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
suicide religious men
Everybody was talking about the religious man who committed suicide. While no one in the monastery approved of the man's action, some say they admired his faith. Faith?" said the Master. He had the courage of his convictions, didn't he?" That was fanaticism, not faith. Faith demands a greater courage still: to reexamine one's convictions and reject them if they do not fit the facts.
religious taken eye
A religious belief … is not a statement about Reality, but a hint, a clue about something that is a mystery, beyond the grasp of human thought. In short, a religious belief is only a finger pointing to the moon. Some religious people never get beyond the study of the finger. Others are engaged in sucking it. Others yet use the finger to gouge their eyes out. These are the bigots whom religion has made blind. Rare indeed is the religionist who is sufficiently detached from the finger to see what it is indicating - these are those who, having gone beyond belief, are taken for blasphemers.
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.
moon sage idiot
When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
can-do
There's nothing you can do to see — it is a gift.