May Thoughts: James Allen

Comfort ye! The heights of Blessed Vision ye shall reach.

EOLAUS: I know that sorrow follows passion; know

That grief and emptiness, and heartaches wait

Upon all earthly joys; so am I sad;

Yet Truth must be, and being, can be found;

And though I am in sorrow, this I know

I shall be glad when I have found the Truth.

Prophet: There is no gladness like the joy of Truth.

The pure in heart swim in a sea of bliss

That evermore nor sorrow knows, nor pain;

For who can see the Cosmos and be sad?

To know is to be happy; they rejoice

Who have attained Perfection; these are they

Who live, and know, and realize the Truth.

He findeth Truth who findeth self-control.

There can be no progress, no achievement, without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance. And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the greater will be his success, the more blessed and enduring will be his achievements.

None but right acts can follow right thoughts; none but a right life can follow right acts; and by living a right life all blessedness is achieved. Mind is the Master-power that moulds and makes. And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes the tool of thought, and, shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills;—He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: environment is but his looking-glass.

Not in any of the three worlds can the soul find lasting satisfaction, apart from the realization of righteousness.

EVERY soul, consciously or unconsciously, hungers for righteousness, and every soul seeks to gratify that hunger in its own particular way, and in accordance with its own particular state of knowledge. The hunger is one, and the righteousness is one, but the pathways by which righteousness is sought are many. They who seek consciously are blessed, and shall shortly find that final and permanent satisfaction of soul which righteousness alone can give, for they have come into a knowledge of the true path. They who seek unconsciously, although for a time they may bathe in a sea of pleasure, are not blessed, for they are carving out for themselves pathways of suffering, over which they must walk with torn and wounded feet, and the soul will cry out for its lost heritage—the eternal heritage of the righteous.

Blessed are they who earnestly and intelligently seek.

Glorious, radiant, free, detached from the tyranny of self!

The outward life harmonizes itself with the inward music.

The regulation and purification of conduct.

He lives no longer for himself, he lives for others: and so living, he enjoys the highest bliss, the deepest peace.

Having clothed himself with humility, the first questions a man asks himself are:—

“How am I acting towards others?”
“What am I doing to others?”
“How am I thinking of others?”
“Are my thoughts of, and acts towards others prompted by unselfish love?”

As a man, in the silence of his soul, asks himself these searching questions, he will unerringly see where he has hitherto failed.

Apart from the earnest striving to live out the teachings of Jesus, there can be no true life.

That which is above all creeds, beliefs, and opinions is a loving and self-sacrificing heart.

To dwell in love always and towards all is to live the true life, is to have Life itself.

Sin and Christ cannot dwell together, and he who accepts the Christ-life of pure Goodness ceases from sin.

When Christ is disputed about, Christ is lost.

The narrow way is the Way of Renunciation, or self-sacrifice.

A man can learn nothing unless he regards himself as a learner.

“HOW am I acting towards others?”

“What am I doing for others?”

“How am I thinking of others?”

“Are my thoughts of, and acts towards others, prompted by unselfish love, as I would theirs should be to me; or are they the outcome of personal dislike, of petty revenge, or of narrow bigotry and condemnation?”

As a man, in the sacred silence of his soul, asks himself these searching questions, applying all his thoughts and acts to the spirit of the primary precept of the Christ, his understanding will become illuminated, so that he will unerringly see where he has hitherto failed; and he will see what he has got to do in rectifying his heart and conduct, and the way in which it is to be done.

Evil is not worth resisting. The practice of the good is supremely excellent.

Personal antipathies, however natural they may be to the animal man, can have no place in the divine life.

He who will keep the precepts of Jesus will conquer himself, and will become divinely illuminated.

Humanity is essentially divine.

Jesus, in His divine goodness, knew the human heart, and He knew that it was good.

He who would find how good at heart men are, let him throw away all his ideas and suspicions about the “evil” in others, and find and practice the good within himself.

This is the holy way of Truth; this is the safe and abiding salvation; this is the yoke and burden of the Christ.

The Gospel of Jesus is a Gospel of living and doing.

Pure Goodness is religion, and outside it there is no religion.

They are the doers of the Father’s will who shape their conduct to the Divine precepts.

It is only the doer of forgiveness who tastes the sweets of forgiveness.

The Christ is the Spirit of Love.

In this Principle of Love, all Knowledge, Intelligence, and Wisdom are contained.

Love is not complete until it is lived by man.

Man’s only refuge from sin is sinless Love.

Before a man can know Love as the abiding Reality within him, he must utterly abandon all those human tendencies which frustrate its perfect manifestation.

Such glorious realization is the crown of evolution, the supreme aim of existence.

As self is the root cause of all strife and suffering, so Love is the root cause of all peace and bliss.

All men are essentially divine, though unaware of their divine nature.

All so-called evil is seen to be rooted in ignorance.

Whosoever is ready may come now.

Heaven is not a speculative thing beyond the tomb but a real, ever-present Heaven in the heart.

Heaven is where Love rules, and where peace is never absent.

To the faithful, humble, and true will be revealed the sublime Vision of the Perfect One.

Realize the perfect Goodness of the Eternal Christ.

The Kingdom of Heaven is perfect trust, perfect knowledge, perfect peace.

That Kingdom is in the heart of every man and woman.

Find the Kingdom by daily effort and patient work.

Pay the price . . . the unconditional abandonment of self.

All things are possible now, and only now.

Man has all power now.

Cease to tread every byway that tempts thy soul into the shadow-land.

Manifest thy native and divine strength now.

Be resolute. Be of single purpose. Renew your resolution daily.

Put away all wavering and doubt, and practise the lessons of wisdom with unlimited faith.

Avoid exaggerations. The Truth is sufficient.

Do not dispute about Truth, but live it.

Abstinence, sobriety, and self-control are good.

The pure-minded cannot think, “I have been injured by another.”

They know no enemy but self.

Meditation centred upon divine realities is the very essence and soul of prayer. It is the silent reaching upward of the soul toward the Eternal.

Meditation is the intense dwelling, in thought, upon an idea or theme with the object of thoroughly comprehending it; and whatsoever you constantly meditate upon, you will not only come to understand, but will grow more and more into its likeness, for it will become incorporated with your very being, will become, in fact, your very self.

If, therefore, you constantly dwell upon that which is selfish and debasing, you will ultimately become selfish and debased; if you ceaselessly think upon that which is pure and unselfish, you will surely become pure and unselfish.

Let your charity increase and extend till self is swallowed up in kindness.

Be strong, energetic, steadfast.

Be right-minded, intelligent, and clear-seeing.

Truth is. There is no chaos.

Train your mind to grasp the Great Law of Causation which is unfailing justice.

Find no room for hatred, no room for self no room for sorrow.

Be self-reliant, but let thy self-reliance be saintly and not selfish.

Goodness is the aim of all religions.

Book of Meditations
&
Thoughts for the Day
For Every Day in the Year

A combination of two books: 'Morning and Evening Thoughts' by James Allen, published 1909 and 'James Allen's Book of Meditations' published 1913.