Text of the meditation
The way from passion to peace is by overcoming one's self. Frequently the person of passion is most eager to put others right, but the person of wisdom puts themselves right. If one is anxious to reform the world, let them begin by reforming themselves. The reformation of self does not end with the elimination of the sensual elements only; that is its beginning.
It ends only when every vain thought and selfish aim is overcome. Short of perfect purity and wisdom, there is still some form of self-slavery or folly that needs to be conquered. On the wings of aspiration a person rises from earth to heaven, from ignorance to knowledge, from the underlying darkness to the upper light.
Without it they remain a grovelling animal, earthly, sensual, unenlightened and uninspired. Aspiration is the longing for heavenly 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.
