Tapping the Source: Using The Master Key System for Abundance and Happiness

Readers of The Secret will recognize Charles Haanel, author of 1916's The Master Key System (now conveniently in the public domain), as the source that Gladstone (The Twelve), Greninger, and meditation guru Selby (Expanding This Moment) have tapped for their peculiar guide. The authors maintain that Haanel's key to achieving joy and cash is as valid today as it was 95 years ago. What differentiates this new effort from The Secret, then? The belief that a wishy-washy acceptance that God, or something like God, is behind it all (though a tie-in film and website may better illuminate the book's reason for being—the creation of a self-help empire). Though the authors freely acknowledge that most of their material is derived from elsewhere, and draw frequently on Haanel's own text, it mostly feels fresh in their revisionist ("rebirthing") context. And, as The Secret drew on the Law of Attraction, The Master Key claims other natural laws for itself, including the Laws of Health, Power, Morality, Spirit, Vibration, and Wealth (surprise), providing exercises for quick mastery. Overall, the message is proactive management of one's health, spirit, culture, and desires through meditation and conscious intent, which is another way of saying "prayer" without saying "God." (Nov.)