Text of the meditation
Great is the conquest you have entered upon, even the mighty conquest of yourself; be faithful and you will overcome. Disciple: Lead me, O Master, for my darkness is very great! Will the darkness lift, O Master? Will trial end in victory, and will there be an end to my many sorrows?
Master: When your heart is pure, the darkness will disappear. When your mind is freed from passion, you will reach the end of trial, and when the thought of self-preservation is given up, there will be no more cause for sorrow. You are now upon the way of discipline and purification; all my disciples must walk that way.
Before you can enter the white light of knowledge, before you can behold the full glory of Truth, all your impurities must be purged away, your delusions all dispelled, and your mind fortified with endurance. Do not relax your faith in Truth; do not forget that Truth is eternally supreme; remember that I, the Lord of Truth, am watching over you.
Be faithful, and endure, and I will teach you all things.
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.
