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.
The Law of
Prosperity
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 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
Game of Life"
by Florence Scovel Shinn
Florence Scovel
Shinn
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