When the devil saw a seeker enter the house of a Master, he determined to do everything in his power to turn him back from his quest for Truth.
So he subjected the poor man to every possible temptation: wealth, lust, fame, power, prestige. But the seeker was far too experienced in spiritual matters and was able to fight off the temptations quite easily, so great was his longing for spirituality.
When he got into the Master's presence, he was somewhat taken aback to see the Master sitting on an upholstered chair and the disciples at his feet. "This man certainly lacks humility, the principal virtue of the saints," he thought to himself.
He then observed other things about the Master that he did not like: for one thing, the Master took little notice of him. "I suppose that is because I do not fawn as the others do," he said to himself. Also, he disliked the kind of clothes the Master wore and the somewhat conceited way he spoke. All of this led him to the conclusion that he had come to the wrong place and must continue his quest elsewhere.
As he walked out of the room, the Master, who had seen the devil seated in the corner of the room, said, "You need not have worried, Tempter. He was yours from the very first, you know."
Such is the fate of those who, in their search for God, are willing to shed everything except their notions of what God really is.
People would never sin if they were aware that each time they sin it is themselves they are damaging. Most people are in too much of a torpor, alas, to have the slightest awareness of what they are doing to themselves.
Anthony de Mello
So he subjected the poor man to every possible temptation: wealth, lust, fame, power, prestige. But the seeker was far too experienced in spiritual matters and was able to fight off the temptations quite easily, so great was his longing for spirituality.
When he got into the Master's presence, he was somewhat taken aback to see the Master sitting on an upholstered chair and the disciples at his feet. "This man certainly lacks humility, the principal virtue of the saints," he thought to himself.
He then observed other things about the Master that he did not like: for one thing, the Master took little notice of him. "I suppose that is because I do not fawn as the others do," he said to himself. Also, he disliked the kind of clothes the Master wore and the somewhat conceited way he spoke. All of this led him to the conclusion that he had come to the wrong place and must continue his quest elsewhere.
As he walked out of the room, the Master, who had seen the devil seated in the corner of the room, said, "You need not have worried, Tempter. He was yours from the very first, you know."
Such is the fate of those who, in their search for God, are willing to shed everything except their notions of what God really is.
People would never sin if they were aware that each time they sin it is themselves they are damaging. Most people are in too much of a torpor, alas, to have the slightest awareness of what they are doing to themselves.
Anthony de Mello
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