Article Overview 🔎
- About The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn
- The Game of Life and How to Play It Summary and Main Teachings
- The Game of Life and How to Play It Free Audiobook and Video Summary
- More Insights on Ways to Live Life, The Meaning of Life, & Life Purpose
About The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn 📙
Published in 1925, ‘The Game of Life and How to Play It‘, teaches the philosophies of its author, Florence Scovel Shinn. The book reflects on the purpose of life, visualizing what you want and practically setting out to manifest the life that you want.
The Game of Life and How to Play It Summary and Main Teachings 📃
The core teachings of the book are that life works like a mental game governed by universal spiritual laws. Your thoughts, words, expectations, and faith shape your reality. What you consistently believe and declare tends to manifest. Your subconscious mind acts on what you impress upon it, whether positive or negative.
Here are some of her main teachings that link up with other articles on this site including the teachings of Neville Goddard and the Hermetic Principles:
- The Law of Expectancy – Shinn emphasizes the power of the imagination to bring about life events. “Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly, is impressed upon the subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail.” Fear, doubt, resentment, and worry block desired outcomes. Faith, expectation, and clear mental pictures support manifestation. What you emotionally accept as true tends to show up in experience. She emphasizes replacing negative mental patterns with deliberate, faith-filled thinking.
- The Power of Words – Words are spells (hence the linguistic origin of ‘spelling words’). Spoken words carry creative power, which is why affirmations are commonly taught in manifestation practices. Careless speech can create unwanted results, whils intentional affirmations help “plant” desired outcomes in the subconscious. Statements should be made with certainty, not strain. “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’.”
- The Divine Pattern & Intuition – Shinn says that one must always ask for the “right” circumstance, or the “divine selection,” and not to ask for specifics.
- The Law of Substitution – According to Florence Scovel Shinn, sometimes our desires are misdirected. “Many people 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 Karma – The Law of Karma is also known as the Law of Cause and Effect (a hermetic principle): “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. What you give out mentally and emotionally returns; judgment, criticism, and hostility rebound, as well as generosity, forgiveness, and goodwill return multiplied. Shinn teaches that resentment and unforgiveness are major blocks to success.
- The Law of Non Resistance – The Law of Non Resistance may be considered a sensible corollary to the Law of Karma (e.g. do not react to a negative situation with more negativity, as that will bring back more harm down the track). Resistance strengthens what you resist. As such, a calm non-reaction dissolves many problems and emotional neutrality allows better outcomes. You don’t “force” results through struggle, instead, you align spiritually and allow right outcomes to unfold. Trust replaces anxiety. Letting go of attachment to how things happen is important. Shinn frequently contrasts human willpower against spiritual alignment.
- The Law of Forgiveness – Though Karma is a powerful law, Shinn explains that the Law of Forgiveness or Grace is a higher law.
- The Law of Use – Shinn explains that a gift is a better investment than a savings account. “Many people are in ignorance of the fact that gifts and things are investments, and that hoarding and saving invariably lead to loss.”
- Prosperity Consciousness – Lack is described as a mental state, not just a financial one. Gratitude and expectancy open the way to supply, whereas envy and fear of loss block prosperity. One should see good as abundant and available.
- The Law of Love – Shinn quotes Jesus when she explains the importance of love. “Everyone on this planet is taking their initiation in love. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” (from Wiki). Trying to control specific people leads to frustration, Instead affirm the presence of the “right” relationships. Release unhealthy attachments and demands, then seek the “divine selection” rather than personal forcing.
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Visualization & Spiritual Request – Shinn’s method often combines a clear mental picture, spoken affirmations, faithful expectancy, and emotional release.
The Game of Life and How to Play It Free Audiobook and Video Summary 🔊
View a recent breakdown of the book by Joseph Rodrigues and the full audio book of ‘The Game of Life and How to Play It’ for free below. You can also buy the book here:
More Insights on Ways to Live Life, The Meaning of Life, & Life Purpose 💭
There are many interesting insights on ways to live life. Here are some more that resonate with many.
People who experience Near Death Experiences (NDEs) return from the experience with life lessons’ such as:
Other NDEs that give insight on life purpose include that of Alan Green. Aaron’s experience made him remember choosing to incarnate on Earth from many possible planets, feeling strongly that Earth was where he wanted to learn. He also recalled having lived many past lives and working with spiritual guides to plan his current one. Together, they selected his parents, gender, appearance, intelligence, and life challenges to best support his spiritual growth. He initially liked the idea of being a ginger girl, as it was a rarer on Earth to be ginger and he thought it was “a cool look”, but the experiences and growth he needed wasn’t available in this state (he needed to choose different parents and looks). Some hardships, including injuries, were understood as consequences of actions in past lives, not as punishment, but as opportunities to learn from them (why you shouldn’t do them and their effects) and resolve karmic debt. More on his NDE can be read here.
This also ties into Dolores Cannon’s findings as a hypnotherapist, specializing in past life regression. Her patients spoke of before being born, souls make agreements (soul contracts) to experience specific challenges, relationships, and events that will help them evolve. These contracts are made in the Spirit Realm with the guidance of higher beings. People choose their families, friends, and even hardships based on what they need to learn in this lifetime. Even difficult relationships (e.g. with abusive partners or toxic people) might be part of a karmic lesson or an opportunity for growth. More can be read on this here. This also links with children that remember past lives, which includes choosing parents and life experiences. More of which can be read here.
Reincarnation is also a prominent theme in ancient civilizations such as in Ancient Egypt (links with mummification and ascending to Sirius), in religions like Buddhism, and secret societies like the freemasons (who also allegedly have beliefs of ascending to Sirius).
Jim Carrey is also renowned for growing into a philosophical and insightful figure. Some of his key guides to life are listed below:
- Develop a routine that gives you at least 7 hours of sleep. Sleep is the recipe for a focused day.
- Adopt a routine in the morning to read and write for at least 10 minutes.
- Do not date while you’re broke, in bad shape, or if your life is chaotic. First, get your life in order.
- Resist the urge to chase cheap dopamine. It’s the cheapest ticket to depression and a miserable life.
- No matter what’s going on in your life, work out 3x a week. It’s the greatest therapy for your mental health.
- Success rubs off. Surround yourself with people who dream bigger than you do.
- Make your life 100% your responsibility. Don’t blame your parents, circumstances, or anyone for your misery.
- Invest in a good wardrobe, smell nice, and learn social skills. You’ll boost your success rate by 94%.
- Befriend nature. Walk at least 30 minutes a day. Walking in the sun will clear your mind, boost your mood, and make you creative.
- Find mentors and actually listen. One good mentor can save you 10 years of mistakes.
- Make 70% of your meals to be protein. It helps you repair, build, and strengthen your body and mind.
- Realize a skill is 10 times more valuable than your grades. Learn a high-income skill to help you solve money problems.
- Be smart enough to realize porn and masturbation is the easiest way to ruin your life and the greatest killer of success.
- Keep distance from people who only prioritize their needs over yours, it doesn’t matter the role they play in your life. They are your greatest setback to success.
- If you’re serious about growth, treat your attention like your future depends on it.
Another interesting insight, is that of an alleged interaction with an extraterrestrial being. This surfaced some deeper potential understandings which are worth reading even if sceptical of the source (more can be read in this post):
“Alignment with truth, selflessness, and what humans often call God produces expansion, connection, and peace. Misalignment produces isolation, contraction, and separation (Satanism). These are not emotions that pass. They are environments created by the nature of consciousness itself. Heaven and hell are not rewards or punishments imposed from outside. They are outcomes that arise naturally from what consciousness has become. No soul is forced into torment for the sake of balance. Suffering emerges from resistance to alignment just as peace emerges from acceptance of it.”
Choosing more moral choices may make the soul lighter, enabling it to ascend to higher realms after death and it shows spiritual maturity, potentially allowing for further progression in the afterlife. However, these choices should be genuinely positive, made from a feeling of love in the present moment, not fear of consequence, as this is the true intention shaping the free-will of the individual. All thoughts and feelings are accessible from the other side (outside of this dimension) and recorded in the Akashic Records.
From this, it appears the meaning of life is to grow as a soul and become more godly/build more positive traits (like being caring, wanting to help others, forgiveness etc.). Then, we can ascend to higher realms after death and have a more heavenly experience on Earth. Before having these soul growth experiences, we are not ready to access higher realms and may reincarnate to gain more life experience until we eventually are ready. Life also provides us with great experiences and we should have fun enjoying our own unique expression (hobbies, talents, passions etc.), but the soul growth is the key objective communicated.
For any bad/immoral choices made in the past, you can start creating more good karma from this present moment by choosing good/moral choices. Forgiving yourself (and others) and repenting in general helps transition into a positive mindset and vibe (vibration/frequency) to enable more good-doing. People also consider that experiencing evil in our world/this universe helps soul growth, universal consciousness growth, and development of the world. The moral challenges that evil brings, forces new learning and things like war further the world’s development through the need for improved technologies to defend attacks. Also, one of the Hermetic Principles of the universe is ‘The Law of Polarity’, meaning everything is dual and has its opposites. This suggests that both good and evil will exist in this universe. This is not to say that evil should just be allowed because it’s going to happen anyway, but viewed as an opportunity to do good and grow as a soul. The more godly/positive free-will choices we make in life shows spiritual maturity and makes the soul lighter, allowing us to ascend to higher realms after death. In addition, the more lessons learnt through facing the challenges brought about by evil grows the soul’s and universal consciousness’s intelligence and wisdom.
Knowledge is power and in being aware of these deeper insights, you can live a more meaningful, fulfilled, happy, content life and find your life purpose.
