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THE GAME OF LIFE
AND HOW TO PLAY IT
By
FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN
DeVorss & Company
P. O. Box 550
Marina del Rey, California 90294
Copyright 1925 by
Florence Scovel Shinn
ISBN: 0-87516-257-6
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
THE GAME 7
THE LAW OF PROSPERITY 15
THE POWER OF THE WORD 22
THE LAW OF NONRESISTANCE 30
THE LAW OF KARMA AND THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS 39
CASTING THE BURDEN (IMPRESSING THE SUBCONSCIOUS) 48
LOVE 56
INTUITION OR GUIDANCE 66
PERFECT SELF-EXPRESSION OR THE DIVINE DESIGN 75
DENIALS AND AFFIRMATIONS 85
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.” (Prov. 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 superconscious_. 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.
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 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 _superconscious 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 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 poorhouse.”
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, intuition, 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 enough money for carfare.” 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
——. 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. In 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 you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and
it shall be opened unto you.” (Mat. 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
florists’ 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, oh ye of little faith?” (Mat. 8:26.) So we can see
we must substitute faith for fear, for fear is only inverted faith; it
is faith in evil instead of good.
The object of the game of life is to see clearly one’s good and to
obliterate all mental pictures of evil. This must be done by impressing
the subconscious mind with a realization of good. A very brilliant man,
who has attained great success, told me he had suddenly erased all
fear from his consciousness by reading a sign which hung in a room.
He saw printed, in large letters this statement—“_Why worry, it will
probably never happen._” These words were stamped indelibly upon his
subconscious mind, and he has now a firm conviction that only good can
come into his life, therefore only _good can manifest_.
In the following chapter I will deal with the different methods of
impressing the subconscious mind. It is man’s faithful servant but one
must be careful to give it the right orders. Man has ever a silent
listener at his side—his subconscious mind.
Every thought, every word is impressed upon it and carried out in
amazing detail. It is like a singer making a record on the sensitive
disc of the phonographic plate. Every note and tone of the singer’s
voice is registered. If he coughs or hesitates, it is registered also.
So let us break all the old bad records in the subconscious mind, the
records of our lives which we do not wish to keep, and make new and
beautiful ones.
Speak these words aloud, with power and conviction: “I now smash and
demolish (by my spoken word) every untrue record in my subconscious
mind. They shall return to the dust-heap of their native nothingness,
for they came from my own vain imaginings. I now make my perfect
records through the Christ within—The records of _Health, Wealth, Love
and perfect self-Expression_.” This is the square of life, _The Game
completed_.
In the following chapters, I will show how man can _change_ his
_conditions by changing his words_. Any man who does not know the power
of the word, is behind the times.
“_Death and Life are in the power of the tongue._”
(Prov. 18:21.)
THE LAW OF PROSPERITY
“Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense
and thou shalt have plenty of silver.”
One of the greatest messages given to the race through the scriptures
is that God is man’s supply and that man can release, _through his
spoken word_, all that belongs to him by divine right. He must,
however, have _perfect faith in his spoken word_.
Isaiah said, “My word shall not return unto me void, but shall
accomplish that where unto it is sent.” We know now, that words and
thoughts are a tremendous vibratory force, ever moulding man’s body and
affairs.
A woman came to me in great distress and said she was to be sued on the
fifteenth of the month for three thousand dollars. She knew no way of
getting the money and was in despair.
I told her God was her supply, and _that there is a supply for every
demand_.
_So I spoke the word!_ I gave thanks that the woman would receive three
thousand dollars at the right time in the right way. I told her she
must have perfect faith, and act her _perfect faith_. The fifteenth
came but no money had materialized.
She called me on the ’phone and asked what she was to do.
I replied, “It is Saturday, so they won’t sue you today. Your part is
to act rich, thereby showing perfect faith that you will receive it by
Monday.” She asked me to lunch with her to keep up her courage. When
I joined her at a restaurant, I said, “This is no time to economize.
Order an expensive luncheon, act as if you have already received the
three thousand dollars.”
“All things whatsoever ye ask in prayer, _believing_, ye shall
receive.” “You must act as if you _had already received_.” The next
morning she called me on the ’phone and asked me to stay with her
during the day. I said “No, you are divinely protected and God is never
too late.”
In the evening she ’phoned again, greatly excited and said, “My dear,
a miracle has happened! I was sitting in my room this morning, when
the doorbell rang. I said to the maid: ‘Don’t let anyone in.’ The maid
however, looked out the window and said, ‘It’s your cousin with the
long white beard.’
So I said, ‘Call him back. I would like to see him.’ He was just
turning the corner, when he heard the maid’s voice, and _he came back_.
He talked for about an hour, and just as he was leaving he said, ‘Oh,
by the way, how are finances?’
I told him I needed the money, and he said, ‘Why, my dear, I will give
you three thousand dollars the first of the month.’
I didn’t like to tell him I was going to be sued. What shall I do? I
won’t _receive it till_ the first of the month, and I must have it
tomorrow.” I said, “I’ll keep on ‘treating.’”
I said, “Spirit is never too late. I give thanks she has received the
money on the invisible plane and that it manifests on time.” The next
morning her cousin called her up and said, “Come to my office this
morning and I will give you the money.” That afternoon, she had three
thousand dollars to her credit in the bank, and wrote checks as rapidly
as her excitement would permit.
If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the
situation he has prepared for. For example: A man came to me asking me
to speak the word that a certain debt would be wiped out.
I found he spent his time planning what he would say to the man when
he did not pay his bill, thereby neutralizing my words. He should have
seen himself paying the debt.
We have a wonderful illustration of this in the bible, relating to
the three kings who were in the desert, without water for their men
and horses. They consulted the prophet Elisha, who gave them this
astonishing message:
“Thus saith the Lord—Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain,
yet make this valley full of ditches.”
Man must prepare for the thing he has asked for, _when there isn’t the
slightest sign of it in sight_.
For example: A woman found it necessary to look for an apartment during
the year when there was a great shortage of apartments in New York. It
was considered almost an impossibility, and her friends were sorry for
her and said, “Isn’t it too bad, you’ll have to store your furniture
and live in a hotel.” She replied, “_You needn’t feel sorry for me, I’m
a superman, and I’ll get an apartment._”
She spoke the words: “_Infinite Spirit, open the way for the right
apartment._” She knew there was a supply for every demand, and that she
was “unconditioned,” working on the spiritual plane, and that “one with
God is a majority.”
She had contemplated buying new blankets, when “the tempter,” the
adverse thought or reasoning mind, suggested, “Don’t buy the blankets,
perhaps, after all, you won’t get an apartment and you will have no use
for them.” She promptly replied (to herself): “I’ll dig my ditches by
buying the blankets!” So she prepared for the apartment—acted as though
she already had it.
She found one in a miraculous way, and it was given to her although
there were over _two hundred other applicants_.
The blankets showed active faith.
It is needless to say that the ditches dug by the three kings in the
desert were filled to over-flowing. (Read, II Kings.)
Getting into the spiritual swing of things is no easy matter for the
average person. The adverse thoughts of doubt and fear surge from the
subconscious. They are the “army of the aliens” which must be put to
flight. This explains why it is so often, “darkest before the dawn.”
A big demonstration is usually preceded by tormenting thoughts.
Having made a statement of high spiritual truth one challenges the old
beliefs in the subconscious, and “error is exposed” to be put out.
This is the time when one must make his affirmations of truth
repeatedly, and rejoice and give thanks that he has already received.
“Before ye call I shall answer.” This means that “every good and
perfect gift” is already man’s awaiting his recognition.
Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.
The children of Israel were told that they could have all the land
they could see. This is true of every man. He has only the land within
his own mental vision. Every great work, every big accomplishment,
has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision,
and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and
discouragement.
The children of Israel when they reached the “Promised Land,” were
afraid to go in, for they said it was filled with giants who made them
feel like grasshoppers. “And there we saw the giants and we were in our
own sight as grasshoppers.” This is almost every man’s experience.
However, the one who knows spiritual law, is undisturbed by appearance,
and rejoices while he is “yet in captivity.” That is, he holds to his
vision and gives thanks that the end is accomplished, he has received.
Jesus Christ gave a wonderful example of this. He said to his
disciples: “Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh the
harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the
fields; for they are ripe already to harvest.” His clear vision pierced
the “world of matter” and he saw clearly the fourth dimensional world,
things as they really are, perfect and complete in Divine Mind. So
man must ever hold the vision of his journey’s end and demand the
manifestation of that which he has already received. It may be his
perfect health, love, supply, self-expression, home or friends.
They are all finished and perfect ideas registered in Divine Mind
(man’s own superconscious mind) and must come through him, not to him.
For example: A man came to me asking for treatments for success. It
was imperative that he raise, within a certain time, fifty-thousand
dollars for his business. The time limit was almost up, when he came to
me in despair. No one wanted to invest in his enterprise, and the bank
had flatly refused a loan. I replied: “I suppose you lost your temper
while at the bank, therefore your power. You can control any situation
if you first control yourself.” “Go back to the bank,” I added, “and
I will treat.” My treatment was: “You are identified in love with the
spirit of everyone connected with the bank. Let the divine idea come
out of this situation.” He replied, “Woman, you are talking about an
impossibility. Tomorrow is Saturday; the bank closes at twelve, and my
train won’t get me there until ten, and the time limit is up tomorrow,
and anyway they won’t do it. It’s too late.” I replied, “God doesn’t
need any time and is never too late. With Him all things are possible.”
I added, “I don’t know anything about business, but I know all about
God.” He replied: “It all sounds fine when I sit here listening to you,
but when I go out it’s terrible.” He lived in a distant city, and I did
not hear from him for a week, then came a letter. It read: “You were
right. I raised the money, and will never again doubt the truth of all
that you told me.”
I saw him a few weeks later, and I said, “What happened? You evidently
had plenty of time, after all.” He replied “My train was late, and
I got there just fifteen minutes to twelve. I walked into the bank
quietly and said, ‘I have come for the loan,’ and they gave it to me
without a question.”
It was the last fifteen minutes of the time allotted to him, and
Infinite Spirit was not too late. In this instance the man could never
have demonstrated alone. He needed someone to help him hold to the
vision. This is what one man can do for another.
Jesus Christ knew the truth of this when he said: “If two of you shall
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be
done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” One gets too close to
his own affairs and becomes doubtful and fearful.
The friend or “healer” sees clearly the success, health, or prosperity,
and never wavers, because he is not close to the situation.
It is much easier to “demonstrate” for someone else than for one’s
self, so a person should not hesitate to ask for help, if he feels
himself wavering.
A keen observer of life once said, “no man can fail, if some one person
sees him successful.” Such is the power of the vision, and many a
great man has owed his success to a wife, or sister, or a friend who
“believed in him” and held without wavering to the perfect pattern!
THE POWER OF THE WORD
“By thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
A person knowing the power of the word, becomes very careful of his
conversation. He has only to watch the reaction of his words to know
that they do “not return void.” Through his spoken word, man is
continually making laws for himself.
I knew a man who said, “I always miss a car. It invariably pulls out
just as I arrive.”
His daughter said: “I always catch a car. It’s sure to come just as I
get there.” This occurred for years. Each had made a separate law for
himself, one of failure, one of success. This is the psychology of
superstitions.
The horseshoe or rabbit’s foot contains no power, but man’s spoken word
and belief that it will bring him good luck creates expectancy in the
subconscious mind, and attracts a “lucky situation.” I find however,
this will not “work” when man has advanced spiritually and knows a
higher law. One cannot turn back, and must put away “graven images.”
For example: Two men in my class had had great success in business
for several months, when suddenly everything “went to smash.” We
tried to analyze the situation, and I found, instead of making their
affirmations and looking to God for success and prosperity, they had
each bought a “lucky monkey.” I said: “Oh I see, you have been trusting
in the lucky monkeys instead of God.” “Put away the lucky monkeys
and call on the law of forgiveness,” for man has power to forgive or
neutralize his mistakes.
They decided to throw the lucky monkeys down a coalhole, and all went
well again. This does not mean, however, that one should throw away
every “lucky” ornament or horseshoe about the house, but he must
recognize that the power back of it is the one and only power, God, and
that the object simply gives him a feeling of expectancy.
I was with a friend, one day, who was in deep despair. In crossing the
street, she picked up a horseshoe. Immediately, she was filled with joy
and hope. She said God had sent her the horseshoe in order to keep up
her courage.
It was indeed, at that moment, about the only thing that could have
registered in her consciousness. Her hope became faith, and she
ultimately made a wonderful demonstration. I wish to make the point
clear that the men previously mentioned were depending on the monkeys,
alone, while this woman recognized the power back of the horseshoe.
I know, in my own case, it took a long while to get out of a belief
that a certain thing brought disappointment. If the thing happened,
disappointment invariably followed. I found the only way I could
make a change in the subconscious, was by asserting, “There are not
two powers, there is only one power, God, therefore, there are no
disappointments, and this thing means a happy surprise.” I noticed a
change at once, and happy surprises commenced coming my way.
I have a friend who said nothing could induce her to walk under a
ladder. I said, “If you are afraid, you are giving in to a belief in
two powers, Good and Evil, instead of one. As God is absolute, there
can be no opposing power, unless man makes the false of evil for
himself. To show you believe in only One Power, God, and that there
is no power or reality in evil, walk under the next ladder you see.”
Soon after, she went to her bank. She wished to open her box in the
safe-deposit vault, and there stood a ladder on her pathway. It was
impossible to reach the box without passing under the ladder. She
quailed with fear and turned back. She could not face the lion on
her pathway. However, when she reached the street, my words rang in
her ears and she decided to return and walk under it. It was a big
moment in her life, for ladders had held her in bondage for years. She
retraced her steps to the vault, and the ladder was no longer there!
This so often happens! If one is willing to do a thing he is afraid to
do, he does not have to.
It is the law of nonresistance, which is so little understood.
Someone has said that courage contains genius and magic. Face a
situation fearlessly, and there is no situation to face; it falls away
of its own weight.
The explanation is, that fear attracted the ladder on the woman’s
pathway, and fearlessness removed it.
_Thus the invisible forces are ever working for man who is always
“pulling the strings” himself, though he does not know it. Owing to the
vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract.
People who continually speak of disease, invariably attract it._
After man knows the truth, he cannot be too careful of his words. For
example: I have a friend who often says on the ’phone, “Do come to see
me and have a fine 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.” There is an old saying that man only dares use his words for
three purposes, to “heal, bless or prosper.” What man says of others
will be said of him, and what he wishes for another, he is wishing for
himself.
“Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.”
If a man wishes someone “bad luck,” he is sure to attract bad luck
himself. If he wishes to aid someone to success, he is wishing and
aiding himself to success.
The body may be renewed and transformed through the spoken word and
clear vision, and disease be completely wiped out of the consciousness.
The metaphysician knows that all disease has a mental correspondence,
and in order to heal the body one must first “heal the soul.”
The soul is the subconscious mind, and it must be “saved” from wrong
thinking.
In the twenty-third psalm, we read: “He restoreth my soul.” This means
that the subconscious mind or soul, must be restored with the right
ideas, and the “mystical marriage” is the marriage of the soul and
the spirit, or the subconscious and superconscious mind. They must be
one. When the subconscious is flooded with the perfect ideas of the
superconscious, God and man are one. “I and the Father are one.” That
is, he is one with the realm of perfect ideas; he is the man made in
God’s likeness and image (imagination) and is given power and dominion
over all created things, his mind, body and affairs.
It is safe to say that all sickness and unhappiness come from the
violation of the law of love. A new commandment I give unto you, “Love
one another,” and in the Game of Life, love or good-will takes every
trick.
For example: A woman I know, had, for years an appearance of a terrible
skin disease. The doctors told her it was incurable, and she was in
despair. She was on the stage, and she feared she would soon have to
give up her profession, and she had no other means of support. She,
however, procured a good engagement, and on the opening night, made a
great “hit.” She received flattering notices from the critics, and was
joyful and elated. The next day she received a notice of dismissal.
A man in the cast had been jealous of her success and had caused her
to be sent away. She felt hatred and resentment taking complete
possession of her, and she cried out, “Oh God don’t let me hate that
man.” That night she worked for hours “in the silence.”
She said, “I soon came into a very deep silence. I seemed to be at
peace with myself, with the man, and with the whole world. I continued
this for two following nights, and on the third day I found I was
healed completely of the skin disease!” In asking for love, or good
will, she had fulfilled the law, (“for love is the fulfilling of the
law”) and the disease (which came from subconscious resentment) was
wiped out.
Continual criticism produces rheumatism, as critical, inharmonious
thoughts cause unnatural deposits in the blood, which settle in the
joints.
False growths are caused by jealousy, hatred, unforgiveness, fear,
etc. Every disease is caused by a mind not at ease. I said once, in my
class, “There is no use asking anyone ‘What’s the matter with you?’ we
might just as well say, ‘Who’s the matter with you?’” Unforgiveness is
the most prolific cause of disease. It will harden arteries or liver,
and affect the eye-sight. In its train are endless ills.
I called on a woman, one day, who said she was ill from having eaten
a poisoned oyster. I replied, “Oh, no, the oyster was harmless, you
poisoned the oyster. What’s the matter with you?” She answered, “Oh
about nineteen people.” She had quarrelled with nineteen people and had
become so inharmonious that she attracted the wrong oyster.
Any inharmony on the external, indicates there is mental inharmony. “As
the within, so the without.”
Man’s only enemies are within himself. “And a man’s foes shall be
they of his own household.” Personality is one of the last enemies
to be overcome, as this planet is taking its initiation in love. It
was Christ’s message—“Peace on Earth, good will towards man.” The
enlightened man, therefore, endeavors to perfect himself upon his
neighbor. His work is with himself, to send out good-will and blessings
to every man, and the marvelous thing is, that if one blesses a man he
has no power to harm him.
For example: A man came to me asking to “treat” for success in
business. He was selling machinery, and a rival appeared on the scene
with what he proclaimed, was a better machine, and my friend feared
defeat. I said, “First of all, we must wipe out all fear, and know
that God protects your interests, and that the divine idea must come
out of the situation. That is, the right machine will be sold, by the
right man, to the right man.” And I added, “Don’t hold one critical
thought towards that man. Bless him all day, and be willing not to sell
your machine, if it isn’t the divine idea.” So he went to the meeting,
fearless and nonresistant, and blessing the other man. He said the
outcome was very remarkable. The other man’s machine refused to work,
and he sold his without the slightest difficulty. “But I say unto you,
love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you.”
_Good-will produces a great aura of protection about the one who sends
it, and “No weapon that is formed against him shall prosper.” In
other words, love and good-will destroy the enemies within one’s self,
therefore, one has no enemies on the external!_
“_There is peace on earth for him who sends good-will to man!_”
THE LAW OF NONRESISTANCE
“Resist not evil. Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome evil with good.”
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 Christ said, “Resist not evil,” for He 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 man has made for himself, through
psychoma or soul sleep._ Soul sleep means, that man’s soul has been
hypnotized by the race belief (of sin, sickness and death, etc.) which
is carnal or mortal thought, and his affairs have outpictured his
illusions.
We have read in a preceding chapter, that man’s soul is his
subconscious mind, and whatever he feels deeply, good or bad, is
outpictured by that faithful servant. His body and affairs show forth
what he has been picturing. The sick man has pictured sickness, the
poor man, poverty, the rich man, wealth.
People often say, “why does a little child attract illness, when it is
too young even to know what it means?”
I answer that children are sensitive and receptive to the thoughts of
others about them, and often outpicture the fears of their parents.
I heard a metaphysician once say, “If you do not run your subconscious
mind yourself, someone else will run it for you.”
Mothers often, unconsciously, attract illness and disaster to their
children, by continually holding them in thoughts of fear, and watching
for symptoms.
For example: A friend asked a woman if her little girl had had the
measles. She replied promptly, “not yet!” This implied that she was
expecting the illness, and, therefore, preparing the way for what she
did not want for herself and child.
However, the man who is centered and established in right thinking,
the man who sends out only good-will to his fellow-man, and who is
without fear, cannot be _touched or influenced by the negative thoughts
of others_. In fact, he could then receive only good thoughts, as he
himself, sends forth only good thoughts.
Resistance is Hell, for it places man in a “state of torment.”
A metaphysician once gave me a wonderful recipe for taking every trick
in the game of life, it is the acme of nonresistance. He gave it in
this way; “At one time in my life, I baptized children, and of course,
they had many names. Now I no longer baptize children, but I baptize
events, but _I give every event the same name_. If I have a failure I
baptize it success, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost!”
In this, we see the great law of transmutation, founded on
nonresistance. Through his spoken word, every failure was transmuted
into success.
For example: A woman who required money, and who knew the spiritual
law of opulence, was thrown continually in a business-way, with a
man who made her feel very poor. He talked lack and limitation and
she commenced to catch his poverty thoughts, so she disliked him,
and blamed him for her failure. She knew in order to demonstrate
her supply, she must first feel that she _had received—a feeling of
opulence must precede its manifestation_.
It dawned upon her, one day, that she was resisting the situation, and
seeing two powers instead of one. So she blessed the man and baptized
the situation “Success”! She affirmed, “As there is only one power,
God, this man is here for my good and my prosperity” (just what he
did not seem to be there for). Soon after that she met, _through this
man_, a woman who gave her for a service rendered, several thousand
dollars, and the man moved to a distant city, and faded harmoniously
from her life. Make the statement, “Every man is a golden link in the
chain of my good,” for all men are God in manifestation, _awaiting the
opportunity given by man, himself, to serve the divine plan of his
life_.
“Bless your enemy, and you rob him of his ammunition.” His arrows will
be transmuted into blessings.
This law is true of nations as well as individuals. Bless a nation,
send love and good-will to every inhabitant, and it is robbed of its
power to harm.
Man can only get the right idea of nonresistance, through spiritual
understanding. My students have often said: “I don’t want to be a
door-mat.” I reply “when you use nonresistance with wisdom, no one will
ever be able to walk over you.”
Another example: One day I was impatiently awaiting an important
telephone call. I resisted every call that came in and made no
out-going calls myself, reasoning that it might interfere with the one
I was awaiting.
Instead of saying, “Divine ideas never conflict, the call will come
at the right time,” leaving it to Infinite Intelligence to arrange, I
commenced to manage things myself—I made the battle mine, not God’s
and remained tense and anxious. The bell did not ring for about an
hour, and I glanced at the ’phone and found the receiver had been off
that length of time, and the ’phone was disconnected. My anxiety,
fear and belief in interference, had brought on a total eclipse of
the telephone. Realizing what I had done, I commenced blessing the
situation at once; I baptized it “success,” and affirmed, “I cannot
lose any call that belongs to me by divine right; I am under _grace,
and not under law_.”
A friend rushed out to the nearest telephone, to notify the Company to
reconnect.
She entered a crowded grocery, but the proprietor left his customers
and attended to the call himself. My ’phone was connected at once, and
two minutes later, I received a very important call, and about an hour
afterward, the one I had been awaiting.
_One’s ships come in over a calm sea._
So long as man resists a situation, he will have it with him. If he
runs away from it, it will run after him.
For example: I repeated this to a woman one day, and she replied, “How
true that is! I was unhappy at home, I disliked my mother, who was
critical and domineering; so I ran away and was married—but I married
my mother, for my husband was exactly like my mother, and I had the
same situation to face again.” “Agree with thine adversary quickly.”
That means, agree that the adverse situation is good, be undisturbed
by it, and it falls away of its own weight. “None of these things move
me,” is a wonderful affirmation.
The inharmonious situation comes from some inharmony within man himself.
When there is, in him, no emotional response to an inharmonious
situation, it fades away forever, from his pathway.
So we see man’s work is ever with himself.
People have said to me, “Give treatments to change my husband, or my
brother.” I reply, “No, I will give _treatments to change you_; when
you change, your husband and your brother will change.”
One of my students was in the habit of lying. I told her it was a
failure method and if she lied, she would be lied to. She replied, “I
don’t care, I can’t possibly get along without lying.”
One day she was speaking on the ’phone to a man with whom she was very
much in love. She turned to me and said, “I don’t trust him, I know
he’s lying to me.” I replied, “Well, you lie yourself, so someone has
to lie to you, and you will be sure it will be just the person you want
the truth from.” Some time after that, I saw her, and she said, “I’m
cured of lying.”
I questioned: “What cured you?”
She replied: “I have been living with a woman who lied worse than I
did!”
One is often cured of his faults by seeing them in others.
Life is a mirror, and we find only ourselves reflected in our
associates.
Living in the past is a failure method and a violation of spiritual law.
Jesus Christ said, “Behold, now is the accepted time.” “Now is the day
of Salvation.”
Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
The robbers of time are the past and the future. Man should bless the
past, and forget it, if it keeps him in bondage, and bless the future,
knowing it has in store for him endless joys, but live _fully in the
now_.
For example: A woman came to me, complaining that she had no money with
which to buy Christmas gifts. She said, “Last year was so different;
I had plenty of money and gave lovely presents, and this year I have
scarcely a cent.”
I replied, “You will never demonstrate money while you are pathetic
and live in the past. Live fully in the _now_, and _get ready to give
Christmas presents_. Dig your ditches, and the money will come.” She
exclaimed, “I know what to do! I will buy some tinsel twine, Christmas
seals and wrapping paper.” I replied, “Do that, and the _presents will
come and stick themselves to the Christmas seals_.”
This too, was showing financial fearlessness and faith in God, as the
reasoning mind said, “Keep every cent you have, as you are not sure you
will get any more.”
She bought the seals, paper and twine, and a few days before Christmas,
received a gift of several hundred dollars. Buying the seals and twine
had impressed the subconscious with expectancy, and opened the way
for the manifestation of the money. She purchased all the presents in
plenty of time.
Man must live suspended in the moment.
“Look well, therefore, to this Day! Such is the salutation of the Dawn.”
He must be spiritually alert, ever awaiting his leads, taking advantage
of every opportunity.
One day, I said continually (silently), “Infinite Spirit, don’t let
me miss a trick,” and something very important was told to me that
evening. It is most necessary to begin the day with right words.
Make an affirmation immediately upon waking.
For example:
“_Thy will be done this day! Today is a day of completion; I give
thanks for this perfect day, miracle shall follow miracle and wonders
shall never cease._”
Make this a habit, and one will see wonders and miracles come into his
life.
One morning I picked up a book and read, “Look with wonder at that
which is before you!” It seemed to be my message for the day, so I
repeated again and again, “Look with wonder at that which is before
you.”
At about noon, a large sum of money, was given me, which I had been
desiring for a certain purpose.
In a following chapter, I will give affirmations that I have found
most effective. However, one should never use an affirmation unless it
is absolutely satisfying and convincing to his own consciousness, and
often an affirmative is changed to suit different people.
For example: The following has brought success to many:
“I have a wonderful work, in a wonderful way, I give wonderful service,
for wonderful pay!”
I gave the first two lines to one of my students, and she added the
last two.
It made a _most powerful statement_, as there should always be perfect
payment for perfect service, and a rhyme sinks easily into the
subconscious. She went about singing it aloud and soon did receive
wonderful work in a wonderful way, and gave wonderful service for
wonderful pay.
Another student, a business man, took it, and changed the word work to
business.
He repeated, “I have a wonderful business, in a wonderful way, and I
give wonderful service for wonderful pay.” That afternoon he made a
forty-one-thousand dollar deal, though there had been no activity in
his affairs for months.
Every affirmation must be carefully worded and completely “cover the
ground.”
For example: I knew a woman, who was in great need, and made a demand
for work. She received a great deal of work, but was never paid
anything. She now knows to add, “wonderful service for wonderful pay.”
It is man’s divine right to have plenty! More than enough!
“His barns should be full, and his cup should flow over!” This is God’s
idea for man, and when man breaks down the barriers of lack in his own
consciousness, the Golden Age will be his, and every righteous desire
of his heart fulfilled!
THE LAW OF KARMA
and
THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS
Man receives only that which he gives. The Game of Life is a game of
boomerangs. Man’s thoughts, deeds and words, return to him sooner or
later, with astounding accuracy.
This is the law of Karma, which is Sanskrit for “Comeback.” “Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
For example: A friend told me this story of herself, illustrating the
law. She said, “I make all my Karma on my aunt, whatever I say to her,
some one says to me. I am often irritable at home, and one day, said to
my aunt, who was talking to me during dinner. ‘_No more talk, I wish to
eat in peace._’”
“The following day, I was lunching with a woman with whom I wished to
make a great impression. I was talking animatedly, when she said: ‘_No
more talk, I wish to eat in peace!_’”
My friend is high in consciousness, so her Karma returns much more
quickly than to one on the mental plane.
The more man knows, the more he is responsible for, and a person with
a knowledge of Spiritual Law, which he does not practice, suffers
greatly, in consequence. “The fear of the Lord (law) is the beginning
of wisdom.” If we read the word Lord, law, it will make many passages
in the Bible much clearer.
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord” (law). It is the law
which takes vengeance, not God. God sees man perfect, “created in his
own image,” (imagination) and given “power and dominion.”
This is the perfect idea of man, registered in Divine Mind, awaiting
man’s recognition; for man can only be what he sees himself to be, and
only attain what he sees himself attaining.
“Nothing ever happens without an on-looker” is an ancient saying.
Man sees first his failure or success, his joy or sorrow, before it
swings into visibility from the scenes set in his own imagination. We
have observed this in the mother picturing disease for her child, or a
woman seeing success for her husband.
Jesus Christ said, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free.”
So, we see freedom (from all unhappy conditions) comes through
knowledge—a knowledge of Spiritual Law.
Obedience precedes authority, and the law obeys man when he obeys the
law. The law of electricity must be obeyed before it becomes man’s
servant. When handled ignorantly, it becomes man’s deadly foe. _So
with the laws of Mind!_
For example: A woman with a strong personal will, wished she owned a
house which belonged to an acquaintance, and she often made mental
pictures of herself living in the house. In the course of time, the man
died and she moved into the house. Several years afterwards, coming
into the knowledge of Spiritual Law, she said to me: “Do you think I
had anything to do with that man’s death?” I replied: “Yes, your desire
was so strong, everything made way for it, but you paid your Karmic
debt. Your husband, whom you loved devotedly, died soon after, and the
house was a white elephant on your hands for years.”
The original owner, however, could not have been affected by her
thoughts had he been positive in the truth, nor her husband, but they
were both under Karmic law. The woman should have said (feeling the
great desire for the house), “Infinite Intelligence, give me the right
house, equally as charming as this, the house _which is mine by divine
right_.”
The divine selection would have given perfect satisfaction and brought
good to all. The divine pattern is the only safe pattern to work by.
_Desire is a tremendous force, and must be directed in the right
channels; or chaos ensues._
In demonstrating, the most important step is the _first step, to “ask
aright_.”
Man should always demand only that which is his by _divine right_.
To go back to the illustration: Had the woman taken this attitude: “If
this house, I desire, is mine, I cannot lose it, if it is not, give me
its equivalent,” the man might have decided to move out, harmoniously
(had it been the divine selection for her) or another house would have
been substituted. Anything forced into manifestation through personal
will, is always “ill-got,” and has “ever bad success.”
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.”