Text of the meditation
The great need of the soul is the need of that permanent Principle called Righteousness. The old must pass away before the new can appear. The old cottage must be demolished before the new mansion can appear on its site. The old error must be destroyed before the new truth can come.
The old self must be renounced before the new person can be born. When the old self of temper, impatience, envy, pride and impurity has perished, then in its place will appear the new person of gentleness, patience, goodwill, humility and purity. Let the old life of sin and sorrow pass; let the new life of Righteousness and Joy come in.
Then all that was old and ugly will be made new and beautiful. It is in the realisation of this Principle that the Kingdom of Heaven, the abiding home of the soul, resides, and it is the source and storehouse of every permanent blessing. A life of virtue is noble and excellent.
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.
