James Allen’s Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year. Джеймс Аллен

reveal themselves in words, actions, and things accomplished.

      Mind clothes itself in garments of its own making.

       There is no nobler work or higher science than that of self-perfection.

      March Second.

      LET man realise that life in its totality proceeds from the mind, and lo, the way of blessedness is opened to him. For he will then discover that he possesses the power to rule his mind, and to fashion it in accordance with his ideal. So will he elect to strongly and steadfastly walk those pathways of thought and action which are altogether excellent; to him life will become beautiful and sacred; and, sooner or later, he will put to flight all evil, confusion, and suffering; for it is impossible for a man to fall short of liberation, enlightenment, and peace who guards with unwearying diligence the gateway of his heart.

      He who aims at the possession of a calm, wise, and seeing mind engages in the most sublime task that man can undertake.

       A thought constantly repeated at last becomes a fixed habit.

      March Third.

      IT is in the nature of the mind to acquire knowledge by the repetition of its experiences. A thought which it is very difficult, at first, to hold and to dwell upon, at last becomes, by constantly being held in the mind, a natural and habitual condition. Just as a boy, when commencing to learn a trade, cannot even handle his tools aright, much less use them correctly, but after long repetition and practice plies them with perfect ease and consummate skill, so a state of mind at first apparently impossible of realisation is, by perseverance and practice, at last acquired and built into the character as a natural and spontaneous condition.

      In this power of the mind to form and reform its habits, its conditions, is contained the basis of man’s salvation, and the open door to perfect liberty by the mastery of sen.

      When the heart is pure all outward things are pure.

       Every sin may be overcome.

      March Fourth.

      A MAN’S life, in its totality, proceeds from his mind, and his mind is a combination of habits, which he can, by patient effort, modify to any extent, and over which he can gain complete ascendancy and control. Let a man realise this, and he has at once obtained possession of the key which shall open the door to his complete emancipation.

      But emancipation from the ills of life (which are the ills of one s mind) is a matter of steady growth from within, and not a sudden acquisition from without. Hourly and daily must the mind be trained to think stainless thoughts, and to adopt right and dispassionate attitudes, until he has wrought out of it the Ideal of his holiest dreams.

      The Higher Life is a higher living in thought, word, and deed.

       Without the right performance of Duty, the higher virtues cannot be known.

      March Fifth.

      ALL duty should be regarded as sacred, and its faithful and unselfish performance one of the leading rules of conduct. All personal and selfish considerations should be extracted and cast away from the doing of one’s duty; and when this is done, Duty ceases to be irksome, and becomes joyful. Duty is only irksome to him who craves some selfish enjoyment or benefit for himself. Let the man who is chafing under the irksome-ness of his duty look to himself, and he will find that his wearisomeness proceeds, not from the duty itself, but from his selfish desire to escape it. He who neglects duty, be it great or small, or of a public or private nature, neglects Virtue; and he who in his heart rebels against Duty rebels against Virtue.

      The virtuous man concentrates his mind on the perfect doing of his own duty.

       Man is the doer of his own deeds; as such he is the maker of his own character.

      March Sixth.

      THOSE things which befall a man are the reflections of himself; that destiny which pursued him, which he was powerless to escape by effort, or avert by prayer, was the relentless ghoul of his own wrong deeds demanding and enforcing restitution; those blessings and curses which come to him unbidden are the reverberating echoes of the sounds which he himself sent forth.

      Man finds himself involved in the train of causation. His life is made up of causes and effects. It is both a sowing and a reaping. Each act of his is a cause which must be balanced by its effects. He chooses the cause (this is Free-will), he cannot choose, alter, or avert the effect (this is Fate); thus Free-will stands for the power to initiate causes, and destiny is involvement in effects.

      Character is destiny.

       Every form of unhappiness springs from a wrong condition of mind.

      March Seventh.

      ALL sin is ignorance. It is a condition of darkness and undevelopment. The wrong-thinker and the wrong-doer is in the same position in the school of life as is the ignorant pupil in the school of learning. He has yet to learn how to think and act correctly, that is, in accordance with Law. The pupil in learning is not happy so long as he does his lessons wrongly, and unhappiness cannot be escaped while sin remains unconquered.

      Life is a series of lessons. Some are diligent in learning them, and they become pure, wise, and altogether happy. Others are negligent, and do not apply themselves, and they remain impure, foolish, and unhappy.

      Happiness is mental harmony.

       If one would find peace, he must come out of passion.

      March Eighth.

      SELFISHNESS, or passion, not only subsists in the gross forms of greed and glaringly ungoverned conditions of mind; it informs also every hidden thought which is subtly connected with the assumption and glorification of one s self; 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 man who continually dwells upon the selfishness in others will not thus overcome his own selfishness. 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 one s self. 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.

       Aspiration—the rapture of the saints.

      March Ninth.

      ON the wings of aspiration man rises from earth to heaven, from ignorance to knowledge, from the under darkness to the upper light. Without it he remains a grovelling animal, earthly, sensual, unenlightened, and uninspired.

      Aspiration is the longing for heavenly tilings —for righteousness, compassion, purity, love— as distinguished from desire, which is the longing for earthly things—for selfish possesions, personal dominance, low pleasures, and sensual gratifications. For one to begin to aspire means that he is dissatisfied with his low estate, and is aiming at a higher condition. It is a sure sign that he is roused out of his lethargic sleep of animality, and has become conscious of nobler attainments and a fuller life.

      Aspiration makes all things possible.

       The man of aspiration sees before him the pathway up to the heavenly heights.

      March Tenth.

      WHEN the rapture of aspiration touches the mind it at once refines it, and the dross of its impurities begins to fall away; yea, while aspiration holds the mind, no impurities can enter it, for the impure and the pure cannot at the same moment occupy the thought. But the effort of aspiration is at first spasmodic and short-lived. The mind falls back into its habitual error and must be constantly renewed.

      To thirst for righteousness; to hunger for the pure life; to rise in holy rapture on the wings af angelic aspiration—this is the right road to wisdom; this is the right striving for peace; this is the right beginning of the way divine.

      The lover