Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you in part by Book of Zen,

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Today's podcast has been edited and adapted from the book,

The Way of Peace by James Allen, published in 1907.

Spiritual meditation is the pathway to divinity. It is the mystic ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, from error to truth, from pain to peace.

Without its aid you cannot grow into the divine state,

and the fadeless glories and joys of truth will remain hidden from you.

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 grow more into its likeness,

for it will become incorporated into 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.

But if you ceaselessly think upon that which is pure and unselfish, you will become more pure and unselfish.

Tell me that which you most frequently and intensely think about, that to which in your

silent hours your soul most naturally turns, and I will tell you what place of pain or peace you are traveling,

and whether you are growing into the likeness of the divine or the mundane. There is an unavoidable

tendency to become literally the embodiment of that quality upon which you most constantly think.

Let therefore the object of your meditation be above and not below, so that every time you revert to it in thought, you will be lifted up.

Let it be pure and unmixed with any selfish element. So shall your heart become purified and drawn nearer to the truth,

and not dragged more hopelessly into error.

Meditation in the spiritual sense in which I am now using it

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