Text of the meditation
All outward oppression is but the shadow and effect of the real oppression within. In happiness and unhappiness, in joy and sorrow, in success and failure, in victory and defeat; in religion, business and circumstances; in all the issues of life, the determining factor is character.
In the mentality of individuals lie the hidden causes of all that pertains to their outward life. Character is both cause and effect. It is the doer of deeds and the recipient of results. Heaven, hell and purgatory are contained within it. The character that is impure and vicious will experience a life from which the elements of happiness and beauty are lacking, wherever it may be placed; but a pure and virtuous character will show forth a life that is happy and beautiful.
As you make your character, so will you shape your life. To put away self and passion, and establish oneself in right doing: this is the highest wisdom.
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.
