Just recently, I finally finished reading The Master Key System. For those of you not familiar with the book, it was written by a man named Charles F. Haanel. It first came out as a mail order course in 1912 and was published in book form by 1916. Despite its being written just after the turn of the 20th century, the timelessness of the concepts found in The Master Key System is evidenced by the fact that even today, almost a hundred years later, it continues to inspire countless people throughout the world. The book heavily influenced Rhonda Byrne, who eventually wrote The Secret.
There is also a popular rumor that while still studying at Harvard, Bill Gates found a copy of the Master Key System in the library and it so inspired him that he opted to drop out in order to found Microsoft. Although it seems there is no factual basis for the rumor (Bill Gates himself hasn't mentioned anything about it), the rumor has helped the recent popularity of the book.
So who was Charles Haanel? Regarded by many as the Father of Personal Development, he was definitely a testament to his own teachings. He was a successful businessman who owned several companies and was active in the Louisiana business community in addition to being affiliated with many groups. Incidentally, Charles Haanel was also a Freemason and had links with the Society of Rosicrucians, which explains the heavy metaphysical content of the Master Key System. Even then, the beauty of the book is that it has something for everyone, whatever background one may be coming from.
When The Secret broke into the market several years ago, life coaching programs and self-empowerment seminars were catapulted into the forefront of mainstream consciousness, and it popularized the Law of Attraction (also called the Law of Love by Charles Haanel) as well. Although most of the focus has been geared towards prosperity, a lot of attention has also been given to building up the confidence of people and getting them into the mindset that leads to positive changes in their lives. If you are familiar with this trend and concept, then you have a basic idea of what The Master Key System has to offer.
But for serious esoteric students, the book is so much more. While reading The Master Key System, some of the discussions, particularly those of the different esoteric laws, reminded me of The Kybalion (a work about various Hermetic principles; it came out in 1908). Incidentally, a friend mentioned to me that The Kybalion also appears in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Unfortunately, I haven't read The Lost Symbol yet (couldn't find any hardcopies), but I do hope to get a copy soon.
Since The Kybalion came out a few years earlier, it is plausible that Charles Haanel could have read it, given his links to the Freemasons and Rosicrucians. What esoteric laws does Charles Haanel discuss? Here is a basic listing:
1. Law of Attraction - like matter will attract like matter; negative thoughts attract negative circumstances, while positive thoughts attract positive circumstances.
2. Law of Cause and Effect - whereby you reap exactly what you sow.
3. Law of Compensation - which is why you must first give in order to receive, because anything not merited is eventually taken away since Nature seeks to find equilibrium.
4. Law of Periodicity (may also be called Law of Cycles or Law of Rhythm) - Charles Haanel says that this law is governed by the Septimal Law (Law of Sevens), whereby everything happens in cycles of sevens (seven days, seven weeks, seven months, seven years, etc.). For those familiar with Master Choa's Management Through Kabbalistic Cycle, which involves 7 cycles as well, you will appreciate this section. In fact, given Master Choa's prolific reading, I wouldn't be surprised if he had read The Master Key System.
5. Law of Growth - anything given thought is given life, therefore it must build upon itself.
While the average reader may be left scratching his head at all these metaphysical discussions, if you have managed to benefit from The Secret or The Master Key System itself, then you know that there is something in operation that makes things happen the way they do. What Charles Haanel does is explain why they do happen, so that one may consistently take advantage of them.
Mr. Haanel is quite insightful and poignant in his writing. For instance, at the end of the book is a question and answer section, and one of the questions posed is that if the "I" is spiritual and therefore perfect, why is it that we always see such imperfect results? Mr. Haanel's answer is that we see no imperfect results, and that all around us is perfection. He says that spiritual laws operate with immutable precision and perfection. If an individual thinks constructively, then the results are positive and harmonious; if the individual thinks destructively, then the results are negative and disastrous. You sow what you reap, and since we are free to think as we wish, then we perfectly and exactly get what we give out. This is what is meant by the Law working perfectly.
This is really interesting, because anyone familiar with the publications of The Kabbalah Centre will find this same theme (not in the exact same words, of course) in their different books. Try to grab a copy of The 72 Names of God, and turn to the page that discusses the 51st Name, titled "No Guilt."
Which brings me to the next point. As a practitioner of Arhatic Yoga, I could recognize the very spiritual concepts found in the book, such as the discussion of the "I" and connecting with the spirit. While I am not familiar with other systems of yoga or other spiritual disciplines, I am sure that they would recognize the concepts I am referring to should they have the chance to read the book.
For pranic healers, it's also interesting to note that Charles Haanel mentions that everytime we breathe, we vitalize our body with pranic ether, which is life itself. According to him, we could not exist a moment without this pranic energy or pranic ether. Interesting, isn't it? He has some very interesting discussions about personal health that will benefit anyone.
Lastly, as is typical with many esoteric works of that time, Charles Haanel also hints at the coming changes, whereby the old structures will be replaced by the new. It's a very Aquarian concept, and those familiar with this theme will recognize this. Otherwise, just read the book in its entirety to appreciate its content.
As I previously said, the book has everything for everyone, no matter what background. For those just discovering these wonderful concepts, the benefits of reading The Master Key System are obvious. How about for those who are already versed in esoteric studies? The benefits are bigger still, because although the book discusses concepts that may already be familiar, they are in no way redundant. We always benefit from looking at the same thing from different perspectives, because as Charles Haanel says, although there is one Truth, there are many conceptions of the Truth and many ways of interpreting this Truth.
In case you're getting ready to jump up and head straight for the bookstore, hold your horses for a moment. The Master Key System has been out of print for a long time, and although some independent publishers have decided to print it again, it's still not widely available.
But luckily for us, since the book was published before 1923, it's now in the public domain and you can easily download an ebook for free. I would recommend the one given by Kallisti Publishing. According to the publisher, he transcribed the ebook directly from an old copy of The Master Key System that his friend had, so it would contain all the original words of Charles Haanel. Other versions have supposedly changed some phrases or removed "disagreeable" content, and I have identified some of this when I compared one version to the ebook given out by Kallisti Publishing.
You will need to register your name and email to download a free copy of the ebook, but I haven't noticed anything bad that came out of that, so it should be okay. Try to read the other sections of the site, such as the FAQ, because it gives some additional info. Anyway, enough of the preliminaries, you can get your copy here.
Did Charles Haanel write any other books? Yes he did. These were Mental Chemistry, The New Psychology, A Book About You and (with Victor Simon Perera) The Amazing Secrets of the Yogi. While it may be difficult to get copies of these books, I'm sure the treasurehouse of information is well worth the effort of finding them.
Happy reading!
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