scale. When you are comfortable with who you are, when you fit comfortably in your own skin, you will find that the world outside yourself is bright and fresh and new. And no, he’s not referring to some drug induced fantasy world of bright colours and the like.
Rather, he speaks of a world that is seen from an at-peace perspective. Such a world does exist for those who are at peace with who they are in themselves. It’s a perspective that accepts the world is far from perfect, that you, yourself, are far from perfect but at this moment in time you are you would not choose to be anyone or anywhere else.
It’s a perspective that does not see you in competition with others; that does not compare yourself with others; but truly admires and applauds the abilities and accomplishments of others.
It’s a perspective that does not focus on your own limitations, but rejoices in what you are able to do well. At the same time it also recognises that there is so much more that is available that you have yet to experience that you look forward to the future with anticipation.
It’s a perspective that finds enjoyment in the simple things in life, like a magnificent sunset, the unconditional love of a puppy, the fragile vulnerability of a new born baby.
In short, a world where life is really worth living and you choose to squeeze as much out of it as you possibly can.
It’s a world, or a perspective on the world, that is available to all who dare to take the journey to the world within.

What Haanel is saying in the first sentence of this point is that the Universe adjusts itself to our perception of what is real. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that our perspective filters the information we take in through our 5 sense gates (sight, hearing, taste, smell , touch) and interprets them in a way which is in keeping with our own, individual belief system. It’s part of our defence mechanism, that allows us to make sense of what is happening outside of ourselves in a way that is in keeping with what we believe.
For each person, that perspective will be slightly different because it is made up of a number of factors including: your values, your attitudes, your experiences, your upbringing and your belief systems. By bringing all those factors into play it is not hard to see how two people could have quite a different perspective on one topic because no two people will have EXACTLY the same values, attitudes, experiences, upbringing or beliefs.
So whose perspective is right?
Answer: Everybody’s.
No doubt you’ve heard the phrase that doesn’t seem get much attention these days that “the customer is always right.” Well, this is where that notion comes from. In his/her own mind the customer IS always right. Even when, or particularly when, the customer is completely wrong, the customer is always right….at least in their mind, which, quite honestly is all that really matters to them. You will never win an argument with someone who, for whatever reason, cannot/will not consider an alternative perspective on the matter.
But that’s not all that is contained within this short sentence. Haanel is also saying that our own individual understanding of the world outside is limited by the amount of time and effort a person has given to exploring the world within. If you have not started the journey to the world within, your perspective of the outside world will, at best, be stunted and incomplete.
We already know that it is from the world within we can access and influence our thoughts and feelings and tap into the power of light and life and beauty (point six), and find the solution for every problem, the cause for every effect. (point seven) But that can only happen if we embark on that journey. Until then, we really have no true understanding of either our place within the whole scheme of things or the potential we have available to us.
As Haanel points out in the rest of this point we have available to us, “ infinite Wisdom, infinite Power, infinite Supply of all that is necessary.” Can you get your mind around that? I certainly struggle with the magnitude of what Haanel is saying. In essence ALL wisdom without limitation, ALL power, without limitation, and everything we could ever need, without limitation is available to us simply by undertaking the journey to the world within!
So, why then do we live such pathetic, miserable lives? Is it because we are unaware of our potential? For some, that may be true. In the main, however, despite all that awaits us, despite it just sitting there, waiting for us to claim, unfold, develop and express we let it sit there, like some discarded gift that has not even been unwrapped.
Not only that, but we moan and complain about how unfair life is and how powerless we are to do anything to change our situations etc.,etc.,etc. when all the while that gift sits, quietly by waiting for us to claim it. That, in my humble opinion, has to be a tragic waste of life.

Each cell in the honeycomb is inextricably (there’s that word again…such bliss) linked with all the other cells in the structure, and if one of those cells were missing, six others would be immediately affected and the whole structure would be weakened. If a cell of honeycomb could laugh, the whole structure would vibrate with the joy. If a cell of honeycomb could cry, the whole structure would get wet. What affects the one, affects the whole.
The import of this reality are truly amazing, dare I say world changing. WE ARE ALL ONE. There is no ‘them’ and ‘us’. There is no ‘other’. We are all manifestations of THE ONE because there is nothing else!
Now, just an aside for a moment to raise two points. First is, and this is truly amazing, the timing of Haanel’s work. Most of us in the Twenty First Century were taught at school that matter is really energy. E=MC2 and all that. So, the facts of what we are considering here is not something new to us. But Haanel was writing in the time before Einstein’s discoveries were widely known! The basic understanding that people of the time had was Newtonian physics which claimed the world as it exists came about mainly as a result of the forces of gravity; that atoms were the basic building block of all nature and were solid in form! It was only with the capacity to be able to break the atom into its component parts that the true nature of ‘matter’ could be discovered. That didn’t happen, at least publicly for more than a decade after Haanel wrote The Master Key System!
Now my second point in this brief informative interlude may seem like a blatant plug. That’s because it is. I have written a series of novels exploring, at least in part, \what this idea that we are all one really means and how it might be realized in practical terms. As my gift to you, I am offering the first novel in that series, totally free of charge. You can download the PDF version of it by clicking here. I hope it inspires you sufficiently to do something!

We cannot express powers that we do not possess. The only way by which we may secure possession of power is to become conscious of power. We can never become conscious of power until we learn that all power comes from within.
It is at this point we need to distinguish between power and authority. Often those two words are used interchangeably, yet they are quite distinctly different.

Authority, according to the dictionary, is
The power or right to enforce obedience

It is essentially external to the individual. A person may have authority, but only to the extent that it is given to them by someone, or somebody apart from themselves.

For example, a person may have the authority to preside over a large corporation. . That authority is given by the people who have a personal interest in the company, namely the shareholders.
A person may have the authority to preside over a country. That authority is given by the people who have a personal interest in the way the country is run, namely the citizens.
Alternatively, a person may claim the authority to rule over a country as a dictator, but only to the extent that those who maintain the dictatorship provide the support necessary to “enforce obedience” on the populace.

On a more personal scale a person may have authority over another either because the one with authority is the parent in the case of a child or has been given authority by the person concerned as may be the case in an elderly or disabled person.

The whole point is, authority comes from without. It is external.

Power, on the other hand has to do with ability. All power, as Haanel reminds us, comes from within. You have power; all the power you will ever need to live your life to the full. Unfortunately, many people have laid their power down and given over authority for their lives to someone else. No matter what the situation is now, that initial laying down of power was a matter of personal choice.

It may have been the ‘best of a bad lot’ compromise that has developed into something other than you had intended. It may have been a matter of choosing the line of least resistance. If you are in that position, you need to come to terms with the fact that someone else only has authority over you while you allow it. I am not inciting revolution here. Rather, I am talking from an individual perspective, although the principles work at all levels in which you operate.

Viktor Frankl wrote of this concept in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”
We who lived in concentration camps can remember
the men who walked through the huts comforting others,
giving away their last piece of bread. They may have
been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof
that everything can be taken from a man but one thing:
the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude
in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Each one of us has that ability, the power to choose HOW WE WILL RESPOND TO WHATEVER HAPPENS TO US. We may not have a choice as to what actually happens. We do, however have the power to choose our response. And that is the essence of the power that we have. It’s part of the total package we came into this life with. So why not use it?

Many who happily lay down their power do so with the mistaken idea that by effectively handing their life over for someone else to manage they can avoid any personal responsibility. As a result those people never mature, never live their life to the full, never achieve anything of any lasting significance. What a waste!!!

But that waste is compounded by the fact that there is every likelihood the person concerned is not even aware of the power they have available to them. It’s like a beggar receiving a check for $1 million, but never bothering to cash it because he doesn’t have a bank account.

We each have an incredible amount of power available for us to use. Yet, whenever we feel inadequate we tend to look everywhere else for help. I guess that makes sense because feelings of inadequacy don’t really fit with having a sense of power. Yet, as illogical as it seems, Haanel rightly points out “all power is from within”. For those willing to take up the challenges in life and meet them head on, that’s good news.

For those who hesitate, maybe the news is not so good, because at the end of the day, or as they lay on their death bed reviewing their life, they really have no one else to blame other than themselves for whatever life was for them

In this model, each person is represented by their own window. Let’s describe mine:

1. The “free” quadrant represents things that both I know about myself, and that you know about me.

For example, I know my name, and so do you.(It’s Graham, by the way) you know something about me. The knowledge that the free window represents, can include not only factual information, but my feelings, motives, behaviors, wants, needs and desires… indeed, any information describing who I am. It can be obvious (just by looking) at me or it might be something I disclose, like my favorite color.

When I first meet a person, the size of the opening of this first quadrant is not very large, since there has been little time to exchange information. As the process of getting to know one another continues, the window expands, placing more information into the open window, as described below.

2. The “blind” quadrant represents things that you know about me, that I am unaware of. So, for example, we could be eating at a restaurant, and I may have unknowingly gotten some food on my face. This information is in my blind quadrant because you can see it, but I cannot. If you now tell me I have something on my face, then the free window expands to the right, enlarging the free quadrant’s area.

Now, I also admit to having blindspots with respect to many other much more complex things. For example, perhaps in our ongoing conversation, you may notice that eye contact seems to be lacking. You may not say anything, since you may not want to embarrass me, or you may draw your own inferences that perhaps I am being insincere. Then the problem is, how can I get this information out in the open, since it may be affecting the level of trust that is developing between us?

How can I learn more about myself? Unfortunately, there is no readily available answer. I may notice a slight hesitation on your part, and perhaps this may lead to a question. But who knows if I will pick this up, or if your answer will be on the mark.

3. The “hidden” quadrant represents things that I know about myself, that you do not know.

So for example, I have not told you, nor mentioned anywhere on this site, what one of my favorite ice cream flavors is. This information is in my “hidden” quadrant. As soon as I tell you that I love rum and raisin flavored ice cream, I am effectively moving the information in my hidden quadrant and enlarging the free quadrant’s area.

Again, there are vast amounts of information, virtually my whole life’s story, that has not been revealed to you. As we get to know and trust each other, I will then feel more comfortable disclosing more intimate details about myself. This process is called: “Self-disclosure.”

4. The “unknown” quadrant represents things that neither I know about myself, nor you know about me. Not much either of us can do about that, or is there?

This is true because we must ‘be’ before we can ‘do’ and we can ‘do’ only to the extent which we ‘are’, and what we are depends on what we ‘think’

Which came first, the chicken or the egg. Which determines what? Does your “method of thinking” (discussed in point three) determine who you are or does who you are determine your method of thinking.

Haanel leaves us in no doubt that thinking is the foundational activity in the whole process. Thinking determines who you are at any given point of time, and it is from who you are that you act the way you do. At least, from your personal perspective.

Others people, outside yourself first get to know you through your actions, which will include things like the way you hold yourself, your grooming, the clothes you wear, the way you speak etc. etc.etc. If they choose to develop that relationship further, given time and the development of trust, you will eventually get around to sharing your thoughts and ideas. (For a fuller treatment of this see Thanks Joe, Thanks Harry

And that is where so many people get it wrong. They focus on their actions first and foremost. They are more concerned with ‘doing’ rather than ‘being’ and that, almost always leads to one of two results. Either they are trapped playing a role which is different from who they really are or they gradually reveal their true nature and, because it is different from the image they initially presented, they face rejection.

Why is that? Because of underdeveloped self-esteem many people will go to extraordinary lengths to appear to be someone other than who they truly are. Their thinking goes something like this:

I am not happy with my current situation. I need to change it. I need to find a new group of friends. In order to do that I need to make myself attractive enough so they will want me as a friend. I need to change the way I do things, because what I have been doing so far hasn’t got me what I wanted. So, I will act different and present myself as someone other than who I really am.

Uh-oh!!! Can you see the flaws in that line of reasoning? It is contained within the sentence ” I need to change the way I do things” Haanel has rightly pointed out that the starting point is not in the doing but in the thinking. To change who you are (assuming that is what you want to do) you need to change your thinking first. The rest will come as a natural consequence.

We learned back in point two that Mind is Creative Thinking is the process of using Mind to develop creative energy that can change your current situation to something quite different from what you have now. It will invariably take longer than, say buying a new outfit, but it will be more authentic, less energy sapping and definitely longer lasting in its effects.

Authentic in the sense of what you do will reflect the true winner you are.
Less energy sapping in the sense that you will not have to continually create the illusion of being someone you are not
Longer lasting in its effects in the sense that once you get comfortable with the new you, maintaining your new self will be a breeze.

But, what if you don’t want to change who you are? What if you are very comfortable with your sense of being. Then simply allow that to permeate through all you do. And that, my friend is a life of integrity, which is just about the highest standard of life anyone is capable of.

Living a life of integrity does not mean that you will necessarily be liked by everyone. In fact, I can guarantee you won’t. But, if you are true to who you are, and allowing, even encouraging, others to be true to who they are then you are making this world a better place and if I could, I would shake your hand and say thank you!