The Game of Life and How to Play It — Florence Scovel Shinn (1925)

First published in 1925, The Game of Life and How to Play It is Florence Scovel Shinn’s foundational work and one of the enduring classics of New Thought. Shinn presents life as a field governed by spiritual law, in which thought, expectation, speech, intuition, and conduct continually participate in shaping experience.

Through vivid anecdotes and practical instruction, she explores prosperity, faith, forgiveness, nonresistance, divine guidance, and the creative power of the spoken word. Her approach is direct and usable: fear and destructive expectation can be displaced, inherited patterns can be broken, and circumstances can change as the individual learns to speak and act from a deeper confidence in divine order.

Shinn’s teaching is memorable precisely because it joins metaphysical principle to everyday life. Rather than offering abstraction alone, she provides a working philosophy for meeting uncertainty, recognizing opportunity, and cultivating an expectant relationship with the good.

This text has been carefully prepared by Odd Enough Books / Holographic Pagan Press as part of an ongoing effort to preserve and circulate significant works from the history of New Thought, metaphysical philosophy, and the forgotten library of human consciousness.

The physical edition is printed and assembled by hand, bound with black binding tape, and presented with newly prepared cover artwork and layout by C.K. Lee.

Issued here as a Holographic Pagan Press edition.

Details

Author: Florence Scovel Shinn
Title: The Game of Life and How to Play It
First published: 1925
Available formats: PDF edition or handmade archival physical book
Physical dimensions: 8.5 × 11 in
Binding: Black tape-bound spine
Publisher: Odd Enough Books / Holographic Pagan Press
Cover and layout: C.K. Lee

Collector’s Note

This edition is part of the Holographic Pagan Press archival publishing project, devoted to recovering and preserving works from the history of metaphysics, occult philosophy, New Thought, spiritual science, and the development of human consciousness.

Each physical copy is printed, assembled, and finished by hand in limited quantities, presenting Shinn’s work in a newly prepared edition designed for reading, study, and collection.