The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn (Heathen Edition)

Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle, it is a game.

It is a game, however, which cannot be played successfully without the knowledge of spiritual law, and the Old and the New Testaments give the rules of the game with wonderful clearness.

To play successfully the game of life, we must train the imaging faculty. A person with an imaging faculty trained to image only good, brings into his life “every righteous desire of his heart”—health, wealth, love, friends, perfect self-expression, his highest ideals.

Thus the invisible forces are ever working for man who is always “pulling the strings” himself, though he does not know it. Owing to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract . . .

   Florence Scovel Shinn (1871–1940) was an American artist and illustrator of popular children’s literature and magazines, including Harper’s, during the early 20th century. During the 1920s, she became a key member of the New Thought movement — a loosely allied group of religious denominations, authors, philosophers, and individuals sharing a set of beliefs concerning metaphysics, positive thinking, the law of attraction, creative visualization, healing, and personal power. As a spiritual teacher at the New York Society of Silent Unity, she discovered her ability to explain her success principles and how they work in an easy-to-understand and engaging manner, which led to her first self-published book The Game of Life and How to Play It in 1925. It would become one of the most popular works of practical metaphysics of the past hundred years and influence the likes of mystic Neville Goddard and the bestselling Norman Vincent Peale, both of whom used her phraseology in their writings. Employing the Bible as her chief point of reference, Shinn interprets Scripture as a psychological course of action for personal and spiritual development and presents complex metaphysical ideas in a widely accessible and entertaining style.   

“Although written in the 1920s and full of religious references, this book now has cult status. It ‘salutes the divinity’ in us and restores a sense of direction and confidence. If you keep an open mind as you read it, its insights and affirmations can have great effects.” —Tom Butler-Bowdon, 50 Self-Help Classics

“The Game of Life is filled with wisdom and creative insights. That its teachings will work I know to be fact, for I’ve long used them myself . . . By studying and practicing the principles laid down in this book one may find prosperity, solve problems, have better health, achieve personal relations—in a word, win the game of life.” —Norman Vincent Peale

“The Game of Life and How to Play It started me off in the right direction. You have to jump in with both feet and trust in these truths and practice using them. I believed and I trusted, and now I know—it works!” —Louise Hay

“Florence Shinn constantly taught that your word is your wand to wave over your life and make it what you will. Her famous little book, The Game of Life and How to Play It, relates countless demonstrations of Truth made by people simply speaking words.” —Catherine Ponder, The Healing Secrets of the Ages

“One secret of her success was that she was always herself . . . colloquial, informal, friendly, and humorous. She herself was very spiritual . . . and taught by familiar, practical, and everyday examples.” —Emmet Fox

“I believe that Shinn, through her message of mental causation, left many thousands of people breathing easier, and living better. She may be about to do the same for you.” —Mitch Horowitz