Text of the meditation
Where self is, Truth is not; where Truth is, self is not. Upon the battlefield of the human soul two masters are ever contending for the crown of supremacy, for the kingship and dominion of the heart: the master of self, also called the "Prince of this world," and the master of Truth, also called the Father God.
The master self is that rebellious one whose weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity and self-will, implements of darkness; the master Truth is that meek and lowly one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility and love, instruments of Light.
In every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot serve in two opposing armies at once, so every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of self or of Truth. There is no half-and-half course. Jesus, the manifested Christ, declared that "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and Mammon." You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of self.
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.
