“Most people consider life a battle-but it is not a battle, it is a game. The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy. It is a game, however, which cannot be played successfully without the knowledge of spiritual law. So wrote Florence Scovel Shinn-one of the greatest American spiritual teachers of the twentieth century-in 1925 her spiritual classic The Game of Life and How to Play It.


Florence Shinn approaches mastering “The Game” from ten empowering viewpoints:


1. How to Play the Game


Shinn declares, “Jesus Christ taught that life is 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.”


According to Shinn, there are three departments of the mind:


a) The subconscious is “simply power, without direction. It is like steam or electricity, and it does what it is directed to do; it has no power of induction.”


b) 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.”


c) The superconscious mind is the “God Mind within each man, and is the realm of perfect ideas. 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 superconscious mind.”


2. The Law of Prosperity


“To experience God as man’s supply, man must have perfect faith in his spoken word. We know now, that words and thoughts are a tremendous vibratory force, ever moulding man’s body and affairs,” counsels the author.


3. The Power of the Word


Shinn admonishes, “Through his spoken word, man is continually making laws for himself. For example: I have a friend who often says on the phone, ‘Do come to see me and have a nice old-fashioned chat.’ This ‘old-fashioned chat’ means an hour of about five hundred to a thousand destructive words, the principal topics being loss, lack, failure and sickness. I reply: ‘No, I thank you. I’ve had enough old-fashioned chats in my life, they are too expensive, but I will be glad to have a new-fashioned chat, and talk about what we want, not what we don’t want.'”


4. The Law of Nonresistance


Nothing on earth can resist an absolutely nonresistant person. The Chinese say that water is the most powerful element, because it is perfectly nonresistant. It can wear away a rock, and sweep all before it.


Jesus said, “Resist not evil.” Shinn interprets that Jesus “knew in reality, there is no evil, therefore nothing to resist. Evil has come of man’s ‘vain imagination,’ or a belief in two powers, good and evil. There is an old legend, that Adam and Eve ate of ‘Maya the Tree of Illusion,’ and saw two powers instead of one power, God. Therefore, evil is a false law that man has made for himself, through psychoma or soul sleep.”


5. The Law of Karma


Shinn emphasizes that “man receives only that which he gives. This is the law of Karma, which is Sanskrit for ‘Comeback.’ Man should always demand only that which is his by divine right. Man is admonished, “My will be done not thine,” and the curious thing is, man always gets just what he desires when he does relinquish personal will, thereby enabling Infinite Intelligence to work through him. If he desires riches, he must be rich first in consciousness. Jesus Christ brought the good news (the gospel) that there was a higher law than the law of Karma-and that that law transcends the law of Karma. It is the law of grace, or forgiveness. It is the law which frees man from the law of cause and effect-the law of consequence.”


6. Casting the Burden


Shinn shares her main technique to impress the unconscious with good: “I found the easiest way is to ‘cast thy burden upon the Lord.’ Many passages in the Bible state that the battle is God’s not man’s and that man is always to “stand still” and see the Salvation of the Lord. This indicates that the superconscious mind (or Christ within) is the department which fights man’s battle and relieves him of burdens.”


She gives the example of “a woman in urgent need of money that made the statement, ‘I cast this burden of lack on the Christ (within) and I go free to have plenty!’ The belief in lack was her burden, and as she cast it upon the Christ within, the superconscious flooded the subconscious with its belief of plenty, and an avalanche of supply was the result.”


7. Love


The author is clear about the nature of authentic love: “Real love is selfless and free from fear. It pours itself out upon the object of its affection, without demanding any return. Its joy is in the joy of giving. Love does not need to seek or demand.”


She gives an example of a woman that came to her in deep distress: “The man she loved had left her for other women, and said he never intended to marry her. She was torn with jealousy and resentment and said she hoped he would suffer as he had made her suffer; and added, ‘How could he leave me when I loved him so much?’ I replied, ‘You are not loving that man, you are hating him,’ and added, ‘You can never receive what you have never given. Give a perfect love and you will receive a perfect love.’” The woman took Shinn’s advice and the situation harmonized so much that the woman ended up happily married to the man.


8. Intuition or Guidance


The power of intuition is underscored by Shinn: “There is nothing too great of accomplishment for the man who knows the power of his word, and who follows his intuitive leads. Speak the word and then do not do anything until you get a definite lead. Demand the lead, saying, ‘Infinite spirit, reveal to me the way, let me know if there is anything for me to do.’ The answer will come through intuition (or hunch); a chance remark from someone, or a passage in a book, etc.”


9. Perfect Self-Expression


There is perfect self-expression for each person. As Shinn relates, “There is a place which he is to fill and no one else can fill, something which he is to do, which no one else can do; it is his destiny! This achievement is held, a perfect idea in Divine Mind, awaiting man’s recognition.”


10. Denials and Affirmations


Cautioning that one should always follow a denial with an affirmation, Shinn gives a personal example: “I was called on the phone to treat a man whom I had never seen. He was apparently very ill. I made the statement: ‘I deny this appearance of disease. It is unreal, therefore cannot register in his consciousness; this man is a perfect idea in Divine Mind, pure substance expressing perfection.’ The next morning he was much better, and the following day our attending to his business.”




About the Author:


Drawing from the wisdom of native and ancient spiritual traditions, Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical success as an author, personal coach, acupuncturist, filmmaker, radio host, restaurateur, vision quest guide and international seminar leader with “The Dream Workshops”. Keith helps people get the love, money, and health they want with his F-r-e-e Prosperity Ezine, F-r-e-e Abundance Tape and F-r-e-e Coaching at www.TheDream.com

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