Text of the meditation
Be self-reliant, but let your self-reliance be saintly and not selfish. Folly and wisdom, weakness and strength, are within a person, and not in any external thing, nor do they spring from any external cause. No one can be strong for another; they can only be strong for themselves; they cannot overcome for another; they can only overcome for themselves.
You may learn from another, but you must accomplish for yourself. Put away all external props, and rely upon the Truth within you. A creed will not bear a person up in the hour of temptation; they must possess the inward Knowledge that slays temptation. A speculative philosophy will prove a shadowy thing in the time of calamity; a person must have the inward Wisdom that puts an end to grief.
The Unfailing Wisdom is found only by constant practice in pure thinking and well-doing; by harmonising one's mind and heart to those things that are beautiful, lovable and true. Goodness is the aim of all religions.
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.
