Chapter 1

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."

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

my 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 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

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?"

to be continued

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***