Text of the meditation
If one would find peace, one must come out of passion. So long as animal conditions taste sweet to a person, they cannot aspire; they are so far satisfied. But when their sweetness turns to bitterness, then in their sorrow they think of nobler things. When they are deprived of earthly joy, they aspire to the joy that is heavenly.
It is when impurity turns to suffering that purity is sought. Truly, aspiration rises, phoenix-like, from the dead ashes of repentance, and on its powerful pinions a person can reach the heaven of heavens. The person of aspiration has entered the way that leads to peace, and they will surely reach that end if they do not stop or turn back.
If they constantly renew their mind with glimpses of the heavenly vision, they will reach the heavenly state. What can be conceived can be achieved.
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.
