confusion. The student must form the habit of “practicing the Presence
of God” every minute. “_In all thy ways acknowledge him_;” nothing is
too small or too great.
Sometimes an insignificant incident may be the turning point in a man’s
life.
Robert Fulton, watching some boiling water, simmering in a tea kettle,
saw a steamboat!
I have seen a student, often, keep back his demonstration, through
resistance, or pointing the way.
He pins his faith to one channel only, and dictates just the way he
desires the manifestation to come, which brings things to a standstill.
“_My way, not your way!_” is the command of Infinite Intelligence. Like
all Power, be it steam or electricity, it must have a nonresistant
engine or instrument to work through, and man is that engine or
instrument.
Over and over again, man is told to “stand still”. “Oh Judah, fear not;
but tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. You
shall not need to fight this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you.”
We see this in the incidents of the two thousand dollars coming to
the woman through the landlord when she became _nonresistant_ and
_undisturbed_, and the woman who won the man’s love “after all
suffering had ceased.”
The student’s goal is _Poise!_ _Poise_ is _Power_, for it gives
God-Power a chance to rush through man, to “will and to do Its good
pleasure.”
Poised, he thinks clearly, and makes “right decisions quickly.” “He
never misses a trick.”
Anger blurs the visions, poisons the blood, is the root of many
diseases, and causes wrong decision leading to failure.
It has been named one of the worst “sins,” as its reaction is so
harmful. The student learns that in metaphysics sin has a much broader
meaning than in the old teaching. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
He finds that fear and worry are deadly sins. They are inverted faith,
and through distorted mental pictures, bring to pass the thing he
fears. His work is to drive out these enemies (from the subconscious
mind). “When Man is _fearless he is finished_!” Maeterlinck says, that
“Man is God afraid.”
So, as we read in the previous chapters: Man can only vanquish fear by
walking up to the thing he is afraid of. When Jehoshaphat and his army
prepared to meet the enemy, singing “Praise the Lord, for his mercy
endureth forever,” they found their enemies had destroyed each other,
and there was nothing to fight.
For example: A woman asked a friend to deliver a message to another
friend. The woman feared to give the message, as the reasoning mind
said, “Don’t get mixed-up in this affair, don’t give that message.”
She was troubled in spirit, for she had given her promise. At last,
she determined to “walk up to the lion,” and call on the law of divine
protection. She met the friend to whom she was to deliver the message.
She opened her mouth to speak it, when her friend said, “So-and-So
has left town.” This made it unnecessary to give the message, as the
situation depended upon the person being in town. As she was willing
to do it, she was not obliged to; as she did not fear, the situation
vanished.
The student often delays his demonstration through a belief in
incompletion. He should make this statement:
“In Divine Mind there is only completion, therefore, my demonstration
is completed. My perfect work, my perfect home, my perfect health.”
Whatever he demands are perfect ideas registered in Divine Mind, and
must manifest, “under grace in a perfect way.” He gives thanks he has
already received on the invisible, and makes active preparation for
receiving on the visible.
One of my students was in need of a financial demonstration. She came
to me and asked why it was not completed.
I replied: “Perhaps, you are in the habit of leaving things unfinished,
and the subconscious has gotten into the habit of not completing (as
the without, so the within).”
She said, “You are right. I often _begin things_ and never finish them.”
“I’ll go home and finish something I commenced weeks ago, and I know it
will be symbolic of my demonstration.”
So she sewed assiduously, and the article was soon completed. Shortly
after, the money came in a most curious manner.
Her husband was paid his salary twice that month. He told the people of
their mistake, and they sent word to keep it.
When man asks, _believing, he must receive, for God creates His own
channels_!
I have been sometimes asked, “Suppose one has several talents, how is
he to know which one to choose?” Demand to be shown definitely. Say:
“Infinite Spirit, give me a definite lead, reveal to me my perfect
self-expression, show me which talent I am to make use of now.”
I have known people to suddenly enter a new line of work, and be fully
equipped, with little or no training. So make the statement: “_I am
fully equipped for the Divine Plan of my life_,” and be fearless in
grasping opportunities.
Some people are cheerful givers, but bad receivers. They refuse
gifts through pride, or some negative reason, thereby blocking their
channels, and invariably find themselves eventually with little or
nothing. For example: A woman who had given away a great deal of money,
had a gift offered her of several thousand dollars. She refused to take
it, saying she did not need it. Shortly after that, her finances were
“tied up,” and she found herself in debt for that amount. Man should
receive gracefully the bread returning to him upon the water—freely ye
have given, freely ye shall receive.
There is always the perfect balance of giving and receiving, and
though man should give without thinking of returns, he violates law if
he does not accept the returns which come to him; for all gifts are
from God, man being merely the channel.
A thought of lack should never be held over the giver.
For example: When the man gave me the one cent, I did not say: “Poor
man, he cannot afford to give me that.” I saw him rich and prosperous,
with his supply pouring in. It was this thought which brought it.
If one has been a bad receiver, he must become a good one, and take
even a postage stamp if it is given him, and open up his channels for
receiving.
The Lord loveth a cheerful receiver, as well as a cheerful giver.
I have often been asked why one man is born rich and healthy, and
another poor and sick.
Where there is an effect there is always a cause; there is no such
thing as chance.
This question is answered through the law of reincarnation. Man goes
through many births and deaths, until he knows the truth which sets him
free.
He is drawn back to the earth plane through unsatisfied desire, to pay
his Karmic debts, or to “fulfill his destiny.”
The man born rich and healthy has had pictures in his subconscious
mind, in his past life, of health and riches; and the poor and sick
man, of disease and poverty. Man manifests, on any plane, the sum total
of his subconscious beliefs.
However, birth and death are man-made laws, for the “wages of sin is
death”; the Adamic fall in consciousness through the belief in _two
powers_. The real man, spiritual man, is birthless and deathless! He
never was born and has never died—“As he was in the beginning, he is
now, and ever shall be!”
So through the truth, man is set free from the law of Karma, sin
and death, and manifests the man made in “His image and likeness.”
Man’s freedom comes through fulfilling his destiny, bringing into
manifestation the Divine Design of his life.
His lord will say unto him: “Well done thou good and faithful servant,
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler
over many things (death itself); enter thou into the joy of thy Lord
(eternal life).”
DENIALS AND AFFIRMATIONS
“Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.”
All the good that is to be made manifest in man’s life is already
an accomplished fact in divine mind, and is released through man’s
recognition, or spoken word, so he must be careful to decree that only
the Divine Idea be made manifest, for often, he decrees, through his
“idle words,” failure or misfortune.
It is, therefore, of the utmost importance, to word one’s demands
correctly, as stated in a previous chapter.
If one desires a home, friend, position or any other good thing, make
the demand for the “divine selection.”
For example: “Infinite Spirit, open the way for my right home, my right
friend, my right position. I give thanks _it now manifests under grace
in a perfect way_.”
The latter part of the statement is most important. For example: I
knew a woman who demanded a thousand dollars. Her daughter was injured
and they received a thousand dollars indemnity, so it did not come
in a “perfect way.” The demand should have been worded in this way:
“Infinite Spirit, I give thanks that the one thousand dollars, which is
mine by divine right, is now released, and reaches me under grace, in a
perfect way.”
As one grows in a financial consciousness, he should demand that the
enormous sums of money, which are his by divine right, reach him under
grace, in perfect ways.
It is impossible for man to release more than he thinks is possible,
for one is bound by the limited expectancies of the subconscious. He
must enlarge his expectancies in order to receive in a larger way.
Man so often limits himself in his demands. For example: A student made
the demand for six hundred dollars, by a certain date. He did receive
it, but heard afterwards, that he came very near receiving a thousand
dollars, but he was given just six hundred, as the result of his spoken
word.
“They limited the Holy One of Israel.” Wealth is a matter of
consciousness. The French have a legend giving an example of this. A
poor man was walking along a road when he met a traveler, who stopped
him and said: “My good friend, I see you are poor. Take this gold
nugget, sell it, and you will be rich all your days.”
The man was overjoyed at his good fortune, and took the nugget home. He
immediately found work and became so prosperous that he did not sell
the nugget. Years passed, and he became a very rich man. One day he met
a poor man on the road. He stopped him and said: “My good friend, I
will give you this gold nugget, which, if you sell, will make you rich
for life.” The mendicant took the nugget, had it valued, and found it
was only brass. So we see, the first man became rich through feeling
rich, thinking the nugget was gold.
Every man has within himself a gold nugget; _it is his consciousness of
gold, of opulence, which brings riches into his life_. In making his
demands, man begins at his _journey’s end_, that is, he declares _he
has already received_. “_Before_ ye call I shall answer.”
Continually affirming establishes the belief in the subconscious.
It would not be necessary to make an affirmation more than once if one
had perfect faith! One should not plead or supplicate, but give thanks
repeatedly, that he has received.
“The desert shall _rejoice_ and blossom as the rose.” This rejoicing
which is yet in the desert (state of consciousness) opens the way
for release. The Lord’s Prayer is in the form of command and demand,
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors,” and ends in praise, “For thine is the Kingdom
and the Power and the Glory, forever. Amen.” “Concerning the works of
my hands, command ye me.” So prayer is command and demand, praise and
thanksgiving. The student’s work is in making himself believe that
“with God all things are possible.”
This is easy enough to state in the abstract, but a little more
difficult when confronted with a problem. For example: It was
necessary for a woman to demonstrate a large sum of money within a
stated time. She knew she must _do something_ to get a realization (for
realization is manifestation), and she demanded a “lead.”
She was walking through a department store, when she saw a very
beautiful pink enamel papercutter. She felt the “pull” towards it. The
thought came. “I haven’t a paper cutter good enough to open letters
containing large cheques.”
So she bought the papercutter, which the reasoning mind would have
called an extravagance. When she held it in her hand, she had a flash
of a picture of herself opening an envelope containing a large cheque,
and in a few weeks, she received the money. The pink papercutter was
her bridge of active faith.
Many stories are told of the power of the subconscious when directed in
faith.
For example: A man was spending the night in a farmhouse. The windows
of the room had been nailed down, and in the middle of the night he
felt suffocated and made his way in the dark to the window. He could
not open it, so he smashed the pane with his fist, drew in draughts of
fine fresh air, and had a wonderful night’s sleep.
The next morning, he found he had smashed the glass of a bookcase and
the window had remained closed during the whole night. He had _supplied
himself with oxygen, simply by his thought of oxygen_.
When a student starts out to demonstrate, he should never turn back.
“Let not that man who wavers think that he shall receive anything of
the Lord.”
A colored student once made this wonderful statement, “When I asks
the Father for anything, I puts my foot down, and I says: Father,
I’ll take nothing less than I’ve asked for, but more!” So man should
never compromise: “Having done all—Stand.” This is sometimes the most
difficult time of demonstrating. The temptation comes to give up, to
turn back, to compromise.
“He also serves who only stands and waits.”
Demonstrations often come at the eleventh hour because man then lets
go, that is, stops reasoning, and Infinite Intelligence has a chance to
work.
“Man’s dreary desires are answered drearily, and his impatient desires,
long delayed or violently fulfilled.”
For example: A woman asked me why it was she was constantly losing or
breaking her glasses.
We found she often said to herself and others with vexation, “I wish
I could get rid of my glasses.” So her impatient desire was violently
fulfilled. What she should have demanded was perfect eye-sight, but
what she registered in the subconscious was simply the impatient desire
to be rid of her glasses; so they were continually being broken or lost.
Two attitudes of mind cause loss: depreciation, as in the case of the
woman who did not appreciate her husband, _or fear of loss_, which
makes a picture of loss in the subconscious.
When a student is able to let go of his problem (cast his burden) he
will have instantaneous manifestation.
For example: A woman was out during a very stormy day and her umbrella
was blown inside-out. She was about to make a call on some people whom
she had never met and she did not wish to make her first appearance
with a dilapidated umbrella. She could not throw it away, as it did not
belong to her. So in desperation, she exclaimed: “Oh, God, you take
charge of this umbrella, I don’t know what to do.”
A moment later, a voice behind her said: “Lady, do you want your
umbrella mended?” There stood an umbrella mender.
She replied, “Indeed, I do.”
The man mended the umbrella, while she went into the house to pay her
call, and when she returned, she had a good umbrella. So there is
always an umbrella mender at hand, on man’s pathway, when one puts the
umbrella (or situation) in God’s Hands.
One should always follow a denial with an affirmation.
For example: I was called on the ’phone late one night 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.”
There is no time or space, in Divine Mind, therefore the word reaches
instantly its destination and does not “return void.” I have treated
patients in Europe and have found that the result was instantaneous.
I am asked so often the difference between visualizing and visioning.
Visualizing is a mental process governed by the reasoning or conscious
mind; visioning is a spiritual process, governed by intuition, or the
superconscious mind. The student should train his mind to receive
these flashes of inspiration, and work out the “divine pictures,”
through definite leads. When a man can say, “I desire only that which
God desires for me,” his false desires fade from the consciousness,
and a new set of blueprints is given him by the Master Architect, the
God within. God’s plan for each man transcends the limitation of the
reasoning mind, and is always the square of life, containing health,
wealth, love and perfect self-expression. Many a man is building for
himself in imagination a bungalow when he should be building a palace.
If a student tries to force a demonstration (through the reasoning
mind) he brings it to a standstill. “I will hasten it,” saith the Lord.
He should act only through intuition, or definite leads. “Rest in the
Lord and wait patiently. Trust also in him, and he will bring it to
pass.”
I have seen the law work in the most astonishing manner. For example: A
student stated that it was necessary for her to have a hundred dollars
by the following day. It was a debt of vital importance which had to be
met. I “spoke the word,” declaring Spirit was “never too late” and that
the supply was at hand.
That evening she phoned me of the miracle. She said that the thought
came to her to go to her safe-deposit box at the bank to examine some
papers. She looked over the papers, and at the bottom of the box, was
a new one hundred dollar-bill. She was astounded, and said she knew
she had never put it there, for she had gone through the papers many
times. It may have been a materialization, as Jesus Christ materialized
the loaves and fishes. Man will reach the stage where his “word is
made flesh,” or materialized, instantly. “The fields, ripe with the
harvest,” will manifest immediately, as in all of the miracles of Jesus
Christ.
There is a tremendous power alone in the name Jesus Christ. It stands
for _Truth Made Manifest_. He said, “Whatsoever ye ask the Father, in
my name, he will give it to you.”
The power of this name raises the student into the fourth dimension,
where he is freed from all astral and psychic influences, and he
becomes “unconditioned and absolute, as God Himself is unconditioned
and absolute.”
I have seen many healings accomplished by using the words, “In the name
of Jesus Christ.”
Christ was both person and principle; and the Christ within each man is
his Redeemer and Salvation.
The Christ within, is his own fourth dimensional self, the man made
in God’s image and likeness. This is the self which has never failed,
never known sickness or sorrow, was never born and has never died. It
is the “resurrection and the life” of each man! “No man cometh to the
Father save by the Son,” means, that God, the Universal, working on
the place of the particular, becomes the Christ in man; and the Holy
Ghost, means God-in-action. So daily, man is manifesting the Trinity of
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Man should make an art of thinking. The Master Thinker is an artist
and is careful to paint only the divine designs upon the canvas of his
mind; and he paints these pictures with masterly strokes of power and
decision, having perfect faith that there is no power to mar their
perfection and that they shall manifest in his life the ideal made real.
All power is given man (through right thinking) to bring _his heaven_
upon _his earth_, and this is the _goal of the_ “_Game of Life_.”
The simple rules are fearless faith, nonresistance and love!
May each reader be now freed from that thing which has held him in
bondage through the ages, standing between him and his own, and “know
the Truth which makes him free”—free to fulfill his destiny, to bring
into manifestation the “_Divine Design of his life_, Health, Wealth,
Love and Perfect Self-Expression.” “Be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind.”
(For Prosperity)
God is my unfailing supply, and large sums of money come to me quickly,
under grace, in perfect ways.
(For Right Conditions)
Every plan my Father in heaven has not planned, shall be dissolved and
dissipated, and the Divine Idea now comes to pass.
(For Right Conditions)
Only that which is true of God is true of me, for I and the Father are
ONE.
(For Faith)
As I am one with God, I am one with my good, for God is both the
_Giver_ and the _Gift_. I cannot separate the _Giver_ from the gift.
(For Right Conditions)
Divine Love now dissolves and dissipates every wrong condition in my
mind, body and affairs. Divine Love is the most powerful chemical in
the universe, and _dissolves everything_ which is not of itself!
(For Health)
Divine Love floods my consciousness with health, and every cell in my
body is filled with light.
(For the Eyesight)
My eyes are God’s eyes, I see with the eyes of spirit. I see clearly
the open way; there are no obstacles on my pathway. I see clearly the
perfect plan.
(For Guidance)
I am divinely sensitive to my intuitive leads, and give instant
obedience to Thy will.
(For the Hearing)
My ears are God’s ears, I hear with the ears of spirit. I am
nonresistant and am willing to be led. I hear glad tidings of great joy.
(For Right Work)
_I have a perfect work
In a perfect way;
I give a perfect service
For perfect pay._
(For Freedom from all Bondage)
_I cast this burden on the Christ within, and I go free!_
[Illustration: Decoration]
“_One secret
of her success was that
she was always herself ... colloquial,
informal, friendly, and humorous.
She herself was very spiritual ...
and taught by familiar, practical, and
everyday examples._”
[Illustration: Decoration]
EMMET FOX
—_On Florence Scovel Shinn_—
Books by _FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN_
THE GAME OF LIFE & HOW TO PLAY IT
THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD
YOUR WORD IS YOUR WAND
THE SECRET DOOR TO SUCCESS
THE WRITINGS OF FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN (_1 Vol. Edition_)
THE GAME OF LIFE—_Cassette Tape_
DEVORSS & COMPANY, _Publishers_
Marina del Rey, California 90294-0550
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 8 Changed: victim of distorted imagiation.
to: victim of distorted imagination.
pg 86 Changed: the Holy One of Isreal
to: the Holy One of Israel