Text of the meditation
If one would find peace, one must come out of passion. Selfishness, or passion, not only subsists in the gross forms of greed and glaringly ungoverned conditions of mind; it also informs every hidden thought that is subtly connected with the assumption and glorification of oneself; and it is most deceiving and subtle when it prompts one to dwell upon the selfishness of others, to accuse them of it, and to talk about it.
The person who continually dwells upon selfishness in others will not thus overcome their own. Not by accusing others do we come out of selfishness, but by purifying ourselves. The way from passion to peace is not by hurling painful charges against others, but by overcoming oneself.
By eagerly striving to subdue the selfishness of others, we remain passion-bound; by patiently overcoming our own selfishness, we ascend into freedom. The ascending pathway is always at hand. It is the way of self-conquest.
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.
