Text of the meditation
How can anyone fear someone who wrongs no one? The righteous person is invincible. No enemy can possibly overcome or confound them, and they need no other protection than that of their own integrity and holiness. As it is impossible for evil to overcome Good, so the righteous person can never be brought low by the unrighteous.
Slander, envy, hatred and malice can never reach them, nor cause them any suffering, and those who try to injure them succeed only in bringing ignominy upon themselves. The righteous person, having nothing to hide, committing no acts that require stealth, and harbouring no thoughts and desires they would not like others to know, is fearless and unashamed.
Their step is firm, their body upright, and their speech direct and without ambiguity. They look everybody in the face. How can they be ashamed before anyone, when they deceive no one? Ceasing from all wrong, you can never be wronged; ceasing from all deceit, you can never be deceived.
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.
