The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

Prosperity

When we hear the word prosperity, most of us immediately think of having a lot of money, wealth, and riches.

But true prosperity is about much more than just that. After all, what good is money if your life doesn’t have a purpose?

Real prosperity means being successful in all the important areas of your life. It includes not just financial success, but also finding success in your health, your relationships, and your overall happiness.

As we work toward achieving prosperity, we are also inspired to do other important things. We find ourselves wanting to:

Help other people.
Become the very best version of ourselves.
Live a life full of meaning, without unnecessary rules or limitations.

Prosperity Classics

The books discussed here are known as the Prosperity Classics. The authors of these books were the original pioneers who wrote about ideas like manifesting and the law of attraction. Their writings are still considered a roadmap to success today.

Timeless Secrets to Success

These authors were groundbreaking leaders and speakers who shared their secrets to building wealth. Even though the books were written in the early 1900s, their wisdom is just as powerful now as it was then. They are a must-read for anyone who is seeking success.

In fact, if you ask great entrepreneurs and leaders today where they got their business sense, many will point back to these very books.

This collection brings you these classics in their original, unedited form. It also includes modern thoughts on how we can use these secrets in our lives today. This knowledge is a gift that should be freely shared.

A List of Key Classics

Some of the most important books from this era include:

The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn
Your Word is Your Wand by Florence Scovel Shinn
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel
The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
How to Get What You Want by Wallace D. Wattles
The Science of Being Great by Wallace D. Wattles
Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Creative Mind and Success by Ernest Holmes
The Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes
Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend
Cheiro’s Book of Numbers by Cheiro

…And many more.

Chapter 1: The Game

Most people see life as a constant battle. But life isn’t a battle—it’s a game.

However, you can’t play this game successfully unless you understand the spiritual laws that govern it. The rules of the game are laid out with amazing clarity in religious texts like the Old and New Testaments. Jesus Christ taught that life is a great game of Giving and Receiving.

The Main Rule: You Get What You Give

A core rule of the game is: “You reap what you sow.”

This means that whatever you send out into the world, through your words or actions, eventually comes back to you. What you give is what you get.

If you give love, you will receive love.
If you give hate, you will receive hate.
If you criticize others, you will be criticized.
If you lie, you will be lied to.
If you cheat, you will be cheated.

This law is a fundamental part of how the game of life works.

The Power of Your Imagination

We are also taught that our imagination plays a leading role in the game of life. A proverb says to guard your heart (or your imagination) carefully, because your entire life flows from it.

This means that whatever you imagine in your mind, sooner or later, shows up in your real life.

I knew a man who was terrified of getting a specific, very rare disease. He thought about it and pictured it so constantly that the disease eventually appeared in his body. He died because of his own distorted imagination.

This shows us that to play the game of life well, we must train our imagination. If you train your mind to imagine only good things, you will bring those things into your life. You can attract everything you truly desire: health, wealth, love, good friends, and the chance to express your true self.

The imagination has been called the “Scissors of the Mind.” Every day, it is cutting out the pictures you hold in your thoughts. Sooner or later, you will meet these creations in the outside world.

Know Yourself: The Three Parts of Your Mind

To train your imagination, you first need to understand how your mind works. The ancient Greeks taught: “Know Thyself.”

Your mind has three main parts: the subconscious, the conscious, and the superconscious.

The Subconscious Mind: This part of your mind is pure power, but it has no direction of its own. It’s like raw electricity or steam. It does whatever it’s told to do and follows instructions without question. Anything you feel deeply or picture clearly gets impressed upon your subconscious mind, which then works to make it happen in every tiny detail.
- For example: A woman I knew spent her childhood pretending to be a widow. She would dress up in black clothes and a long veil, and the adults around her thought it was cute and funny. When she grew up, she married a man she loved deeply. But after a short time, he died. She then spent many years wearing black, just as she had imagined. The picture of herself as a widow had been so deeply impressed on her subconscious mind that it eventually came true, causing great heartbreak.
The Conscious Mind: This is your everyday, human mind. It sees life as it appears on the surface—full of problems like death, disaster, sickness, and poverty. The conscious mind is what gives orders to the subconscious.
The Superconscious Mind: This is the God Mind, or Higher Self, that exists within every person. It is a realm of perfect ideas. It holds the “Divine Design” for your life—the perfect, unique plan meant just for you. There is a place you are meant to fill that no one else can, and something you are meant to do that no one else can.

This perfect plan often flashes into your conscious mind as an amazing idea that feels “too good to be true.” In reality, it’s your true destiny, sent to you from the Infinite Intelligence within yourself.

Finding Your True Path

Many people are unaware of their true destinies. They spend their lives striving for things or situations that don’t truly belong to them. Even if they get what they want, it only brings them failure and unhappiness.

For example: A woman came to me, deeply in love with a certain man. She asked me to use prayer to make him marry her. I told her that doing so would violate spiritual law. Instead, I said I would pray for the right man to come into her life—the “divine selection” who was meant for her. I added, “If this man is the right one, you can’t lose him. If he isn’t, you’ll receive someone who is just as wonderful, or even better.”

She continued to see the man, but their friendship never progressed. One night, she told me, “You know, for the past week, he hasn’t seemed so special to me anymore.” I suggested that perhaps he wasn’t her divine selection.

Soon after, she met a new man who fell in love with her instantly. He told her she was his ideal woman and said all the things she had always wished the first man would say. She fell in love with him and completely lost interest in the other man.

This shows the law of substitution. When we replace a wrong idea with the right one, there is no loss or sacrifice involved. Jesus taught that if you seek the kingdom of God first—which is the realm of right ideas within you—then everything else you need will be given to you.

Your Words Have Power

Jesus also taught that your words play a huge part in the game of life. He said, “By your words you are justified, and by your words you are condemned.”

Many people have brought disaster into their lives through careless, idle words.

For example: A woman asked me why her life was now full of poverty and limitation. She told me that she used to have a beautiful home filled with nice things, but she often got tired of managing it all. She used to say, “I’m so sick of all this stuff! I wish I lived in a trunk.” She told me, “Today, I am living in that trunk.” She had literally spoken herself into a tiny apartment.

The subconscious mind has no sense of humor. People often joke themselves into unhappy situations.

Another example: A very wealthy woman constantly joked about “getting ready for the poorhouse.” Within a few years, she had lost nearly all her money. She had impressed her subconscious mind with a picture of lack, and it delivered.

How to Reverse Bad Fortune

Thankfully, the law works both ways. A situation of lack can be changed into one of plenty.

For example: A woman came to me one hot summer day, feeling completely worn out and discouraged. She told me she had only eight dollars to her name. I said, “Good! We will bless the eight dollars and multiply them, just as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes.” He taught that everyone has the power to bless and multiply, to heal and to prosper.

“What should I do now?” she asked.

I replied, “Follow your intuition. Do you have a ‘hunch’ to do anything or go anywhere?” Intuition means being taught from within. It is your unfailing guide.

The woman said, “I have a hunch to go home, but I only have enough money for the bus fare.” Her home was in a distant city filled with lack and limitation. Her logical mind would have told her to stay in New York and find a job.

“Then go home,” I said. “Never ignore a hunch.”

I spoke these words for her: “Infinite Spirit, open the way for great abundance for this woman. She is an irresistible magnet for all that belongs to her by divine right.” I told her to repeat this statement constantly.

She left for home right away. While visiting someone there, she reconnected with an old friend of her family. Through this friend, she received thousands of dollars in a way that felt like a miracle. She often tells me, “Tell people about the woman who came to you with eight dollars and a hunch.”

There is always plenty waiting for you on your path. But it can only show up in your life through desire, faith, or the spoken word. Jesus made it clear that we must make the first move: “Ask, and it shall begiven you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

The Only Enemy is Fear

The only things that stand between you and your highest ideals are doubt and fear. When you can “wish without worrying,” your every desire will be instantly fulfilled.

Fear is the only real enemy. We experience:

Fear of lack
Fear of failure
Fear of sickness
Fear of loss

Fear is just inverted faith. It’s having faith in a bad outcome instead of a good one.

The object of the game of life is to see your good clearly and to erase all mental pictures of evil. You do this by impressing your subconscious mind with a feeling and a vision of good.

A highly successful man told me he erased all fear from his mind after reading a sign in a room. The sign said: “Why worry? It will probably never happen.” Those words stamped themselves on his subconscious mind. He now has a deep conviction that only good can come into his life—and so, only good appears.

Creating a New Reality

You have a silent listener with you at all times: your subconscious mind. Every thought and every word is impressed upon it and carried out in amazing detail. It’s like a sensitive recording device. If a singer coughs while making a record, the cough is recorded, too.

So, let’s break all the old, bad records in our subconscious—the patterns in our lives we no longer want to keep. It’s time to make new and beautiful ones.

Speak these words aloud with power and conviction:

“I now smash and demolish every untrue record in my subconscious mind. They came from my own negative imagination, and they will now return to the dust. Through the power within me, I now make my perfect records: the records of Health, Wealth, Love, and Perfect Self-Expression.”

This is the square of life, the game completed. Any person who doesn’t know the power of the word is behind the times. As the proverb says: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Chapter 2: The Law of Prosperity

One of the greatest spiritual messages is that a higher power, God, is your unlimited source of supply. You can release everything that belongs to you by divine right simply through your spoken word.

To do this, however, you must have complete faith in what you say. The prophet Isaiah said that his word would always accomplish what it was sent to do. We now understand that our words and thoughts are a powerful energy, a vibrational force that is constantly shaping our bodies and our lives.

Act As If You Already Have It

A woman once came to me in great distress. She was going to be sued for $3,000 on the fifteenth of the month. She had no way to get the money and was in despair.

I told her that God was her supply and that for every demand, there is a supply. So, I “spoke the word” for her. I gave thanks that she would receive the $3,000 at the right time and in the right way. I explained that her job was to have perfect faith and, more importantly, to act on that faith.

The fifteenth of the month arrived, but the money hadn’t shown up. She called me, panicked, asking what to do.

I told her, “It’s Saturday, so they won’t sue you today. Your part is to act rich. This will show that you have perfect faith that the money will arrive by Monday.” She asked me to have lunch with her to keep her spirits up.

When we met at the restaurant, I said, “This is no time to be cheap. Order an expensive lunch. Act as if you have already received the $3,000.”

The rule is, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” You must act as if it has already happened.

The next morning, she called and asked me to stay with her all day. I said, “No. You are divinely protected, and God is never too late.”

That evening, she called again, this time incredibly excited. “A miracle happened!” she said. “I was sitting in my room this morning when the doorbell rang. I told my maid not to let anyone in. But the maid looked out the window and said, ‘It’s your cousin, the one with the long white beard!’”

The woman told the maid to call him back. He was just turning the corner when he heard the maid’s voice. He came back and talked for about an hour. As he was leaving, he said, “Oh, by the way, how are your finances?”

She told him she needed money, and he replied, “My dear, I will give you three thousand dollars on the first of the month.”

She then said to me, “What do I do? I won’t get it until the first, and I need it tomorrow!”

I told her I would keep “treating”—meaning, I would continue to affirm the positive outcome. I said, “Spirit is never too late. I give thanks that she has received the money on the invisible plane and that it will appear on time.”

The next morning, her cousin called her. He said, “Come to my office this morning, and I will give you the money.” That afternoon, she had $3,000 in her bank account.

Prepare for Success, Not Failure

If you ask for success but prepare for failure, you will get the situation you prepared for.

For example, a man asked me to speak the word that a certain debt of his would be wiped out. But I found out he was spending all his time planning what he would say to the person he owed money to when he failed to pay. By doing this, he was canceling out my positive words. He should have been picturing himself paying the debt with gratitude.

Dig Your Ditches

A wonderful illustration of this is in the Bible. Three kings were stuck in the desert, and their men and horses had no water. They consulted the prophet Elisha, who gave them a shocking message: “Thus says the Lord—You will not see wind or rain, yet you must make this valley full of ditches.”

You must prepare for the thing you have asked for, even when there isn’t the slightest sign of it in sight.

Here is a modern example. A woman needed to find an apartment in New York during a massive housing shortage. Her friends all felt sorry for her, saying, “Isn’t it too bad you’ll have to store your furniture and live in a hotel?”

She replied, “You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I am a spiritual superman, and I will get an apartment.” She affirmed: “Infinite Spirit, open the way for the right apartment.”

She knew that for every demand, there is a supply. She was working on the spiritual plane, where there are no limits.

She was thinking about buying some new blankets when her logical mind—the “tempter”—whispered, “Don’t buy the blankets. What if you don’t get an apartment? You’ll have no use for them.”

She immediately replied to that negative thought, “I’ll dig my ditches by buying the blankets!” She prepared for the apartment, acting as if she already had it.

In a way that felt like a miracle, she found the perfect apartment. It was given to her even though there were over 200 other applicants. The blankets were a symbol of her active faith.

And yes, the ditches dug by the three kings in the desert were filled to overflowing.

Facing Your Doubts

Getting into this spiritual flow isn’t easy for most people. Negative thoughts of doubt and fear rise up from the subconscious mind. They are like an “army of aliens” that you must defeat.

This explains why it is often “darkest before the dawn.” A major success is usually preceded by waves of tormenting, negative thoughts. When you make a powerful spiritual statement, you challenge all the old, limiting beliefs in your subconscious. This is when you must repeat your affirmations of truth over and over. Rejoice and give thanks that you have already received what you asked for.

You can only receive what you can see yourself receiving. The Children of Israel were told they could have all the land they could see. This is true for every one of us. You only possess the “land” that exists within your own mental vision.

Often, right before a huge achievement, we are faced with apparent failure and discouragement. When the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land, they were afraid to enter. They said it was filled with giants who made them feel as small as grasshoppers. This is an experience almost everyone has.

However, a person who knows spiritual law is not disturbed by appearances. They rejoice even while things look bad. They hold on to their vision and give thanks that the goal is already accomplished.

Hold the Vision

Jesus gave a wonderful example of this. He once said to his disciples, “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe already for harvest.”

His clear vision pierced through the world of physical matter and saw the world as it truly is: perfect and complete in the Divine Mind.

So, you must always hold the vision of your journey’s end. Demand the manifestation of that which you have already received, whether it is perfect health, love, money, or self-expression. These are all finished and perfect ideas in your superconscious mind. They are meant to come through you, not to you.

For example: A man came to me asking for help with his business. He absolutely had to raise $50,000 by a certain date. The deadline was almost up, and he was in despair. The bank had flatly refused his loan.

I said, “I suppose you lost your temper at the bank, and therefore you lost your power. You can control any situation if you first control yourself. Go back to the bank, and I will ‘treat’ for you.”

My affirmation for him was: “You are identified in love with the spirit of everyone connected with the bank. Let the divine idea come out of this situation.”

He replied, “Woman, you’re talking about an impossibility! Tomorrow is Saturday, the bank closes at noon, my train won’t get me there until ten, and the deadline is tomorrow! It’s too late.”

I replied, “God doesn’t need any time and is never too late. With Him, all things are possible. I don’t know anything about business, but I know all about God.”

He lived in a distant city. A week later, a letter arrived. It read: “You were right. I raised the money. I will never again doubt the truth of what you told me.”

When I saw him later, I asked what happened. He said, “My train was late. I walked into the bank just fifteen minutes before it closed. I quietly said, ‘I have come for the loan,’ and they gave it to me without a single question.”

In this case, the man couldn’t have achieved this alone. He needed someone to help him hold the vision. Jesus knew the truth of this when he said, “If two of you shall agree on earth about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

We often get too close to our own problems and become filled with doubt. A friend or a “healer” can see the success clearly because they aren’t emotionally tangled in the situation. It’s much easier to manifest something for someone else than for yourself. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you feel yourself wavering.

A keen observer of life once said, “No man can fail, if one person sees him successful.” Such is the power of the vision. Many great people owed their success to a spouse, a sibling, or a friend who believed in them and held, without wavering, to the perfect pattern of their success.

Chapter 3: The Power of the Word

When you understand the true power of your words, you become very careful about what you say. You only have to watch the results of your words to know that they always create an effect. Through your spoken word, you are constantly making laws for yourself.

You Create Your Own Reality with Words

I knew a man who always used to say, “I always miss the bus. It pulls away right as I get there.” His daughter, on the other hand, would say, “I always catch my bus. It’s sure to come right when I need it.”

For years, this is exactly what happened for both of them. Each one had created a separate law for themselves—one of failure, and one of success.

This is also the principle behind superstitions. A horseshoe or a rabbit’s foot has no power in itself. But your belief and spoken word that it will bring you good luck creates a feeling of expectancy in your subconscious mind. This positive expectation then attracts a lucky situation to you.

Superstition and “Lucky Charms”

However, as you grow spiritually and learn about this higher law, you’ll find that relying on lucky charms no longer works. You can’t turn back once you know the truth, and you must put away these kinds of idols.

For example: Two men in my class were having great success in their businesses for several months. Then suddenly, everything fell apart. We tried to figure out what had changed. I discovered that instead of speaking their affirmations and looking to a higher power for their success, they had each bought a “lucky monkey” and were putting their faith in the objects.

I told them, “I see the problem. You’ve been trusting in lucky monkeys instead of God.” I advised them to call on the law of forgiveness to neutralize their mistake. Man has the power to forgive and correct his errors. They decided to throw the lucky monkeys away, and their businesses immediately started doing well again.

This doesn’t mean you have to throw away every lucky object you own. The key is to recognize that the one and only power is the Spirit behind the object. The object itself simply helps you feel a sense of positive expectancy.

For example: I was with a friend who was in deep despair. As we crossed the street, she picked up a horseshoe. Instantly, she was filled with joy and hope. She felt that God had sent her the horseshoe as a sign to keep her courage up. At that moment, her hope became faith, and she eventually created a wonderful new reality for herself.

The difference is clear: The men were depending on the monkeys alone. The woman recognized the higher power behind the horseshoe.

I know from my own experience that it took a long time to break a belief that a certain event always brought me disappointment. The only way I could change this subconscious belief was to declare, “There aren’t two powers, there is only one power, God. Therefore, there are no disappointments, and this event now means a happy surprise.” I noticed a change right away, and happy surprises began to come my way.

Facing Your Fears Defeats Them

A friend of mine told me that nothing could make her walk under a ladder. I explained to her, “If you’re afraid, you’re believing in two powers: Good and Evil. But since God, or Good, is the only real power, there can be no opposing power unless we create it with our own false beliefs. To show you believe in only One Power, you should walk under the next ladder you see.”

Soon after, she went to her bank to open her safe-deposit box. A large ladder was standing right in her path. It was impossible to get to her box without going under it. She froze in fear and turned back. But as she reached the street, my words echoed in her mind. She decided to go back and face her fear.

It was a huge moment for her, as this fear had held her in bondage for years. She walked back to the vault, and the ladder was gone!

This is what so often happens. If you become willing to do the thing you are afraid to do, you often don’t have to do it. This is the law of nonresistance. Courage truly contains genius and magic. When you face a situation fearlessly, the situation itself often disappears. It falls away under its own weight.

Fear attracted the ladder to her path. Fearlessness removed it. The invisible forces of the universe are always working for us, and we are the ones “pulling the strings” with our thoughts and beliefs, even if we don’t realize it.

Your Words are Magnets

Because of the vibrational power of words, whatever you say out loud, you begin to attract. People who constantly talk about being sick will invariably attract sickness. Once you know this truth, you can’t be too careful with your words.

For example: I have a friend who often calls me and says, “Come over and let’s have a good old-fashioned chat.” I know that this “chat” means an hour of hundreds of destructive words, mostly about loss, failure, and sickness.

I now reply, “No, thank you. I’ve had enough old-fashioned chats in my life; they’re too expensive. But I would love to have a new-fashioned chat with you, where we talk about what we want, not what we don’t want.”

The Golden Rule of Speech

There’s an old saying that a person should only use their words for three purposes: to heal, to bless, or to prosper.

What you say about others will eventually be said about you.
What you wish for another person, you are also wishing for yourself.

A curse is like a boomerang; it always comes back to the sender. If you wish someone bad luck, you are guaranteeing that you will attract bad luck. If you help someone succeed, you are helping yourself succeed.

Heal Your Mind to Heal Your Body

Your body can be renewed and transformed through your spoken words and clear vision. Disease can be completely wiped out of your mind and body.

A spiritual teacher knows that all disease has a mental equivalent. To heal the body, you must first “heal the soul.” The soul is your subconscious mind, and it must be “saved” from wrong thinking. When the 23rd Psalm says, “He restoreth my soul,” it means the subconscious mind must be restored with the right ideas.

The “mystical marriage” is the union of the soul (the subconscious) and the spirit (the superconscious mind). When your subconscious mind is flooded with the perfect ideas from your superconscious mind, you become one with the realm of perfect ideas. You become the person you were made to be, with power over your own mind, body, and life.

The Ultimate Healer: The Law of Love

It is safe to say that all sickness and unhappiness come from violating the law of love. The great commandment is to “love one another.” In the game of life, love and goodwill win every time.

For example: A woman I knew had a terrible skin disease for years, which doctors called incurable. She was an actress and feared she would have to quit her job. One night, she had a huge success in a new role and received amazing reviews. The next day, she was fired. A jealous man in the cast had gotten her dismissed.

She felt overcome with hatred and resentment. She cried out, “Oh God, please don’t let me hate that man.” That night, and for the next two nights, she spent hours in silent meditation. She said she finally reached a deep state of peace with herself, with the man, and with the entire world. On the third day, she discovered her skin disease was completely gone.

Her disease came from subconscious resentment. By asking for the ability to feel love and goodwill, she fulfilled the law of love, and the disease was wiped out.

Continual criticism can lead to rheumatism.
Jealousy, hatred, and unforgiveness can cause tumors and false growths.
Unforgiveness is one of the most common causes of disease. It can harden arteries, damage the liver, and affect eyesight.

I once told a woman who was sick from a “poisoned oyster,” that the oyster was harmless; she had poisoned the oyster with her own thoughts. When I asked her “Who’s the matter with you?” she admitted she had just quarreled with nineteen different people. Her inner conflict was so great that she attracted a bad experience.

As it is within, so it is without. Your only enemies are within yourself.

Bless Your Enemies to Protect Yourself

This planet is currently taking its great lesson in love. Your real work is always with yourself. The goal is to perfect yourself in your interactions with your neighbor by sending goodwill and blessings to everyone.

The amazing thing is that if you truly bless someone, they have no power to harm you.

For example: A man came to me for help with his business. He was selling machinery, and a rival appeared on the scene, claiming to have a better machine. My friend was afraid he would lose the sale.

I told him, “First, we must wipe out all fear. Know that your interests are protected and that the right machine will be sold by the right person to the right person. Do not hold a single critical thought toward that man. Bless him all day, and be willing to lose the sale if it isn’t the divine plan.”

He went to the sales meeting feeling fearless, nonresistant, and actively blessing his rival. He said the result was remarkable. The other man’s machine refused to work, and my friend sold his machine without any trouble at all.

Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you. Goodwill creates a powerful aura of protection around you. No weapon formed against you can succeed.

In other words, when you use love and goodwill to destroy the enemies within yourself—like hate, fear, and resentment—you will find you have no enemies on the outside.

There is peace on earth for the person who sends goodwill to all.

Chapter 4: The Law of Nonresistance

Nothing on earth can stand in the way of a person who is completely nonresistant. 🌊

The ancient Chinese said that water is the most powerful element because it is perfectly nonresistant. It can wear away a solid rock and sweep everything before it.

Jesus Christ taught us to “resist not evil.” He knew that in ultimate reality, there is no evil, so there is nothing to resist.

Where Does “Evil” Come From?

The idea of “evil” comes from our own “vain imagination.” It is a belief in two opposing powers, good and evil, instead of just one power: God, or Good.

An old legend says that Adam and Eve ate from “Maya, the Tree of Illusion.” This caused them to see two powers instead of one. Therefore, evil is a false law that humans created for themselves. This happened through what could be called a “soul sleep”—a state where our souls (our subconscious minds) have been hypnotized by the collective beliefs of humanity in things like sin, sickness, and death. Our lives then become a reflection of these illusions.

As we’ve learned, your soul is your subconscious mind. Whatever you feel deeply, whether good or bad, is brought to life by this faithful servant. Your body and your life circumstances simply show what you have been picturing in your mind.

A sick person has been picturing sickness.
A poor person has been picturing poverty.
A rich person has been picturing wealth.

People often ask, “Why does a small child get sick when they’re too young to even know what illness is?” The answer is that children are very sensitive. They easily pick up on the thoughts of the people around them and often act out the fears of their parents.

A spiritual teacher once said, “If you do not run your subconscious mind yourself, someone else will run it for you.”

Mothers often unconsciously attract illness to their children by holding them in thoughts of fear and constantly watching for symptoms. For example, a woman was asked if her little girl had the measles yet. She replied, “Not yet!” Her answer implied that she was expecting the illness. She was preparing the way for the very thing she did not want.

However, the person who is centered in right thinking, who sends out only goodwill and who is without fear, cannot be touched by the negative thoughts of others. In fact, they can only receive good thoughts, because that is all they send out.

Turn Failure into Success

Resistance is hell because it traps you in a state of torment.

A spiritual teacher once gave me a wonderful recipe for winning every trick in the game of life. It is the height of nonresistance. He said: “At one time, I used to baptize children, and they all had different names. Now, I no longer baptize children; I baptize events. But I give every event the same name. If I have a failure, I baptize it Success, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!”

This is the great law of transmutation. By using the spoken word with nonresistance, every failure was transformed into success.

For example: A woman who needed money knew the spiritual law of abundance. However, in her business, she was constantly interacting with a man who made her feel very poor. He always talked about lack and limitation. She started to absorb his poverty thoughts, so she began to dislike him and blame him for her failures.

One day, it dawned on her that she was resisting the situation and seeing two powers instead of one. So, she began to bless the man and baptized the situation “Success.” She affirmed: “Since there is only one power, God, this man is here for my good and my prosperity.”

Soon after, through this same man, she met another woman who gave her several thousand dollars for a service she provided. The man then moved to a distant city and faded peacefully from her life.

Make this statement: “Every person is a golden link in the chain of my good.” All people are a manifestation of God, waiting for the opportunity to serve the divine plan for your life.

Bless Your Enemies and Disarm Them

If you bless your enemy, you rob him of his ammunition. His arrows will be transformed into blessings. This law is true for nations as well as for individuals. If you bless another nation and send love and goodwill to every person in it, that nation is robbed of its power to harm you.

To truly understand nonresistance, you need spiritual understanding. My students have often said, “I don’t want to be a doormat.” I reply, “When you use nonresistance with wisdom, no one will ever be able to walk over you.”

Another example: One day I was impatiently waiting for an important phone call. I was resisting every other call that came in and refused to make any calls myself, thinking it might interfere with the one I was waiting for. Instead of trusting that divine ideas never conflict and the call would come at the right time, I started trying to manage things myself. I made the battle mine, not God’s, and I was tense and anxious.

After about an hour, I glanced at the phone and saw that the receiver had been off the hook the whole time. My anxiety, fear, and belief in interference had created a total eclipse of the telephone.

Realizing what I had done, I immediately started blessing the situation. I baptized it “Success” and affirmed: “I cannot lose any call that belongs to me by divine right. I am under grace, not under law.” My phone was reconnected at once, and two minutes later I received a very important call, and an hour after that, the one I had been waiting for.

Your ships come in over a calm sea. ⛵

Don’t Fight It, Agree with It

As long as you resist a situation, you will keep it with you. If you run away from it, it will run after you.

For example: I told this to a woman one day, and she said, “How true! I was unhappy at home because my mother was critical and domineering. I ran away and got married—but I just married my mother! My husband was exactly like her, and I had the same situation to face all over again.”

The teaching “Agree with your adversary quickly” means you should agree that the negative situation is actually good because it is part of a divine plan. If you can be undisturbed by it, it will disappear. A wonderful affirmation is, “None of these things move me.”

An upsetting situation comes from some conflict within yourself. When you no longer have an emotional response to it, it fades away from your life forever.

Your Work Is Always on Yourself

People have said to me, “Give treatments to change my husband” or “Give treatments to change my brother.” I reply, “No, I will give treatments to change you. When you change, your husband and your brother will change.”

For example: One of my students had a habit of lying. I told her that lying was a method for failure and that if she lied, she would be lied to. She said, “I don’t care. I can’t get by without lying.”

One day, she was on the phone with a man she was in love with. She turned to me and whispered, “I don’t trust him. I know he’s lying to me.” I replied, “Well, since you lie, someone has to lie to you. And it will always be the one person you want to hear the truth from.”

Sometime later, she told me, “I’m cured of lying.” I asked what cured her. She replied, “I’ve been living with a woman who lies even more than I do!” We are often cured of our own faults by seeing them in other people. Life is a mirror. In our friends and family, we only find ourselves reflected.

Stop Living in the Past

Living in the past is a recipe for failure and a violation of spiritual law. Jesus said, “Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.”

For example: A woman complained she had no money for Christmas gifts. “Last year was so different,” she said. “I had plenty of money. This year I have almost nothing.”

I replied, “You will never attract money while you are feeling sorry for yourself and living in the past. Live fully in the now. Get ready to give Christmas presents. Dig your ditches, and the money will come.”

“I know what to do!” she exclaimed. “I’ll buy some wrapping paper and Christmas seals.” By doing this, she was showing financial fearlessness. She bought the paper and seals, and a few days before Christmas, she received a gift of several hundred dollars. Buying the seals had impressed her subconscious mind with expectancy and opened the way for the money to appear.

You must live suspended in the moment, spiritually alert, always waiting for your inner guidance and taking advantage of every opportunity. It is so important to begin your day with the right words. Make an affirmation the moment you wake up. For example:

“Your will be done this day! Today is a day of completion. I give thanks for this perfect day. Miracle will follow miracle, and wonders will never cease.”

Make this a habit, and you will see miracles come into your life.

The Power of a Perfect Affirmation

You should never use an affirmation unless it feels completely satisfying and convincing to you. Often, an affirmation needs to be changed to suit different people.

For example: The following affirmation has brought success to many. The first two lines were given to a student of mine, and she added the last two, which made it very powerful. A rhyme also sinks more easily into the subconscious mind.

“I have a wonderful work, in a wonderful way,” “I give wonderful service, for wonderful pay!”

She went around singing it, and she soon received wonderful work.

Another student, a businessman, changed the word “work” to “business” and repeated, “I have a wonderful business, in a wonderful way…” That same afternoon, he made a $41,000 deal, even though his business had been slow for months.

Every affirmation must be carefully worded to “cover the ground” completely. For instance, a woman who needed money affirmed for “work.” She got a lot of work, but she never got paid for it. She now knows to add, “for wonderful pay.”

It is your divine right to have plenty—more than enough! Your barns should be full, and your cup should overflow. This is God’s idea for you. When you break down the barriers of lack in your own mind, the Golden Age will be yours, and every righteous desire of your heart will be fulfilled.

Chapter 5: The Law of Karma and The Law of Forgiveness

You will only ever receive what you give. The Game of Life is a game of boomerangs. Your thoughts, words, and actions all return to you, sooner or later, with astounding accuracy. boomerang

This is the Law of Karma, a Sanskrit word that basically means “comeback.” As the saying goes, “You reap what you sow.”

The Law of Karma: You Get What You Give

A friend once told me a story that perfectly illustrates this law. She said, “I seem to create all my karma with my aunt. Whatever I say to her, someone else says to me. I’m often irritable at home, and one day, my aunt was talking to me during dinner. I snapped and said, ‘No more talk! I want to eat in peace.’”

“The very next day,” she continued, “I was having lunch with a woman I wanted to impress. I was talking excitedly when she suddenly said, ‘No more talk. I wish to eat in peace!’”

Because my friend has a high level of spiritual awareness, her karma returns to her much more quickly than it would for someone who is less aware. The more you know, the more responsible you are. A person who knows these spiritual laws but doesn’t follow them will suffer the consequences.

This is why “The fear of the Lord (the Law) is the beginning of wisdom.” If you replace the word “Lord” with “Law,” many Bible passages become much clearer. For example, when the scripture says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” it is the Law that brings about vengeance, not a personal God.

Your Imagination Sets the Scene

God sees humans as perfect beings, “created in his own image” (imagination) and given power over everything. This is the perfect idea of you that is held in the Divine Mind, waiting for you to recognize it. You can only become what you see yourself becoming.

An ancient saying states, “Nothing ever happens without an on-looker.”

You are the on-looker. You first see your success or failure, your joy or sorrow, in your own imagination before it appears in your life. We saw this with the mother who pictured disease for her child, and with the wife who pictured success for her husband.

Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” This tells us that freedom from all unhappy conditions comes from knowledge—a knowledge of Spiritual Law.

You must obey the law before the law will obey you. Think of electricity. You have to obey its laws before it will become your servant. If you handle it ignorantly, it becomes your deadly foe. The laws of the mind work in exactly the same way.

The Danger of Personal Will

A woman with a very strong will wanted to own a house that belonged to an acquaintance. She spent her time making mental pictures of herself living in that house. Eventually, the man who owned it died, and she was able to move in.

Several years later, after she learned about Spiritual Law, she asked me, “Do you think I had anything to do with that man’s death?”

I replied, “Yes. Your desire was so strong that everything made way for it. But you paid your Karmic debt. Your own husband, whom you loved deeply, died soon after, and the house became a huge burden on your hands for years.”

The woman should have said: “Infinite Intelligence, give me the right house, one that is just as charming as this, the house which is mine by divine right.”

The divine selection would have given her perfect satisfaction and brought good to everyone involved. Your divine pattern is the only safe pattern to follow. Desire is a powerful force and must be directed into the right channels, or it will create chaos.

The most important first step is to “ask aright.” You should only ever demand that which is yours by divine right. If the woman had done this, the original owner might have decided to move out peacefully, or an even better house would have been provided for her.

Anything you force into your life through sheer personal will is always “ill-gotten” and will bring trouble. This is why we are taught to say, “Let your will be done, not mine.” The amazing thing is, when you let go of your personal will, you often get exactly what you wanted anyway, because you have allowed Infinite Intelligence to work through you.

For example: A mother came to me in great distress. Her daughter was determined to take a very dangerous trip, and the mother was terrified. She had used every argument and had forbidden her daughter to go, but this only made her more rebellious.

I told the mother, “You are forcing your personal will on your daughter, which you have no right to do. And your fear is only attracting the very thing you’re afraid of.” I advised her to let go and put the situation in God’s hands with this statement:

“I put this situation in the hands of Infinite Love and Wisdom. If this trip is the Divine Plan, I bless it and no longer resist. But if it is not divinely planned, I give thanks that it is now dissolved and disappears.”

A day or two later, her daughter told her, “Mom, I’ve decided not to go on the trip.” The situation simply returned to its “native nothingness.”

The Law of Forgiveness: Wiping the Slate Clean

Here is another curious example of sowing and reaping.

A woman told me she had received a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill from her bank. She was upset because she knew the bank would never admit its mistake.

I said, “Let’s analyze this and find out why you attracted it.” She thought for a moment and exclaimed, “I know! I sent a friend a bunch of stage money as a joke.” The law, which has no sense of humor, simply sent her some fake money back.

I told her, “Now we will call on the Law of Forgiveness and neutralize the situation.”

Christianity is founded on the law of forgiveness. The Christ within each person is their redeemer, who can save them from all negative conditions. We said: “Infinite Spirit, we call on the law of forgiveness and give thanks that she is under grace, not under law, and cannot lose this twenty dollars which is hers by divine right.”

I then told her to go back to the bank and fearlessly tell them they had made a mistake. To her surprise, they apologized and gave her a new bill, treating her very courteously.

Knowledge of the Law gives you the power to “rub out your mistakes.”

Become What You Desire

You cannot force the outside world to be something that you are not on the inside. If you want to be rich, you must first be rich in your consciousness.

For example: A woman asked me for a treatment for prosperity, but her home was in great disorder. I told her, “If you want to be rich, you must be orderly. All wealthy people are orderly. Order is heaven’s first law. You will never become rich with a burnt match in your pincushion.”

She had a good sense of humor and immediately started putting her house in order. She rearranged furniture, cleaned out her drawers, and soon received a large financial gift from a relative. Her entire personality changed, and she keeps herself in a prosperous mindset by always being orderly and expecting wealth, knowing that God is her supply.

Spending, Giving, and Receiving

Many people don’t realize that giving gifts and buying things are forms of investment, while hoarding and saving often lead to loss. As the proverb says, “There is one who scatters, and yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.”

For example: I knew a man who wanted to buy a fancy, fur-lined overcoat. He looked in many shops but couldn’t find one he liked. Finally, a salesman showed him a coat worth $1,000 but offered it to him for $500. The man only had about $700 in total. His logical mind would have said, “You can’t spend almost everything you have on a coat!” But he was very intuitive. He turned to his wife and said, “If I get this coat, I’ll make a ton of money!”

About a month later, he received a $10,000 commission. The coat made him feel so rich that it connected him with success. It was an investment that paid huge dividends. If you ignore these intuitive leads to spend or give, that same amount of money will often leave your life in an unhappy or uninteresting way.

For example: A woman told me she decided her family couldn’t afford a Thanksgiving dinner, even though she had the money. A few days later, the exact amount the dinner would have cost was stolen from her bureau drawer. The law always supports the person who spends fearlessly and with wisdom.

Man’s supply is inexhaustible and will never fail when it is fully trusted. But faith must come before the demonstration.

Grace: The Law That Sets You Free

Faith holds your positive vision steady while negative pictures dissolve. “In due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Jesus Christ brought the good news that there is a higher law than Karma. It is the Law of Grace, or forgiveness. This law frees you from the law of cause and effect. When you are “under grace, and not under law,” the gifts of God are simply poured out upon you.

This state of bliss is waiting for the person who has overcome the negative “world thought”—the collective belief in sin, sickness, and death. Jesus said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” He saw these things as unreal.

From a scientific standpoint, we now know that even death could be overcome by stamping the subconscious mind with the conviction of eternal life. The subconscious mind, being pure power, will carry out any order it is given. Working with the Superconscious (the Christ or God within), the “resurrection of the body” could be accomplished. Your body would be transformed, not discarded.

Christianity is founded upon the forgiveness of sins and an empty tomb.

Chapter 6: A Simple Way to Change Your Mind

When you understand your own power and how your mind works, you’ll want to find an easy and quick way to impress your subconscious mind with good. Just knowing the truth with your intellect isn’t enough to get results.

The Easiest Method: “Casting the Burden”

In my own experience, I’ve found that the easiest way is a technique called “casting the burden.”

A spiritual teacher once explained it like this: The only thing that gives an object weight is the law of gravitation. If you could take a huge boulder high above the planet, it would be weightless. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He had overcome the negative vibrations of the world and was living in a higher dimension where there is only perfection and joy.

He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” We are also told in the Psalms to “cast your burden upon the Lord.” The Bible says over and over that the battle is God’s, not yours, and that your job is to “stand still” and watch the salvation of the Lord.

This shows that your Superconscious Mind (the Christ or God within you) is the part of you that fights your battles and relieves you of your burdens. Therefore, you are violating a spiritual law if you carry a burden.

A burden is any negative thought or condition, and it always has its root in your subconscious mind. It’s almost impossible to change the subconscious by giving it orders from your conscious, reasoning mind. Your intellect is limited and filled with doubts and fears.

So, the most scientific thing to do is to hand the burden over to your Superconscious Mind, where it is “made light” or dissolved into nothing.

How It Works: Practical Examples

To cast your burden, you use a simple statement of truth.

For a lack of money: A woman who urgently needed money used this statement: “I cast this burden of lack on the Christ (within), and I go free to have plenty!” The belief in lack was her burden. As she handed it over to her Superconscious—which knows only of plenty—an avalanche of supply came to her.
For a practical problem: One of my students was given a new piano, but she had no room for it until her old one was moved out. The new piano was already on its way, and she was desperate. It occurred to her to repeat: “I cast this burden on the Christ within, and I go free.” A few moments later, a friend called and asked if she could rent the old piano. It was moved out just minutes before the new one arrived.
For a negative emotion: I knew a woman whose burden was resentment. For years, this feeling had held her in a state of torment. She began to affirm: “I cast this burden of resentment on the Christ within, and I go free to be loving, harmonious, and happy.” Her all-powerful Superconscious flooded her subconscious with love, and her whole life changed for the better.

You should repeat your statement over and over, sometimes for hours at a time, either silently or out loud. Do it with quiet determination. I’ve often compared it to winding up an old record player; you have to wind yourself up with your spoken words. After a little while of casting the burden, you’ll notice that your mind becomes clear. It’s impossible to have clear vision when you are trapped in negative thinking.

What to Expect: The Darkness Before the Dawn

Often, right before a big breakthrough, everything seems to go wrong. A deep sense of depression can cloud your mind. This is what’s known as the “darkness before the dawn.”

It means that all the old doubts and fears from ages past are rising up from your subconscious to be cleared out. When this happens, you should celebrate! Give thanks that you are saved, even when it looks like you are surrounded by the enemy (like a situation of lack or sickness).

A student once asked, “How long do I have to stay in the dark?” I replied, “Until you can see in the dark.” Casting the burden is what allows you to see in the dark.

The Bridge of Active Faith

To successfully impress your subconscious mind, active faith is always necessary. As the Bible says, “Faith without works is dead.”

Active faith is the bridge that you walk over to reach your Promised Land.

For example: A woman had been separated from her husband, whom she loved dearly. He refused to see her or talk to her. When she learned about Spiritual Law, she began to deny the appearance of separation. She would say: “There is no separation in the Divine Mind; therefore, I cannot be separated from the love and companionship that are mine by divine right.”

She showed her active faith by setting a place for him at the dinner table every single day. She was impressing her subconscious with a picture of his return. Over a year passed, but she never gave up. One day, he walked through the door.

Other Tools: Music, Movement, and Make-Believe

Here are some other powerful ways to impress your subconscious mind:

Music: Music has a quality that seems to come from a higher dimension. It can release your soul from its mental prison and makes wonderful things seem possible and easy.
Movement: One woman I know dances while she makes her affirmations. The rhythm and harmony of music and motion carry her words forward with incredible power.
Make-Believe: If you consistently “make believe” that you are rich or successful, in due time, you will reap the results. Children are always making believe. Jesus said we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
- For example: I knew a woman who was very poor, but she refused to feel poor. She earned a little money working for rich friends who always reminded her to be careful and save. Instead, she would spend all her earnings on a new hat or a gift for someone else. Her mind was always focused on beauty and riches, but without any envy. She lived in a world of wonder. Before long, she married a rich man, and all the beautiful “rings and things” she had imagined became her reality.

Don’t Ignore the Small Signs

You must not get discouraged by the “day of small things.” Almost always, before a big success, you will see “signs of land.” Before Columbus reached America, he saw birds and twigs in the water, which told him land was near.

The same is true for you. But students often mistake the small sign for the success itself and get disappointed.

For example: A woman had spoken the word for a new set of dishes. Soon after, a friend gave her a single, old, cracked dish. She came to me and said, “Well, I asked for a set of dishes, and all I got was a cracked plate.” I told her, “The plate is just a sign of land! It shows your dishes are on the way.” Not long after that, the new set arrived.

The Only Way to Conquer Fear

There is no peace or happiness for you until you have erased all fear from your subconscious mind. Fear is simply misdirected energy. It must be redirected and transformed into faith.

So often, my students ask me, “How can I get rid of fear?” I reply, “By walking right up to the thing you are afraid of.”

The lion gets its fierceness from your fear. If you walk up to the lion, it will disappear. If you run away, it will run after you. Many of my students have escaped the bondage of poverty by losing their fear of letting money go. They showed faith that God was their unfailing supply.

You should watch yourself every hour to see if your motive for an action is fear or faith.

Perhaps you fear a certain person. Don’t avoid them. Be willing to meet them cheerfully. They will either become a golden link in the chain of your good, or they will peacefully disappear from your life.
Perhaps you fear disease or germs. Be fearless in a germ-filled situation, and you will be immune. You can only catch a germ if your own vibration is at the same low level as the germ. Fear is what drags you down to that level.

Your release will come “in the twinkling of an eye” when you finally realize that there is no real power in evil. The material world of problems will fade away, and the fourth-dimensional “World of the Wondrous” will appear.

Every person on this planet is here to learn the lesson of love. The great commandment is to “love one another.” Love is a cosmic force that opens you up to a higher dimension—a “World of the Wondrous.”

The Ultimate Lesson

Real love is selfless and free from fear. It pours itself out on the person or thing it loves without demanding anything in return. Its happiness is found in the joy of giving. Love is God in action, and it’s the strongest magnetic force in the universe.

Pure, unselfish love naturally draws its own to itself; it doesn’t need to seek or demand. However, very few people have any idea what real love is. In our affections, we tend to be selfish, controlling, or fearful. By doing this, we push away the very thing we love.

The Biggest Enemy of Love: Jealousy

Jealousy is the worst enemy of love. When you’re jealous, your imagination runs wild. You constantly picture the person you love being attracted to someone else. If you don’t neutralize these fears, they will eventually become your reality.

A Story of True Love: A woman came to me in deep distress. The man she loved, a captain she called “The Cap,” had left her for other women. He told her he never intended to marry her. She was torn apart by jealousy and resentment. She told me she hoped he would suffer just as he had made her suffer.

“How could he leave me when I loved him so much?” she asked.

I replied, “You are not loving that man; you are hating him. You can never receive what you have not given. If you want to receive perfect love, you must first give perfect love. Use this situation to perfect yourself. Give him a perfect, unselfish love that demands nothing in return. Don’t criticize or condemn him. Bless him wherever he is.”

She resisted at first. “No! I won’t bless him unless I know where he is!” she said.

“Well,” I said, “that isn’t real love. When you send out real love, real love will come back to you—either from this man or from his equivalent. If this man isn’t your divine selection, you won’t want him anyway.”

For several months, things stayed the same, but she worked on herself conscientiously. I told her, “When you are no longer disturbed by his cruelty, he will stop being cruel. You are attracting his behavior with your own emotions.”

I then told her about a spiritual brotherhood in India whose members never say “Good Morning.” Instead, they say, “I salute the Divinity in you.” They saw the divine spark in every person and even in the wild animals, and they were never harmed. I told her to salute the divinity in this man. “Say, ‘I see your divine self only. I see you as God sees you, perfect, made in His image.’”

She found that she was becoming calmer and her resentment was fading. One day, she said out of the blue, “God bless The Cap, wherever he is.”

I told her, “Now that is real love. When you become a ‘complete circle’ and are no longer disturbed by this situation, you will either have his love or attract its equivalent.”

I didn’t see her for a few weeks. Then one morning, I received a letter from her. It just said, “We are married.”

When I saw her next, I asked, “What happened?”

“Oh, it was a miracle!” she said. “One day I woke up, and all my suffering was gone. I saw him that evening, and he asked me to marry him. We were married about a week later, and I’ve never seen a more devoted man.”

Everyone is Your Teacher

There is an old saying: “No man is your enemy, no man is your friend, every man is your teacher.”

You should try to be impersonal and learn the lesson that each person brings to you. Once you learn your lessons, you will be free. The woman’s lover was her teacher, sent to teach her selfless love—a lesson every person must learn sooner or later.

Suffering isn’t necessary for your development; it’s just the result of breaking a spiritual law. But it often takes suffering to wake people up from their “soul sleep.” When people are happy, they often become selfish, which automatically puts the Law of Karma into motion.

Don’t Take Love for Granted

You can also suffer loss through a simple lack of appreciation.

For example: I knew a woman with a very nice husband. But she often said, “I don’t really care about being married. It’s nothing against my husband; I’m just not interested in married life.” She had other interests and hardly ever thought about him. One day, her husband told her he was in love with another woman and was leaving. She was shocked and resentful. I told her, “This is exactly what you asked for. You said you didn’t care about being married, so your subconscious went to work to get you unmarried.” She realized it was true.

When a person becomes indifferent or critical and stops being an inspiration to their partner, the partner misses the energy of the early relationship and becomes restless and unhappy.

Another example: A miserable and poor man came to me. His wife was into numerology and had told him he was a “two,” which meant he would never amount to anything. I told him, “I don’t care what your number is. You are a perfect idea in the Divine Mind, and we will claim the success and prosperity that are already planned for you.” Within a few weeks, he had a great job. A year or two later, he became a brilliant writer.

Love Your Work and Welcome Your Wealth

No one can be a success in business unless they love their work. The painting an artist creates for the love of art is always his greatest work. Work done only for a paycheck is always something to be lived down.

In the same way, you cannot attract money if you despise it. Many people are kept in poverty by saying things like, “Money means nothing to me,” or, “I have contempt for rich people.” This attitude separates them from their supply. You have to be in harmony with something to attract it.

Money is God in manifestation, representing freedom from lack and limitation. But it must always be kept in circulation and put to good use. Hoarding and saving with a mindset of fear will backfire with grim vengeance. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have savings and investments. It means you shouldn’t hoard money out of fear, especially when it’s needed for a good purpose. When you let money go fearlessly and cheerfully, you open the way for more to come in. God is your unfailing and inexhaustible supply.

The destructive nature of hoarding is shown perfectly in the classic film Greed. A woman wins the lottery but refuses to spend the money. She lets her husband suffer while she hoards every penny. She loves the money itself more than anything. Eventually, she is murdered, and the money is stolen. This is an example of the “love of money” being the root of all evil. Money itself is good, but when it’s hoarded or considered more important than love, it brings disaster.

If you follow the path of love, all things, including financial supply, will be added to you. If you follow the path of selfishness and greed, your supply will vanish.

The Law of Use: Don’t Hoard Your Blessings

All unhappiness and sickness come from violating the law of love. Your boomerangs of hate, resentment, and criticism always come back to you as sickness and sorrow. Love seems to be a lost art, but if you know spiritual law, you know it must be regained.

When I first started teaching, a student came to me month after month, trying to clear her consciousness of resentment. After a while, she was only resentful toward one woman. But that one woman kept her busy. Little by little, my student became more calm and harmonious. One day, all her resentment was finally gone. She came to me, radiant, and exclaimed, “You can’t imagine how I feel! The woman said something to me, and instead of getting furious, I was loving and kind. She immediately apologized and was lovely to me! I feel a marvelous lightness inside.”

Love and goodwill are also invaluable in business. When you “salute the divinity” in a difficult employer or colleague, you will be amazed at how they change.

Let Go of Resentment and Regret

People are sometimes filled with remorse for something unkind they did years ago. If you can’t go back and fix the wrong, you can neutralize its effect by doing a kindness for someone in the present. As the Bible says, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

Sorrow, regret, and remorse tear down the cells of your body and poison your personal atmosphere. Don’t brag about your troubles, or you’ll always have something to brag about.

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

The old idea was that if a mother didn’t worry about her children, she wasn’t a good mother. We now know that a mother’s fear is responsible for many of the diseases and accidents that happen to her children. Fear creates vivid pictures of the thing being feared, and these pictures become reality if they aren’t neutralized.

Happy is the mother who can sincerely say that she puts her child in God’s hands, knowing he is divinely protected.

For example: A woman woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with a terrible feeling that her brother was in great danger. Instead of giving in to fear, she began making statements of truth: “Man is a perfect idea in Divine Mind and is always in his right place. Therefore, my brother is in his right place and is divinely protected.” The next day, she found out that her brother had been right next to an explosion in a mine but had miraculously escaped unharmed.

In this way, you are your brother’s keeper (in your thoughts). You should know that the people and things you love dwell “in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” If you know this, “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”

“Perfect love casts out fear,” and “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.”

Chapter 8: Intuition and Guidance

There is nothing you can’t accomplish when you know the power of your words and follow your intuitive leads. With your words, you set unseen forces in motion. You can rebuild your body and reshape your life.

It’s extremely important, therefore, to choose the right words. A student of this wisdom carefully selects the affirmation they want to send out into the invisible world. They know that God is their supply, that there is a supply for every demand, and that their spoken word releases this supply.

How to Ask for and Receive Guidance

I have often been asked exactly how to make something happen, or “make a demonstration.” My reply is always the same:

Speak the word. Make your affirmation clearly and with faith.
Wait for a definite lead. Don’t do anything until you get clear inner guidance.

You should ask for this guidance by saying, “Infinite Spirit, reveal to me the way. Let me know if there is anything for me to do.”

The answer will come. It might be through your intuition (a hunch), a random remark from someone, or a passage you read in a book. The answers are sometimes startling in their accuracy.

The First Step: Giving Opens the Way

A woman wanted to receive a large sum of money. She spoke these words: “Infinite Spirit, open the way for my immediate supply. Let all that is mine by divine right now reach me in great avalanches of abundance.” Then she added, “Give me a definite lead. Let me know if there is anything for me to do.”

The thought came to her quickly and clearly: “Give a certain friend (who had helped her spiritually) one hundred dollars.”

This was a very clear lead. Giving is what opens the way for receiving. To create activity in your finances, you should give. The old custom of tithing, or giving one-tenth of your income, is a sure way to increase your wealth. The tenth part you give goes out and returns to you blessed and multiplied.

But any gift or tithe must be given with love and cheerfulness. Bills should also be paid cheerfully. All money should be sent out fearlessly and with a blessing. This attitude makes you the master of money. Your spoken word can then open vast reservoirs of wealth. Your own limited vision is the only thing that limits your supply.

Sometimes a person has a great vision of wealth but is afraid to act on it. Your vision and your actions must go hand-in-hand.

Your Inner Compass: Following Your Hunches

When you ask for guidance, never ask for just “a position” or “a house.” Ask for the right position or the right house—the one that is already planned for you in the Divine Mind. That is the only one that will bring you true satisfaction.

For example: A woman asked me to speak the word for a position. Soon after, she was offered three different jobs: two in New York and one in Palm Beach. She didn’t know which one to choose, so she asked for a definite lead. One morning she called me and said, “When I woke up this morning, I could smell Palm Beach!” She had been there before and knew its unique, balmy scent. I told her, “Well, if you can smell Palm Beach from here, that is definitely your lead.” She took the position, and it turned out to be a great success.

Your intuition is a spiritual faculty. It doesn’t explain itself; it simply points the way.

Often, a lead will come to you at an unexpected time. One day, I was walking down the street and felt a strong urge to go to a bakery a few blocks away. My logical mind resisted, arguing that there was nothing I wanted there. But I have learned not to reason with my intuition. I went to the bakery, and sure enough, there was nothing there I wanted to buy. But as I was leaving, I ran into a woman I had been thinking of who was in desperate need of help that I could provide.

People have little idea how much their external affairs affect their bodies. There is a mental cause for every disease. A person’s health problems can often come from a place of inner “congestion”—like hoarding things, hating someone, or holding onto fear. When you clear out the clutter in your life, you often clear up the problems in your body.

Beware of Negative Thoughts and Outside Opinions

Jesus Christ knew that all sickness came from “sin” (which simply means violating a spiritual law). After healing a leper, he warned him to “go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” For a healing to be permanent, your soul (your subconscious mind) must be washed clean of negative thinking.

Many people attract disease and unhappiness by condemning others. What you condemn in another, you attract to yourself.

For example: A friend came to me, angry because her husband had left her for another woman. She constantly condemned the other woman. I told her, “Stop condemning her and bless her instead. Otherwise, you are attracting the same situation to yourself.” She wouldn’t listen. A year or two later, she herself became deeply involved with a married man.

When you criticize or condemn, you are picking up a spiritual live wire. You should expect to get a shock.

If you struggle with indecision, repeat this statement often: “I am always under direct inspiration. I make right decisions, quickly.” These words will impress your subconscious, and soon you will find yourself making the right moves without hesitation.

I have found it very destructive to look to the psychic world (like mediums or fortune-tellers) for guidance. That is the plane of many minds, not the “One Mind” of Infinite Intelligence. It’s a world of opposites where you can receive good or bad messages. Things like numerology and horoscopes only deal with your Karmic path and can keep you stuck in negative expectations.

If someone gives you a prophecy of evil, you should immediately neutralize it with this statement: “Every false prophecy shall come to naught. Every plan my Father in heaven has not planned shall be dissolved. The divine idea now comes to pass.”

However, if you receive a good message about coming happiness or wealth, you should hold onto it and expect it. The law of expectancy will help bring it into your life.

The Right Way to Use Your Willpower

Your personal will should be used for one purpose: to back the universal will. Your statement should be: “I will that the will of God be done.”

It is God’s will to give you every righteous desire of your heart. Your willpower should be used to hold the perfect vision, without wavering. It is often much easier for people to have fear than to have faith. Therefore, faith is an effort of the will.

When you become spiritually awake, you recognize that any problem on the outside corresponds to a problem on the inside. If you physically stumble or fall, you should realize that you are also stumbling or falling in your thoughts.

Trust the Process: How “Bad” Things Can Lead to Good

When you make your demands upon the Universal, you must be ready for surprises. Everything may seem to be going wrong, when in reality, it is all going right.

A remarkable example: A woman had loaned $2,000 to a relative who died without leaving any record of the debt. For years, the woman was resentful. After learning spiritual law, she decided to collect the money from the “Bank of the Universal.”

First, she had to forgive the relative completely, because resentment and unforgiveness close the doors of this wonderful bank. Then, she made this statement: “I deny loss. There is no loss in the Divine Mind; therefore, I cannot lose the two thousand dollars, which belong to me by divine right. As one door shuts, another door opens.”

Soon after, an apparent injustice occurred. She lived in an apartment building that was being sold. Her landlord broke her lease and raised the rent. But this time, she was not disturbed. She blessed the landlord and said, “Since the rent has been raised, it just means I’ll be that much richer, because God is my supply.”

Due to a mistake on the new leases, the landlord had to offer the tenants money to move out so he could sell the building. At first, he offered the woman $200. Then he offered her $1,500. A thought flashed in her mind: “Here comes the two thousand dollars!” She consulted with her neighbors, who advised her to hold out for more. The landlord agreed to pay her $2,000 to give up the apartment.

The apparent injustice was merely the door opening for her to receive what was hers. This proves that there is no loss. When you take your spiritual stand, you will receive all that is yours from the great Reservoir of Good. The universe can even restore to you “the years the locusts have eaten.”

Negative thoughts are the only things that rob you. “No man gives to himself but himself, and no man takes away from himself, but himself.” You are here to prove God and to bear witness to the truth. You can only do that by bringing plenty out of lack and justice out of injustice.

Chapter 9: Your Divine Design

For every person, there is a perfect form of self-expression. There is a place you are meant to fill that no one else can fill. There is something you are meant to do that no one else can do. This is your destiny.

Finding Your Life’s Perfect Plan

This achievement already exists as a perfect idea in the Divine Mind, just waiting for you to recognize it. Since your imagination is your creative faculty, you must first be able to see the idea before it can become a reality. Therefore, the highest demand you can make is for the Divine Design of your life.

You might not have the faintest idea what your destiny is. There could be a marvelous talent hidden deep within you. Your request should be:

“Infinite Spirit, open the way for the Divine Design of my life to manifest. Let the genius within me now be released. Let me see the perfect plan clearly.”

The perfect plan includes health, wealth, love, and perfect self-expression. This is the “square of life,” and it brings perfect happiness.

What to Expect When You Ask

When you make this demand, you may find that great changes start happening in your life. This is because most of us have wandered far from our true path. I know of one woman who, after making this demand, felt as though a cyclone had hit her life. But the old conditions were quickly replaced by new and wonderful ones.

Perfect self-expression will never feel like hard labor. It will be so absorbing and interesting that it will feel almost like play. You should also know that since you came into this world financed by God, the supply you need for your purpose will always be at hand. Many geniuses have struggled for years with money problems, when their spoken word and faith could have quickly released the necessary funds.

For example: After class one day, a man handed me a single penny. He said, “I have just seven cents in the world, and I’m going to give you one. I have faith in the power of your spoken word. I want you to speak the word for my perfect self-expression and prosperity.” I spoke the word for him and didn’t see him again for a whole year. One day, he came to my class, looking successful and happy, with a thick roll of money in his pocket. He told me, “Right after you spoke the word for me, I was offered a job in a distant city. I am now living a life of health, happiness, and abundance.”

A woman’s perfect self-expression might be to become a perfect wife, mother, and homemaker, not necessarily to have a public career. The key is to ask for definite leads, and the way will be made easy and successful.

You shouldn’t try to force a mental picture. When you ask for the Divine Design to enter your conscious mind, you will receive flashes of inspiration. You will begin to see yourself achieving something great. This is the picture you must hold onto without wavering. The thing you are seeking is also seeking you. The telephone was seeking Alexander Graham Bell!

Parents should never try to force careers on their children. By knowing this spiritual truth, they can speak the word for their child’s Divine Plan early in life, or even before the child is born.

Don’t Rely on Your Own Power

There is a terrible penalty to be paid for not using your abilities. Often, fear is the only thing that stands between you and your perfect self-expression. Stage fright, for example, has held back many a genius. This fear can be overcome by the spoken word. The person then loses all self-consciousness and feels like they are simply a channel for Infinite Intelligence. They feel fearless and confident because they know it is the “Father within” who is doing the work.

For example: A young boy in my class asked me to speak the word for his upcoming school exams. I told him to make this statement: “I am one with Infinite Intelligence. I know everything I should know on this subject.” He knew his history well but wasn’t confident in his arithmetic. He told me later, “I spoke the word for my arithmetic test and passed with the highest honors. But I thought I could depend on myself for history, and I got a very poor grade.”

You will often have a setback when you are “too sure of yourself,” which means you are trusting in your personality and not in your higher power. You must form the habit of “practicing the Presence of God” every single minute. “In all your ways acknowledge Him.” Nothing is too small or too great.

Let Go of Control

A student often holds back their success through resistance, or by trying to “point the way.” They pin their faith on only one possible channel and try to dictate the exact way they want their desire to come true. This brings everything to a standstill.

The command of Infinite Intelligence is, “My way, not your way!”

Like electricity, spiritual power must have a nonresistant instrument to work through. You are that instrument. Over and over, we are told to “stand still.” When you are poised and undisturbed, you give God-Power a chance to rush through you and accomplish its good pleasure.

When you are poised, you think clearly and make right decisions quickly. Anger, on the other hand, blurs your vision, poisons your blood, and causes you to make wrong decisions that lead to failure. This is why fear and worry are considered deadly sins—they are just inverted faith that brings about the very thing you fear. Your work is to drive these enemies out of your subconscious mind.

Keys to Unlocking Your Design

Here are some important keys to manifesting your Divine Design:

Conquer Fear by Facing It. The only way to get rid of fear is to walk right up to the thing you’re afraid of. As soon as you are willing to do the thing you fear, you often find you don’t have to. The situation vanishes.
Finish What You Start. A student’s financial success wasn’t appearing. I suggested that perhaps she had a habit of leaving things unfinished, and her subconscious had gotten into the habit of not completing things. She went home and finished a sewing project she had started weeks ago. Shortly after, the money came in a very unusual way.
Be a Good Receiver. Some people are cheerful givers but bad receivers. They block their channels by refusing gifts out of pride or some other negative reason. You must gracefully accept the good that comes back to you. All gifts are from God; people are just the channel. The Lord loves a cheerful receiver just as much as a cheerful giver.

Why Are We Born into Different Circumstances?

People often ask why one person is born rich and healthy, while another is born poor and sick. The answer lies in the Law of Reincarnation.

You live through many births and deaths until you finally learn the truth that sets you free. You are drawn back to the earth plane to pay your Karmic debts or to “fulfill your destiny.” A person born rich and healthy had pictures of health and riches in their subconscious mind in a past life. A person born poor and sick had pictures of disease and poverty. On any plane of existence, you manifest the sum total of your subconscious beliefs.

Fulfilling Your Destiny

The real, spiritual you is birthless and deathless. You were never born, and you will never die. Through knowing the truth, you can be set free from the law of Karma, sin, and death.

Your freedom comes from fulfilling your destiny—bringing the Divine Design of your life into reality. When you do this, your Lord will say to you: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

Chapter 10: Words of Power

The scripture says, “You shall decree a thing, and it shall be established for you.” This means that what you declare with your words will become your reality.

All the good that is meant for your life already exists as a completed fact in the Divine Mind. It is released into your experience through your recognition of it, or through your spoken word. This is why you must be so careful to decree that only the Divine Idea becomes real, because your careless “idle words” can just as easily decree failure or misfortune.

The Art of Asking Correctly

It is incredibly important to word your demands correctly. If you desire a home, a friend, a job, or any other good thing, you should always 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 that it now manifests under grace in a perfect way.”

The last part of that statement—“under grace in a perfect way”—is the most important part.

For example: I knew a woman who demanded one thousand dollars. Soon after, her daughter was injured, and they received a one-thousand-dollar insurance payment. The money came, but it did not come in a perfect way.

Her demand should have been worded like this: “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.”

Think Big: Expand Your Expectations

It is impossible for you to release more than you think is possible. You are bound by the limited expectations of your subconscious mind. You must enlarge your expectations in order to receive in a larger way.

For example: A student of mine made the demand for six hundred dollars by a certain date. He received it, but he heard later that he had come very close to receiving one thousand dollars. He was given just six hundred, because that was the limit of his spoken word. People too often “limit the Holy One of Israel.”

Wealth is a matter of consciousness. A French legend illustrates this perfectly.

A poor man was walking down a road when he met a traveler. The traveler stopped him and said, “My good friend, I see you are poor. Take this gold nugget, sell it, and you will be rich for the rest of your life.”

The man was overjoyed. He took the nugget home but became so inspired that he immediately found work. He became so prosperous that he never got around to selling the nugget. Years passed, and he became a very rich man. One day, he met another poor man on the road. He stopped him and said, “My good friend, I will give you this gold nugget. If you sell it, it will make you rich for life.”

The second man took the nugget, had it valued, and discovered it was only a worthless piece of brass.

The first man became rich because he felt rich, thinking the nugget was gold. Every person has a gold nugget within them; it is your consciousness of gold, of abundance, that brings riches into your life.

The Feeling is the Secret

When you make your demands, you must begin at your journey’s end. This means you must declare that you have already received. “Before you call, I shall answer.”

Continually affirming this establishes the belief in your subconscious mind. It wouldn’t be necessary to make an affirmation more than once if you had perfect faith! You should not plead or beg. Instead, you should give thanks repeatedly that you have already received.

This feeling of rejoicing, even while you are still “in the desert” of your old reality, is what opens the way for your good to be released. The Lord’s Prayer is a series of commands and demands (“Give us this day our daily bread…”), and it ends in praise and thanksgiving (“For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory…”). Prayer, then, is a combination of command, demand, praise, and thanksgiving.

Your main work is to make yourself believe that “with God, all things are possible.”

The Bridge of Active Faith

This is easy to say in theory, but a little harder when you’re actually facing a problem. You must do something to get a realization of your goal, because realization is what leads to manifestation.

For example: A woman needed to receive a large sum of money by a specific time. She knew she had to do something to make it feel real, so she asked for a “lead.” While walking through a department store, she saw a beautiful pink enamel paper-cutter and felt drawn to it. The thought came to her, “I don’t have a paper-cutter nice enough to open letters containing large checks.”

Her logical mind would have called this an extravagance. But she bought the paper-cutter. When she held it in her hand, she had a flash of inspiration—a clear picture of herself opening an envelope with a large check inside. In a few weeks, she received the money. The pink paper-cutter was her bridge of active faith.

The Power of Your Mind

There are many stories about the power of the subconscious mind when it is directed by faith.

For example: A man was spending the night in a farmhouse. The windows in his room had been nailed shut. In the middle of the night, he felt like he was suffocating. He made his way to the window in the dark but couldn’t open it. So, he smashed the glass with his fist, took in deep breaths of what he thought was fresh air, and had a wonderful night’s sleep. The next morning, he discovered that he had smashed the glass door of a bookcase. The window had remained closed all night. He had supplied himself with oxygen simply through his thought of oxygen.

Final Keys to Winning the Game

When you start to demonstrate something, you must never turn back. The person who wavers will not receive anything.

Don’t compromise. A student of mine once said, “When I ask the Father for anything, I put my foot down and I say: ‘Father, I’ll take nothing less than I’ve asked for, but more!’”
Let go. Demonstrations often come at the “eleventh hour,” because that is when you finally stop reasoning and let go, giving Infinite Intelligence a chance to work.
Be patient. Your impatient desires will either be long delayed or “violently fulfilled.” For example, a woman who always said “I wish I could get rid of my glasses!” was constantly losing or breaking them. Her impatient desire was fulfilled literally. She should have been demanding perfect eyesight instead.
Follow denials with affirmations. Always deny the negative appearance and affirm the spiritual truth. For example: “I deny this appearance of disease. It is unreal and cannot register in his consciousness. This man is a perfect idea in the Divine Mind, pure substance expressing perfection.”
Trust visioning over visualizing. Visualizing is a mental process, governed by your reasoning mind. Visioning is a spiritual process. It means receiving flashes of inspiration from your Superconscious mind and then working to make those divine pictures a reality.

Many people are building a bungalow in their imagination when they should be building a palace. If you desire only what God desires for you, the Master Architect will give you the true blueprints for your life.

A Final Blessing

All power is given to you through right thinking to bring your own heaven to your own earth. This is the goal of the Game of Life.

The simple rules are:

Fearless Faith
Nonresistance
Love

May you, the reader, now be freed from whatever has held you in bondage and stood between you and your own good. May you “know the Truth which makes you free”—free to fulfill your destiny and to bring into your life the Divine Design: your perfect Health, Wealth, Love, and Self-Expression.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.