Chapter 5: The Law Of Karma And The Law Of Forgiveness

Please join me for a read-aloud from The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn. In Chapter Five, The Law of Karma and the Law of Forgiveness, Florence offers practical, heart-centered prayers to replace fear with faith. She reminds us to seek only that which comes by divine right, rather than insisting on specific outcomes, and teaches that the feeling of fulfillment must come first—before any desire can take form in the visible world.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to today's Read Aloud.

Today we will be reading Chapter 5 from The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scoville Shinn.

The Law of Karma and the Law of Forgiveness.

One receives only that which they give.

The game of life is a game of boomerangs.

One's thoughts,

Deeds,

And words return to them sooner or later with astounding accuracy.

This is the law of karma,

Which is Sanskrit for come back.

Whatsoever a person soweth,

That shall they 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,

Someone 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 wish 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 one knows,

The more one is responsible for,

And a person with a knowledge of spiritual law,

Which one 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 us perfect,

Created in His image,

Imagination,

And given power and dominion.

This is the perfect idea of one,

Registered in divine mind,

Awaiting one's recognition,

For one can only be what they see themselves to be,

And only attain what they see themselves attaining.

Nothing ever happens without an onlooker,

Is an ancient saying.

One sees first their failure or success,

Their joy or sorrow,

Before it swings into visibility from the scene set in their own imagination.

We observe 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 come through knowledge,

A knowledge of spiritual law.

Obedience precedes authority,

And the law obeys us when we obey the law.

The law of electricity must be obeyed before it becomes one's servant.

When handled ignorantly,

It becomes one'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 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,

Ask a right.

One should always demand only that which is theirs by divine right.

To go back to the illustration,

Had the woman taken the 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.

One is admonished,

My will be done,

Not thine,

And the curious thing is,

One always gets just what they desire,

When they relinquish personal will,

Thereby enabling infinite intelligence to work through them.

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 they fear.

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 us,

Having dealt more fully with this law in the chapter on non-resistance.

I will give another example of sowing and reaping,

Which came in the most curious way.

A woman came to me saying that she had received a counterfeit $20 bill given to her at the bank.

She was much disturbed.

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 stage money just for a joke.

So the law had sent her some stage money,

For it doesn't know anything about jokes.

I said,

Now we can 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 person is their 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 $20,

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 one power to rub out their mistakes.

One cannot force the external to be what one is not.

If one desires riches,

One 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 people 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 pin cushion.

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 ever watching out,

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 leads to loss.

There is that scattereth,

And yet increaseth,

And there is that withholdeth,

More than is met,

But it tendeth to poverty.

For example,

I know a man who wanted to buy a fur-lined overcoat.

He and his wife went to various shops,

But there were none he wanted.

He said they were all too cheap looking.

At last he was shown one the salesman said was valued at $1,

000,

But which the manager would sell him for $500,

As it was late in the season.

His financial possessions amounted to about $700.

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 will make a ton of money.

So his wife consented,

Weakly.

After about a month,

He received a $10,

000 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 one 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 she 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 one 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 that she had paid for it.

One'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 one from the law of cause and effect,

The law of consequence,

Under grace and not under law.

We are told that on this plain one reaps where one has not sown.

The gifts of God are simply poured out upon us.

All that the kingdom affords is ours.

This continued state of bliss awaits the one 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 now know 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 us,

The resurrection of the body would be accomplished.

One would no longer throw off their 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.

Reviews

Thank you so much for sharing these teachings in this way. Blessings 🙏🏼🤍