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Book Review: Awareness by Anthony de Mello

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In this book Tony destroys every concept or belief that you have held. Not

just your religious beliefs, your political beliefs, your social beliefs,

your psychological beliefs, but all of them. He shows you the hypocrisy of

love, renunciation, charity, piousness, relationships, friendship, altruism

[even giving up your life for love or country], etc.

 

Tony was an Enlightened Jesuit priest [A Christian Mystic] who realized the

universality of the deepest truth and incorporated the wisdom of Buddhism,

Sufism and Advaita into his teachings. The inclusion of Buddhist or

Nasiruddin type parables makes this book fun to read.

 

Here is a sampling of the book:

 

Come home to yourself. Observe yourself. That's why I say that self-

observation is such a delightful and extraordinary thing. After a

while you don't have to make any effort, because, as illusions begin

to crumble, you begin to know things that cannot be described.

It's called happiness. Everything changes and you become addicted to

awareness.

 

There's the story of the disciple who went to the master and

said, " Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me

something that would guide me through my days? " It was the master's

day of silence, so he picked up a pad. It said, " Awareness. "

 

When the disciple saw it, he said, " This is too brief. Can you expand

on it a bit? " So the master took back the pad and wrote, " Awareness,

awareness, awareness. " The disciple said, " Yes, but what does it

mean? " The master took back the pad and wrote, " Awareness, awareness,

awareness means awareness.

 

That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do

it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be

programming you. But watch yourself. When you talk to someone, are

you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got

angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you

simply identifying with your anger?

Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and

attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it on?

I don't know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you

understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you

repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes.

--------------------------

Someone once said, " The three most difficult things for a human being

are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first,

returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third,

admitting that you are wrong. " But these are the easiest things in

the world if you haven't identified with the " me. " You can say things

like " I'm wrong! If you knew me better, you'd see how often I'm

wrong. What would you expect from an ass? " But if I haven't

identified with these aspects of " me, " you can't hurt me.

Initially, the old conditioning will kick in and you'll be depressed

and anxious. You'll grieve, cry, and so on. " Before enlightenment, I

used to be depressed: after enlightenment, I continue to be

depressed. " But there's a difference: I don't identify with it

anymore. Do you know what a big difference that is?

-------------------------

Isn't that a paradox? And you're willing to let this cloud come in,

because the more you fight it, the more power you give it. You're

willing to observe it as it passes, by. You can be happy in your

anxiety. Isn't that crazy? You can be happy in your depression. But

you can't have the wrong notion of happiness. Did you think happiness

was excitement or thrills? That's what causes the depression., Didn't

anyone tell you that? You're thrilled, all right, but you're just

preparing the way for your next depression. You're thrilled but you

pick up the anxiety behind that: How can I make it last? That's not

happiness, that's addiction.

--------------------------

 

You can buy the book [http://www.bdd.com] or if that is not possible,

you can get a free chapter a day by sending an email with

subject line: SEPTEMBER AWARENESS LIST

to: Scott Reeves <ScottR

Or you could to SufiMystic group here:

SufiMystic/ and I will be posting the

essence of his writings.

 

Jan

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on advaita.org board " puppetji " posts quotes from anthony de mello's

book " one minute wisdom. "

 

this was my song on how antony achieves wisdom in one min:

 

anthony de mello

he's a pretty good fello

he likes to lay in a tubbo yello jello

and say " hello. "

 

 

Nisargadatta, Jan Sultan <swork@m...> wrote:

> In this book Tony destroys every concept or belief that you have

held. Not

> just your religious beliefs, your political beliefs, your social

beliefs,

> your psychological beliefs, but all of them. He shows you the

hypocrisy of

> love, renunciation, charity, piousness, relationships, friendship,

altruism

> [even giving up your life for love or country], etc.

>

> Tony was an Enlightened Jesuit priest [A Christian Mystic] who

realized the

> universality of the deepest truth and incorporated the wisdom of

Buddhism,

> Sufism and Advaita into his teachings. The inclusion of Buddhist or

> Nasiruddin type parables makes this book fun to read.

>

> Here is a sampling of the book:

>

> Come home to yourself. Observe yourself. That's why I say that self-

> observation is such a delightful and extraordinary thing. After a

> while you don't have to make any effort, because, as illusions begin

> to crumble, you begin to know things that cannot be described.

> It's called happiness. Everything changes and you become addicted to

> awareness.

>

> There's the story of the disciple who went to the master and

> said, " Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me

> something that would guide me through my days? " It was the master's

> day of silence, so he picked up a pad. It said, " Awareness. "

>

> When the disciple saw it, he said, " This is too brief. Can you

expand

> on it a bit? " So the master took back the pad and wrote, " Awareness,

> awareness, awareness. " The disciple said, " Yes, but what does it

> mean? " The master took back the pad and wrote, " Awareness,

awareness,

> awareness means awareness.

>

> That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do

> it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be

> programming you. But watch yourself. When you talk to someone, are

> you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got

> angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you

> simply identifying with your anger?

> Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and

> attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it

on?

> I don't know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you

> understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you

> repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes.

> --------------------------

> Someone once said, " The three most difficult things for a human

being

> are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are,

first,

> returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third,

> admitting that you are wrong. " But these are the easiest things in

> the world if you haven't identified with the " me. " You can say

things

> like " I'm wrong! If you knew me better, you'd see how often I'm

> wrong. What would you expect from an ass? " But if I haven't

> identified with these aspects of " me, " you can't hurt me.

> Initially, the old conditioning will kick in and you'll be depressed

> and anxious. You'll grieve, cry, and so on. " Before enlightenment, I

> used to be depressed: after enlightenment, I continue to be

> depressed. " But there's a difference: I don't identify with it

> anymore. Do you know what a big difference that is?

> -------------------------

> Isn't that a paradox? And you're willing to let this cloud come in,

> because the more you fight it, the more power you give it. You're

> willing to observe it as it passes, by. You can be happy in your

> anxiety. Isn't that crazy? You can be happy in your depression. But

> you can't have the wrong notion of happiness. Did you think

happiness

> was excitement or thrills? That's what causes the depression.,

Didn't

> anyone tell you that? You're thrilled, all right, but you're just

> preparing the way for your next depression. You're thrilled but you

> pick up the anxiety behind that: How can I make it last? That's not

> happiness, that's addiction.

> --------------------------

>

> You can buy the book [http://www.bdd.com] or if that is not

possible,

> you can get a free chapter a day by sending an email with

> subject line: SEPTEMBER AWARENESS LIST

> to: Scott Reeves <ScottR@S...>

> Or you could to SufiMystic group here:

> SufiMystic/ and I will be posting

the

> essence of his writings.

>

> Jan

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