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From Passion to Peace

by James Allen

Chapter 1 of 10 • 314 min read • Published 1910

Chapter 1. Part 1

>•>» BF Copy 2 ON VJISSION WitOVETICEm r- r^ :. )^\\\m m ;o<j.f#}M!i fjinrtii FROM PASSION TO PEACE OR €{)e l^at^lDati of tl)e l^ure BY JAMES ALLEN AUTHOR OF **AS A MAN THINKETH," "THE MASTERY OF DESTINY," "FROM POVERTY TO POWER,"

"BYWAYS OF BLESSEDNESS," &C. 2 , ^ ' > * -'^®/...' ■' l^eixj iorft THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. ^ ^^ ^ ^ COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY JAMES ALLEN COMPOSITION AND ELECTROTYPE PLATES BY D. B, UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON Amid the din and strife of men^ The Call Di'vine I hear again ; Its telling is of things apart, Abonje the tumult of the heart.

High oer cohere sin*s dark pathivays ivind Waits the nvise ^willing of the mind ^ Beyond strong Passion s guarded Gates, There Peace aivaits — there Peace aivaits. ifforetPorD THE first three parts of this book, Pas- sion^ Aspiration^ and "TemptatioUy repre- sent the common human life, with its pas- sion, pathos, and tragedy; the last three parts, 'Transcendence^ Beatitude^ and Peace^ present the Divine Life — calm, wise, and beautiful — of the sage and Saviour, The middle part, Transmutation^ is the tran- sitional stage between the two; it is the alchemic process linking the divine with the human life.

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Discipline, denial, and re- nunciation do not constitute the Divine State; they are only the means by which it is attained. The Divine Life is established in that Perfed Knowledge which bestows Perfec5l Peace. James Allen Bryngoleu Ilfracomhe^ Devon.

England Content?; PAGE PASSION I ASPIRATION 8 TEMPTATION l6 TRANSMUTATION 24 TRANSCENDENCE 33 BEATITUDE 44. PEACE 50 jftom paMon to ptatt ♦ THE pathway of the saints and sages; the road of the wise and pure; the highway along which the Saviours have trod, and which all Saviours to come will also walk — such is the subjeft of this book; such is the high and holy theme which the author briefly expounds in these pages.

Passion is the lowest level of human life. None can descend lower. In its chilling swamps and concealing darkness creep and crawl the creatures of its sunless world. Lust, hatred, covetousness, pride, vanity, greed, revenge, envy, spite, retaliation, slander, backbiting, lying, theft, deceit, treachery, cruelty, suspicion, jealousy — such are the brute forces and blind, unreasoning im- pulses that inhabit the underworld of pas- sion, and roam, devouring and devoured, [ ^ ] jFrom passion to Peace in the rank primeval jungles of the human mind.

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There also dwell the dark shapes of remorse and pain and suffering, and the drooping forms of grief and sorrow and lamentation. In this dark world the unwise live and die, not knowing the peace of purity, nor the joy of that Divine Light which forever shines above them, and for them, yet shines in vain so long as it falls on unseeing eyes which look not up, but are ever bent earth- ward— fleshward.

But the wise look up. They are not sat- isfied with this passion-world, and they bend their steps towards the upper world of peace, the light and glory of which they behold, at first afar off, but nearer and with ever increasing splendor as they ascend.

None can fall lower than passion, but a.11 can rise higher. In that lowest place where further descent is impossible, all who move forward must ascend; and the ascending jfrom Passion to Peace pathway is always at hand, near, and easily accessible.

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It is the way of self-conquest, and he has already entered it who has be- gun to say "nay'* to his selfishness, who has begun to discipline his desires, and to control and command the unruly elements of his mind. Passion is the arch-enemy of mankind, the slayer of happiness, the opposite and enemy of peace.

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