"Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make thy life
Rich, sweet, and beautiful, unmarred by strife;
Guard, well thy mind, and, noble, strong, and free,
Nothing shall harm, disturb, or conquer thee;
For all thy foes are in thy heart and mind,
There also thy salvation thou wilt find.
Confucius said, “The perfecting of one’s self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development;” a maxim as profound and comprehensive as it is simple, practical, and uninvolved, for there is no surer way to knowledge, nor no better way to help the world than by perfecting one’s self. Nor is there any nobler work or higher science than that of self-perfection. He who studies how to become faultless, who strives to be pure-hearted, who aims at the possession of a calm, wise, and seeing mind, engages in the most sublime task that man can undertake, and the results of which are perceptible in a well-ordered, blessed, and beautiful life. "
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A deeper dive into the territory covered in Allen's most popular and enduring work. Written in the year of his death, and nine years after the success of As A Man Thinketh allowed the gentle and practical Victorian philosopher to dedicate hiimself to writing, Out From The Heart, Allen goes into more practical detail than ever before about how to realise the personal growth journey in your own life.
Blending everything from Confucian and Buddhist thought to practical tips on the kinds of speech and thought to avoid, the lessons of this book would be repeated in a thousand forms as the years went by and Allen's influence on both spirituality and self-help spread down the decades.
