Text of the meditation
Unrest and pain and sorrow are the shadows of life. Is there no way of escape from pain and sorrow? Are there no means by which the bonds of evil may be broken? Are permanent happiness and abiding peace a foolish dream? No, there is a way, and I say it with gladness, by which evil may be slain forever; there is a process by which every adverse condition or circumstance can be put aside forever, never to return; and there is a practice by which unbroken and unending peace and bliss can be partaken of and realised.
And the beginning of the way that leads to this glorious realisation is the acquiring of a right understanding of the nature of evil. It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil; it must be understood. People remain in evil because they are not willing or prepared to learn the lesson it came to teach them.
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.
