A Year with Anthony De Mello: Waking Up Week by Week

“What do I want to make of my existence here on earth?” Then bring it closer, asking, “How do I want to live my life today?” Think of how you will seek autonomy and freedom: the risks you shall dare to take, the discomforts you shall welcome, the changes you will be open to.

When other people or outcomes don’t live up to your programmed expectations, you’re programmed to torment yourself with frustration, anger, or bitterness. As was stated before, people often do not realize how unhappy they have been until they experience a spontaneous moment of joy. If you wish to be happy, if you wish to be at peace, the first thin

What no attachment represents is a new attitude for engaging the world. It’s a willing attitude that says, “I want to be aware; I want to be in touch with whatever is and let whatever happens happen.” It is adjusting to the understanding that the moment you make a goal out of something and attempt to get it, you’re seeking ego glorification, ego pr

It was your parents, your society, your culture, your religion, and your past experiences that fed the operating instructions into your computer. These things depend on the criteria society establishes; they depend on your social conditioning that was stamped into you. You’ve been programmed with this. You’ve been conditioned this way. This is what

On a bitterly cold day a master and his disciples were huddled around a fire. One of the disciples, echoing his master’s teachings, said, “On a freezing day like this I know exactly what to do!” “What?” asked the others. “Keep warm! And if that isn’t possible, I still know what to do.” “What?” “Freeze.” Present Reality cannot really be rejected or

The first thing you will need to do is get in touch with all the negative feelings that you’re not even aware of.

So, how long will it take to give it to you? I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think it would take more than two minutes. Grasping it might take you twenty years, fifteen years, ten years, fifty-two weeks, one week, one day, ten minutes—who knows. You could read one chapter in this book and get it. It all depends on you. Is it difficult to understan

The fourth step: Acknowledge how we always want someone else to change so that we will feel good. But has it ever struck you that even if your wife changes or your husband changes, what does that do to you? You’re just as vulnerable as before; you’re just as idiotic as before; you’re just as asleep as before. You are the one who needs to change.

The root cause of your suffering is attachment. What is an attachment? An attachment is an emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some thing or some person or some result you cannot be happy. Look at this society we live in, rotten to the core, infected as it is with attachments.

Now, listening is not as easy as you might think. Why? Because we’re always listening from fixed concepts, fixed positions, fixed prejudices. The kind of listening I am referring to means being alert. So, as you read this book and reflect on it, be alert. Be watchful. Hold the intention to listen with a fresh mind, without prejudices, without judgi