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Another illusion is that external events have the power to hurt you, that other people have the power to hurt you. They don't. It's you who give this power to them.

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
Another
Power
Give
Giving
External
People
Illusion
Events
Hurt
Spiritual

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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There is yet another illusion, that it is important to be respectable, to be loved and appreciated, to be important. Many say we have a natural urge to be loved and appreciated, to belong. That’s false. Drop this illusion and you will find happiness. We have a natural urge to be free, a natural urge to love, but not to be loved.
Anthony de Mello
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A good teacher offers practice, a bad one offers theories.
Anthony de Mello
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If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a flower, a bird, a child they are perfect images of the kingdom. For they live from moment to moment in the eternal now with no past and no future.
Anthony de Mello
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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
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Name one practical, down-to-earth effect of spirituality, said the skeptic who was ready for an argument. Here's one, said the Master. When someone offends you, you can raise your spirits to heights where offenses cannot reach.
Anthony de Mello
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I'm going to write a book someday and the title will be I'm an Ass, You're an Ass. That's the most liberating, wonderful thing in the world, when you openly admit you're an ass. It's wonderful. When people tell me, You're wrong I say, What can you expect of an ass?
Anthony de Mello
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A disciple was one day recalling how Buddha , Jesus , Mohammed were branded as rebels and heretics by their contemporaries. Said the Master, Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy .
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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We're crazy, We're living on crazy ideas about love, about relationships, about happiness, about joy, about everything.
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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Because everyone is the same distance from the sun. Does it really lessen the distance if you live on top of a skyscraper?
Anthony de Mello
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The only way to change is by changing your understanding.
Anthony de Mello
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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
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Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
Anthony de Mello
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When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
Anthony de Mello
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The Master was exceedingly gracious to university dons who visited him, but he would never reply to their questions or be drawn into their theological speculations. To his disciples, who marveled at this, he said, Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts?
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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You keep insisting, I feel good because the world is right! Wrong! The world is right because I feel good. That's what all the mystics are saying.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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When you get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding... you can be yourself. Relaxed. You'll no longer be driving with your brakes on.
Anthony de Mello