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

Anthony de Mello

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Anthony de Mello
Age: 55 †
Born: 1931
Born: September 4
Died: 1987
Died: June 2
Philosopher
Priest
Psychologist
Theologian
Writer
Bombay
Used
Every
Distortion
Mysticism
Description
Image
Word

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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If you look carefully you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is attachment. What is an attachment? An emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some particular thing or some person you cannot be happy.
Anthony de Mello
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Said the monk: All these mountains and rivers and the earth and stars - where do they come from? Said the master: Where does your question come from?
Anthony de Mello
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What is the work of a Master? said a solemn-faced visitor. To teach people to laugh , said the Master gravely.
Anthony de Mello
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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
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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
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Are you your clothes? Are you your name? Are you your profession? Stop identifying with them. They come and go
Anthony de Mello
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Because you cannot see outside of you what you fail to see inside.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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Before enlightenment, I used to be depressed after enlightenment, I continue to be depressed.
Anthony de Mello
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The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-Tzu's dictum: Those who know, do not say Those who say, do not know. When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the master, Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose? All of them indicated that they knew. Then he said, Put it into words. All of them were silent
Anthony de Mello
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When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.
Anthony de Mello
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The Master made it his task to destroy systematically every doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now being taken as descriptions. He loved to quote the Eastern saying When the sage points to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
Anthony de Mello
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There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.
Anthony de Mello
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You've got to drop something. You've got to drop illusions. You don't have to add anything in order to be happy you've got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings.
Anthony de Mello
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I seek the meaning of existence, said the stranger. You are of course assuming, said the Master, that existence has a meaning. Doesn't it? When you experience existence as it is - not as you think it is you will discover that your question has no meaning, said the Master.
Anthony de Mello
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One day, a philosopher asked, What is the purpose of creation? Lovemaking, said the Master. Later, to his disciples, he said, Before creation, love was. After creation, love was made. When love is consummated, creation will cease to be, and love will be forever.
Anthony de Mello
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If I haven't received any grace today, then I was not at home. This is because God is sending deliveries constantly.
Anthony de Mello
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If you don't look at things through your concepts, you'll never be bored. Every single thing is unique.
Anthony de Mello
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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
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The master never seemed to have his fill of gazing at his firstborn child. What do you want him to be when he grows up? someone asked. Outrageously happy, said the master.
Anthony de Mello