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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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Anthony de Mello
Age: 55 †
Born: 1931
Born: September 4
Died: 1987
Died: June 2
Philosopher
Priest
Psychologist
Theologian
Writer
Bombay
Always
Obedience
Would
Tyranny
Love
Keeps
Master
Rules
Masters
Monastery
Break
Monasteries
Law
Warned

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.
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What is a loving heart? A loving heart is sensitive to the whole of life, to all persons a loving heart doesn't harden itself to any persons or things.
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A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate. Tell me, O Master, he said, why you have come into this world. To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters.
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When I speak, you must not listen to the words, my dear. Listen to the Silence.
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The only way to change is by changing your understanding.
Anthony de Mello
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You are never in love with anyone. You're only in love with your prejudiced and hopeful idea of that person.
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The spiritual quest is a journey without distance. You travel from where you are right now To where you have always been. From ignorance to recognition.
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If the heart is unobstructed, the result is love.
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You can never be free as long as you have an ego to defend.
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Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
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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?
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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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You sanctify whatever you are grateful for.
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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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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Extend your arms in welcome to the future. The best is yet to come!
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What is my identity ? Nothing, said the Master. You mean that I am an emptiness and a void? said the incredulous disciple. Nothing that can be labeled. said the Master.
Anthony de Mello
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People who deliberate fully before they take a step will spend their lives on one leg
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.
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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