The Game of Life and How to Play It
by Florence Scovel Shinn

Publication date 2009-11-16
Usage Public DomainCreative Commons Licensepublicdomain
Topics librivox, audiobook, self help, new thought, prosperity, karma, love, intuition, affirmations
LibriVox recording of The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn. Read by Amy Conger.

Florence Scovel Shinn, an illustrator living in New York City, became a teacher of New Thought after a divorce. New Thought was a movement which holds the belief that individuals can create their own reality through intentional thoughts and prayer, much like the current Law of Attraction movement. The Game of Life and How to Play It is her first book, and is remarkable for being written by a woman and meant for a genteel female audience.

chapter 1 of the game of life and how to play it this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org

the game of life and how to play it by florence scoville shin chapter 1 the game

most people consider life a battle but it is not a battle it is a game it is a game however which cannot be played successfully without the knowledge of spiritual law and the old and the new testaments give the rules of the game with wonderful clearness jesus christ taught that it was a great game of giving and receiving whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap this means that whatever man sends out in word or deed will return to him what he gives he will receive if he gives hate he will receive hate if he gives love he will receive love if he gives criticism he will receive criticism if he lies he will be lied to if he cheats he will be cheated we are taught also that the imaging faculty plays a leading part in the game of life

keep thy heart or imagination with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life proverbs 4 23 this means that what man images sooner or later externalizes in his affairs i know of a man who feared a certain disease it was a very rare disease and difficult to get but he pictured it continually and read about it until it manifested in his body and he died the victim of distorted imagination so we see to play successfully the game of life we must train the imaging faculty a person with an imaging faculty trained to image only good brings into his life every righteous desire of his heart health wealth love friends perfect self-expression his highest ideals the imagination has been called the scissors of the mind and it is ever cutting cutting day by day the pictures man sees there and sooner or later he meets his own creations in his outer world to train the imagination successfully man must understand the workings of his mind the greeks said know thyself there are three departments of the mind the subconscious conscious and super conscious the subconscious is simply power without direction it is like steam or electricity and it does what it is directed to it has no power of induction whatever man feels deeply or images clearly is impressed upon the subconscious mind and carried out in minutest detail for example a woman i know when a child always made believe she was a widow she dressed up in black clothes and wore a long black veil and people thought she was very clever and amusing she grew up and married a man with whom she was deeply in love in a short time he died and she wore black and a sweeping veil for many years the picture of herself as a widow was so impressed upon the subconscious mind and in due time worked itself out regardless of the havoc created the conscious mind has been called mortal or carnal mind it is the human mind and sees life as it appears to be it sees death disaster sickness poverty and limitation of every kind and it impresses the subconscious the superconscious mind is the god-mind within each man and is the realm of perfect ideas in it is the perfect pattern spoken of by plato the divine design for there is a divine design for each person there is a place that you are to fill and no one else can fill something you are to do which no one else can do

there is a perfect picture of this in the super conscious mind it usually flashes across the conscious as an unattainable ideal something too good to be true in reality it is man's true destiny or destination flashed to him from the infinite intelligence which is within himself many people however are in ignorance of their true destinies and are striving for things and situations which do not belong to them and would only bring failure and dissatisfaction if attained

for example a woman came to me and asked me to speak the word that she would marry a certain man with whom she was very much in love she called him a b i replied that this would be a violation of spiritual law but that i would speak the word for the right man the divine selection the man who belonged to her by divine right i added if a b is the right man you can't lose him and if he isn't you will receive his equivalent she saw a b frequently but no headway was made in their friendship one evening she called and said do you know for the last week a.b hasn't seemed so wonderful to me i replied maybe he is not the divine selection another man may be the right one soon after that she met another man who fell in love with her at once and who said she was his ideal in fact he said all the things that she had always wished a b would say to her she remarked it was quite uncanny she soon returned to his love and lost all interest in a b this shows the law of substitution a right idea was substituted for a wrong one therefore there was no loss or sacrifice involved jesus christ said seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and he said the kingdom was within man the kingdom is the realm of right ideas or the divine pattern jesus christ taught that man's words played a leading part in the game of life by your words ye are justified and by your words ye are condemned

many people have brought disaster into their lives through idle words for example a woman once asked me why her life was now one of poverty of limitation formerly she had a home was surrounded by beautiful things and had plenty of money we found she had often tired of the management of her home and had said repeatedly i'm sick and tired of things i wish i lived in a trunk and she added today i am living in that trunk she had spoken herself into a trunk the subconscious mind has no sense of humor and people often joke themselves into unhappy experiences for example a woman who had a great deal of money joked continually about getting ready for the poor house in a few years she was almost destitute having impressed the subconscious mind with a picture of lack and limitation fortunately the law works both ways and a situation of lack may be changed to one of plenty for example a woman came to me one hot summer's day for a treatment for prosperity she was worn out dejected and discouraged she said she possessed just eight dollars in the world i said good we'll bless the eight dollars and multiply them as jesus christ multiplied the loaves and the fishes for he taught that every man had the power to bless and to multiply to heal and to prosper she said what shall i do next i replied follow intuition have you a hunch to do anything or to go anywhere intuition means in tuition or to be taught from within it is man's unerring guide and i will deal more fully with its laws in a following chapter the woman replied i don't know i seem to have a hunch to go home i've just just enough money for car fare her home was in a distant city and was one of lack and limitation and the reasoning mind or intellect would have said stay in new york and get work and make some money i replied then go home never violate a hunch i spoke the following words for her infinite spirit open the way for great abundance for hmm she is an irresistible magnet for all that belongs to her by divine right i told her to repeat it continually also she left for home immediately and calling on a woman one day she linked up with an old friend of her family through this friend she received thousands of dollars in a most miraculous way she has said to me often tell people about the woman who came to you with eight dollars and a hunch there is always plenty on man's pathway but it can only be brought into manifestation through desire faith or the spoken word jesus christ brought out clearly that man must make the first move ask and it shall be given to you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you matthew 7 7. in the scriptures we read concerning the works of my hands command ye me infinite intelligence god is ever ready to carry out man's smallest or greatest demands every desire uttered or unexpressed is a demand we are often startled by having a wish suddenly fulfilled for example one easter having seen many beautiful rose trees in the florist's windows i wished i would receive one and for an instant saw it mentally being carried in the door easter came and with it a beautiful rose tree i thanked my friend the following day and told her it was just what i had wanted she replied i didn't send you a rose tree i sent you lilies the man had mixed the order and sent me a rose tree simply because i had started the law in action and i had to have a rose tree nothing stands between man and his highest ideals and every desire of his heart but doubt and fear when man can wish without worrying every desire will be instantly fulfilled i will explain more fully in a following chapter the scientific reason for this and how fear must be erased from the consciousness it is man's only enemy fear of lack fear of failure fear of sickness fear of loss and a feeling of insecurity on some plane

jesus christ said why are ye fearful o ye of little faith matthew 8 26 so we can see we must substitute faith for fear for fear is on