Text of the meditation
Great will be the pain and unrest of anyone who seeks to stand upon the approval of others. To detach oneself from every outward thing, and to rest securely upon inward virtue: this is the Unfailing Wisdom. With this Wisdom, a person will be the same in riches or in poverty.
Riches cannot add to their strength, nor poverty rob them of their serenity. Riches cannot defile one who has washed away all inward defilement, nor can the lack of them degrade one who has stopped degrading the temple of their soul. To refuse to be enslaved by any outward thing or happening, regarding all such things and happenings as there for your use and your education: this is Wisdom.
To the wise, all occurrences are good, and, having no eye for evil, they grow wiser every day. They make use of all things, and so put all things under their feet. They see all their mistakes as soon as they are made, and accept them as lessons of real value, knowing that there are no mistakes in the Divine Order.
To love where one is not loved: in this lies the strength that will never fail a person.
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.