Anthony de Mello
Anthony de Mello
Anthony "Tony" de Mellowas an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A spiritual teacher, writer and public speaker, De Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted numerous spiritual retreats and conferences. He continues to be known for his unconventional approach to the priesthood and his storytelling which drew from the various mystical traditions of both East and West...
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth4 September 1931
Anthony de Mello quotes about
moon sage idiot
When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
taken moon sage
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.
god moon thinking
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a world where everybody said, 'We don't know?' The fact is that you're surrounded -God and you don't see God, because you KNOW ABOUT God. The final barrier to the vision of God is your God concept. You miss God because you think you know. The highest knowledge of God is to know God as unknowable. All revelations, however divine, are never any more than a finger pointing at the moon. As we say in the East, 'When the sage points to the moon, all the idiot sees is the finger'.
ocean people frogs
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?
before-death
Is there life before death? - that is the question!
authority harm refuse
If you make me your authority, you harm yourself because you will not see things for yourself, and you harm me too because you refuse to see me as I am.
giving awareness self-awareness
All that you give to others you are giving to yourself.
spiritual hot this-life
My experience is that it's precisely the ones who don't know what to do with this life who are all hot and bothered about what they are going to do with another life.
song ocean two
The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song — not one. Not two.
selfish live-your-life demand
Live your life as you see fit. That's not selfish. Selfish is to demand that others live their lives as you see fit.
understanding way
The only way to change is by changing your understanding.
mistake attempting biggest-mistake
Those who make no mistakes are making the biggest mistakes of all - they are attempting nothing new.
rivers water gone
All I did was sit on the riverbank handing out river water. After I'm gone, I trust you will notice the river.
can-do
There's nothing you can do to see — it is a gift.