James Allen's Daily Meditations: May 19th
Excerpts from "James Allen’s Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year" (1913)
James Allen's meditations present the opportunity for a daily meditation on the burning question within us all. How should we act?
Today, James Allen asks us to reflect on bringing heaven into our present moment. Not as some distant goal in the future.
Heaven is not a speculative thing beyond the tomb but a real, ever-present Heaven in the heart.
May 19th
THE only salvation recognised and taught by Jesus is salvation from sin, and the effects of sin, here and now ; and this must be effected by utterly abandoning sin, which, having done, the Kingdom of God is realised in the heart as a state of perfect knowledge, perfect blessedness, perfect peace.
" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." A man must become a new creature, and how can he become new except by utterly abandoning the old ? That man’s last state is worse than his first who imagines that, though still continuing to cling to his old temper, his old opinionativeness, his old vanity, his old selfishness, he is constituted a new creature in some mysterious and unexplainable way by the adoption of some particular theology or religious formula.
Heaven is where Love rules, and where peace is never absent.
-Source
Love is the quality of being that brings us the greatest peace. Let's meditate upon that, and make love rule in our daily lives. Where love rules, peace is never absent. What a fantastic meditation.
There are many things in our lives that we don't have control over. The thing I have control over, is my attitude towards the circumstance that surrounds me. In everything I do, I can mold my thoughts to see the beauty, wisdom and lessons in every moment of my life. Heaven is not something to be experienced when I die. Heaven is something to experience now. In every moment of my day. Each day is a mystery unfolding that reveals a deeper truth. When we let love rule, it gives us the keys to open that mystery. Heaven is revealed to us in that mystery.
The practice of starting my day with a meditation on gratitude is one of the most important aspects of bringing heaven into my heart everyday. Meditation serves to bring us to the center of now, where we deeply feel our peculiar place in time and space. Everyday we strive to cast off yesterday and what was and begin anew with what is.
James Allen is an author for whom I have great love. I have created this blog on steemit to immortalise his writing. I hope to examine his daily meditations and their implications for my life, and hopefully for yours too.
His book 'As A Man Thinketh' has been a constant companion and reminder of how important it is to cultivate good thoughts in our mind, to achieve good results in our lives.
More of the work of James Allen can be found at:
James Allen (28 November 1864 – 24 January 1912) was a British philosophical writer known for his inspirational books and poetry and as a pioneer of the self-help movement. His best known work, As a Man Thinketh, has been mass-produced since its publication in 1903. It has been a source of inspiration to motivational and self-help authors.
-Source