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The Spiritual Aspects Of Gambling

 

 

Whether anyone chooses to recognize it or admit it, there is more to gambling than meets the eye. There are often forces at work beyond the normal realm of probability and chance. In fact, I believe this is true of all aspects of life and certainly not limited to the arena of gambling.

 

Often things that are in reality occurring in the spiritual realm, or are a result of the realm of the spirit interacting with the physical realm and creating the reality we experience, are attributed to superstition. But the funny thing about it is that if we believe something fervently enough and are really totally convinced of it (no matter what perceived facts or circumstances produced that conviction), we can cause it to manifest in our individual world.

 

How can this be possible? Because man is a spiritual being and as such has interaction with the spirit realm whether he realizes it or not. He is a child of the Father, the Source, the Creator or The Light. What ever you want to call It or Him, man came out from and is part of the Creator or what most people call God. At the core of man's being is an essence that might be termed as God. Just as we bare the outward image of our physical or fleshly parents, we bare the inner image of our Spiritual Parent.

 

How can I speak of such things in such dogmatic and uncompromising language? Because I speak from a standpoint of personal experience and knowledge. I speak of knowledge not only gained from the natural physical realm but knowledge and experience gained from personal spiritual experiences and contact and interaction with the spiritual or heavenly realms. You may have heard of people having what has come to be known as "Near Death Experiences" in which they leave their physical bodies and move into the spiritual realm or what is often called the heavenly realm. You may dismiss these experiences as hallucinations or the imaginings of a brain which has been deprived of oxygen, but I am here to tell you that they are anything else but. They are indeed very real. I know from personal experience having made more than one involuntary trip to that heavenly realm. But once you have been there and returned (or lived to tell about it so to speak), you will never view your life, or anything else in the physical realm, the same way.

 

What has all this got to do with gambling? Be patient my friend, I'm getting there.

 

At age 10, I became very ill after receiving a small pox vaccination. I ran a high fever and was unable to eat or drink anything for 10 days. On the 10th day, I recall lying in my bed staring at the ceiling too weak to move. My Mother had just prayed for me for the umpteenth time and left my room for a few minutes. I remember feeling so incredibly weak that I couldn't even move my arms. Suddenly I was floating up toward the ceiling. I no longer felt weak or painful. In fact, I recall thinking, "Wow, this is neat!" As I approached the ceiling, I instinctively put out my hands to keep from running into it. At about this same instant I heard a commanding voice utter one word, "LIVE"! I then kind of pushed off from the ceiling and settled back into my body. Suddenly, I felt strength returning to my limbs. I could once again move my arms and legs. I raised up on one arm and called my Mother (I had previously been so weak I couldn't speak above a whisper). My Mom responded and I asked for some water and chicken soup (I've liked chicken soup ever since). From that point on I was fully recovered within 3 days and back in school. I won't go into other spiritual journeys here because the focus of this article is gambling and not heavenly visits. I only relate this to let you know that I know that man is a spiritual being and that the spiritual realm is very real. It affects our daily lives whether we realize it or admit it. And whether we realize it or not, we are spiritual beings who can affect what happens in the realm of the spirit as well as the physical realm.

 

God, our Creator is Spirit. All things were created by Him and all things are part of Him and that includes us. All things are created or begin in the spiritual realm and then manifest in the natural or physical realm. We are at least partially responsible for creating the physical reality we experience. We are co-creators with all our other brothers and sisters who dwell in this realm as well as the heavenly realm. I realize that I am speaking rather dogmatically of these things, but I won't apologize for doing so because I know what I've seen, heard, and experienced. At this point, you can judge me as being a lunatic, new age fanatic, or religious fanatic. That is your prerogative. My purpose here is not to convert, or evangelize, but to help those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Hopefully we can come to a better understanding of why some things happen in the casino and how to deal with them. Also, perhaps we can learn how to counteract some of the negative things that tend to happen or how to deal with them when they do occur. But before we can construct any structure, we must first lay the ground work and establish a firm foundation.

 

Whether you believe in the divinity of Jesus or not (I personally do) virtually everyone who is open to spiritual teaching or who believes in a realm other than that which can be contacted via the 5 senses recognizes Him as a great spiritual teacher. One of His greatest teachings was this: "If you believe and doubt not in your heart that the things you say will come to pass, you will have whatsoever you say." In other words, if you absolutely totally and completely believe something, if you are totally convinced of something and you speak it either with your physical mouth or the mouth of the spirit man or inner man (via the thought process), it will eventually manifest. That is, it will manifest if you don't change it by changing your beliefs and releasing your faith in something else, be it a different circumstance, events, or states of being.

 

All things are created by faith and faith is nothing but belief. In the Holy Bible in the book of Hebrews it says that faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for. In other words, the things that we hope and believe for are given substance in this physical realm by our faith. In Genesis the first chapter we find that God created everything by “SPEAKING” it into existence.  When we believe something strongly enough or have enough faith that something is true or will occur, then we automatically speak it (with the inner man by thoughts or with the physical mouth). The scriptures also state that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And in another place it says that as a man thinks in his heart so is he. So the bottom line is that what we really believe or think is the substance of which our reality is created.

 

What does this mean and how does it apply to our gambling endeavors? Well, it could make all the difference in whether you are ever a successful gambler. If you believe or are totally convinced that the casino is always going to come out on top, then you might as well forget ever coming out ahead over the long haul. In fact you will probably have very few winning experiences. You have released your faith and created the reality of "loss to the casinos" in your world. The only way to change that and become a long term winner is to change your belief and start releasing your faith in a different direction. And I'm not talking about just having hope. I'm talking about changing what you actually are convinced of in your heart of hearts. I'm talking about being as assured of the fact that you are a winner as you are sure of the fact that the sun is coming up tomorrow. You must have that confidence because your actions will reflect what you actually believe. For instance, if I'm not absolutely sure that my car is going to start when I go out and turn the key, then I probably won't make a commitment to meet you at the casino. In fact, if I have a lot of doubt, I may not even go out and try it. My actions (or lack thereof) will be a result of what I truly believe. But, if I am convinced that my car will start with no problem, I might tell you, "Ok, I'll meet you at the casino in an hour." As I say this, my faith that my car will start is being released. Also, I am visualizing myself arriving at the casino in my car. This visualization occurs whether we realize it or not and is part of the creation process. No creation ever occurs without visualization. If you don't see yourself in your own mind as a successful gambler, there is no way that you will ultimately be successful. If you don't think of yourself as a winner and visualize and speak of yourself as a winner (whether with the inner man or physical man or both), you will never be a long term winner. Visualization is not something you should have to work at or struggle with, but it is a natural result of what you believe. However, it is possible to nourish your belief by visualization but the more natural process is for visualization to arise from our beliefs.

 

Belief is created from our experiences and our perceptions of those experiences. It is also created by the words we receive. Perhaps I should say the thoughts and concepts that we receive, but thoughts and concepts are created by and travel aboard a ship of words. Perhaps that is why the Holy Scriptures say in John 1:1 that, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." In the beginning of the creation process of anything, first the words must be spoken either literally or spiritually through the thought process. Notice also the Biblical account in Genesis of creation. It doesn't matter whether you believe this is a literal account or a spiritual metaphor, the point is that the account relates that everything that was created by God was SPOKEN into existence. The scripture repeatedly says that God said Let there be light and God said Let the dry land appear, etc. Likewise, we are all the god of our own individual worlds in that we create the reality which we experience by speaking it into existence. And as I said, this "speaking" occurs either by thought process or visualization or literal speaking. And all three of these aspects are inner connected and are really actually all the same thing when you stop and think about it. We are doing it all the time and we are constantly creating even though we probably haven't realized it or stopped to think about it. The essence of God in us that gives us existence and self awareness is by its own nature a creative force.

 

Have you ever noticed that people who seem to have the most problems in their lives and are the most down and defeated are also the most negative individuals? Now I realize that everyone has problems, disappointments, and set backs, but I am speaking of those who never seem to have any good things in their lives or victories or successes. Listen to them talk. They seem to never have anything good to say about anything. Their outlook is totally negative. Now, is their attitude so negative because of their problems, or are many of their problems largely the result of their negativity? I believe it is the latter. I have had the opportunity to interact with and get to know several millionaires in my lifetime. And the one trait they all had in common was their overall positive outlook, especially in the realm of finances. There are stories of wealthy men who have lost their fortunes yet were able to come back and regain that wealth. Were they just lucky a second time, or did they really believe in themselves and their ability to get wealth and through this belief they recreated their former world and reality? Once again, I am convinced that it is our thoughts and belief structure and how and in what we release our faith that creates our reality.

 

For example, many craps players have a strong belief that if a shooter is having a good roll, a change of stickmen will cause the shooter to seven out. I personally do not necessarily believe in this superstition, but I've learned through hard experience that if several other players at the table are believing it and speaking it (and even worse, fearing it), then I had better be wise and take my bets down because the next roll will probably be a 7. This happened to me just a few nights ago. I was at the craps table in one of our local casinos and the shooter was having a decent roll. From the circumstances at the table, I felt like the shooter had at least 4 or 5 more rolls before the 7 would appear. A friend of mine, who also plays a lot of craps and who is very superstitious about the change of stickmen bringing the 7, walked up to me. He saw that I had several bets on the table then he pointed to the new stickman just taking over and said, "See that?" I said yes but did nothing about my bets because I was pretty sure I was safe for a few more rolls. But, as you might guess, the next roll was a 7 out. My friend laughed, punched me on the shoulder, shook his head and walked on. Did his faith bring the 7? Maybe, maybe not. But it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't have a lot to do with it. I've seen similar things happen so many times that after awhile you stop believing it is just coincidence. But, on the other hand, when no one seems to care whether or not there has been a change of stickmen and I'm not thinking about it or fearing it, there doesn't seem to be an unusual increase in the frequency of seven outs.

 

There are many other superstitions associated with craps that of and by themselves have nothing to do with anything. But, when enough believers are gathered together releasing their faith in agreement, they can certainly cause some of these superstitions to manifest.

 

Faith is a force and if enough force is exerted, physical circumstances and events can be affected. That force can be released by several people in combined agreement or by one person who is absolutely totally convinced of a certain outcome. The faith or force of faith released by one can be great enough to overcome opposite beliefs by several others.

 

Once again I use craps as an example because that is the game with which I've had the most experience. But many times I've been at a craps table that was running very cold or choppy cold and some very confident individual comes up and plops down a large wad of money and grabs the dice and starts rolling and betting big. His confidence and positive actions and speech seem to affect everyone and everything including the dice. Suddenly the table heats up and the game turns around and now everyone is making money. It is said that such an individual "brings the game with him." And in essence that is often true. The best craps player I know is such an individual and he boldly states that he brings the game with him wherever he goes. And I have personally noted on several occasions a marked change in the atmosphere and energy at a craps table when he begins playing.

 

Another type gambler that seems to often have success is the guy or gal that is just there having a good time and doesn't seem to care about anything. They are often drinking heavily but they are care free and having a good time. That is the key. They have no cares or worries, no negative vibes. They are comfortably numb to any adverse physical circumstances and are totally enjoying themselves and life in general. I've seen so many people like this have good rolls at the dice table and some were so inebriated they could hardly pick their winnings up off the table. Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating drinking or drunkenness, especially while playing. But I am advocating a positive, care free, joyous and thankful attitude. This will really have a positive effect upon your bottom line in the long run.

 

You can often sense a positive energy at a dice table or roulette wheel. I think it is more so at dice because most players are betting on the "do" side and are consequently in agreement and combining their faith and positive energy. Another craps player I know who always plays a system based upon the "don't" side once told me that he had to quit playing during the prime hours on the weekends because the tables were so crowded with do side players and the do side energy was so strong that he always got killed. However, at other times he was able to do well. Take an interesting survey. Next time you go to the casino on a Friday night or Saturday night between the hours of 8:00 P.M. to about 1:00 A.M., see if you don't see more hot or warm craps tables than at any other time.

 

 

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