The game of life and how to play it is a classic work in the field of New Thought and mental alchemy.
Florence Scovel Shinn’s great work has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years.
In this article, I will share with you several of the biggest ideas on reality creation from this wonderful book.
The Conscious, Subconscious and Superconscious minds
Florence explains how there are three distinct aspects of the mind.
The conscious mind she associates with mortality.
“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 conscious mind deals with what has already been manifested.
It deals with present realities and limitations.
People who focus solely on this rational and objective mind lack creativity and rarely create any breakthroughs for mankind.
The subconscious mind is the automatic part of the mind which is impressed by the conscious mind.
This is the automatic part of the mind; it’s chaotic and deals with the unrealized world of imagination.
“The superconscious mind is the God Mind within each man, and is the realm of perfect ideas.”
The superconscious, sometimes referred to as the Universal Mind or Infinite intelligence, is the mind of a higher intelligence.
Hermetic philosophers called this The ALL.
The subconscious mind is connected to the superconscious.
The conscious mind is connected to the subconscious.
There is a direct line of communication to transcendent guidance to those who are open.
The Game Of Life And How To Play It Summary -Your Life Purpose
“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 super-conscious mind. It usually flashes across the conscious as an unattainable ideal—’something too good to be true’.”
Every person has a unique destiny.
They receive hints of this destiny through subconscious impressions.
These impressions can come through daydreams and random visions of what could be.
Most people stubbornly ignore these callings due to the pushing and prodding of societal beliefs and pendulums.
Occasionally, someone decides to answer the hero’s call and they embark on a journey to higher realizations.
If you are unsure about what your purpose is in life, make it a habit to spend some time in silence.
Pay attention to what arises and what excites.
The visions in your mind are merely trailers for what could be.
The Power of Intuition
Florence talks at length about the power of intuition.
She advocates for her students to get into the habit of seeking inner guidance.
This idea comes from the biblical idea of
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
If you ask a higher power for guidance, you will receive guidance.
“The answer will come through intuition (or hunch); a chance remark from someone, or a passage in a book, etc., etc. The answers are sometimes quite startling in their exactness.”
This phenomena has been demonstrated by many high performers.
When you ask for an answer, one will come from your world.
Most people neglect the answers which they are given, instead choosing to stay stuck in the rational worldview of the conscious mind.
Those who answer the call are rewarded greatly.
“Robert Fulton, watching some boiling water, simmering in a tea kettle, saw a steamboat!”
Had Fulton neglected the intuitive guidance he got from watching the simmering kettle, he would never have invented the steamboat.
Another great example is that of Bill Bowerman who invented the revolutionary waffle shoe, which helped Nike become a juggernaut in athletic footwear.
All these are great examples of what Napoleon Hill referred to as creative imagination.
Florence encourages students of mind dynamics to have faith because,
“Sometimes an insignificant incident may be the turning point in a man’s life.”
Things can change rapidly when you have God as your supply.
The Game of Life and How To Play It – God is Your Supply
“He knows that God is his supply, that there is a supply for every demand, and that his spoken word releases this supply.”
What does it mean to have God as your supply?
It means to understand that any circumstance can change through a change of faith.
The seemingly impossible situations of the outside world can rearrange themselves rapidly for your benefit.
Any adversity can be overcome through understanding that malleability of the external world.
This idea was highlighted in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’.
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” — Matthew 6:26
Every creature on earth is born with the ability to survive and thrive.
Birds which have far less intelligence than man find ways to take care of themselves.
It’s difficult to find a bird which has died from starvation as they seem to always find food.
Yet you worry about how you will survive tomorrow.
Have you ever noticed how the worst fears you entertain in your minds almost never materialize?
Or when they do, you always find a way to cope with the change in circumstance.
It seems Marcus Aurelius was right when he said,
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”
Take for instance, the worldwide lockdowns of 2020 – a bleak time which for many looked like the end of the world.
The horrors happened and then things moved on.
This is the nature of life, transience and rhythm.
Every situation brings forth an opportunity for expansion.
You simply need to remember that God is your supply not outside circumstance.
Problems which seem significant can vanish overnight.
You can go from being broke to a multi-millionaire simply by finding the right opportunity.
It’s often small hinges which swing big doors.
Accepting God as your supply allows you to better see these hinges.
Personal Rituals of Success
Man must prepare for the thing he has asked for, when there isn’t the slightest sign of it in sight.
Now you have accepted God as your supply, you must start acting as if your dream has already been realized.
This change happens through preparing for the demonstration before you see it.
I recently watched a video in which Conor McGregor explained how he would wear a fake Rolex before he could afford a real one.
During his iconic run in the UFC he was gifted a real Rolex by the billionaire Fertitta brothers (who at the time owned the organization).
The world has a funny way of reflecting our inner states.
It’s almost as if the universe suffers from cognitive dissonance when you begin to behave as if you have something.
It creates a vacuum which needs to be resolved.
Circumstances will begin to shift until there is consistency between your inner and outer world.
The power of words
“Through his spoken word, man is continually making laws for himself.”
Faith also requires you to pay greater attention to your words.
The words you speak silently create rules for you.
Words become spells, hence Florence went on to write the book ‘Your Word Is Your Wand’.
Stop speaking words which imply lack.
If your goal is to be wealthy, stop saying things like
“I can’t afford that.”
Take on the advice of Robert Kiyosaki’s rich dad and ask yourself:
“How can I afford that?”
Or even say,
“I can afford that but won’t commit to it right now.”
The words you use influence your subconscious mind, which in turn influences your connection to the superconscious or God.
Do this and you will be one step closer to living and dying well.