Text of the meditation
It is better to love than to accuse and denounce. There is that outburst of passion that is called "righteous indignation," and it appears to be righteous, but looked at from a higher conception of conduct it is seen not to be righteous. There is a certain stamp of nobility about indignation at wrong or injustice, and it is certainly far higher and nobler than indifference, but there is a loftier nobility still, by which it is seen that indignation is never necessary, and where love and gentleness take its place, they overcome the wrong much more effectively.
A person who is apparently wronged requires our pity, but the one who wrongs requires our compassion even more, for they are ignorantly laying up a store of suffering for themselves: they must reap the wrong they are sowing. When divine compassion is perceived in its fullness and beauty, indignation and all forms of passion cease to exercise any influence over us.
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.
