from Awareness by Anthony DeMello . . . Pleasant experiences make life delightful. Painful experiences lead to growth. Suffering points up an area in you where you have not yet grown, where you need to grow and be transformed and change. If you knew how to use that suffering, oh, how you would grow. Let’s limit ourselves, for the time being, to psychological suffering, to all those negative emotions we have. I’ve told you what you could…
from One Minute Wisdom “I am in desperate need of help — or I’ll go crazy. We’re living in a single room, my wife, my children and my in-laws. So our nerves are on edge, we yell and scream at one another. The room is a hell.” “Do you promise to do whatever I tell you?” said the Master gravely. “I swear I shall do anything.” “Very well. How many animals do you have?” “A…
From The Way to Love by Anthony DeMello . . . What is clear thinking and how does one arrive at it? The first thing you must know is that it does not call for any great learning. It is so simple as to be within the reach of a ten-year-old child. What is needed is not learning but unlearning, not talent but courage. You will understand this if you think of a little child in the…
from Wellspring by Anthony DeMello I think of myself as quite a decent person, good-hearted and respected, with minor sins and failings, until it dawns on me that the greatest sinners are the ones who sin in ignorance. I see the well intentioned damage “love” inflicts on helpless children. I see the marks of cruelty in fervently religious people. I see fair-minded Pharisees assess the evidence against Jesus and consider it their duty to do…
from Wellspring by Anthony DeMello I imagine that I walk into a desert place. I spend some time exploring the surroundings, then settle down to contemplate my life. I see how frequently I rush outside myself —to people, occupations, places, things— in search of strength and peace and meaning, forgetting that the source of all is here within my heart. It is here that I must search. Each person carries thoughts that have the power…
from Wellspring by Anthony DeMello God says, “Give me your heart.” And then, in answer to my puzzlement, I hear him say, “Your heart is where your treasure is.” My treasures—here they are: persons … places … occupations … things … experiences of the past … the future’s hopes and dreams. I pick each treasure up, say something to it, and place it in the presence of the Lord. How shall I “give” these treasures to…
from Rediscovering Life by Anthony DeMello . . . The world is full of sorrow? Agreed. The root of sorrow is desire. Well— all right. Now, what are you going to conclude, that the uprooting of sorrow is desirelessness? So you are going to be a vegetable? I mean, how do you live without desires? Let me give you a better translation. I don’t think Buddha would be so foolish and stupid as to say that we ought…
From The Way to Love by Anthony DeMello . . . Have you ever felt disgusted with life, sick at heart of constantly running away from fears and anxieties, weary of your begging rounds, exhausted from being dragged about helplessly by your attachments and addictions? Have you ever felt the utter meaninglessness of working for a degree, then finding a job, then settling down to a life of boredom; or, if you are an achiever, settling down…
from Rediscovering Life by Anthony DeMello . . . John Lennon wrote the famous lyric, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” It’s even worse than that: Life is what happens to you while you’re busy suffering over other things. Here is a perfect image for this. You are at a concert hall and the orchestra is about to play a symphony you love. You’ve settled in your seat, the…
From Awareness by Anthony DeMello . . . Wake up. Put on a new mind. All is well. We are surrounded by a loving, joyful force and the only tragedy is that we are blind to it. Life is a banquet and the tragedy is that most people are starving to death. There’s a story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil perishing from thirst. They had no idea that the…
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