The Way of Peace

James Allen's 'The Way of Peace' is a beautiful meditation about truth vs. the self. Allen discusses 5 things to consider during meditation: (1) love for one's enemies, (2) pity or compassion for all human beings in suffering, (3) joy, (4) impurity, or how the desire for immediate pleasures stop us from the truth, and (5) serenity, which Allen defines as bringing oneself above love and hate, tyranny and oppression, and everything else besides truth. All in all, Allen's book is a very interesting--though sometimes dreamy--piece of prose exploring the concept of truth in the philosophical sense.