Text of the meditation
Where passion is, peace is not; where peace is, passion is not. People pray for peace, yet cling to passion; they foster strife, yet pray for heavenly rest. This is ignorance, profound spiritual ignorance; it is not to know the first letter in the alphabet of things divine.
Hatred and love, strife and peace, cannot dwell together in the same heart. Where one is admitted as a welcome guest, the other will be turned away as an unwelcome stranger. One who despises another will be despised by others; one who opposes their fellow human beings will themselves be resisted.
They should not be surprised, and mourn, that people are divided. They should know that they are propagating strife. They should understand their lack of peace. By the way of self-conquest is the Perfect Peace 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.
