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Title: The game of life and how to play it
Author: Florence Scovel Shinn
Release date: December 11, 2024 [eBook #74878]
Language: English
Original publication: Marina del Rey: DeVorss
Credits: Bob Taylor, Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAME OF LIFE AND HOW TO PLAY IT ***
Transcriber's Note
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THE GAME OF LIFE
AND HOW TO PLAY IT
By
FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN
DeVorss & Company
P. O. Box 550
Marina del Rey, California 90294
Copyright 1925 by
Florence Scovel Shinn
ISBN: 0-87516-257-6
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
THE GAME 7
THE LAW OF PROSPERITY 15
THE POWER OF THE WORD 22
THE LAW OF NONRESISTANCE 30
THE LAW OF KARMA AND THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS 39
CASTING THE BURDEN (IMPRESSING THE SUBCONSCIOUS) 48
LOVE 56
INTUITION OR GUIDANCE 66
PERFECT SELF-EXPRESSION OR THE DIVINE DESIGN 75
DENIALS AND AFFIRMATIONS 85
THE GAME
Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle, it is a
game.
It is a game, however, which cannot be played successfully without the
knowledge of spiritual law, and the Old and the New Testaments give the
rules of the game with wonderful clearness. Jesus Christ taught that it
was a great game of _Giving and Receiving_.
“Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” This means that
whatever man sends out in word or deed, will return to him; what he
gives, he will receive.
If he gives hate, he will receive hate; if he gives love, he will
receive love; if he gives criticism, he will receive criticism; if he
lies he will be lied to; if he cheats he will be cheated. We are taught
also, that the imaging faculty plays a leading part in the game of life.
“Keep thy heart (or imagination) with all diligence, for out of it are
the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23.)
This means that what man images, sooner or later externalizes in his
affairs. I know of a man who feared a certain disease. It was a very
rare disease and difficult to get, but he pictured it continually and
read about it until it manifested in his body, and he died, the victim
of distorted imagination.
So we see, to play successfully the game of life, we must train the
imaging faculty. A person with an imaging faculty trained to image
only good, brings into his life “every righteous desire of his
heart”—health, wealth, love, friends, perfect self-expression, his
highest ideals.
The imagination has been called, “_The Scissors of The Mind_,” and it
is ever cutting, cutting, day by day, the pictures man sees there, and
sooner or later he meets his own creations in his outer world. To train
the imagination successfully, man must understand the workings of his
mind. The Greeks said: “Know Thyself.”
There are three departments of the mind, the _subconscious, conscious
and superconscious_. The subconscious, is simply power, without
direction. It is like steam or electricity, and it does what it is
directed to do; it has no power of induction.
Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly, is impressed upon the
subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail.
For example: a woman I know, when a child, always “made believe” she
was a widow. She “dressed up” in black clothes and wore a long black
veil, and people thought she was very clever and amusing. She grew up
and married a man with whom she was deeply in love. In a short time
he died and she wore black and a sweeping veil for many years. The
picture of herself as a widow was impressed upon the subconscious mind,
and in due time worked itself out, regardless of the havoc created.
The conscious mind has been called mortal or carnal mind.
It is the human mind and sees life as it _appears to be_. It sees
death, disaster, sickness, poverty and limitation of every kind, and it
impresses the subconscious.
The _superconscious_ mind is the God Mind within each man, and is the
realm of perfect ideas.
In it, is the “_perfect pattern_” spoken of by Plato, _The Divine
Design_; for there is a _Divine Design_ for each person.
“_There is a place that you are to fill and no one else can fill,
something you are to do, which no one else can do._”
There is a perfect picture of this in the _superconscious mind_.
It usually flashes across the conscious as an unattainable
ideal—“something too good to be true.”
In reality it is man’s true destiny (or destination) flashed to him
from the Infinite Intelligence which is _within himself_.
Many people, however, are in ignorance of their true destinies and are
striving for things and situations which do not belong to them, and
would only bring failure and dissatisfaction if attained.
For example: A woman came to me and asked me to “speak the word” that
she would marry a certain man with whom she was very much in love. (She
called him A. B.)
I replied that this would be a violation of spiritual law, but that I
would speak the word for the right man, the “divine selection,” the man
who belonged to her by divine right.
I added, “If A. B. is the right man you can’t lose him, and if he
isn’t, you will receive his equivalent.” She saw A. B. frequently but
no headway was made in their friendship. One evening she called, and
said, “Do you know, for the last week, A. B. hasn’t seemed so wonderful
to me.” I replied, “Maybe he is not the divine selection—another man
may be the right one.” Soon after that, she met another man who fell in
love with her at once, and who said she was his ideal. In fact, he said
all the things that she had always wished A. B. would say to her.
She remarked, “It was quite uncanny.”
She soon returned his love, and lost all interest in A. B.
This shows the law of substitution. A right idea was substituted for a
wrong one, therefore there was no loss or sacrifice involved.
Jesus Christ said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” and he
said the Kingdom _was within man_.
The Kingdom is the realm of _right ideas_, or the divine pattern.
Jesus Christ taught that man’s words played a leading part in the game
of life. “By your words ye are justified and by your words ye are
condemned.”
Many people have brought disaster into their lives through idle words.
For example: A woman once asked me why her life was now one of poverty
of limitation. Formerly she had a home, was surrounded by beautiful
things and had plenty of money. We found she had often tired of the
management of her home, and had said repeatedly, “I’m sick and tired of
things—I wish I lived in a trunk,” and she added: “Today I am living in
that trunk.” She had spoken herself into a trunk. The subconscious mind
has no sense of humor and people often joke themselves into unhappy
experiences.
For example: A woman who had a great deal of money, joked continually
about “getting ready for the poorhouse.”
In a few years she was almost destitute, having impressed the
subconscious mind with a picture of lack and limitation.
Fortunately the law works both ways, and a situation of lack may be
changed to one of plenty.
For example: A woman came to me one hot summer’s day for a “treatment”
for prosperity. She was worn out, dejected and discouraged. She said
she possessed just eight dollars in the world. I said, “Good, we’ll
bless the eight dollars and multiply them as Jesus Christ multiplied
the loaves and the fishes,” for He taught that _every man_ had the
power to bless and to multiply, to heal and to prosper.
She said, “What shall I do next?”
I replied, “Follow intuition. Have you a ‘hunch’ to do anything, or to
go anywhere?” Intuition means, intuition, or to be taught from within.
It is man’s unerring guide, and I will deal more fully with its laws in
a following chapter.
The woman replied: “I don’t know—I seem to have a ‘hunch’ to go home;
I’ve just enough money for carfare.” Her home was in a distant city and
was one of lack and limitation, and the reasoning mind (or intellect)
would have said: “Stay in New York and get work and make some money.”
I replied, “Then go home—never violate a hunch.” I spoke the following
words for her: “_Infinite Spirit open the way for great abundance for
——. She is an irresistible magnet for all that belongs to her by divine
right._” I told her to repeat it continually also. She left for home
immediately. In calling on a woman one day, she linked up with an old
friend of her family.
Through this friend, she received thousands of dollars in a most
miraculous way. She has said to me often, “Tell people about the woman
who came to you with eight dollars and a hunch.”
There is always _plenty on man’s pathway_; but it can only be _brought
into manifestation_ through desire, faith or the spoken word. Jesus
Christ brought out clearly that man must make the _first move_.
“_Ask_, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and
it shall be opened unto you.” (Mat. 7:7.)
In the Scriptures we read:
“Concerning the works of my hands, command ye me.”
Infinite Intelligence, God, is ever ready to carry out man’s smallest
or greatest demands.
Every desire, uttered or unexpressed, is a demand. We are often
startled by having a wish suddenly fulfilled.
For example: One Easter, having seen many beautiful rose-trees in the
florists’ windows, I wished I would receive one, and for an instant saw
it mentally being carried in the door.
Easter came, and with it a beautiful rose-tree. I thanked my friend the
following day, and told her it was just what I had wanted.
She replied, “I didn’t send you a rose-tree, I sent you lilies!”
The man had mixed the order, and sent me a rose-tree simply because I
had started the law in action, and _I had to have a rose-tree_.
Nothing stands between man and his highest ideals and every desire of
his heart, but doubt and fear. When man can “wish without worrying,”
every desire will be instantly fulfilled.
I will explain more fully in a following chapter the scientific reason
for this and how fear must be erased from the consciousness. It is
man’s only enemy—fear of lack, fear of failure, fear of sickness, fear
of loss and a feeling of _insecurity on some plane_. Jesus Christ said:
“Why are ye fearful, oh ye of little faith?” (Mat. 8:26.) So we can see
we must substitute faith for fear, for fear is only inverted faith; it
is faith in evil instead of good.
The object of the game of life is to see clearly one’s good and to
obliterate all mental pictures of evil. This must be done by impressing
the subconscious mind with a realization of good. A very brilliant man,
who has attained great success, told me he had suddenly erased all
fear from his consciousness by reading a sign which hung in a room.
He saw printed, in large letters this statement—“_Why worry, it will
probably never happen._” These words were stamped indelibly upon his
subconscious mind, and he has now a firm conviction that only good can
come into his life, therefore only _good can manifest_.
In the following chapter I will deal with the different methods of
impressing the subconscious mind. It is man’s faithful servant but one
must be careful to give it the right orders. Man has ever a silent
listener at his side—his subconscious mind.
Every thought, every word is impressed upon it and carried out in
amazing detail. It is like a singer making a record on the sensitive
disc of the phonographic plate. Every note and tone of the singer’s
voice is registered. If he coughs or hesitates, it is registered also.
So let us break all the old bad records in the subconscious mind, the
records of our lives which we do not wish to keep, and make new and
beautiful ones.
Speak these words aloud, with power and conviction: “I now smash and
demolish (by my spoken word) every untrue record in my subconscious
mind. They shall return to the dust-heap of their native nothingness,
for they came from my own vain imaginings. I now make my perfect
records through the Christ within—The records of _Health, Wealth, Love
and perfect self-Expression_.” This is the square of life, _The Game
completed_.
In the following chapters, I will show how man can _change_ his
_conditions by changing his words_. Any man who does not know the power
of the word, is behind the times.
“_Death and Life are in the power of the tongue._”
(Prov. 18:21.)
THE LAW OF PROSPERITY
“Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense
and thou shalt have plenty of silver.”
One of the greatest messages given to the race through the scriptures
is that God is man’s supply and that man can release, _through his
spoken word_, all that belongs to him by divine right. He must,
however, have _perfect faith in his spoken word_.
Isaiah said, “My word shall not return unto me void, but shall
accomplish that where unto it is sent.” We know now, that words and
thoughts are a tremendous vibratory force, ever moulding man’s body and
affairs.
A woman came to me in great distress and said she was to be sued on the
fifteenth of the month for three thousand dollars. She knew no way of
getting the money and was in despair.
I told her God was her supply, and _that there is a supply for every
demand_.
_So I spoke the word!_ I gave thanks that the woman would receive three
thousand dollars at the right time in the right way. I told her she
must have perfect faith, and act her _perfect faith_. The fifteenth
came but no money had materialized.
She called me on the ’phone and asked what she was to do.
I replied, “It is Saturday, so they won’t sue you today. Your part is
to act rich, thereby showing perfect faith that you will receive it by
Monday.” She asked me to lunch with her to keep up her courage. When
I joined her at a restaurant, I said, “This is no time to economize.
Order an expensive luncheon, act as if you have already received the
three thousand dollars.”
“All things whatsoever ye ask in prayer, _believing_, ye shall
receive.” “You must act as if you _had already received_.” The next
morning she called me on the ’phone and asked me to stay with her
during the day. I said “No, you are divinely protected and God is never
too late.”
In the evening she ’phoned again, greatly excited and said, “My dear,
a miracle has happened! I was sitting in my room this morning, when
the doorbell rang. I said to the maid: ‘Don’t let anyone in.’ The maid
however, looked out the window and said, ‘It’s your cousin with the
long white beard.’
So I said, ‘Call him back. I would like to see him.’ He was just
turning the corner, when he heard the maid’s voice, and _he came back_.
He talked for about an hour, and just as he was leaving he said, ‘Oh,
by the way, how are finances?’
I told him I needed the money, and he said, ‘Why, my dear, I will give
you three thousand dollars the first of the month.’
I didn’t like to tell him I was going to be sued. What shall I do? I
won’t _receive it till_ the first of the month, and I must have it
tomorrow.” I said, “I’ll keep on ‘treating.’”
I said, “Spirit is never too late. I give thanks she has received the
money on the invisible plane and that it manifests on time.” The next
morning her cousin called her up and said, “Come to my office this
morning and I will give you the money.” That afternoon, she had three
thousand dollars to her credit in the bank, and wrote checks as rapidly
as her excitement would permit.
If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the
situation he has prepared for. For example: A man came to me asking me
to speak the word that a certain debt would be wiped out.
I found he spent his time planning what he would say to the man when
he did not pay his bill, thereby neutralizing my words. He should have
seen himself paying the debt.
We have a wonderful illustration of this in the bible, relating to
the three kings who were in the desert, without water for their men
and horses. They consulted the prophet Elisha, who gave them this
astonishing message:
“Thus saith the Lord—Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain,
yet make this valley full of ditches.”
Man must prepare for the thing he has asked for, _when there isn’t the
slightest sign of it in sight_.
For example: A woman found it necessary to look for an apartment during
the year when there was a great shortage of apartments in New York. It
was considered almost an impossibility, and her friends were sorry for
her and said, “Isn’t it too bad, you’ll have to store your furniture
and live in a hotel.” She replied, “_You needn’t feel sorry for me, I’m
a superman, and I’ll get an apartment._”
She spoke the words: “_Infinite Spirit, open the way for the right
apartment._” She knew there was a supply for every demand, and that she
was “unconditioned,” working on the spiritual plane, and that “one with
God is a majority.”
She had contemplated buying new blankets, when “the tempter,” the
adverse thought or reasoning mind, suggested, “Don’t buy the blankets,
perhaps, after all, you won’t get an apartment and you will have no use
for them.” She promptly replied (to herself): “I’ll dig my ditches by
buying the blankets!” So she prepared for the apartment—acted as though
she already had it.
She found one in a miraculous way, and it was given to her although
there were over _two hundred other applicants_.
The blankets showed active faith.
It is needless to say that the ditches dug by the three kings in the
desert were filled to over-flowing. (Read, II Kings.)
Getting into the spiritual swing of things is no easy matter for the
average person. The adverse thoughts of doubt and fear surge from the
subconscious. They are the “army of the aliens” which must be put to
flight. This explains why it is so often, “darkest before the dawn.”
A big demonstration is usually preceded by tormenting thoughts.
Having made a statement of high spiritual truth one challenges the old
beliefs in the subconscious, and “error is exposed” to be put out.
This is the time when one must make his affirmations of truth
repeatedly, and rejoice and give thanks that he has already received.
“Before ye call I shall answer.” This means that “every good and
perfect gift” is already man’s awaiting his recognition.
Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.
The children of Israel were told that they could have all the land
they could see. This is true of every man. He has only the land within
his own mental vision. Every great work, every big accomplishment,
has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision,
and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and
discouragement.
The children of Israel when they reached the “Promised Land,” were
afraid to go in, for they said it was filled with giants who made them
feel like grasshoppers. “And there we saw the giants and we were in our
own sight as grasshoppers.” This is almost every man’s experience.
However, the one who knows spiritual law, is undisturbed by appearance,
and rejoices while he is “yet in captivity.” That is, he holds to his
vision and gives thanks that the end is accomplished, he has received.
Jesus Christ gave a wonderful example of this. He said to his
disciples: “Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh the
harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the
fields; for they are ripe already to harvest.” His clear vision pierced
the “world of matter” and he saw clearly the fourth dimensional world,
things as they really are, perfect and complete in Divine Mind. So
man must ever hold the vision of his journey’s end and demand the
manifestation of that which he has already received. It may be his
perfect health, love, supply, self-expression, home or friends.
They are all finished and perfect ideas registered in Divine Mind
(man’s own superconscious mind) and must come through him, not to him.
For example: A man came to me asking for treatments for success. It
was imperative that he raise, within a certain time, fifty-thousand
dollars for his business. The time limit was almost up, when he came to
me in despair. No one wanted to invest in his enterprise, and the bank
had flatly refused a loan. I replied: “I suppose you lost your temper
while at the bank, therefore your power. You can control any situation
if you first control yourself.” “Go back to the bank,” I added, “and
I will treat.” My treatment 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 are talking about an
impossibility. Tomorrow is Saturday; the bank closes at twelve, and my
train won’t get me there until ten, and the time limit is up tomorrow,
and anyway they won’t do it. It’s too late.” I replied, “God doesn’t
need any time and is never too late. With Him all things are possible.”
I added, “I don’t know anything about business, but I know all about
God.” He replied: “It all sounds fine when I sit here listening to you,
but when I go out it’s terrible.” He lived in a distant city, and I did
not hear from him for a week, then came a letter. It read: “You were
right. I raised the money, and will never again doubt the truth of all
that you told me.”
I saw him a few weeks later, and I said, “What happened? You evidently
had plenty of time, after all.” He replied “My train was late, and
I got there just fifteen minutes to twelve. I walked into the bank
quietly and said, ‘I have come for the loan,’ and they gave it to me
without a question.”
It was the last fifteen minutes of the time allotted to him, and
Infinite Spirit was not too late. In this instance the man could never
have demonstrated alone. He needed someone to help him hold to the
vision. This is what one man can do for another.
Jesus Christ knew the truth of this when he said: “If two of you shall
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be
done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” One gets too close to
his own affairs and becomes doubtful and fearful.
The friend or “healer” sees clearly the success, health, or prosperity,
and never wavers, because he is not close to the situation.
It is much easier to “demonstrate” for someone else than for one’s
self, so a person should not hesitate to ask for help, if he feels
himself wavering.
A keen observer of life once said, “no man can fail, if some one person
sees him successful.” Such is the power of the vision, and many a
great man has owed his success to a wife, or sister, or a friend who
“believed in him” and held without wavering to the perfect pattern!
THE POWER OF THE WORD
“By thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
A person knowing the power of the word, becomes very careful of his
conversation. He has only to watch the reaction of his words to know
that they do “not return void.” Through his spoken word, man is
continually making laws for himself.
I knew a man who said, “I always miss a car. It invariably pulls out
just as I arrive.”
His daughter said: “I always catch a car. It’s sure to come just as I
get there.” This occurred for years. Each had made a separate law for
himself, one of failure, one of success. This is the psychology of
superstitions.
The horseshoe or rabbit’s foot contains no power, but man’s spoken word
and belief that it will bring him good luck creates expectancy in the
subconscious mind, and attracts a “lucky situation.” I find however,
this will not “work” when man has advanced spiritually and knows a
higher law. One cannot turn back, and must put away “graven images.”
For example: Two men in my class had had great success in business
for several months, when suddenly everything “went to smash.” We
tried to analyze the situation, and I found, instead of making their
affirmations and looking to God for success and prosperity, they had
each bought a “lucky monkey.” I said: “Oh I see, you have been trusting
in the lucky monkeys instead of God.” “Put away the lucky monkeys
and call on the law of forgiveness,” for man has power to forgive or
neutralize his mistakes.
They decided to throw the lucky monkeys down a coalhole, and all went
well again. This does not mean, however, that one should throw away
every “lucky” ornament or horseshoe about the house, but he must
recognize that the power back of it is the one and only power, God, and
that the object simply gives him a feeling of expectancy.
I was with a friend, one day, who was in deep despair. In crossing the
street, she picked up a horseshoe. Immediately, she was filled with joy
and hope. She said God had sent her the horseshoe in order to keep up
her courage.
It was indeed, at that moment, about the only thing that could have
registered in her consciousness. Her hope became faith, and she
ultimately made a wonderful demonstration. I wish to make the point
clear that the men previously mentioned were depending on the monkeys,
alone, while this woman recognized the power back of the horseshoe.
I know, in my own case, it took a long while to get out of a belief
that a certain thing brought disappointment. If the thing happened,
disappointment invariably followed. I found the only way I could
make a change in the subconscious, was by asserting, “There are not
two powers, there is only one power, God, therefore, there are no
disappointments, and this thing means a happy surprise.” I noticed a
change at once, and happy surprises commenced coming my way.
I have a friend who said nothing could induce her to walk under a
ladder. I said, “If you are afraid, you are giving in to a belief in
two powers, Good and Evil, instead of one. As God is absolute, there
can be no opposing power, unless man makes the false of evil for
himself. To show you believe in only One Power, God, and that there
is no power or reality in evil, walk under the next ladder you see.”
Soon after, she went to her bank. She wished to open her box in the
safe-deposit vault, and there stood a ladder on her pathway. It was
impossible to reach the box without passing under the ladder. She
quailed with fear and turned back. She could not face the lion on
her pathway. However, when she reached the street, my words rang in
her ears and she decided to return and walk under it. It was a big
moment in her life, for ladders had held her in bondage for years. She
retraced her steps to the vault, and the ladder was no longer there!
This so often happens! If one is willing to do a thing he is afraid to
do, he does not have to.
It is the law of nonresistance, which is so little understood.
Someone has said that courage contains genius and magic. Face a
situation fearlessly, and there is no situation to face; it falls away
of its own weight.
The explanation is, that fear attracted the ladder on the woman’s
pathway, and fearlessness removed it.
_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.
People who continually speak of disease, invariably attract it._
After man knows the truth, he cannot be too careful of his words. For
example: I have a friend who often says on the ’phone, “Do come to see
me and have a fine old-fashioned chat.” This “old-fashioned chat” means
an hour of about five hundred to a thousand destructive words, the
principal topics being loss, lack, failure and sickness.
I reply: “No, I thank you, I’ve had enough old-fashioned chats
in my life, they are too expensive, but I will be glad to have a
new-fashioned chat, and talk about what we want, not what we don’t
want.” There is an old saying that man only dares use his words for
three purposes, to “heal, bless or prosper.” What man says of others
will be said of him, and what he wishes for another, he is wishing for
himself.
“Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.”
If a man wishes someone “bad luck,” he is sure to attract bad luck
himself. If he wishes to aid someone to success, he is wishing and
aiding himself to success.
The body may be renewed and transformed through the spoken word and
clear vision, and disease be completely wiped out of the consciousness.
The metaphysician knows that all disease has a mental correspondence,
and in order to heal the body one must first “heal the soul.”
The soul is the subconscious mind, and it must be “saved” from wrong
thinking.
In the twenty-third psalm, we read: “He restoreth my soul.” This means
that the subconscious mind or soul, must be restored with the right
ideas, and the “mystical marriage” is the marriage of the soul and
the spirit, or the subconscious and superconscious mind. They must be
one. When the subconscious is flooded with the perfect ideas of the
superconscious, God and man are one. “I and the Father are one.” That
is, he is one with the realm of perfect ideas; he is the man made in
God’s likeness and image (imagination) and is given power and dominion
over all created things, his mind, body and affairs.
It is safe to say that all sickness and unhappiness come from the
violation of the law of love. A new commandment I give unto you, “Love
one another,” and in the Game of Life, love or good-will takes every
trick.
For example: A woman I know, had, for years an appearance of a terrible
skin disease. The doctors told her it was incurable, and she was in
despair. She was on the stage, and she feared she would soon have to
give up her profession, and she had no other means of support. She,
however, procured a good engagement, and on the opening night, made a
great “hit.” She received flattering notices from the critics, and was
joyful and elated. The next day she received a notice of dismissal.
A man in the cast had been jealous of her success and had caused her
to be sent away. She felt hatred and resentment taking complete
possession of her, and she cried out, “Oh God don’t let me hate that
man.” That night she worked for hours “in the silence.”
She said, “I soon came into a very deep silence. I seemed to be at
peace with myself, with the man, and with the whole world. I continued
this for two following nights, and on the third day I found I was
healed completely of the skin disease!” In asking for love, or good
will, she had fulfilled the law, (“for love is the fulfilling of the
law”) and the disease (which came from subconscious resentment) was
wiped out.
Continual criticism produces rheumatism, as critical, inharmonious
thoughts cause unnatural deposits in the blood, which settle in the
joints.
False growths are caused by jealousy, hatred, unforgiveness, fear,
etc. Every disease is caused by a mind not at ease. I said once, in my
class, “There is no use asking anyone ‘What’s the matter with you?’ we
might just as well say, ‘Who’s the matter with you?’” Unforgiveness is
the most prolific cause of disease. It will harden arteries or liver,
and affect the eye-sight. In its train are endless ills.
I called on a woman, one day, who said she was ill from having eaten
a poisoned oyster. I replied, “Oh, no, the oyster was harmless, you
poisoned the oyster. What’s the matter with you?” She answered, “Oh
about nineteen people.” She had quarrelled with nineteen people and had
become so inharmonious that she attracted the wrong oyster.
Any inharmony on the external, indicates there is mental inharmony. “As
the within, so the without.”
Man’s only enemies are within himself. “And a man’s foes shall be
they of his own household.” Personality is one of the last enemies
to be overcome, as this planet is taking its initiation in love. It
was Christ’s message—“Peace on Earth, good will towards man.” The
enlightened man, therefore, endeavors to perfect himself upon his
neighbor. His work is with himself, to send out good-will and blessings
to every man, and the marvelous thing is, that if one blesses a man he
has no power to harm him.
For example: A man came to me asking to “treat” for success in
business. He was selling machinery, and a rival appeared on the scene
with what he proclaimed, was a better machine, and my friend feared
defeat. I said, “First of all, we must wipe out all fear, and know
that God protects your interests, and that the divine idea must come
out of the situation. That is, the right machine will be sold, by the
right man, to the right man.” And I added, “Don’t hold one critical
thought towards that man. Bless him all day, and be willing not to sell
your machine, if it isn’t the divine idea.” So he went to the meeting,
fearless and nonresistant, and blessing the other man. He said the
outcome was very remarkable. The other man’s machine refused to work,
and he sold his without the slightest difficulty. “But I say unto you,
love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you.”
_Good-will produces a great aura of protection about the one who sends
it, and “No weapon that is formed against him shall prosper.” In
other words, love and good-will destroy the enemies within one’s self,
therefore, one has no enemies on the external!_
“_There is peace on earth for him who sends good-will to man!_”
THE LAW OF NONRESISTANCE
“Resist not evil. Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome evil with good.”
Nothing on earth can resist an absolutely nonresistant person.
The Chinese say that water is the most powerful element, because it is
perfectly nonresistant. It can wear away a rock, and sweep all before
it.
Jesus Christ said, “Resist not evil,” for He knew in reality, there
is no evil, therefore nothing to resist. Evil has come of man’s “vain
imagination,” or a belief in two powers, good and evil.
There is an old legend, that Adam and Eve ate of “Maya the Tree of
Illusion,” and saw two powers instead of one power, God.
_Therefore, evil is a false law man has made for himself, through
psychoma or soul sleep._ Soul sleep means, that man’s soul has been
hypnotized by the race belief (of sin, sickness and death, etc.) which
is carnal or mortal thought, and his affairs have outpictured his
illusions.
We have read in a preceding chapter, that man’s soul is his
subconscious mind, and whatever he feels deeply, good or bad, is
outpictured by that faithful servant. His body and affairs show forth
what he has been picturing. The sick man has pictured sickness, the
poor man, poverty, the rich man, wealth.
People often say, “why does a little child attract illness, when it is
too young even to know what it means?”
I answer that children are sensitive and receptive to the thoughts of
others about them, and often outpicture the fears of their parents.
I heard a metaphysician once say, “If you do not run your subconscious
mind yourself, someone else will run it for you.”
Mothers often, unconsciously, attract illness and disaster to their
children, by continually holding them in thoughts of fear, and watching
for symptoms.
For example: A friend asked a woman if her little girl had had the
measles. She replied promptly, “not yet!” This implied that she was
expecting the illness, and, therefore, preparing the way for what she
did not want for herself and child.
However, the man who is centered and established in right thinking,
the man who sends out only good-will to his fellow-man, and who is
without fear, cannot be _touched or influenced by the negative thoughts
of others_. In fact, he could then receive only good thoughts, as he
himself, sends forth only good thoughts.
Resistance is Hell, for it places man in a “state of torment.”
A metaphysician once gave me a wonderful recipe for taking every trick
in the game of life, it is the acme of nonresistance. He gave it in
this way; “At one time in my life, I baptized children, and of course,
they had many names. Now I no longer baptize children, but 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, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost!”
In this, we see the great law of transmutation, founded on
nonresistance. Through his spoken word, every failure was transmuted
into success.
For example: A woman who required money, and who knew the spiritual
law of opulence, was thrown continually in a business-way, with a
man who made her feel very poor. He talked lack and limitation and
she commenced to catch his poverty thoughts, so she disliked him,
and blamed him for her failure. She knew in order to demonstrate
her supply, she must first feel that she _had received—a feeling of
opulence must precede its manifestation_.
It dawned upon her, one day, that she was resisting the situation, and
seeing two powers instead of one. So she blessed the man and baptized
the situation “Success”! She affirmed, “As there is only one power,
God, this man is here for my good and my prosperity” (just what he
did not seem to be there for). Soon after that she met, _through this
man_, a woman who gave her for a service rendered, several thousand
dollars, and the man moved to a distant city, and faded harmoniously
from her life. Make the statement, “Every man is a golden link in the
chain of my good,” for all men are God in manifestation, _awaiting the
opportunity given by man, himself, to serve the divine plan of his
life_.
“Bless your enemy, and you rob him of his ammunition.” His arrows will
be transmuted into blessings.
This law is true of nations as well as individuals. Bless a nation,
send love and good-will to every inhabitant, and it is robbed of its
power to harm.
Man can only get the right idea of nonresistance, through spiritual
understanding. My students have often said: “I don’t want to be a
door-mat.” 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 awaiting an important
telephone call. I resisted every call that came in and made no
out-going calls myself, reasoning that it might interfere with the one
I was awaiting.
Instead of saying, “Divine ideas never conflict, the call will come
at the right time,” leaving it to Infinite Intelligence to arrange, I
commenced to manage things myself—I made the battle mine, not God’s
and remained tense and anxious. The bell did not ring for about an
hour, and I glanced at the ’phone and found the receiver had been off
that length of time, and the ’phone was disconnected. My anxiety,
fear and belief in interference, had brought on a total eclipse of
the telephone. Realizing what I had done, I commenced blessing the
situation at once; I baptized it “success,” and affirmed, “I cannot
lose any call that belongs to me by divine right; I am under _grace,
and not under law_.”
A friend rushed out to the nearest telephone, to notify the Company to
reconnect.
She entered a crowded grocery, but the proprietor left his customers
and attended to the call himself. My ’phone was connected at once, and
two minutes later, I received a very important call, and about an hour
afterward, the one I had been awaiting.
_One’s ships come in over a calm sea._
So long as man resists a situation, he will have it with him. If he
runs away from it, it will run after him.
For example: I repeated this to a woman one day, and she replied, “How
true that is! I was unhappy at home, I disliked my mother, who was
critical and domineering; so I ran away and was married—but I married
my mother, for my husband was exactly like my mother, and I had the
same situation to face again.” “Agree with thine adversary quickly.”
That means, agree that the adverse situation is good, be undisturbed
by it, and it falls away of its own weight. “None of these things move
me,” is a wonderful affirmation.
The inharmonious situation comes from some inharmony within man himself.
When there is, in him, no emotional response to an inharmonious
situation, it fades away forever, from his pathway.
So we see man’s work is ever with himself.
People have said to me, “Give treatments to change my husband, or my
brother.” I reply, “No, I will give _treatments to change you_; when
you change, your husband and your brother will change.”
One of my students was in the habit of lying. I told her it was a
failure method and if she lied, she would be lied to. She replied, “I
don’t care, I can’t possibly get along without lying.”
One day she was speaking on the ’phone to a man with whom she was very
much in love. She turned to me and said, “I don’t trust him, I know
he’s lying to me.” I replied, “Well, you lie yourself, so someone has
to lie to you, and you will be sure it will be just the person you want
the truth from.” Some time after that, I saw her, and she said, “I’m
cured of lying.”
I questioned: “What cured you?”
She replied: “I have been living with a woman who lied worse than I
did!”
One is often cured of his faults by seeing them in others.
Life is a mirror, and we find only ourselves reflected in our
associates.
Living in the past is a failure method and a violation of spiritual law.
Jesus Christ said, “Behold, now is the accepted time.” “Now is the day
of Salvation.”
Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
The robbers of time are the past and the future. Man should bless the
past, and forget it, if it keeps him in bondage, and bless the future,
knowing it has in store for him endless joys, but live _fully in the
now_.
For example: A woman came to me, complaining that she had no money with
which to buy Christmas gifts. She said, “Last year was so different;
I had plenty of money and gave lovely presents, and this year I have
scarcely a cent.”
I replied, “You will never demonstrate money while you are pathetic
and live in the past. Live fully in the _now_, and _get ready to give
Christmas presents_. Dig your ditches, and the money will come.” She
exclaimed, “I know what to do! I will buy some tinsel twine, Christmas
seals and wrapping paper.” I replied, “Do that, and the _presents will
come and stick themselves to the Christmas seals_.”
This too, was showing financial fearlessness and faith in God, as the
reasoning mind said, “Keep every cent you have, as you are not sure you
will get any more.”
She bought the seals, paper and twine, and a few days before Christmas,
received a gift of several hundred dollars. Buying the seals and twine
had impressed the subconscious with expectancy, and opened the way
for the manifestation of the money. She purchased all the presents in
plenty of time.
Man must live suspended in the moment.
“Look well, therefore, to this Day! Such is the salutation of the Dawn.”
He must be spiritually alert, ever awaiting his leads, taking advantage
of every opportunity.
One day, I said continually (silently), “Infinite Spirit, don’t let
me miss a trick,” and something very important was told to me that
evening. It is most necessary to begin the day with right words.
Make an affirmation immediately upon waking.
For example:
“_Thy will be done this day! Today is a day of completion; I give
thanks for this perfect day, miracle shall follow miracle and wonders
shall never cease._”
Make this a habit, and one will see wonders and miracles come into his
life.
One morning I picked up a book and read, “Look with wonder at that
which is before you!” It seemed to be my message for the day, so I
repeated again and again, “Look with wonder at that which is before
you.”
At about noon, a large sum of money, was given me, which I had been
desiring for a certain purpose.
In a following chapter, I will give affirmations that I have found
most effective. However, one should never use an affirmation unless it
is absolutely satisfying and convincing to his own consciousness, and
often an affirmative is changed to suit different people.
For example: The following has brought success to many:
“I have a wonderful work, in a wonderful way, I give wonderful service,
for wonderful pay!”
I gave the first two lines to one of my students, and she added the
last two.
It made a _most powerful statement_, as there should always be perfect
payment for perfect service, and a rhyme sinks easily into the
subconscious. She went about singing it aloud and soon did receive
wonderful work in a wonderful way, and gave wonderful service for
wonderful pay.
Another student, a business man, took it, and changed the word work to
business.
He repeated, “I have a wonderful business, in a wonderful way, and I
give wonderful service for wonderful pay.” That afternoon he made a
forty-one-thousand dollar deal, though there had been no activity in
his affairs for months.
Every affirmation must be carefully worded and completely “cover the
ground.”
For example: I knew a woman, who was in great need, and made a demand
for work. She received a great deal of work, but was never paid
anything. She now knows to add, “wonderful service for wonderful pay.”
It is man’s divine right to have plenty! More than enough!
“His barns should be full, and his cup should flow over!” This is God’s
idea for man, and when man breaks down the barriers of lack in his own
consciousness, the Golden Age will be his, and every righteous desire
of his heart fulfilled!
THE LAW OF KARMA
and
THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS
Man receives only that which he gives. The Game of Life is a game of
boomerangs. Man’s thoughts, deeds and words, return to him sooner or
later, with astounding accuracy.
This is the law of Karma, which is Sanskrit for “Comeback.” “Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
For example: A friend told me this story of herself, illustrating the
law. She said, “I make all my Karma on my aunt, whatever I say to her,
some one says to me. I am often irritable at home, and one day, said to
my aunt, who was talking to me during dinner. ‘_No more talk, I wish to
eat in peace._’”
“The following day, I was lunching with a woman with whom I wished to
make a great impression. I was talking animatedly, when she said: ‘_No
more talk, I wish to eat in peace!_’”
My friend is high in consciousness, so her Karma returns much more
quickly than to one on the mental plane.
The more man knows, the more he is responsible for, and a person with
a knowledge of Spiritual Law, which he does not practice, suffers
greatly, in consequence. “The fear of the Lord (law) is the beginning
of wisdom.” If we read the word Lord, law, it will make many passages
in the Bible much clearer.
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord” (law). It is the law
which takes vengeance, not God. God sees man perfect, “created in his
own image,” (imagination) and given “power and dominion.”
This is the perfect idea of man, registered in Divine Mind, awaiting
man’s recognition; for man can only be what he sees himself to be, and
only attain what he sees himself attaining.
“Nothing ever happens without an on-looker” is an ancient saying.
Man sees first his failure or success, his joy or sorrow, before it
swings into visibility from the scenes set in his own imagination. We
have observed this in the mother picturing disease for her child, or a
woman seeing success for her husband.
Jesus Christ said, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free.”
So, we see freedom (from all unhappy conditions) comes through
knowledge—a knowledge of Spiritual Law.
Obedience precedes authority, and the law obeys man when he obeys the
law. The law of electricity must be obeyed before it becomes man’s
servant. When handled ignorantly, it becomes man’s deadly foe. _So
with the laws of Mind!_
For example: A woman with a strong personal will, wished she owned a
house which belonged to an acquaintance, and she often made mental
pictures of herself living in the house. In the course of time, the man
died and she moved into the house. Several years afterwards, coming
into the knowledge of Spiritual Law, she said to me: “Do you think I
had anything to do with that man’s death?” I replied: “Yes, your desire
was so strong, everything made way for it, but you paid your Karmic
debt. Your husband, whom you loved devotedly, died soon after, and the
house was a white elephant on your hands for years.”
The original owner, however, could not have been affected by her
thoughts had he been positive in the truth, nor her husband, but they
were both under Karmic law. The woman should have said (feeling the
great desire for the house), “Infinite Intelligence, give me the right
house, equally as charming as this, the house _which is mine by divine
right_.”
The divine selection would have given perfect satisfaction and brought
good to all. The divine pattern is the only safe pattern to work by.
_Desire is a tremendous force, and must be directed in the right
channels; or chaos ensues._
In demonstrating, the most important step is the _first step, to “ask
aright_.”
Man should always demand only that which is his by _divine right_.
To go back to the illustration: Had the woman taken this attitude: “If
this house, I desire, is mine, I cannot lose it, if it is not, give me
its equivalent,” the man might have decided to move out, harmoniously
(had it been the divine selection for her) or another house would have
been substituted. Anything forced into manifestation through personal
will, is always “ill-got,” and has “ever bad success.”
Man is admonished, “My will be done not thine, and the curious thing
is, man always gets just what he desires when he does relinquish
personal will, thereby enabling Infinite Intelligence to work through
him.”
“Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord” (law).
For example: A woman came to me in great distress. Her daughter had
determined to take a very hazardous trip, and the mother was filled
with fear.
She said she had used every argument, had pointed out the dangers to be
encountered, and forbidden her to go, but the daughter became more and
more rebellious and determined. I said to the mother, “You are forcing
your personal will upon your daughter, which you have no right to do,
and your fear of the trip is only attracting it, for man attracts what
he fears.” I added, “Let go, and take your mental hands off; _put it
in God’s Hands, and use 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 dissipated.” A day or two
after that, her daughter said to her, “Mother, I have given up the
trip,” and the situation returned to its “native nothingness.”
It is learning to “stand still,” which seems so difficult for man. I
have dealt more fully with this law in the chapter on nonresistance.
I will give another example of sowing and reaping, which came in the
most curious way.
A woman came to me saying, she had received a counterfeit twenty-dollar
bill, given to her at the bank. She was much disturbed, for, she said,
“The people at the bank will never acknowledge their mistake.”
I replied, “Let us analyze the situation and find out why you attracted
it.” She thought a few moments and exclaimed: “I know it, I sent a
friend a lot of stagemoney, just for a joke.” So the law had sent her
some stagemoney, for it doesn’t know anything about jokes.
I said, “Now we will call on the law of forgiveness, and neutralize the
situation.”
Christianity is founded upon the law of forgiveness—Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the Karmic law, and the Christ within each man is
his Redeemer and Salvation from all inharmonious conditions.
So I said: “Infinite Spirit, we call on the law of forgiveness and give
thanks that she is under grace and not under law, and cannot lose this
twenty dollars which is hers by divine right.”
“Now,” I said, “Go back to the bank and tell them, fearlessly, that it
was given you, there by mistake.”
She obeyed, and to her surprise, they apologized and gave her another
bill, treating her most courteously.
So knowledge of the Law gives man power to “rub out his mistakes.” Man
cannot force the external to be what he is not.
If he desires riches, he must be rich first in consciousness.
For example: A woman came to me asking treatment for prosperity. She
did not take much interest in her household affairs, and her home was
in great disorder.
I said to her, “If you wish to be rich, you must be orderly. All
men with great wealth are orderly—and order is heaven’s first law.”
I added, “You will never become rich with a burnt match in the
pincushion.”
She had a good sense of humor and commenced immediately, putting her
house in order. She rearranged furniture, straightened out bureau
drawers, cleaned rugs, and soon made a big financial demonstration—a
gift from a relative. The woman, herself, became made over, and keeps
herself keyed-up financially, by being ever watchful of the _external
and expecting prosperity, knowing God is her supply_.
Many people are in ignorance of the fact that gifts and things are
investments, and that hoarding and saving invariably lead to loss.
“There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that
withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”
For example: I knew a man who wanted to buy a fur-lined overcoat. He
and his wife went to various shops, but there was none he wanted. He
said they were all too cheap-looking. At last, he was shown one, the
salesman said was valued at a thousand dollars, but which the manager
would sell him for five-hundred dollars, as it was late in the season.
His financial possessions amounted to about seven hundred dollars. The
reasoning mind would have said, “You can’t afford to spend nearly all
you have on a coat,” but he was very intuitive and never reasoned.
He turned to his wife and said, “If I get this coat, I’ll make a ton of
money!” So his wife consented, weakly.
About a month later, he received a ten-thousand-dollar commission. The
coat made him feel so rich, it linked him with success and prosperity;
without the coat, he would not have received the commission. It was an
investment paying large dividends!
If man ignores these leadings to spend or to give, the same amount of
money will go in an uninteresting or unhappy way.
For example: A woman told me, on Thanksgiving Day, she informed her
family that they could not afford a Thanksgiving dinner. She had the
money, but decided to save it.
A few days later, someone entered her room and took from the bureau
drawer the exact amount the dinner would have cost.
The law always stands back of the man who spends fearlessly, with
wisdom.
For example: One of my students was shopping with her little nephew.
The child clamored for a toy, which she told him she could not afford
to buy.
She realized suddenly that she was seeking lack, and not recognizing
God as her supply!
So she bought the toy, and on her way home, picked _up, in the street,
the exact amount of money she had paid for it_.
Man’s supply is inexhaustible and unfailing when fully trusted, but
faith or trust must precede the demonstration. “According to your faith
be it unto you.” “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen—” for faith holds the vision steady, and
the adverse pictures are dissolved and dissipated, and “in due season
we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Jesus Christ brought the good news (the gospel) that there was a
higher law than the law of Karma—and that that law transcends the law
of Karma. It is the law of grace, or forgiveness. It is the law which
_frees man from the law of cause and effect—the law of consequence.
“Under grace, and not under law.”_
We are told that on this plane, man reaps where he has not sown; the
gifts of God are simply poured out upon him. “All that the Kingdom
affords is his.” This continued state of bliss awaits the man who has
overcome the race (or world) thought.
In the world thought there is tribulation, but Jesus Christ said: “Be
of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
The world thought is that of sin, sickness and death. He saw their
absolute unreality and said sickness and sorrow shall pass away and
death itself, the last enemy, be overcome.
We know now, from a scientific standpoint, that death could be overcome
by stamping the subconscious mind with the conviction of eternal youth
and eternal life.
The subconscious, being simply power without direction, _carries out
orders without questioning_.
Working under the direction of the superconscious (the Christ or God
within man) the “resurrection of the body” would be accomplished.
Man would no longer throw off his body in death, it would be
transformed into the “body electric,” sung by Walt Whitman, for
Christianity is founded upon the forgiveness of sins and “an empty
tomb.”
CASTING THE BURDEN
Impressing the Subconscious
When man knows his own powers and the workings of his mind, his great
desire is to find an easy and quick way to impress the subconscious
with good, for simply an intellectual knowledge of the Truth will not
bring results.
In my own case, I found the easiest way is in “casting the burden.”
A metaphysician once explained it in this manner. He said, “The only
thing which gives anything weight in nature, is the law of gravitation,
and if a boulder could be taken high above the planet, there would be
no weight in that boulder; and that is what Jesus Christ meant when he
said: ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light.’”
He had overcome the world vibration, and functioned in the fourth
dimensional realm, where there is only perfection, completion, life and
joy.
He said: “Come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.” “Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.”
We are also told in the fifty-fifth Psalm, to “cast thy burden upon the
Lord.” Many passages in the Bible state that the _battle is God’s_ not
man’s and that man is always to _“stand still” and see the Salvation of
the Lord_.
This indicates that the superconscious mind (or Christ within) is the
department which fights man’s battle and relieves him of burdens.
We see, therefore, that man violates law if he carries a burden, and
a burden is an adverse thought or condition, and this thought or
condition has its root in the subconscious.
It seems almost impossible to make any headway directing the
subconscious from the conscious, or reasoning mind, as the reasoning
mind (the intellect) is limited in its conceptions, and filled with
doubts and fears.
How scientific it then is, to cast the burden upon the superconscious
mind (or Christ within) where it is “made light,” or dissolved into its
“native nothingness.”
For example: A woman in urgent need of money, “made light” upon the
Christ within, the superconscious, with the 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, and as she cast it upon the
Superconscious with its belief of plenty, an avalanche of supply was
the result.
We read, “The Christ in you the hope of glory.”
Another example: One of my students had been given a new piano, and
there was no room in her studio for it until she had moved out the
old one. She was in a state of perplexity. She wanted to keep the old
piano, but knew of no place to send it. She became desperate, as the
new piano was to be sent immediately; in fact, was on its way, with no
place to put it. She said it came to her to repeat, “I cast this burden
on the Christ within, and I go free.”
A few moments later, her ’phone rang, and a woman friend asked if she
might rent her old piano, and it was moved out, a few minutes before
the new one arrived.
I knew a woman, whose burden was resentment. She said, “I cast this
burden of resentment on the Christ within, and I go free, to be
loving, harmonious and happy.” The Almighty superconscious, flooded
the subconscious with love, and her whole life was changed. For years,
resentment had held her in a state of torment and imprisoned her soul
(the subconscious mind).
The statement should be made over and over and over, sometimes for
hours at a time, silently or audibly, with quietness but determination.
I have often compared it to winding-up a victrola. We must wind
ourselves up with spoken words.
I have noticed, in “casting the burden,” after a little while, one
seems to see clearly. It is impossible to have clear vision, while in
the throes of carnal mind. Doubts and fear poison the mind and body and
imagination runs riot, attracting disaster and disease.
In steadily repeating the affirmation, “I cast this burden on the
Christ within, and go free,” the vision clears, and with it a feeling
of relief, and sooner or later comes _the manifestation of good, be it
health, happiness or supply_.
One of my students once asked me to explain the “darkness before the
dawn.” I referred in a preceding chapter to the fact that often,
before the big demonstration “everything seems to go wrong,” and
deep depression clouds the consciousness. It means that out of the
subconscious are rising the doubts and fears of the ages. These old
derelicts of the subconscious rise to the surface, _to be put out_.
It is then, that man should clap his cymbals, like Jehoshaphat, and
give thanks that he is saved, even though he seems surrounded by the
enemy (the situation of lack or disease). The student continued, “How
long must one remain in the dark” and I replied, “until one _can see in
the dark_,” and “_casting the burden enables one to see in the dark_.”
In order to impress the subconscious, active faith is always essential.
“Faith without works is dead.” In these chapters I have endeavored to
bring out this point.
Jesus Christ showed active faith when “He commanded the multitude to
sit down on the ground,” before he gave thanks for the loaves and the
fishes.
I will give another example showing how necessary this step is. In
fact, active faith is the bridge, over which man passes to his Promised
Land.
Through misunderstanding, a woman had been separated from her husband,
whom she loved deeply. He refused all offers of reconciliation and
would not communicate with her in any way.
Coming into the knowledge of Spiritual law, she denied the appearance
of separation. She made this statement: “There is no separation in
Divine Mind, therefore, I cannot be separated from the love and
companionship which are mine by divine right.”
She showed active faith by arranging a place for him at the table
every day; thereby impressing the subconscious with a picture of his
_return_. Over a year passed, but she never wavered, and _one day he
walked in_.
The subconscious is often impressed through music. Music has a fourth
dimensional quality and releases the soul from imprisonment. It makes
wonderful things seem _possible, and easy of accomplishment_!
I have a friend who uses her victrola, daily, for this purpose. It puts
her in perfect harmony and releases the imagination.
Another woman often dances while making her affirmations. The rhythm
and harmony of music and motion carry her words forth with tremendous
power.
The student must remember also, not to despise the “day of small
things.”
Invariably, before a demonstration, come “signs of land.”
Before Columbus reached America, he saw birds and twigs which showed
him land was near. So it is with a demonstration; but often the student
mistakes it for the demonstration itself, and is disappointed.
For example: A woman had “spoken the word” for a set of dishes. Not
long afterwards a friend gave her a dish which was old and cracked.
She came to me and said, “Well, I asked for a set of dishes, and all I
got was a cracked plate.”
I replied, “The plate was only signs of land. It shows your dishes are
coming—look upon it as birds and seaweed,” and not long afterwards the
dishes came.
Continually “making-believe,” impresses the subconscious. If one makes
believe he is rich, and makes believe he is successful, in “due time he
will reap.”
Children are always “making believe,” and “except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
For example: I know of a woman who was very poor, but no one could
make her _feel poor_. She earned a small amount of money from rich
friends, who constantly reminded her of her poverty, and to be careful
and saving. Regardless of their admonitions, she would spend all her
earnings on a hat, or make someone a gift, and be in a rapturous state
of mind. Her thoughts were always centered on beautiful clothes and
“rings and things,” but without envying others.
She lived in the world of the wondrous, and only riches seemed
real to her. Before long she married a rich man, and the rings and
things became visible. I do not know whether the man was the “Divine
Selection,” but opulence had to manifest in her life, as she had imaged
only opulence.
There is no peace or happiness for man, until he has erased all fear
from the subconscious.
Fear is misdirected energy and must be redirected, or transmuted into
Faith.
Jesus Christ said, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” “All
things are possible to him that believeth.”
I am asked, so often by my students, “_How can I get rid of fear?_”
I reply, “_By walking up to the thing you are afraid of_.”
“The lion takes its fierceness from your fear.”
Walk up to the lion, and he will disappear; run away and he runs after
you.
I have shown in previous chapters, how the lion of lack disappeared
when the individual spent money fearlessly, showing faith that God was
his supply and therefore, unfailing.
Many of my students have come out of the bondage of poverty, and are
now bountifully supplied, through losing all fear of letting money go
out. The subconscious is impressed with the truth that _God is the
Giver and the Gift_; therefore as one is one with the Giver, he is one
with the Gift. A splendid statement is, “I now thank God the Giver for
God the Gift.”
Man has so long separated himself from his good and his supply, through
thoughts of separation and lack, that sometimes, it takes dynamite to
dislodge these false ideas from the subconscious, and the dynamite is a
big situation.
We see in the foregoing illustration, how the individual was freed from
his bondage by _showing fearlessness_.
Man should watch himself hourly to detect if his motive for action is
fear or faith.
“Choose ye this day whom we shall serve,” fear or faith.
Perhaps one’s fear is of personality. Then do not avoid the people
feared; be willing to meet them cheerfully, and they will either prove
“golden links in the chain of one’s good,” or disappear harmoniously
from one’s pathway.
Perhaps one’s fear is of disease or germs. Then one should be fearless
and undisturbed in a germ-laden situation, and he would be immune.
One can only contract germs while vibrating at the same rate as the
germ, and fear drags men down to the level of the germ. Of course, the
disease laden germ is the product of carnal mind, as all thought must
objectify. Germs do not exist in the superconscious or Divine Mind,
therefore are the product of man’s “vain imagination.”
“In the twinkling of an eye,” man’s release will come when he realizes
_there is no power in evil_.
The material world will fade away, and the fourth dimensional world,
the “World of the Wondrous,” will swing into manifestation.
“And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth—and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain;
for the former things are passed away.”
LOVE
Every man on this planet is taking his initiation in love. “A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” Ouspensky
states, in “Tertium Organum,” that “love is a cosmic phenomenon,” and
opens to man the fourth dimensional world, “The World of the Wondrous.”
Real love is selfless and free from fear. It pours itself out upon
the object of its affection, without demanding any return. Its joy is
in the joy of giving. Love is God in manifestation, and the strongest
magnetic force in the universe. Pure, unselfish love _draws to itself
its own_; it does not need to seek or demand. Scarcely anyone has the
faintest conception of real love. Man is selfish, tyrannical or fearful
in his affections, thereby losing the thing he loves. Jealousy is the
worst enemy of love, for the imagination runs riot, seeing the loved
one attracted to another, and invariably these fears objectify if they
are not neutralized.
For example: A woman came to me in deep distress. The man she loved had
left her for other women, and said he never intended to marry her.
She was torn with jealousy and resentment and said she hoped he would
suffer as he had made her suffer; and added, “How could he leave me
when I loved him so much?”
I replied, “You are not loving that man, you are hating him,” and
added, “_You can never receive what you have never given. Give a
perfect love and you will receive a perfect love._ Perfect yourself on
this man. Give him a perfect, _unselfish_ love, demanding nothing in
return, do not criticise or condemn, and _bless him wherever he is_.”
She replied, “No, I won’t bless him unless I know where he is!”
“Well,” I said, “that is not real love.”
“When you _send out real love_, real love will return to you, either
from this man or his equivalent, for if this man is not the divine
selection, you will not want him. As you are one with God, you are one
with the love which belongs to you by divine right.”
Several months passed, and matters remained about the same, but she
was working conscientiously with herself. I said, “When you are no
longer disturbed by his cruelty, he will cease to be cruel, as you are
attracting it through your own emotions.”
Then I told her of a brotherhood in India, who never said, “Good
morning” to each other. They used these words: “_I salute the Divinity
in you._” They saluted the divinity in every man, and in the wild
animals in the jungle, and they were never harmed, for they _saw only
God in every_ living thing. I said, “Salute the divinity in this man,
and say, ‘I see your divine self only. I see you as God sees you,
perfect, made in His image and likeness.’”
She found she was becoming more poised, and gradually losing her
resentment. He was a Captain, and she always called him “The Cap.”
One day, she said, suddenly, “_God bless the Cap wherever he is._”
I replied: “Now, that is real love, and when you have become a
‘complete circle,’ and are no longer disturbed by the situation, you
will have his love, or attract its equivalent.”
I was moving at this time, and did not have a telephone, so was out of
touch with her for a few weeks, when one morning I received a letter
saying, “We are married.”
At the earliest opportunity, I paid her a call. My first words were,
“What happened?”
“Oh,” she exclaimed, “a miracle! One day I woke up and all suffering
had ceased. I saw him that evening and he asked me to marry him. We
were married in about a week, and I have never seen a more devoted man.”
There is an old saying: “_No man is your enemy, no man is your friend,
every man is your teacher._”
So one should become impersonal and learn what each man has to teach
him, and soon he would learn his lessons and be free.
The woman’s lover was teaching her selfless love, which every man,
sooner or later, must learn.
Suffering is not necessary for man’s development; it is the result
of violation of spiritual law, but few people seem able to rouse
themselves from their “soul sleep” without it. When people are happy,
they usually become selfish, and automatically the law of Karma is set
in action. Man often suffers loss through lack of appreciation.
I knew a woman who had a very nice husband, but she said often, “I
don’t care anything about being married, but that is nothing against my
husband. I’m simply not interested in married life.”
She had other interests, and scarcely remembered she had a husband. She
only thought of him when she saw him. One day her husband told her he
was in love with another woman, and left. She came to me in distress
and resentment.
I replied, “It is exactly what you spoke the word for. You said you
didn’t care anything about being married, so the subconscious worked to
get you unmarried.”
She said, “Oh yes, I see. People get what they want, and then feel very
much hurt.”
She soon became in perfect harmony with the situation, and knew they
were both much happier apart.
When a woman becomes indifferent or critical, and ceases to be an
inspiration to her husband, he misses the stimulus of their early
relationship and is restless and unhappy.
A man came to me dejected, miserable and poor. His wife was interested
in the “Science of Numbers,” and had had him read. It seems the report
was not very favorable, for he said, “My wife says I’ll never amount to
anything because I am a two.”
I replied, “I don’t care what your number is, you are a perfect idea in
divine mind, and we will demand the success and prosperity which are
_already planned_ for you by that Infinite Intelligence.”
Within a few weeks, he had a very fine position, and a year or two
later, he achieved a brilliant success as a writer. No man is a success
in business unless he loves his work. The picture the artist paints
for love (of his art) is his greatest work. The pot-boiler is always
something to live down.
No man can attract money if he despises it. Many people are kept in
poverty by saying: “Money means nothing to me, and I have a contempt
for people who have it.”
This is the reason so many artists are poor. Their contempt for money
separates them from it.
I remember hearing one artist say of another, “He’s no good as an
artist, he has money in the bank.”
This attitude of mind, of course, separates man from his supply; he
must be in harmony with a thing in order to attract it.
Money is God in manifestation, as freedom from want and limitation, but
it must be always kept in circulation and put to right uses. Hoarding
and saving react with grim vengeance.
This does not mean that man should not have houses and lots, stocks and
bonds, for “the barns of the righteous man shall be full.” It means
man should not hoard even the principal, if an occasion arises, when
money is necessary. In letting it go out fearlessly and cheerfully he
opens the way for more to come in, for God is man’s unfailing and
inexhaustible supply.
This is the spiritual attitude towards money and the great Bank of the
Universal never fails!
We see an example of hoarding in the film production of “Greed.” The
woman won five thousand dollars in a lottery, but would not spend
it. She hoarded and saved, let her husband suffer and starve, and
eventually she scrubbed floors for a living.
She loved the money itself and put it above everything, and one night
she was murdered and the money taken from her.
This is an example of where “love of money is the root of all evil.”
Money in itself, is good and beneficial, but used for destructive
purposes, hoarded and saved, or considered more important than love,
brings disease and disaster, and the loss of the money itself.
Follow the path of love, and all things are added, _for God is love_,
and _God is supply_; follow the path of selfishness and greed, and the
supply vanishes, or man is separated from it.
For example; I knew the case of a very rich woman, who hoarded her
income. She rarely gave anything away, but bought and bought and bought
things for herself.
She was very fond of necklaces, and a friend once asked her how many
she possessed. She replied, “Sixty-seven.” She bought them and put them
away, carefully wrapped in tissue paper. Had she used the necklaces it
would have been quite legitimate, but she was violating “the law of
use.” Her closets were filled with clothes she never wore, and jewels
which never saw the light.
The woman’s arms were gradually becoming paralyzed from holding on to
things, and eventually she was considered incapable of looking after
her affairs and her wealth was handed over to others to manage.
So man, in ignorance of the law, brings about his own destruction.
All disease, all unhappiness, come from the violation of the law of
love. Man’s boomerangs of hate, resentment and criticism, come back
laden with sickness and sorrow. Love seems almost a lost art, but the
man with the knowledge of spiritual law knows it must be regained, for
without it, he has “become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.”
For example: I had a student who came to me, month after month, to
clean her consciousness of resentment. After a while, she arrived at
the point where she resented only one woman, but that one woman kept
her busy. Little by little she became poised and harmonious, and one
day, all resentment was wiped out.
She came in radiant, and exclaimed “You can’t understand how I feel!
The woman said something to me and instead of being furious I was
loving and kind, and she apologized and was perfectly lovely to me.
No one can understand the marvelous lightness I feel within!”
Love and good-will are invaluable in business.
For example: A woman came to me, complaining of her employer. She said
she was cold and critical and knew she did not want her in the position.
“Well,” I replied, “Salute the Divinity in the woman and send her love.”
She said “I can’t; she’s a marble woman.”
I answered, “You remember the story of the sculptor who asked for a
certain piece of marble. He was asked why he wanted it, and he replied,
‘because there is an angel in the marble,’ and out of it he produced a
wonderful work of art.”
She said, “Very well, I’ll try it.” A week later she came back and
said, “I did what you told me to, and now the woman is very kind, and
took me out in her car.”
People are sometimes filled with remorse for having done someone an
unkindness, perhaps years ago.
If the wrong cannot be righted, its effect can be neutralized by doing
some one a kindness _in the present_.
“This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and
reaching forth unto those things which are before.”
Sorrow, regret and remorse tear down the cells of the body, and poison
the atmosphere of the individual.
A woman said to me in deep sorrow, “Treat me to be happy and joyous,
for my sorrow makes me so irritable with the members of my family that
I keep making more Karma.”
I was asked to treat a woman who was mourning for her daughter. I
denied all belief in loss and separation, and affirmed that God was the
woman’s joy, love and peace.
The woman gained her poise at once, but sent word by her son, not to
treat any longer, because she was “so happy, it wasn’t respectable.”
So “mortal mind” loves to hang on to its griefs and regrets.
I knew a woman who went about bragging of her troubles, so, of course,
she always had something to brag about.
The old idea was if a woman did not worry about her children, she was
not a good mother.
Now, we know that mother-fear is responsible for many of the diseases
and accidents which come into the lives of children.
For fear pictures vividly the disease or situation feared, and these
pictures objectify, if not neutralized.
Happy is the mother who can say sincerely, that she puts her child in
God’s hands, and _knows_ therefore, that he is divinely protected.
For example: A woman awoke suddenly, in the night, feeling her brother
was in great danger. Instead of giving in to her fears, she commenced
making statements of Truth, saying, “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 that her brother had been in close proximity to
an explosion in a mine, but had miraculously escaped.
So man is his brother’s keeper (in thought) and every man should know
that the thing he loves dwells in “the secret place of the most high,
and abides under the shadow of the Almighty.”
“There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh
thy dwelling.”
“Perfect love casteth out fear. He that feareth is not made perfect in
love,” and “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.”
INTUITION OR GUIDANCE
“In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”
There is nothing too great of accomplishment for the man who knows the
power of his word, and who follows his intuitive leads. By the word he
starts in action unseen forces and can rebuild his body or remold his
affairs.
It is, therefore, of the utmost importance to choose the right words,
and the student carefully selects the affirmation he wishes to catapult
into the invisible.
He knows that God is his supply, that there is a supply for every
demand, and that his spoken word releases this supply.
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
Man must make the first move. “Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh
to you.”
I have often been asked just how to make a demonstration.
I reply: “Speak the word and then do not do anything until you get a
definite lead.” Demand the lead, saying, “Infinite Spirit, reveal to me
the way, let me know if there is anything for me to do.”
The answer will come through intuition (or hunch); a chance remark from
someone, or a passage in a book, etc., etc. The answers are sometimes
quite startling in their exactness. For example: A woman desired a
large sum of money. She spoke the 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 quickly, “Give a certain friend” (who had helped her
spiritually) “a hundred dollars.” She told her friend, who said, “Wait
and get another lead, before giving it.” So she waited, and that day
met a woman who said to her, “I gave someone a dollar today; it was
just as much for me, as it would be for you to give someone a hundred.”
This was indeed an unmistakable lead, so she knew she was right
in giving the hundred dollars. It was a gift which proved a great
investment, for shortly after that, a large sum of money came to her in
a remarkable way.
Giving opens the way for receiving. In order to create activity in
finances, one should give. Tithing or giving one-tenth of one’s income,
is an old Jewish custom, and is sure to bring increase. Many of the
richest men in this country have been tithers, and I have never known
it to fail as an investment.
The tenth-part goes forth and returns blessed and multiplied. But the
gift or tithe must be given with love and cheerfulness, for “God loveth
a cheerful giver.” Bills should be paid cheerfully; all money should
be sent forth fearlessly and with a blessing.
This attitude of mind makes man master of money. It is his to obey, and
his spoken word then opens vast reservoirs of wealth.
Man, himself, limits his supply by his limited vision. Sometimes the
student has a great realization of wealth, but is afraid to act.
The vision and action must go hand in hand, as in the case of the man
who bought the fur-lined overcoat.
A woman came to me asking me to “speak the word” for a position. So
I demanded: “Infinite Spirit, open the way for this woman’s right
position.” Never ask for just “a position”; ask for the right position,
the place already planned in Divine Mind, as it is the only one that
will give satisfaction.
I then gave thanks that she had already received, and that it would
manifest quickly. Very soon, she had three positions offered her,
two in New York and one in Palm Beach, and she did not know which to
choose. I said, “Ask for a definite lead.”
The time was almost up and was still undecided, when one day, she
telephoned, “When I woke up this morning, I could smell Palm Beach.”
She had been there before and knew its balmy fragrance.
I replied: “Well, if you can smell Palm Beach from here, it is
certainly your lead.” She accepted the position, and it proved a great
success. Often one’s lead comes at an unexpected time.
One day, I was walking down the street, when I suddenly felt a strong
urge to go to a certain bakery, a block or two away.
The reasoning mind resisted, arguing, “There is nothing there that you
want.”
However, I had learned not to reason, so I went to the bakery, looked
at everything, and there was certainly nothing there that I wanted, but
coming out I encountered a woman I had thought of often, and who was in
great need of the help which I could give her.
So often, one goes for one thing and finds another.
Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply
_points the way_.
A person often receives a lead during a “treatment.” The idea that
comes may seem quite irrelevant, but some of God’s leadings are
“mysterious.”
In the class, one day, I was treating that each individual would
receive a definite lead. A woman came to me afterwards, and said:
“While you were treating, I got the hunch to take my furniture out
of storage and get an apartment.” The woman had come to be treated
for health. I told her I knew in getting a home of her own, her
health would improve, and I added, “I believe your trouble, which is
a congestion, has come from having things stored away. Congestion of
things causes congestion in the body. You have violated the law of use,
and your body is paying the penalty.”
So I gave thanks that “_Divine order was established in her mind, body
and affairs_.”
People little dream of how their affairs react on the body. There is
a mental correspondence for every disease. A person might receive
instantaneous healing through the realization of his body being a
perfect idea in Divine Mind, and, therefore, whole and perfect, but
if he continues his destructive thinking, hoarding, hating, fearing,
condemning, the disease will return.
Jesus Christ knew that all sickness came from sin, but admonished the
leper after the healing, to go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come
upon him.
So man’s soul (or subconscious mind) must be washed whiter than snow,
for permanent healing; and the metaphysician is always delving deep for
the “correspondence.”
Jesus Christ said, “Condemn not lest ye also be condemned.”
“Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
Many people have attracted disease and unhappiness through condemnation
of others.
What man condemns in others, he attracts to himself.
For example: A friend came to me in anger and distress, because her
husband had deserted her for another woman. She condemned the other
woman, and said continually, “She knew he was a married man, and had no
right to accept his attentions.”
I replied, “Stop condemning the woman, bless her, and be through
with the situation, otherwise, you are attracting the same thing to
yourself.”
She was deaf to my words, and a year or two later, became deeply
interested in a married man, herself.
Man picks up a live-wire whenever he criticises or condemns, and may
expect a shock.
Indecision is a stumbling-block in many a pathway. In order to
overcome it, make the statement, repeatedly, “_I am always under direct
inspiration; I make right decisions, quickly._”
These words impress the subconscious, and soon one finds himself awake
and alert, making his right moves without hesitation. I have found it
destructive to look to the psychic plane for guidance, as it is the
plane of many minds and not “The One Mind.”
As man opens his mind to subjectivity, he becomes a target for
destructive forces. The psychic plane is the result of man’s mortal
thought, and is on the “plane of opposites.” He may receive either good
or bad messages.
The science of numbers and the reading of horoscopes, keep man down on
the mental (or mortal) plane, for they deal only with the Karmic path.
I know of a man who should have been dead, years ago, according to his
horoscope, but he is alive and a leader of one of the biggest movements
in this country for the uplift of humanity.
It takes a very strong mind to neutralize a prophecy of evil. The
student should declare, “Every false prophecy shall come to naught;
every plan my Father in heaven has not planned, shall be dissolved and
dissipated, the divine idea now comes to pass.”
However, if any good message has ever been given one, of coming
happiness, or wealth, harbor and expect it, and it will manifest sooner
or later, through the law of expectancy.
Man’s will should be used to back the universal will. “I will that the
will of God be done.”
It is God’s will to give every man, every righteous desire of his
heart, and man’s will should be used to hold the perfect vision,
without wavering.
The prodigal son said: “I will arise and go to my Father.”
It is, indeed, often an effort of the will to leave the husks and swine
of mortal thinking. It is so much easier, for the average person, to
have fear than faith; _so faith is an effort of the will_.
As man becomes spiritually awakened he recognizes that any external
inharmony is the correspondence of mental inharmony. If he stumbles or
falls, he may know he is stumbling or falling in consciousness.
One day, a student was walking along the street condemning someone
in her thoughts. She was saying, mentally, “That woman is the most
disagreeable woman on earth,” when suddenly three boy scouts rushed
around the corner and almost knocked her over. She did not condemn
the boy scouts, but immediately called on the law of forgiveness,
and “saluted the divinity” in the woman. Wisdom’s ways are ways of
pleasantness and all her paths are peace.
When one has made his demands upon the Universal, he must be ready for
surprises. Everything may seem to be going wrong, when in reality, it
is going right.
For example: A woman was told that there was no loss in divine mind,
therefore, she could not lose anything which belonged to her; anything
lost, would be returned, or she would receive its equivalent.
Several years previously, she had lost two thousand dollars. She had
loaned the money to a relative during her lifetime, but the relative
had died, leaving no mention of it in her will. The woman was resentful
and angry, and as she had no written statement of the transaction,
she never received the money, so she determined to deny the loss, and
collect the two thousand dollars from the Bank of the Universal. She
had to begin by forgiving the woman, as resentment and unforgiveness
close the doors of this wonderful bank.
She made this statement, “I deny loss, there is no loss in Divine Mind,
therefore, I cannot lose the two thousand dollars, which belong to me
by divine right.” “_As one door shuts another door opens._”
She was living in an apartment house which was for sale; and in the
lease was a clause, stating that if the house was sold, the tenants
would be required to move out within ninety days.
Suddenly, the landlord broke the leases and raised the rent. Again,
injustice was on her pathway, but this time she was undisturbed. She
blessed the landlord, and said, “As the rent has been raised, it means
that I’ll be that much richer, for God is my supply.”
New leases were made out for the advanced rent, but by some divine
mistake, the ninety days clause had been forgotten. Soon after, the
landlord had an opportunity to sell the house. On account of the
mistake in the new leases, the tenants held possession for another year.
The agent offered each tenant two hundred dollars if he would vacate.
Several families moved; three remained, including the woman. A month
or two passed, and the agent again appeared. This time he said to
the woman, “Will you break your lease for the sum of fifteen hundred
dollars?” It flashed upon her, “Here comes the two thousand dollars.”
She remembered having said to friends in the house, “We will all act
together if anything more is said about leaving.” So her _lead_ was to
consult her friends.
These friends said: “Well, if they have offered you fifteen hundred
they will certainly give two thousand.” So she received a check for
two thousand dollars for giving up the apartment. It was certainly a
remarkable working of the law, and the apparent injustice was merely
opening the way for her demonstration.
It proved that there is no loss, and when man takes his spiritual
stand, he collects all that is his from this great Reservoir of Good.
“I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten.”
The locusts are the doubts, fears, resentments and regrets of mortal
thinking.
These adverse thoughts, alone, rob man; for “No man gives to himself
but himself, and no man takes away from himself, but himself.”
Man is here to prove God and “to bear witness to the truth,” and he
can only prove God by bringing plenty out of lack, and justice out of
injustice.
“Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you
the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be
room enough to receive it.”
PERFECT SELF-EXPRESSION
or
THE DIVINE DESIGN
“No wind can drive my bark astray
nor change the tide of destiny.”
There is for each man, perfect self-expression. There is a place which
he is to fill and no one else can fill, something which he is to do,
which no one else can do; it is his destiny!
This achievement is held, a perfect idea in Divine Mind, awaiting man’s
recognition. As the imaging faculty is the creative faculty, it is
necessary for man to see the idea, before it can manifest.
So man’s highest demand is for the _Divine Design of his life_.
He may not have the faintest conception of what it is, for there is,
possibly, some marvelous talent, hidden deep within him.
His demand 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 clearly the perfect plan._”
The perfect plan includes health, wealth, love and perfect
self-expression. This is the _square of life_, which brings perfect
happiness. When one has made this demand, he may find great changes
taking place in his life, for nearly every man has wandered far from
the Divine Design.
I know, in one woman’s case, it was as though a cyclone had struck
her affairs, but readjustments came quickly, and new and wonderful
conditions took the place of old ones.
Perfect self-expression will never be labor; but of such absorbing
interest that it will seem almost like play. The student knows, also,
as man comes into the world financed by God, the _supply_ needed for
his perfect self-expression will be at hand.
Many a genius has struggled for years with the problem of supply, when
his spoken word, and faith, would have released quickly, the necessary
funds.
For example: After the class, one day, a man came to me and handed me a
cent.
He said: “I have just seven cents in the world, and I’m going to give
you one; for 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,” and did not see him again until a year later. He
came in one day, successful and happy, with a roll of yellow bills in
his pocket. He said, “Immediately after you spoke the word, I had a
position offered me in a distant city, and am now demonstrating health,
happiness and supply.”
A woman’s perfect self-expression may be in becoming a perfect wife,
a perfect mother, a perfect home-maker and not necessarily in having a
public career.
Demand definite leads, and the way will be made easy and successful.
One should not visualize or force a mental picture. When he demands
the Divine Design to come into his conscious mind, he will receive
flashes of inspiration, and begin to see himself making some great
accomplishment. This is the picture, or idea, he must hold without
wavering.
The thing man seeks is seeking him—_the telephone was seeking Bell_!
Parents should never force careers and professions upon their children.
With a knowledge of spiritual Truth, the Divine Plan could be spoken
for, early in childhood, or prenatally.
A prenatal treatment should be: “Let the God in this child have perfect
expression; let the Divine Design of his mind, body and affairs be made
manifest throughout his life, throughout eternity.”
_God’s will be done, not man’s; God’s pattern, not man’s_ pattern, is
the command we find running through all the scriptures, and the Bible
is a book dealing with the science of the mind. It is a book telling
man how to release his soul (or subconscious mind) from bondage.
The battles described are pictures of man waging war against mortal
thoughts. “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Every
man is Jehoshaphat, and every man is David, who slays Goliath (mortal
thinking) with the little white stone (faith).
So man must be careful that he is not the “wicked and slothful servant”
who buried his talent. There is a terrible penalty to be paid for not
using one’s ability.
Often fear stands between man and his perfect self-expression.
Stage-fright has hampered many a genius. This may be overcome
by the spoken word, or treatment. The individual then loses all
self-consciousness, and feels simply that he is a channel for Infinite
Intelligence to express Itself through.
He is under direct inspiration, fearless, and confident; for he feels
that it is the “Father within” him who does the work.
A young boy came often to my class with his mother. He asked me to
“speak the word” for his coming examinations at school.
I told him to make the statement: “I am one with Infinite Intelligence.
I know everything I should know on this subject.” He had an excellent
knowledge of history, but was not sure of his arithmetic. I saw him
afterwards, and he said: “I spoke the word for my arithmetic, and
passed with the highest honors; but thought I could depend on myself
for history, and got a very poor mark.” Man often receives a set-back
when he is “too sure of himself,” which means he is trusting to his
personality and not the “Father within.”
Another one of my students gave me an example of this. She took an
extended trip abroad one summer, visiting many countries, where she was
ignorant of the languages. She was calling for guidance and protection
every minute, and her affairs went smoothly and miraculously. Her
luggage was never delayed nor lost! Accommodations were always ready
for her at the best hotels; and she had perfect service wherever she
went. She returned to New York. Knowing the language, she felt God was
no longer necessary, so looked after her affairs in an ordinary manner.
_Everything went wrong_, her trunks delayed, amid inharmony and
confusion. The student must form the habit of “practicing the Presence
of God” every minute. “_In all thy ways acknowledge him_;” nothing is
too small or too great.
Sometimes an insignificant incident may be the turning point in a man’s
life.
Robert Fulton, watching some boiling water, simmering in a tea kettle,
saw a steamboat!
I have seen a student, often, keep back his demonstration, through
resistance, or pointing the way.
He pins his faith to one channel only, and dictates just the way he
desires the manifestation to come, which brings things to a standstill.
“_My way, not your way!_” is the command of Infinite Intelligence. Like
all Power, be it steam or electricity, it must have a nonresistant
engine or instrument to work through, and man is that engine or
instrument.
Over and over again, man is told to “stand still”. “Oh Judah, fear not;
but tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. You
shall not need to fight this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you.”
We see this in the incidents of the two thousand dollars coming to
the woman through the landlord when she became _nonresistant_ and
_undisturbed_, and the woman who won the man’s love “after all
suffering had ceased.”
The student’s goal is _Poise!_ _Poise_ is _Power_, for it gives
God-Power a chance to rush through man, to “will and to do Its good
pleasure.”
Poised, he thinks clearly, and makes “right decisions quickly.” “He
never misses a trick.”
Anger blurs the visions, poisons the blood, is the root of many
diseases, and causes wrong decision leading to failure.
It has been named one of the worst “sins,” as its reaction is so
harmful. The student learns that in metaphysics sin has a much broader
meaning than in the old teaching. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
He finds that fear and worry are deadly sins. They are inverted faith,
and through distorted mental pictures, bring to pass the thing he
fears. His work is to drive out these enemies (from the subconscious
mind). “When Man is _fearless he is finished_!” Maeterlinck says, that
“Man is God afraid.”
So, as we read in the previous chapters: Man can only vanquish fear by
walking up to the thing he is afraid of. When Jehoshaphat and his army
prepared to meet the enemy, singing “Praise the Lord, for his mercy
endureth forever,” they found their enemies had destroyed each other,
and there was nothing to fight.
For example: A woman asked a friend to deliver a message to another
friend. The woman feared to give the message, as the reasoning mind
said, “Don’t get mixed-up in this affair, don’t give that message.”
She was troubled in spirit, for she had given her promise. At last,
she determined to “walk up to the lion,” and call on the law of divine
protection. She met the friend to whom she was to deliver the message.
She opened her mouth to speak it, when her friend said, “So-and-So
has left town.” This made it unnecessary to give the message, as the
situation depended upon the person being in town. As she was willing
to do it, she was not obliged to; as she did not fear, the situation
vanished.
The student often delays his demonstration through a belief in
incompletion. He should make this statement:
“In Divine Mind there is only completion, therefore, my demonstration
is completed. My perfect work, my perfect home, my perfect health.”
Whatever he demands are perfect ideas registered in Divine Mind, and
must manifest, “under grace in a perfect way.” He gives thanks he has
already received on the invisible, and makes active preparation for
receiving on the visible.
One of my students was in need of a financial demonstration. She came
to me and asked why it was not completed.
I replied: “Perhaps, you are in the habit of leaving things unfinished,
and the subconscious has gotten into the habit of not completing (as
the without, so the within).”
She said, “You are right. I often _begin things_ and never finish them.”
“I’ll go home and finish something I commenced weeks ago, and I know it
will be symbolic of my demonstration.”
So she sewed assiduously, and the article was soon completed. Shortly
after, the money came in a most curious manner.
Her husband was paid his salary twice that month. He told the people of
their mistake, and they sent word to keep it.
When man asks, _believing, he must receive, for God creates His own
channels_!
I have been sometimes asked, “Suppose one has several talents, how is
he to know which one to choose?” Demand to be shown definitely. Say:
“Infinite Spirit, give me a definite lead, reveal to me my perfect
self-expression, show me which talent I am to make use of now.”
I have known people to suddenly enter a new line of work, and be fully
equipped, with little or no training. So make the statement: “_I am
fully equipped for the Divine Plan of my life_,” and be fearless in
grasping opportunities.
Some people are cheerful givers, but bad receivers. They refuse
gifts through pride, or some negative reason, thereby blocking their
channels, and invariably find themselves eventually with little or
nothing. For example: A woman who had given away a great deal of money,
had a gift offered her of several thousand dollars. She refused to take
it, saying she did not need it. Shortly after that, her finances were
“tied up,” and she found herself in debt for that amount. Man should
receive gracefully the bread returning to him upon the water—freely ye
have given, freely ye shall receive.
There is always the perfect balance of giving and receiving, and
though man should give without thinking of returns, he violates law if
he does not accept the returns which come to him; for all gifts are
from God, man being merely the channel.
A thought of lack should never be held over the giver.
For example: When the man gave me the one cent, I did not say: “Poor
man, he cannot afford to give me that.” I saw him rich and prosperous,
with his supply pouring in. It was this thought which brought it.
If one has been a bad receiver, he must become a good one, and take
even a postage stamp if it is given him, and open up his channels for
receiving.
The Lord loveth a cheerful receiver, as well as a cheerful giver.
I have often been asked why one man is born rich and healthy, and
another poor and sick.
Where there is an effect there is always a cause; there is no such
thing as chance.
This question is answered through the law of reincarnation. Man goes
through many births and deaths, until he knows the truth which sets him
free.
He is drawn back to the earth plane through unsatisfied desire, to pay
his Karmic debts, or to “fulfill his destiny.”
The man born rich and healthy has had pictures in his subconscious
mind, in his past life, of health and riches; and the poor and sick
man, of disease and poverty. Man manifests, on any plane, the sum total
of his subconscious beliefs.
However, birth and death are man-made laws, for the “wages of sin is
death”; the Adamic fall in consciousness through the belief in _two
powers_. The real man, spiritual man, is birthless and deathless! He
never was born and has never died—“As he was in the beginning, he is
now, and ever shall be!”
So through the truth, man is set free from the law of Karma, sin
and death, and manifests the man made in “His image and likeness.”
Man’s freedom comes through fulfilling his destiny, bringing into
manifestation the Divine Design of his life.
His lord will say unto him: “Well done thou good and faithful servant,
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler
over many things (death itself); enter thou into the joy of thy Lord
(eternal life).”
DENIALS AND AFFIRMATIONS
“Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.”
All the good that is to be made manifest in man’s life is already
an accomplished fact in divine mind, and is released through man’s
recognition, or spoken word, so he must be careful to decree that only
the Divine Idea be made manifest, for often, he decrees, through his
“idle words,” failure or misfortune.
It is, therefore, of the utmost importance, to word one’s demands
correctly, as stated in a previous chapter.
If one desires a home, friend, position or any other good thing, 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 _it now manifests under grace
in a perfect way_.”
The latter part of the statement is most important. For example: I
knew a woman who demanded a thousand dollars. Her daughter was injured
and they received a thousand dollars indemnity, so it did not come
in a “perfect way.” The demand should have been worded in this way:
“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.”
As one grows in a financial consciousness, he should demand that the
enormous sums of money, which are his by divine right, reach him under
grace, in perfect ways.
It is impossible for man to release more than he thinks is possible,
for one is bound by the limited expectancies of the subconscious. He
must enlarge his expectancies in order to receive in a larger way.
Man so often limits himself in his demands. For example: A student made
the demand for six hundred dollars, by a certain date. He did receive
it, but heard afterwards, that he came very near receiving a thousand
dollars, but he was given just six hundred, as the result of his spoken
word.
“They limited the Holy One of Israel.” Wealth is a matter of
consciousness. The French have a legend giving an example of this. A
poor man was walking along a road when he met a traveler, who stopped
him and said: “My good friend, I see you are poor. Take this gold
nugget, sell it, and you will be rich all your days.”
The man was overjoyed at his good fortune, and took the nugget home. He
immediately found work and became so prosperous that he did not sell
the nugget. Years passed, and he became a very rich man. One day he met
a poor man on the road. He stopped him and said: “My good friend, I
will give you this gold nugget, which, if you sell, will make you rich
for life.” The mendicant took the nugget, had it valued, and found it
was only brass. So we see, the first man became rich through feeling
rich, thinking the nugget was gold.
Every man has within himself a gold nugget; _it is his consciousness of
gold, of opulence, which brings riches into his life_. In making his
demands, man begins at his _journey’s end_, that is, he declares _he
has already received_. “_Before_ ye call I shall answer.”
Continually affirming establishes the belief in the subconscious.
It would not be necessary to make an affirmation more than once if one
had perfect faith! One should not plead or supplicate, but give thanks
repeatedly, that he has received.
“The desert shall _rejoice_ and blossom as the rose.” This rejoicing
which is yet in the desert (state of consciousness) opens the way
for release. The Lord’s Prayer is in the form of command and demand,
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors,” and ends in praise, “For thine is the Kingdom
and the Power and the Glory, forever. Amen.” “Concerning the works of
my hands, command ye me.” So prayer is command and demand, praise and
thanksgiving. The student’s work is in making himself believe that
“with God all things are possible.”
This is easy enough to state in the abstract, but a little more
difficult when confronted with a problem. For example: It was
necessary for a woman to demonstrate a large sum of money within a
stated time. She knew she must _do something_ to get a realization (for
realization is manifestation), and she demanded a “lead.”
She was walking through a department store, when she saw a very
beautiful pink enamel papercutter. She felt the “pull” towards it. The
thought came. “I haven’t a paper cutter good enough to open letters
containing large cheques.”
So she bought the papercutter, which the reasoning mind would have
called an extravagance. When she held it in her hand, she had a flash
of a picture of herself opening an envelope containing a large cheque,
and in a few weeks, she received the money. The pink papercutter was
her bridge of active faith.
Many stories are told of the power of the subconscious when directed in
faith.
For example: A man was spending the night in a farmhouse. The windows
of the room had been nailed down, and in the middle of the night he
felt suffocated and made his way in the dark to the window. He could
not open it, so he smashed the pane with his fist, drew in draughts of
fine fresh air, and had a wonderful night’s sleep.
The next morning, he found he had smashed the glass of a bookcase and
the window had remained closed during the whole night. He had _supplied
himself with oxygen, simply by his thought of oxygen_.
When a student starts out to demonstrate, he should never turn back.
“Let not that man who wavers think that he shall receive anything of
the Lord.”
A colored student once made this wonderful statement, “When I asks
the Father for anything, I puts my foot down, and I says: Father,
I’ll take nothing less than I’ve asked for, but more!” So man should
never compromise: “Having done all—Stand.” This is sometimes the most
difficult time of demonstrating. The temptation comes to give up, to
turn back, to compromise.
“He also serves who only stands and waits.”
Demonstrations often come at the eleventh hour because man then lets
go, that is, stops reasoning, and Infinite Intelligence has a chance to
work.
“Man’s dreary desires are answered drearily, and his impatient desires,
long delayed or violently fulfilled.”
For example: A woman asked me why it was she was constantly losing or
breaking her glasses.
We found she often said to herself and others with vexation, “I wish
I could get rid of my glasses.” So her impatient desire was violently
fulfilled. What she should have demanded was perfect eye-sight, but
what she registered in the subconscious was simply the impatient desire
to be rid of her glasses; so they were continually being broken or lost.
Two attitudes of mind cause loss: depreciation, as in the case of the
woman who did not appreciate her husband, _or fear of loss_, which
makes a picture of loss in the subconscious.
When a student is able to let go of his problem (cast his burden) he
will have instantaneous manifestation.
For example: A woman was out during a very stormy day and her umbrella
was blown inside-out. She was about to make a call on some people whom
she had never met and she did not wish to make her first appearance
with a dilapidated umbrella. She could not throw it away, as it did not
belong to her. So in desperation, she exclaimed: “Oh, God, you take
charge of this umbrella, I don’t know what to do.”
A moment later, a voice behind her said: “Lady, do you want your
umbrella mended?” There stood an umbrella mender.
She replied, “Indeed, I do.”
The man mended the umbrella, while she went into the house to pay her
call, and when she returned, she had a good umbrella. So there is
always an umbrella mender at hand, on man’s pathway, when one puts the
umbrella (or situation) in God’s Hands.
One should always follow a denial with an affirmation.
For example: I was called on the ’phone late one night to treat a
man whom I had never seen. He was apparently very ill. I made the
statement: “I deny this appearance of disease. It is unreal, therefore
cannot register in his consciousness; this man is a perfect idea in
Divine Mind, pure substance expressing perfection.”
There is no time or space, in Divine Mind, therefore the word reaches
instantly its destination and does not “return void.” I have treated
patients in Europe and have found that the result was instantaneous.
I am asked so often the difference between visualizing and visioning.
Visualizing is a mental process governed by the reasoning or conscious
mind; visioning is a spiritual process, governed by intuition, or the
superconscious mind. The student should train his mind to receive
these flashes of inspiration, and work out the “divine pictures,”
through definite leads. When a man can say, “I desire only that which
God desires for me,” his false desires fade from the consciousness,
and a new set of blueprints is given him by the Master Architect, the
God within. God’s plan for each man transcends the limitation of the
reasoning mind, and is always the square of life, containing health,
wealth, love and perfect self-expression. Many a man is building for
himself in imagination a bungalow when he should be building a palace.
If a student tries to force a demonstration (through the reasoning
mind) he brings it to a standstill. “I will hasten it,” saith the Lord.
He should act only through intuition, or definite leads. “Rest in the
Lord and wait patiently. Trust also in him, and he will bring it to
pass.”
I have seen the law work in the most astonishing manner. For example: A
student stated that it was necessary for her to have a hundred dollars
by the following day. It was a debt of vital importance which had to be
met. I “spoke the word,” declaring Spirit was “never too late” and that
the supply was at hand.
That evening she phoned me of the miracle. She said that the thought
came to her to go to her safe-deposit box at the bank to examine some
papers. She looked over the papers, and at the bottom of the box, was
a new one hundred dollar-bill. She was astounded, and said she knew
she had never put it there, for she had gone through the papers many
times. It may have been a materialization, as Jesus Christ materialized
the loaves and fishes. Man will reach the stage where his “word is
made flesh,” or materialized, instantly. “The fields, ripe with the
harvest,” will manifest immediately, as in all of the miracles of Jesus
Christ.
There is a tremendous power alone in the name Jesus Christ. It stands
for _Truth Made Manifest_. He said, “Whatsoever ye ask the Father, in
my name, he will give it to you.”
The power of this name raises the student into the fourth dimension,
where he is freed from all astral and psychic influences, and he
becomes “unconditioned and absolute, as God Himself is unconditioned
and absolute.”
I have seen many healings accomplished by using the words, “In the name
of Jesus Christ.”
Christ was both person and principle; and the Christ within each man is
his Redeemer and Salvation.
The Christ within, is his own fourth dimensional self, the man made
in God’s image and likeness. This is the self which has never failed,
never known sickness or sorrow, was never born and has never died. It
is the “resurrection and the life” of each man! “No man cometh to the
Father save by the Son,” means, that God, the Universal, working on
the place of the particular, becomes the Christ in man; and the Holy
Ghost, means God-in-action. So daily, man is manifesting the Trinity of
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Man should make an art of thinking. The Master Thinker is an artist
and is careful to paint only the divine designs upon the canvas of his
mind; and he paints these pictures with masterly strokes of power and
decision, having perfect faith that there is no power to mar their
perfection and that they shall manifest in his life the ideal made real.
All power is given man (through right thinking) to bring _his heaven_
upon _his earth_, and this is the _goal of the_ “_Game of Life_.”
The simple rules are fearless faith, nonresistance and love!
May each reader be now freed from that thing which has held him in
bondage through the ages, standing between him and his own, and “know
the Truth which makes him free”—free to fulfill his destiny, to bring
into manifestation the “_Divine Design of his life_, Health, Wealth,
Love and Perfect Self-Expression.” “Be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind.”
(For Prosperity)
God is my unfailing supply, and large sums of money come to me quickly,
under grace, in perfect ways.
(For Right Conditions)
Every plan my Father in heaven has not planned, shall be dissolved and
dissipated, and the Divine Idea now comes to pass.
(For Right Conditions)
Only that which is true of God is true of me, for I and the Father are
ONE.
(For Faith)
As I am one with God, I am one with my good, for God is both the
_Giver_ and the _Gift_. I cannot separate the _Giver_ from the gift.
(For Right Conditions)
Divine Love now dissolves and dissipates every wrong condition in my
mind, body and affairs. Divine Love is the most powerful chemical in
the universe, and _dissolves everything_ which is not of itself!
(For Health)
Divine Love floods my consciousness with health, and every cell in my
body is filled with light.
(For the Eyesight)
My eyes are God’s eyes, I see with the eyes of spirit. I see clearly
the open way; there are no obstacles on my pathway. I see clearly the
perfect plan.
(For Guidance)
I am divinely sensitive to my intuitive leads, and give instant
obedience to Thy will.
(For the Hearing)
My ears are God’s ears, I hear with the ears of spirit. I am
nonresistant and am willing to be led. I hear glad tidings of great joy.
(For Right Work)
_I have a perfect work
In a perfect way;
I give a perfect service
For perfect pay._
(For Freedom from all Bondage)
_I cast this burden on the Christ within, and I go free!_
[Illustration: Decoration]
“_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._”
[Illustration: Decoration]
EMMET FOX
—_On Florence Scovel Shinn_—
Books by _FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN_
THE GAME OF LIFE & HOW TO PLAY IT
THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD
YOUR WORD IS YOUR WAND
THE SECRET DOOR TO SUCCESS
THE WRITINGS OF FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN (_1 Vol. Edition_)
THE GAME OF LIFE—_Cassette Tape_
DEVORSS & COMPANY, _Publishers_
Marina del Rey, California 90294-0550
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 8 Changed: victim of distorted imagiation.
to: victim of distorted imagination.
pg 86 Changed: the Holy One of Isreal
to: the Holy One of Israel
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