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Lessons from Anthony de Mello
I came across Anthony’s book last year perusing The World’s Smallest Bookstore north of Kinmouth, Ontario. A tiny, five-foot-by-eight-foot converted chicken coop. And was enjoyed reading his book ‘Awareness’.
Anthony was a Jesuit priest and mystic. He died suddenly in 1987.
We see people and things not as they are, but as we are.
Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for your actions. 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.
When you wake up, you see reality for itself. Without all the baggage, the illusion.
Our attachments to this worldliness cause our suffering. All suffering is caused by my identifying myself with something, whether that something is within me or outside of me.
When you really understand this, no criticism can affect you. No flattery or praise can affect you either.
Clinging to others is not love. 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.
The path of enlightenment is marred with suffering. People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favour progress, provided they can have it without change.
Till next week,
Peace!
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