Text of the meditation
A person must know themselves if they are to know Truth. Let the tempted know this: that they themselves are both tempter and tempted; that all their enemies are within; that the flatterers that seduce, the taunts that stab, and the flames that burn all spring from that inner region of ignorance and error in which they have hitherto lived; and knowing this, let them be assured of complete victory over evil.
When they are sorely tempted, let them not mourn, but rejoice that their strength is tried and their weakness exposed. For whoever truly knows and humbly acknowledges their weakness will not be slow to set about acquiring strength. Whoever cannot fearlessly face their lower nature cannot climb the rugged heights of renunciation.
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.
