Text of the meditation
The sorrowless state is reached through sorrow. As light displaces darkness, and quiet follows storm, so gladness displaces sorrow, and peace comes after pain. The deeper wisdom that flows from acquaintance with sorrow brings with it a holier and more abiding joy than the shallow excitement that preceded sorrow.
Between the lesser joys of the senses and the greater joy of the spirit lies the dark vale of sorrow through which all earthly pilgrims pass, and having passed through it, the heavenly Joy, the Abiding Gladness, is henceforth our companion. Those who have passed from the earthly to the heavenly pilgrimage have lifted the dark veil of sorrow from the radiant face of Truth.
Whoever's treasure is Truth, who fashions their life in accordance with Wisdom, will find the Joy that does not pass away; crossing the wide ocean of illusion, they will come to the sorrowless Shore.
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.
