The Message of a Master

by John McDonald | New World Library © 1993 · 96 pages

This little book features a mysterious master who teaches his secrets to living in harmony with Universal Law. I love stories like this. It’s a super quick-reading, invigorating little tale. In the Note we'll have fun exploring how to clean up our mental house, the importance of focusing on our ONE thing and keeping Mr. Mo on our side!

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Big Ideas

“The following pages are the result of a series of notes collected and set down in the form of a story and a system of practice. The order as originally received has been carefully adhered to so that its value to the reader isn’t diminished.

It sets forth no creed or dogma, but teaches in a clear, understandable, simple way, step by step, a practical, workable procedure, based on Universal Law, for the mastery of our conditions of life.”

~ John McDonald from The Message of a Master

This book was originally published in 1929.

It went out of print until Marc Allen of New World Library discovered and published it in 90’s. Marc couldn’t track down any information on the author but says, “All we know is that he must have been an exceptional person in order to write a book of such simplicity, usefulness, and power.”

The little book features a mysterious master who teaches his secrets to living in harmony with Universal Law. I love stories like this. It’s a super quick-reading, invigorating little tale.

Let’s take a quick look at a handful of my favorite Big Ideas!

Cleaning up our mental house

“Your mind can be likened to a house that has been cluttered over the years with thousands of unnecessary pieces of furniture, pictures, ornaments, and other things, all strewn around and piled everywhere. The result is that, although the outside of the house may present a good appearance, the inside is a mess of confusion and disorder. It is impossible to accomplish anything under such conditions, for you cannot go after one thing without stumbling over another. There is no order. No purpose. No progress. The first necessary thing to do, then, is to rid that house of all but the furnishings that are essential to your success.”

Imagine a house that looks pretty good on the outside, but when we open the front door and take a step in we see it’s cluttered with thousands (!) of useless and unnecessary pieces of furniture, pictures and other junk piled everywhere.

Welcome to a disorganized mind.

It’s time to clean up!

Modern scientists say that the way we clean up our brains is by “pruning” the old, less useful patterns and “sprouting” new, healthier patterns of thought and behavior.

How do you declutter/prune?

QUIT thinking the same old thoughts and doing the same old things.

START doing healthier things and having healthier thoughts.

It really is pretty much that simple. Not particularly easy to do, but the mechanics are shockingly simple.

Do YOU have habits of thought or behaviors that no longer serve you?

What negative thoughts and behaviors are currently cluttering your mind? Seriously. Pause for a moment and capture a few sub-optimal thoughts + behaviors that just aren’t serving you.

These thoughts + behaviors are no longer serving me: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fantastic.

Time to move that junk out of our mental house as we clean up and optimize!

I am master of my destiny, and I can make my life anything that I wish it to be.
John McDonald
Believe me, you can have anything you want—and in abundance—when you learn to tune into the power within, an infinitely greater power than electricity, a power you have had from the beginning.
John McDonald

What’s your ONE thing?

“People who have no set objectives are tuning in to everything and getting nothing. They are unfortunate indeed, for they are at the mercy of millions of conflicting thoughts, and their lives are full of confusion and distress.

People who have definite objectives, on the other hand, deliberately tune in to one thing: If it is money, they get it. If it is position, they get it. Nothing that such people tune in to can be withheld…

So you can see that if you direct that force at several objectives, it becomes divided, and each objective receives a fairly weak stimulus, which results in a slow reaction, or no reaction at all. Do you have a great, ultimate goal to reach that acquires attaining lesser objectives along the way? Well then, let the many lie inactive and direct your force at the nearest or first; once you accomplish that, take up the next, and so on.”

You have ONE thing you’re going after?

Or a million?

Remember this Russian proverb: “If you chase two rabbits you will not catch either one.”

Gary Keller (who succeeded in rockin’ his ONE thing—turning Keller Williams into THE largest real estate company in the *world*) wrote a great book called The ONE Thing (see Notes).

Gary tells us that “extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.”

So, are you chasing a couple (dozen) rabbits?

You’re not going to catch any of them scattering your energy like that.

Slow down. Simplify. Figure out what you *really* want. (And check out the Notes on The ONE Thing for some great ideas on how to do that.)

Find your ONE thing.

With that in mind, you want to line up your dominoes and do what McDonald describes above—focusing on your immediate target and going from there.

Gary calls that “Goal Setting to the Now” where we identify our ONE thing, see the someday, long-term goal, a 5 year goal, a 1 year goal and back it all the way up to 1 month, 1 week, 1 day and RIGHT NOW. All connected to our ultimate ONE Thing. It’s genius.

He says: “By thinking through the filter of Goal Setting to the Now, you set a future goal and then methodically drill down to what you should be doing right now. It can be a little like a Russian matryoshka doll in that your ONE Thing “right now” is nested inside your ONE Thing today, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this week, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this month. . . . It’s how a small thing can actually build up to a big one.

You’re lining up your dominoes.”

<— Let’s do THAT! :)

Progress = Sustained Intensity in a given direction

“You might question the value of such a detailed explanation, but I have a purpose, and that purpose is to force you to think, to think deeply, with intensity. Don’t confuse the word ’intensity’ with ‘tenseness.’ Tenseness implies mental strain, and arises out of fear and anxiety. It is destructive to both mind and body. My use of intensity here suggests mental force or power, and its results are constructive.

Your progress depends upon your degree of sustained intensity in a given direction.”

Couple things here.

First, let’s differentiate INTENSITY (good) and TENSION (not so good).

We want to apply a high level of mental power to what we do/who we are—without fear; just pure, enthusiastic, creative mojo. That’s a very good thing.

Take that same intensity and throw in fear + attachment to results + self-consciousness + overthinking and you get tension, overtrying, strain, etc. That’s not so good. :)

Tension tends to come in when we get too attached to outcomes. If you find yourself overtrying and getting tense about anything in your life, step back, take a nice deep breath (seriously, do that! deep breaths are magic sauce), shake out your body, smile and think about all the fun you get to have doing what you do and move the outcomes out of your mind and into the future as natural by-products of you showing up fully moment to moment to moment.

That’s a quick look at intensity vs. tension.

Part two.

Our success is going to depend upon our SUSTAINED intensity in a given direction.

If we start in one direction and then head in a different direction (and then another and then…), we’re not going to get too far. (But we will stress ourselves out considerably.)

Imagine you decide to drive from Los Angeles to, say, San Francisco.

You get in your car. You’re excited. You fill up with gas and head north on your way. Awesome. Then, about an hour in you start to question whether you really want to go to San Francisco. I mean, it gets foggy this time of the year and it’s a long drive and… and… (overthinking) and…

So, you decide you should actually go to San Diego. Yah. San Diego would be great!

You pull off on the next exit and turn around—heading south. San Diego here we come! You drive for a couple hours this time, passing LA and then you start thinking again. “Hmmmm… Do I REALLY want to go to San Diego? Blah blah blah blah-p a r a l y z i n g-blah.”

That sounds absurd when we talk about it in the context of a road trip but haven’t we all done that with various habits we want to build or projects we want to rock?

Intensity. Sustained in ONE direction. Equals goodness.

What direction you headed? Ready to sustain that with a high level of intensity?

(AWESOME!)

I operate according to a definite, unerring law.... I know the outcome before I start.
John McDonald

Insist on yourself. Never imitate!

“Each individual that is given the fundamental principles of the Law will work it out somewhat differently, according to his or her own particular inherent nature. I have purposely avoided referring to my method, so that you might have your own freedom of interpretation, and freedom to make your own decisions. But I want to give you a hint of how I work, though I have to advise you not to let this influence or change you in your particular method. You cannot attain mastery by patterning yourself after another, or by following custom or tradition. Sheep and plodders do that. Masters and leaders never do.”

That’s really good.

With a special emphasis here:

—-> “You cannot attain mastery by patterning yourself after another, or by following custom or tradition. Sheep and plodders do that. Masters and leaders never do.”

Sure, we can admire various people and get inspired by and even model some of their practices. But at the end of the day, we need to figure out OUR way. Our style. Our unique, authentic expression.

Reminds me of Emerson’s genius wisdom from Self-Reliance (see Notes) where he tells us:

“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. No man yet knows what it is, nor can, till that person has exhibited it. Where is the master who could have taught Shakspeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? Every great man is a unique. The Scipionism of Scipio is precisely that part he could not borrow. Shakspeare will never be made by the study of Shakspeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much. There is at this moment for you an utterance brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel of Phidias, or trowel of the Egyptians, or the pen of Moses, or Dante, but different from all these. Not possibly will the soul all rich, all eloquent, with thousand-cloven tongue, deign to repeat itself; but if you can hear what these patriarchs say, surely you can reply to them in the same pitch of voice; for the ear and the tongue are two organs of one nature. Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart, and thou shalt reproduce the Foreworld again.”

Amen.

Every great man + woman is a unique.

Insist on yourself.

Never imitate.

P.S. This same truth applies on a broader, life philosophy kinda level and reminds me of Nietzsche’s genius wisdom from Thus Spoke Zarathustra (see Notes) where he tells us:

‘This is my way; where is yours?’—Thus I answered those who asked me ‘the way.’ For the way— that does not exist.”

Love (!!!) that.

There isn’t ONE way.

What’s *your* way?!

Any picture firmly held in any mind, in any form, is bound to come forth.
John McDonald

Keeping the Life force nourished

“After a day’s activity, when your ordinary duties and affairs have depleted your life force a bit, it is a good idea to set aside half an hour—or an hour, if possible—each evening when you can be alone and undisturbed, in the quiet and stillness of your own being. Select words from the list that seem appropriate to your needs at the moment, or simply begin with the first word and move down the list at your own pace. Firmly impress your being with each word, at the same time interpreting its meaning and noticing its effect upon you, not necessarily in the terms of its generally accepted meaning, but strictly as it appeals to you.”

McDonald talks about the importance of keeping our life force nourished.

If we’re going to sustain a high level of intensity in one direction, we’ve gotta make sure we’re plugged in and vitalized, eh? That requires time for recovery. Remember, it’s not that we work too hard, it’s that we don’t recover enough.

I really like McDonald’s suggestion here. He shares a few dozen beautiful, empowering words and encourages us to take the time to meditate on the ones that inspire us.

Virtuous words like:

Peace. Poise. Harmony. Calm. Freedom. Love. Wisdom. Kindness. Grace. Inspiration. Humility. Faith. Confidence. Abundance. Spirit. Vitality. Energy. Enthusiasm. Unity. Strength. Generosity. Vitality. Power. Serenity. Creativity. Success. Happiness. Wealth. Persistence. Purpose. Mastery.

I get all filled up just typing those! :)

Take a few moments right now. Take a few nice, deep breaths. Pick your favorite word and hold it in your mind, feeling the essence of what the word means to you. Take a few more deep breaths. Smile. Integrate THAT energy into your beingness. Ahhhhh….

Take the position that you are master of your being, and hold your course firmly to your goal.
John McDonald

Quit digging up the Seeds

“Now, are you going to constantly be glancing out of the corner of your eye to see how things are proceeding? Are you going to be wondering how the thing works, or if it really is working? Not at all. You set the objective. You planted the seed. You wouldn’t dig up a seed in your garden to see if it were sprouting. You planted and watered it, and you’re satisfied that, according to the law of its being, it will come forth. In exactly the same way, nothing on earth can prevent your objective from becoming.”

You digging up your seeds to see if they’re sprouting?

Not helpful! Let them do their thing. You just keep on rockin’ it.

In his great book Mindfulness (see Notes), Mark Williams tells us we need to measure our progress in HORTICULTURAL time, not clock time.

He tells us: “Think of meditation as planting seeds. You give young seeds the right conditions, but you don’t try to dig them up each day to see if they’ve grown roots. Meditation is like cultivating a garden: your experience deepens and changes, but this takes place in horticultural time, not clock time.”

Got momentum? MAINTAIN it!

“When the first objective is reached, what then? Set another one beyond that, immediately. Why? Because the peculiar nature of the Outer Mind is to drop back into inertia after achieving an objective. You can imagine the Outer Mind saying something like this, ‘Well, I have been mercilessly driven, and forced to attain that goal, and now that I’ve reached it I’m going to rest.’ And your answer will be, ‘No rest for you, for I’ve already started you on another.’ Once you have attained that valuable momentum, maintain it. Cling to it. And as the momentum increases, the steps in your progress become more rapid, until eventually it’s possible to reach an objective almost immediately.”

That’s powerful.

First: Identify the most important objective in your life. Go get it.

Then? MAINTAIN THE MOMENTUM!

In The War of Art and Turning Pro (see Notes on both), Pressfield tells us about writing his first novel. He locked himself away for a year and worked on it day in and day out. He finished it. Finally. He told his mentor who told him: “Start your next one tomorrow.”

Gotta keep the momentum.

In The Compound Effect (see Notes) Hardy tells us we need to keep Mr. Mo in the house and shares this gem: “The same thing happens when a rocket ship launches. The space shuttle uses more fuel during the first few minutes of its flight than it does the rest of the entire trip. Why? Because it has to break free from the pull of gravity. Once it does, it can glide in orbit. The hard part? Getting off the ground. Your old ways and your old conditioning are just like the inertia of the merry-go- round or the pull of gravity. Everything just wants to stay at rest. You’ll need a lot of energy to break your inertia and get your new enterprise under way. But once you get momentum, you will be hard to stop—virtually unbeatable—even though you’re now putting out considerably less effort while receiving greater results.”

Get off the ground?

Well done!!! That was the hardest part. Now keep on flying, my friend! :)

Momentum must be attained and then maintained if we are to reach the heights of our achievement.
John McDonald

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John McDonald

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