The Game of Life and How to Play It - Chapter 1

By Camdiluv ♥ from Concepción, CHILE - Colours, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19871961

So someone recommended a book to me called, The Game of Life and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn.  It was first published in 1925.  It has been republished many times and is available on Amazon – new and used – for just a few dollars.

According to Wikipedia, Shinn was an American artist and book illustrator who became a spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer.  Shinn expressed her philosophy as:

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.

So according to Shinn, life is a game.  But most of us just never learn the rules.  That’s why people are depressed, live in poverty, and never realize their full potential.

The book is a short and easy read.  The edition I purchased from Amazon is only 77 pages.  So I’ll quickly review the chapters as I read them.

Being a spiritualist, Shinn quotes from the Bible quite a bit, particularly teachings attributed to Jesus Christ.  So be prepared.

In Chapter 1, Shinn asserts that Jesus Christ taught that life was a great game of Giving and Receiving.  I thought instantly of the Golden Rule:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Matt. 7:12.  She cites Galatians 6:7:  “[W]hatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

From these principles we learn that if you hate, you will receive hate.  If you lie, you will be lied to.  If you judge others, then you will be judged.  So to play the Game of Life well, practice kindness to others, love one another, be truthful, thoughtful, considerate, and give generously.

Shinn takes the Golden Rule one step further.  She writes that it is not just your actions that count, but your thoughts and imaginations.   In other words, what you think will eventually manifest in the material world.  Imagine suffering, and you will see suffering, maybe even experience it.  Think about germs and getting sick, and you are likely to come down with a cold.  Think about crime, and you are likely to get robbed.

So to play the Game of Life, you must train your mind to image only good things – health, wealth, love, friends, joy, the expression of your highest ideas.  Shinn explains that your mind has three departments:  the subconscious, the conscious, and the superconscious.

The subconscious mind is like a machine or computer that does everything it is programmed to do.  Program it for failure, and you will fail at what you set out to do.  It is programmed by your deep emotions and what you clearly image.  I might add that our subconscious minds are being programmed all the time by what we think, feel, watch on TV, etc.

The conscious mind is what you use to perceive the physical world.  Your conscious mind does not ordinarily see truth, but the illusion of the world presented to you as sickness and lack.

The superconscious mind is God’s mind within you.  You can recognize this mind in you when you have great ideas that seem unattainable, or too good to be true.   Then your ego (which is not you) may kick in to tell you why that goal is impossible for you.  For instance because you are unworthy, too stupid, too poor, or other reasons.

To begin aligning yourself with the superconscious, or God’s mind and purpose, you can reject the ego and maintain those lofty ideas and images in your mind.  Instead of telling yourself why something is impossible, tell yourself mentally and out loud that it is possible, and that it is occurring right now!  

Shinn quotes Mathew 7:7:  “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  

So the first rule of the Game of Life is to see clearly in your mind your goal and the good you would like to accomplish, and remove all mental images of negativity, or evil.  Shinn ends with an affirmation on the last page of Chapter 1, which I can’t quote because of copyright laws.  The purpose of the affirmation is to make your subconscious mind do a data-dump of the negative programmed thoughts in it right now.  You’ll just have to pick up a copy of the book to get the affirmation.

So I wish I knew a study group interested in spending a couple of weeks getting together to discuss this book and put Shinn’s ideas into practice.  Since I don’t, I’ll just study it by myself and summarize the chapters.  

I’m imagining good things for South Sac and everyone that works and resides here.  I hope you are too.