There were rules in the monastery, but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law. 'Obedience keeps the rules,' he would say. 'Love knows when to break them.' Anthony de Mello More Quotes by Anthony de Mello More Quotes From Anthony de Mello You know, all mystics - Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion - are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare. Anthony de Mello christian life people No person on earth has the power to make you unhappy. There is no event on earth that has the power to disturb you or hurt you. No event, condition, situation, or person. Nobody told you this; they told you the opposite. That's why you're in the mess you're in right now. That is why you're asleep. They never told you this. But it's self-evident. Anthony de Mello hurt self opposites Take away human beings from this planet and life would go on, nature would go on in all its loveliness and violence. Where would the problem be? No problem. You created the problem. You are the problem. You identified with "me" and that is the problem. The feeling is in you, not in reality. Anthony de Mello goes-on feelings reality All suffering comes from a person's inability to sit still and be alone. Anthony de Mello inability persons suffering The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, "If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils." Said Diogenes, "Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king. Anthony de Mello philosopher kings bread A good teacher offers practice, a bad one offers theories. Anthony de Mello theory practice teacher The Master would insist that the final barrier to our attaining God was the word and concept God. Anthony de Mello barriers finals masters The present moment is never intolerable. What's intolerable is what's going to happen in the next four hours. To have your body here at 8 pm and your mind at 10:30 pm, that's what causes us suffering. Anthony de Mello pms mind live-in-the-moment A Jesuit once wrote a note to Father Arrupe, his superior general, asking him about the relative value of communism, socialism and capitalism. Father Arrupe gave him a lovely reply. He said, "A system is about as good or as bad as the people who use it." People with golden hearts would make capitalism or communism or socialism work beautifully. Anthony de Mello relative-value heart father The way to really live is to die. The passport to living is to imagine yourself in your grave. Imagine you're lying in your coffin....Now look at your problems from that viewpoint. Changes everything, doesn't it? Anthony de Mello change lying looks Live your life as you see fit. That's not selfish. Selfish is to demand that others live their lives as you see fit. Anthony de Mello live-your-life demand selfish Are you your clothes? Are you your name? Are you your profession? Stop identifying with them. They come and go Anthony de Mello clothes money names If what you said was true, where was the need to shout? Anthony de Mello ifs said needs You do not have to change for God to love you. Anthony de Mello love-you You're so ashamed of your past; drop it! You're so proud of your past; drop it! Anthony de Mello ashamed proud past When God means you to be a healer he sends you patients; when he makes you a teacher he sends you pupils; when he destines you to be a Master he sends you stories. Anthony de Mello stories teacher mean A newly married couple said, "What shall we do to make our love endure?" Said the Master, "Love other things together". Anthony de Mello couple together love-you You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story. Anthony de Mello distance humans stories You have within yourself the answer to every question you propose - if you only knew how to look for it. In the Land of the spirit, you cannot walk by the light of someone else's lamp. You want to borrow mine. I'd rather teach you how to make your own. Anthony de Mello light land truth Anytime you have a negative feeling toward anyone, you're living in an illusion. There's something seriously wrong with you. You're not seeing reality. Something inside of you has to change. But what do we generally do when we have a negative feeling? "He is to blame, she is to blame. She's got to change." No! The world's all right. The one who has to change is you. Anthony de Mello feelings reality negative
