narrlitnarrlit
Florence Scovel Shinn · 45min
Existence is a game of spiritual law rather than a struggle of chance. This guide maps the path from internal vision to external abundance through the spoken word. Listen to rediscover the rules.
“We selected The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn to explore its lasting influence on the evolution of self-improvement. It provides a perfect canvas for debating the complex motives of its characters.”
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Florence Scovel Shinn presents life not as a battle of chance, but as a game governed by specific spiritual laws. Success requires understanding the three departments of the human mind: the conscious, the subconscious, and the superconscious. The conscious mind, or intellect, perceives the physical world and its apparent limitations. The subconscious is a powerhouse without direction that manifests whatever is impressed upon it through feeling or repetition. Finally, the superconscious is the "God-mind" within, containing the perfect divine design for an individual's life.
The primary conflict in the game is the tendency of the conscious mind to feed fearful images to the subconscious, which then creates negative realities. Shinn illustrates this through the story of a girl who playfully pretended to be a widow. Because she emotionally internalized the role, her subconscious eventually manifested the actual death of her husband in adulthood. To correct such patterns, Shinn teaches the "spoken word," where individuals make verbal demands that align with divine law. This is often accompanied by "active faith," or "digging ditches," which involves acting as if a prayer has already been answered.
A significant portion of the work focuses on the laws of karma, substitution, and non-resistance. Shinn argues that one cannot force a specific outcome or person, as seen in the case of a woman who failed to secure a specific partner named AB but received a superior match once she surrendered her will. The book concludes that true prosperity comes from "perfect self-expression"—filling one's unique niche in the world. By following intuitive hunches and relinquishing the desire to micromanage outcomes, the player allows the superconscious to handle logistics. This shift from struggle to flow transforms existence into a masterfully played game of giving and receiving.
Florence Scovel Shinn’s foundational work, The Game of Life and How to Play It, was self-published in 1925 after being rejected by traditional publishers. Shinn was a well-known artist and book illustrator in New York City before dedicating her life to metaphysical teaching. The book belongs to the New Thought movement, which flourished in the early twentieth century and proposed that right thinking could heal the body and manifest wealth. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, was marked by both immense material growth and a search for spiritual meaning amidst rapid societal change. Shinn’s philosophy combines Christian scripture with metaphysical interpretations, focusing on the "spoken word" as a tool for personal transformation. Her writing style is distinct for its use of practical, urban case studies—such as apartment hunting or legal disputes—which made spiritual principles tangible for a modernizing audience. The book remains a seminal text in the motivational genre, influencing decades of self-improvement literature.
Shinn divides the mind into the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious. The conscious mind acts as a reporter of physical facts, while the subconscious is a directionless power that creates whatever is imaged. The superconscious contains the "divine design," or the perfect pattern for one’s life. An example of this operation is the story of the girl playing widow; because she emotionally internalized the role repeatedly, her subconscious accepted the image as a literal blueprint, later manifesting as real-world tragedy in her adulthood.
This law states that if a person relinquishes a specific demand and asks for what they deserve by divine right, the universe will provide the perfect equivalent. Shinn illustrates this with a woman obsessed with a man called AB. Instead of forcing a relationship, Shinn spoke the word for "Divine Selection." Consequently, the woman lost interest in AB and met a new man who naturally expressed the exact affection and specific phrases she had previously craved from the wrong person.
Shinn teaches that one must prepare for a desired outcome even when no physical evidence exists. She calls this "digging ditches," referencing a biblical story where soldiers dug trenches in a desert before the arrival of water. A concrete example is the apartment hunter who bought expensive blankets for a home she had not yet found. By purchasing the blankets, she signaled her subconscious to expect the apartment, which she eventually secured despite there being hundreds of other applicants.
Moments from Jasper and Maya's discussion of The Game of Life and How to Play It:
“Life is not a battle. It is a game.”
— Maya
“The subconscious mind, remember, has absolutely no sense of humor. None.”
— Maya
“If you ask for success but prepare for failure, you get exactly what you prepare for.”
— Jasper
“No man is your enemy, no man is your friend, every man is your teacher.”
— Maya
“Your words, your internal images and your active faith are setting the board.”
— Jasper
The book is a metaphysical guide that frames existence as a game of giving and receiving governed by spiritual laws. It teaches that individuals can shape their reality through the power of the spoken word, focused imagination, and active faith.
The book was written by Florence Scovel Shinn, a New York-based artist and metaphysical teacher. It was originally self-published in 1925 and became a cornerstone of the New Thought movement.
The narrlit episode featuring hosts Jasper and Maya is approximately 45 minutes long. The discussion provides a deep dive into the book's specific case studies, such as the story of the pink paper cutter and the law of substitution.
The main themes include the division of the mind into three departments, the law of karma or "comeback," and the concept of non-resistance. It also emphasizes the importance of intuition and acting on "hunches" to align with one's divine design.