Text of the meditation
A pure heart and a blameless life avail. They are filled with joy and peace. Our good deeds remain with us; they save and protect us. Evil deeds are error. Our evil deeds follow us; they overthrow us in the hour of temptation. The evildoer is not protected from sorrow, but the good-doer is shielded from all harm.
The fool says to their evil deed, "Remain hidden; be unexposed," but their evil is already published, and their sorrow is sure. If we are in evil, what will protect us? What will keep us from misery and confusion? Neither man nor woman, neither wealth nor power, neither heaven nor earth will keep us from confusion.
From the results of evil there is no escape, no refuge and no protection. If we are in Good, what will overtake us? What will bring us to misery and confusion? Neither man nor woman, neither poverty nor sickness, neither heaven nor earth will bring us to confusion.
There is a straight way and a quiet rest.
James Allen (1864–1912), Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year (1913) – public-domain text, gently modernised.
The original 1913 text is in the public domain.
