Daily meditation, July 4th: James Allen

How can he fear any who wrongs none?

JULY FOURTH

THE righteous man is invincible. No enemy can possibly overcome or confound him; and he needs no other protection than that of his own integrity and holiness. As it is impossible for evil to overcome Good, so the righteous man can never be brought low by the unrighteous. Slander, envy, hatred, malice can never reach him, nor cause him any suffering, and those who try to injure him only succeed ultimately in bringing ignominy upon themselves.

The righteous man having nothing to hide, committing no acts which require stealth, and harbouring no thoughts and desires which he would not like Others to know, is fearless and unashamed. His step is firm, his body upright, and his speech direct and without ambiguity. He looks everybody in the face. How can he be ashamed before any who deceives none ?

Ceasing from all wrong you can never be wronged; ceasing from all deceit you can never be deceived.

Daily meditation, July 3rd: James Allen

Nothing is hidden from him who overcomes himself.

JULY THIRD

INTO the cause of causes shalt thou penetrate, and lifting, one after another, every veil of illusion, shalt reach at last the inmost Heart of Being. Thus becoming one with Life, thou shalt know all life, and, seeing into causes, and knowing realities, thou shalt be no more anxious about thyself, and others, and the world, but shalt see that all things that are, are engines of the Great Law. Canopied with gentleness, thou shalt bless where others curse ; love where others hate ; forgive where others condemn ; yield where others strive ; give up where others grasp ; lose where others gain. And in their strength they shall be weak ; and in thy weakness thou shalt be strong ; yea, thou shalt mightily prevail. " Therefore, when Heaven would save a man, it enfolds him with gentleness."

He that hath not unbroken gentleness hath not Truth.

Daily meditation, July 2nd: James Allen

The might of meekness !

JULY SECOND

THE man who conquers another by force is strong; the man who conquers himself by Meekness is mighty. He who conquers another by force will himself likewise be conquered; he who conquers himself by Meekness will never be overthrown, for the human cannot overcome the divine. The meek man is triumphant in defeat. Socrates lives the more by being put to death; in the crucified Jesus the risen Christ is revealed; and Stephen, in receiving his stoning, defies the hurting power of stones. That which is real cannot be destroyed, but only that which is unreal. When a man finds that within him which is real, which is constant, abiding, changeless, and eternal, he enters into that Reality, and becomes meek. All the powers of darkness will come against him, but they will do him no hurt, and will at last depart from him.

Meekness is a divine quality, and as such is all powerful.

Daily meditation, July 1st: James Allen

Wisdom is the aim of every philosophy.

JULY FIRST

IN whatever condition a man finds himself, he can always find the True; and he can find it only by so utilising his present condition as to become strong and wise. The effeminate hankering after rewards, and the craven fear of punishment, let them be put away for ever, and let a man joyfully bend himself to the faithful performance of all his duties, forgetting himself and his worthless pleasures, and living strong and pure and self-contained; so shall he surely find the Unfailing Wisdom, the God-like Patience and Strength. " The situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal, was never yet occupied by man." All that is beautiful and blessed is in thyself, not in thy neighbour’s wealth. Thou art poor? Thou art poor indeed if thou art not stronger than thy poverty! Thou hast suffered calamities ? Tell me, wilt thou cure calamity by adding anxiety to it ? There is no evil but will vanish if thou wilt wisely meet it.

Canst thou mend a broken vase by weeping over it?

Daily meditation, June 30th: James Allen

Seers of the Cosmos do not mourn over the scheme of things.

JUNE THIRTIETH

SEERS of the Cosmos see the universe as a perfect whole, and not as an imperfect jumble of parts. The Great Teachers are men of abiding joy and heavenly peace.

The blind captive of unholy desire may cry: " Ah ! Love, could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, Would we not shatter it to bits, and then Remould it nearer to the heart’s desire ?" This is the wish of the voluptuary, the wish to enjoy unlawful pleasures to any extent, and not reap any painful consequences. It is such men who regard the universe as a "sorry scheme of things." They want the universe to bend to their will and desire ; want lawlessness, not law ; but the wise man bends his will and subjects his desires to the Divine Order, and he sees the universe as the glorious perfection of an infinitude of parts.

To perceive it, is the beatific vision; to know it, is the beatific bliss.

Daily meditation, June 29th: James Allen

The law which punishes us is the law which preserves us.

JUNE TWENTY - NINTH

WHEN in their ignorance men would destroy themselves, its everlasting arms are thrown about them in loving, albeit sometimes painful, protection.

Every pain we suffer brings us nearer to the knowledge of the Divine Wisdom. Every blessedness we enjoy speaks to us of the perfection of the Great Law, and of the fullness of bliss that shall be man’s when he has come to his heritage of divine knowledge. We progress by learning, and we learn, up to a certain point, by suffering. When the heart is mellowed by love, the Law of love is perceived in all its wonderful kindness; when wisdom is acquired, peace is assured.

We cannot alter the law of things, which is of sublime perfection, but we can alter ourselves so as to comprehend more and more of that perfection, and make its grandeur ours.

To wish to bring down the perfect to the imperfect is the crown of folly, but to strive to bring the imperfect up to the perfect is the height of wisdom.

Daily meditation, June 28th: James Allen

The silent, calm people will manifest a more enduring form of success than those who are noisy and restless.

JUNE TWENTY - EIGHT

WHEN a man exchanges coppers for silver, and silver for gold, he does not thereby give up the use of money; he exchanges a heavy mass for one that is lighter and smaller but more valuable. So when a man exchanges hurry for deliberation, and deliberation for calmness, he does not give up effort, he merely exchanges a diffusive and more or less ineffective energy for a more highly concentrated, effective, and valuable form.

Yet even the crudest forms of effort are necessary at first, for without them to begin with the higher forms could not be acquired. The child must crawl before it can walk; it must babble before it can talk; it must talk before it can compose. Man begins in weakness and ends in strength, but from beginning to end he advances by the efforts he makes, by the exertion he puts forth.

The root of success is in character.