Text of the meditation
Aspiration: the rapture of the saints. On the wings of aspiration a person rises from earth to heaven, from ignorance to knowledge, from the underlying darkness to the upper light. Without it they remain a grovelling animal, earthly, sensual, unenlightened and uninspired.
Aspiration is the longing for heavenly things (for righteousness, compassion, purity, love) as distinguished from desire, which is the longing for earthly things (for selfish possessions, personal dominance, low pleasures and sensual gratifications). For one to begin to aspire means that they are dissatisfied with their low estate, and are aiming at a higher condition.
It is a sure sign that they have been roused out of the lethargic sleep of animality, and have become conscious of nobler attainments and a fuller life. Aspiration makes all things possible.
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.
