Anthony de Mello

“Everybody was talking about the religious man who committed suicide. While no one in the monastery approved of the man's action, some say they admired his faith.Faith?" said the Master.He had the courage of his convictions, didn't he?"That was fanaticism, not faith. Faith demands a greater courage still: to reexamine one's convictions and reject them if they do not fit the facts.”

“It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth, in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear!”

“Perfect love casts out fear. Where there is love there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy; my happiness does not lie in you. If you were to leave me, I will not feel sorry for myself; I enjoy your company immensely, but I do not cling.”

“Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance.”

“Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it.”

“The Master made it his task to destroy systematically everydoctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for thesethings, which were originally intended as pointers, were nowbeing taken as descriptions.He loved to quote the Eastern saying "When the sage pointsto the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.”

“Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.”

“If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else.” “I know. An overwhelming passion for it.” “No. An unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong.”

“The one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change.”

“The only way someone can be of help to you is in challenging your ideas. If you're ready to listen and if you're ready to be challenged, there's one thing that you can do, but no one can help you. What is this most important thing of all? It's called self-observation.”

“As one man said, "I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it." That's what spirituality is all about, you know: unlearning. Unlearning all the rubbish they taught you.”

“We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause - for what they call success. Those are words that do not correspond to reality. They are conventions, things that are invented, but we don't realize that they don't correspond to reality. What is success? It is what one group decided is a good thing. Another group will decide the same thing is bad.”

“A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality.”

“These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness.”

“Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone you must say to yourself: I am dying and this person too is dying, attempting the while to experience the truth of the words you are saying. If every one of you agrees to practice this, bitterness will die out, harmony will arise.”

“As soon as you look at the world through an ideology you are finished. No reality fits an ideology. Life is beyond that. … That is why people are always searching for a meaning to life… Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning. Life only makes sense when you perceive it as mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.”

“The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.”

“When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.”

“We see people and things not as they are, but as we are.”

“Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description.”