Text of the meditation
The object of meditation is divine enlightenment. While, at first, the time spent in actual meditation is short, perhaps only half an hour in the early morning, the knowledge gained in that half-hour of vivid aspiration and concentrated thought is embodied in practice during the whole day.
In meditation, therefore, the entire life of a person is involved; and as they advance in its practice, they become more and more fitted to perform the duties of life in the circumstances in which they may be placed, for they become stronger, holier, calmer and wiser.
The principle of meditation is twofold. One: purification of the heart by repetitive thought on pure things. Two: attainment of divine knowledge by embodying such purity in practical life. A person is a thought-being, and their life and character are determined by the thoughts in which they habitually dwell.
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.