the Great Reality

James Allen
(1864–1912)

TO the awakened and enlightened,
To those who seek to be awakened and enlightened,–
There is darkness and there is Light ;
There is dreaming and there is Waking ;
There is illusion and there is Reality.


The darkness apprehendeth not the Light ;
The dreamer knoweth not his waking mind ;
And the wanderer in illusion is unacquainted with Reality ;
Of two ways, therefore, one must be abandoned.
The dweller in darkness seeth nothing,
Not even himself,
His feet stumble, he knoweth not his way.
Abandon darkness, and thou shalt come unto the Light;
Coming to the Light, thou shalt see all things:
Thou shalt know thy way, and thy feet shall cease from stumbling.
The way of the dreamer is uncertain and painful;
Pleasure and terror afflict him ;
He knoweth not where he standeth;
He controlleth not himself, and is at the mercy of the unreal.
Abandon the dreams of self, O thou that sleepest !
Awake ! open thine eyes to the Morning,
And thou shalt comprehend thine own divinity.
The walker in the way of illusion is surrounded with shadows;
He perceiveth not the substance ;
Grasping at bubbles, he is scourged with grief and disappointment;
Clinging to the perishable, he mourns,
And following after that which vanishes, he is troubled with unrest.
Abandon the pathway of illusion,
The pathway of thy perishable self,
So shalt thou find the imperishable Truth;
Gladness shall take the place of mourning,
And thine eyes shall be opened to the glory of the Great Reality.
What, then, is the Great Reality ?
The Great Reality is a stainless heart,
An enlightened understanding,
A soul whose perfect peace is not disturbed.
By the practice of righteousness only can the Great Reality be known ;
He alone can perceive it who controls himself;
He alone can enter it who purifies himself ;
He alone can abide therein who is free from all sin.
In the Great Reality all religions and philosophies culminate,
They meet here, and then vanish away,
For there is no division in the Great Reality,
Strife and unrest cannot enter there,
And he who comes to it is filled with peace.
Thou who wouldst understand the Great Reality ;
Thou who would’st enter it, and know its peace;
Seek the One behind the many,
Seek the Silence behind the noise,
Seek Truth behind self ;
Seek for that which is holy and peace-giving,
Which abides, and does not pass away like the morning dew.
Wisdom abides ;
Love abides ;
Compassion abides ;
Truth abides;
Therefore sacrifice self,
For self and all the things of self are perishable,
They belong to the unreal !
Awake, then, out of thy dreaming!
Disperse all thy shadows,
Destroy all thine illusions,
And thou shalt enter the Great Reality;
Filled with peace, thou shalt dwell with the Eternal Harmonies ;
Filled with bliss, thou shalt sing the everlasting Song,
The Song which thrills the spaces and the worlds ;
Thy Song and mine thus shalt thou sing,–
I have made the acquaintance of the Master of Compassion;
I have put on the Garment of the Perfect Law ;
I have entered the realm of the Great Reality.
Wandering is ended, for Rest is accomplished ;
Pain and sorrow have ceased, for Peace is entered into;
Confusion is dissolved, for Unity is made manifest;
Error is vanquished, for Truth is revealed.
Blessed is he who has resolved to abandon self:
Blessed is he who is pure;
Blessed is he who has destroyed all his illusions;
He has found the Great Reality at last.
The universe is glad, for again the Master is revealed;
The universe is glad, for again the Law of Good is expounded;
The universe is glad, for again the Great Reality is comprehended.
The Divine Companion by James Allen (1919)