People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.

Anthony de Mello

Thank you for your criticism of me

A monkey on a tree hurled a coconut and the head of a Sufi.
The man picked it up, drank the milk, at the flesh, and made a bowl from the shell.

Anthony De Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 163

Compassion has no ideology

People are not naturally cruel. They become cruel when thay are unhappy - or when they succumb to an ideology.
If religious people had always followed the instinct of their heart reather than the logic of their religion we would have been spared the sight of heretics burning at stakes, widows walking into funeral pyres, and millions of innocent people slaughtered in wars that are waged in the name of God.
Compassion has no ideology.

Anthony De Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 152

Faith

Faith is the fearless search for truth. So it is not lost when one questions one's beliefs.

Anthony De Mello

We think we see but we don't

I need to talk about words and concepts because I must explain to you why it is, when we look at a tree, we really don't see. We think we do, but we don't. When we look at a person, we really don't see that person, we only think we do. What we're seeing is something that we fixed in our mind. We get an impression and we hold on to that impression, and we keep looking at a person through that impression. And we do this with almost everything. If you understand that, you will understand the loveliness and beauty of being aware of everything around you. Because reality is there; "God," whatever that is, is there. It's all there.

Awareness

When the sage points to the moon, all the idiot sees is the finger.
Jean Guiton, a very pious and orthodox French writer, adds a terrifying comment: "We often use the finger to gouge the eyes out." Isn't that terrible? Awareness, awareness, awareness! In awareness is healing; in awareness is truth; in awareness is salvation; in awareness is spirituality; in awareness is growth; in awareness is love; in awareness is awakening. Awareness.

Anthony De Mello in "Awareness" page 102

To Really Know

To really know. That is, to be transformed by what one knows.

Anthony De Mello

Preach what you practice

Why do I try to practice what I preach?
If I stuck to preaching what I practice, I'd be less of a phony.

Anthony de Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 91

Awareness. Attention. Absorption.

They say Buddha practiced every form of asceticism known to the India of the times, in an effort to attain enlightenment. All in vain. One day he sat under a bodhi tree and enlightenment occurred. He passed on the secret of enlightenment to his disciples in words that must seem strange to the uninitiated: "When you draw in a deep breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a deep breath. And when you draw in a shallow breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a shallow breath. And when you draw in a medium-sized breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a medium-sized breath." Awareness. Attention. Absorption.

Anthony de Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 19

Come into the present

Drop every thought of the future, drop every thought of the past, drop every image and abstraction, and come into the present. Contemplation will arise!

Anthony de Mello in "The song of the bird" page 18

Gravity

I look at nature and reflect on the existence in it of a force so silent and invisible that human beings were not aware of it till lately; and yet so mighty that the world is moved by it: the force of gravity.
Because of it the bird flies in the sky, mountains are held in place, leaves flutter to the ground,planets are kept in orbit.
There is no better symbol of God's power and presence.

Anthony de Mello in "Wellsprings" page 58

The Formula

The mystic was back from the desert. "Tell us," they said, "what God is like."
But how could he ever tell them what he had experienced in his heart? Can God be put into words?
He finally gave them a formula - so inaccurate, so inadequate - in the hope that some of them might be tempted to experience it for themselves.
They sized upon the formula. They made it into a sacred text. They imposed it on others as holy belief. They went to great pains to spread it in foreign lands. Some even gave their lives for it.
The mystic was sad. It might have been better if he had said nothing.

Anthony de Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 30

Dead people have a built-in fear of change

Dead people have a built-in fear of change.
What changes have there been in me over the past six months?
What changes will there be today?

Anthony de Mello

Do you wish to catch a glimpse of God? Look intently at creation.

Anthony de Mello

True spirituality

People change and needs change. So what was spirituality once is spirituality no more. What generally goes under the name of spirituality is merely the record of past methods.

Anthony de Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 11.

The Words of the Master

The words of the scholar are to be understood. The words of the master are not to be understood. They are to be listened to as one listens to the wind in the trees and the sound of the river and the song of the bird. They will awaken something within the heart that is beyond all knowledge.

Anthony de Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 4

True holiness is completely unselfconscious

Will awareness bring you the holiness you so desire? Yes and no. The fact is you will never know. For true holiness, the type that is not achieved through techniques and efforts and repression, true holiness is completely unselfconscious. You wouldn't have the slightest awareness of its existence in you. Besides you will not care, for even the ambition to be holy will have dropped as you live from moment to moment a life made full and happy and transparent through awareness. It is enough for you to be watchful and awake. 

Anthony de Mello in "The Way to Love" page 196

Holiness is a Grace

Holiness is not an achievement, it is a Grace. A Grace called Awareness, a grace called Looking, Observing, Understanding. If you would only switch on the light of awareness and observe yourself and everything around you throughout the day, if you would see yourself reflected in the mirror of awareness the way you see your face reflected in a looking glass, that is, accurately, clearly, exactly as it is without the slightest distortion or addition, and if you observed this reflection without any judgement or condemnation, you would experience all sorts of marvelous changes coming about in you. Only you will not be in control of those changes, or be able to plan them in advance, or decide how and when they are to take place. It is this nonjudgemental awareness alone that heals and changes and makes one grow. But in its own way and at its own time.

Effort does not lead to growth

Effort does not lead to growth; effort, whatever the form may take, whether it will be will-power or habit or a technique or a spiritual exercise, does not lead to change. At best it leads to repression and a covering of the root disease.
Effort may change the behaviour but it does not change the person. Just think what kind of a mentality it betrays when you ask, "What must I do to get holiness?" Isn't it like asking, How much money must I spend to buy something?

Anthony de Mello in "The Way to Love" pages 192 - 193

Gravity

I look at nature and reflect on the existence in it of a force so silent and invisible that human beings were not aware of it till lately; and yet so mighty that the world is moved by it: the force of gravity.

Because of it the bird flies in the sky,
mountains are held in place, 
leaves flutter to the ground,
planets are kept in orbit.

There is no better symbol of God's power and presence.

Anthony de Mello in "Wellsprings" page 58