SENSITIVITY
“How shall I experience my oneness with creation?”
“By listening,” said the Master.
“And how am I to listen?”
“Become an ear that gives heed to every single thing the universe is saying. The moment you hear something you yourself are saying, stop.”
Anthony deMello-One Minute Wisdom.

RELIGION
The Governor on his travels stepped in to pay homage to the Master.
“Affairs of State leave me no time for lengthy dissertations,” he said. “Could you put the essence of religion into a paragraph or two for a busy man like me?”
“I shall put it into a single word for the benefit of Your Highness.”
“Incredible! What is that unusual word?”
“Silence.”
“And what is the way to Silence?”
“Meditation.”
“And what, may I ask, is meditation?”
“Silence.”
Anthony deMello-One Minute Wisdom.

ABSURDITY
The Master kept scraping a brick against the floor of the room where his disciple sat in meditation.
At first the disciple was content, taking this to be a test of his powers of concentration. But when the sound became unbearable he burst out, “What on earth are you doing? Can’t you see I am in meditation?”
“I’m polishing this brick to make a mirror out of it,” said the Master.
“You’re crazy! How can you make a mirror out of a brick?”
“No crazier than you! How can you make a mediator out of the self?”
Anthony deMello-One Minute Wisdom.

Today I will begin to contribute morsels of Wisdom from my brother's book, One Minute Wisdom-Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand, India(Publisher)
Many years ago, a very kind and gentle, caring man, Scott Reeves, used to moderate a mailing list called the Wisdom List in which he provided a daily dose from this book, so that the recipients could take time out in their busy day to take solace and comfort and to inject calm in their lives. Sadly, at the time Scott provided these gems of Wisdom, I was too preoccupied with getting on with (what I thought was 'Life'. More recently I have come to the realisation that I was 'existing' rather than 'living'.
So in my brother's memory and as a tribute to Scott, who recognised the value in his words, I will post One Minute Wisdom for all who care to avail themselves.
I send you all greetings of Peace, Happiness and Love. Please read the foreword to this treasure:
  

ONE MINUTE WISDOM

Tony de Mello

                                                       

A TRIBUTE TO THE AUTHOR

What’s behind this phenomenal success? Very simply, it is a manifestation of the hunger for the spiritual spreading around the world. It’s a hunger with very special characteristics. Peo­ple aren’t buying set formulas any more, or plus platitudes redolent of an era gone by; beaten tracks that did not succeed in bringing people to a spiritual awakening. There is an anguished search, sometimes confused in its direction, for a more liberal outlook. Modern man mired in profound cultural change first wants to know who he is, what imprisons his soul, what stands in the way of spiritual progress. He wants to re­discover the God beyond all that has been iden­tified through the years with the name of God: laws, norms, doctrines not made flesh, words stranged from life.

That is why Tony de Mello said that “our vi­olent spirituality has created problems for us”, that “Jesus Christ has got a bad name because of what is said of Him from pulpits” and that “it is very difficult to recognise a saint because he looks like the rest of us”. In short, what Tony de Mello is telling us is that if we want to make Christianity credible we need to plumb the depths of the human spirit, to reach beyond our present frontiers.

From “Vida Nueva”. Madrid. Sept, 12th. 1987,

 

“Is there such a thing as One Minute Wisdom?’ “There certainly is,” said the Master. “But surely one minute is too brief?” “It is fifty-nine seconds too long. “

To his puzzled disciples the Master later said. “How much time does it take to catch sight of the moon?”

“Then why all these years of spiritual endeavour?”

“Opening one’s eyes may take a lifetime. Seeing is done in a flash. “

 

The Master in these tales is not a single person. He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, a Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian Monk, a Sufi Mystic. He is Lao Tzu and Socrates. Buddha and Jesus, Zarathustra and Moham­med. His teaching is found in the 7th century B.C. and the 20th century A.D. His wisdom belongs to East and West alike. Do his historical antecedents really matter? History, after all, is the record of appearances, not Reality; of doc­trines, not of Silence.

It will only take a minute to read each of the anecdotes that follow. You will probably find the Master’s language baffling, exasperating even downright meaningless. This, alas, is not an easy book! It was written, not to instruct, but to Awaken. Concealed within its pages (not in the printed words, not even in the tales, but in its spirit, its mood, its atmosphere) is a Wisdom which cannot be conveyed in human speech. As you read the printed page and struggle with the Master’s cryptic language it is possible that you will unwittingly chance upon the Silent Teaching that lurks within the book, and be Awakened — and transformed. This is what Wisdom means: To be changed without the slightest effort on your part, to be transformed, believe it or not, merely by waking to the reality that is not words that lies beyond the reach of words.

If you are fortunate enough to be Awakened thus, you will know why the finest language is the one that is not spoken, the finest action is the one that is not done and the finest change is the one that is not willed.

Caution:  Take the tales in tiny doses — one or two at a time. An overdose will lower their potency.

September 4th was Tony's birthday. Here is a meditation from his book Call to Love:

MEDITATION 6

CLINGING IS DYING

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

M t. 8, 20

Here is a mistake that most people make in their relationships with others. They try to build a steady nesting place in the ever moving stream of life.

Think of someone whose love you desire. Do you want to be important to this person, to be especial and make a difference to his or her life?

Do you want this person to care for you and be concerned about you in a special way? If you do, open your eyes and see that you are foolishly inviting others to reserve you for themselves, to restrict your freedom for their benefit, to control your behaviour, your growth and development so that it will suit their interest.

It is as if the other person said to you, “If you want to be especial to me then you must meet my conditions. Because the moment you cease to live up to my expectations, you will cease to be especial.”

You wanted to be especial to someone, didn’t you? So you must pay a price in lost freedom. You must dance to the other person’s tune just as you demand that other persons dance to yours if they want to be especial to you.

Pause now to ask yourself if it is worth paying so much for so little.

Imagine you say to this person whose special love you want, “Leave me free to be myself, to think my thoughts, to indulge my taste, to follow my inclination, to behave in ways that I decide are to my liking.”

The moment you say those words you will understand that you are asking for the impossible. To ask to be especial to someone means essentially to be bound to the task of making yourself pleasing to this person. And therefore to lose your freedom. Take all the time you need to realize this.

May be now you are ready to say, “I’d rather have my freedom than your love.” If you could either have company in prison or walk the earth in freedom all alone, which would you choose?

Now say to this person, “I leave you free to be yourself, to think your thoughts, to indulge your taste, follow your inclinations and behave in any way that you decide is to your liking.”

The moment you say that you will observe one of two things:

Either your heart will resist those words and you will be exposed for the clinger and exploiter that you are -so now is the time to examine your false belief that without this person you cannot live or cannot be happy.

Or your heart will pronounce the words sincerely and in that very instant all control, manipulation, exploitation, possessiveness, and jealousy- will drop.

“I leave you free to be yourself- to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations and behave in ways that you decide are to your liking.”

And you will notice something else:

The person automatically ceases to be especial and important to you.

And he or she becomes important the way a sunset or a symphony is lovely in itself, the way a tree is especial in itself and not for the fruit or the shade that it can offer you. Your beloved will then belong not to you but to everyone or to no one- like the sunrise and the tree.

Test it by saying those words again- “I leave you free to be yourself to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations and behave in ways that you decide are to your liking.”

In saying those words you have set yourself free. You are now ready to love. For when you cling, what you offer the other is not love but a chain by which both you and your beloved are bound. Love can only exist in freedom. The true lover seeks the good of his beloved which requires especially the liberation of the beloved from the lover.

Yesterday, I established an official Facebook page devoted to my brother Anthony(Tony) deMello.
I have received a huge response to this page and I thank everyone who took the time and made the effort to visit and support the page Anthony deMello-Call to Love.
I will now keep updating the page with anecdotes, quotes and where possible, recordings of some of Tony's work from his books, and from his biography, which I published in April 2012. The Happy Wanderer is available in India through Gujarat Sahitya Prakash and throughout the world through Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY USA or if you prefer, Amazon.com
I look forward to your visits and encourage you to keep visiting as often as you can and to encourage your friends to do likewise.
Many thanks my friends. I wish you peace and love!

TRIBULATION

“Calamities can bring growth and enlightenment.” said the Master.

And he explained it thus:

Each day a bird would shelter in the withered branches of a tree that stood in the middle of a vast deserted plain. One day a whirlwind uprooted the tree forcing the poor bird to fly a hundred miles in search of shelter— till it finally came to a forest of fruit-laden trees.

Anthony deMello- One Minute Wisdom.