The Canon / Pillars / New Thought
Pillars · 1925
The Game of Life and How to Play It
New Thought EraThe Game of Life and How to Play It is Florence Scovel Shinn's accessible manual of New Thought practice, presenting life as an objective, rule-governed system, a "game" with discoverable laws, rather than a struggle or a mystery. Its central claim is that one's words and mental attitudes function as precise instruments that set those laws in motion.
Shinn's signature mechanism is the "spoken word": the affirmation or denial uttered aloud as an exact, almost legal decree. She pairs this with the principle of non-resistance, the teaching that fighting conditions only energizes them, and with "casting the burden," a method of handing anxiety and over-effort to a higher mind. The teaching proceeds through short case stories drawn from her practice, which give it a plain, folksy clarity.
The book's reframing of manifestation as a set of operable rules made it one of the most directly imitated sources for later affirmation teachers. Its emphasis on the decree, non-resistance, and release prefigures the "let go" steps of subsequent reality-creation teaching.
In its words
Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly is impressed upon the subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail.
Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly is impressed upon the subconscious mind.
The ideas it carries
Practices it teaches
Affirmations — Deliberate Positive Self-Statement
An affirmation is a short, positive, usually present-tense statement you repeat deliberately to shape belief and self-concept — "I am calm and capable," "I attract good into my life." The logic across the New…
The Spoken Word — Shinn's affirmation-and-denial as a decree that sets law in motion
For Florence Scovel Shinn, life is "a game" played by exact rules, and the master move is the spoken word. She treats the verbalized affirmation — or its mirror, the denial — not as a wish or a plea but as a…
Active Faith — Shinn's 'dig your ditches': act out your expectancy before the proof appears
Active faith is Florence Scovel Shinn's insistence that belief must be shown, not just spoken. Her watchword is the Bible story (2 Kings 3) in which armies dying of thirst in a dry valley are told by Elisha, "Make…
The Imaging Faculty — Shinn's 'hold the received picture, don't force a mental image'
Florence Scovel Shinn affirms that "the imaging faculty is the creative faculty" — but she gives a sharp, counter-intuitive rule for using it that sets her apart from most visualization teachers.
The Divine Design — Shinn's claiming the right thing 'under grace' instead of forcing a chosen one
This is Florence Scovel Shinn's correction to naive manifesting. Rather than commanding the universe to deliver the specific person, house, or job you have decided you want, she has you ask for the Divine Design…
Casting the Burden — Shinn's 'I cast this burden on the Christ within and go free'
Casting the burden is Florence Scovel Shinn's signature release move. When the conscious mind is locked onto a fear, a "fixed idea," or an over-effortful trying, she has you transfer it with a single repeated…
Nonresistance & Loosing — Shinn's giving up the fight and forgiving so good can flow
Two of Florence Scovel Shinn's rules work as one release practice: the law of nonresistance and forgiveness ("loosing").
Lineage
The author
Florence Scovel ShinnThe spoken word as decree
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Key terms
Kindred books