Religion (15)

A drunk was staggering across a bridge one night when he ran into a friend. The two of them leaned over the bridge and began chatting for a while.

"What's that down there?" asked the drunk suddenly.

"That's the moon," said his friend.

The drunk looked again, shook his head in disbelief and said, "Okay, okay. But how the hell did I get way up here?"

We almost never see reality. What we see is a reflection of it in the form of words and concepts which we then proceed to take for reality. The world we live in is mostly a mental construct. People feed on words, live by words, would fall apart without them.

Anthony de Mello

Religion (11)

A traveler was walking along the road one day when a man on horseback rushed by. There was an evil look in his eyes and blood on his hands.

Minutes later a crowd of riders drew up and wanted to know if the traveler had seen someone with blood on his hands go by. They were in hot pursuit of him

"Who is he?" the traveler asked.

"An evil-doer," said the leader of the crowd. "And you pursue him in order to bring him to justice?"

"No," said the leader, "we pursue him in order to show him the way."

Reconciliation alone will save the world, not justice which is generally another word for revenge.

Anthony de Mello

Religion (10)

A priest ordered his deacon to assemble ten men to chant prayers for the recovery of a sick man.

When they had all come in, someone whispered into the ear of the priest, "There are some notorious thieves among those men."

"All the better," said the priest. "When the Gates of Mercy are shut, these are the experts who will open them."

Anthony de Mello

Religion (8)

An atheist fell off a cliff. As he tumbled downward, he caught hold of the branch of a small tree. There he hung between heaven above and the rocks a thousand feet below, knowing he wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer.

Then an idea came to him. "God!" he shouted with all his might.

Silence! No one responded.

"God!" he shouted again. "If you exist, save me and I promise I shall believe in you and teach others to believe."

Silence again! Then he almost let go of the branch in shock as he heard a mighty Voice booming across the canyon. "That's what they all say when they are trouble"

"No, God, no!" he shouted out, more hopeful now. "I am not like the others. Why, I have already begun to believe, don't you see, having heard your Voice for myself. Now all you have to do is save me and I shall proclaim your name to the ends of the earth."

"Very well," said the Voice. "I shall save you. Let go of that branch."

"Let go of the branch?" yelled the distraught man. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

It is said that when Moses threw his wand into the Red Sea the expected miracle did not take place. It was only when the first man threw himself into the sea that the waves receded and the water divided itself to off a dry passage to the Jews.

Anthony de Mello

Religion (6)

A wealthy farmer burst into his home one day and cried out in an anguished voice, "Rebecca, there is a terrible story in town - the Messiah is here!"

"What's so terrible in that?" asked his wife. "I think it's great. What are you so upset about?"

"What am I so upset about?" the man exclaimed. "After all these years of sweat and toil, we have finally found prosperity. We have a thousand head of cattle, our barns are full of grain, and our trees laden with fruit. Now we will have to give it all away and follow him."

"Calm down," said his wife consolingly. "The Lord our God is good. He knows how much we Jews have always had to suffer. We had a Pharaoh, a Haman, a Hitler - always some body. But our dear God found a way to deal with them all, didn't he? Just have faith, my dear husband. He will find a way to deal with the Messiah too."

Anthony de Mello

Religion (5)

Tetsugen, a student of Zen, resolved on a mighty undertaking: the printing of seven thousand copies of the sutras, which till the were available only in Chinese.

He traveled the length and breadth of Japan to collect funds for this project. Some wealthy people offered him as much as a hundred pieces of gold, but mostly he received small coins from peasants. Tetsugen expressed equal gratitude to each donor, regardless of the sum of money given.

After ten long years of travel, he finally collected the funds necessary for the task. Just then the river Uji overflowed and thousands were left without food and shelter. Tetsugen spent all the money he had collected for his cherished project on these poor people.

The he began the work of raising funds again. Again it was several years before he got the money he needed. Then as epidemic spread all over the country, so Tetsugen gave away all he had collected to help the suffering.

Once again he set out on his travels and, twenty years later, his dream of having the scriptures in the Japanese language finally came true.

The Printing block that produced this first edition of the sutras is on display at the Obaku Monastery in Kyoto. The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen got out three editions of the sutras in all; and that the first two are invisible and far superior to the third.

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (5)

In the summer of 1946 the rumor of a famine swept through a province in a South American country. Actually the crops were growing well , and the weather was perfect for a bumper harvest. But on the strength of that rumor, twenty thousand small farmers abandoned their farms and fled to the cities. Because of their action the crops failed, thousands starved, and the rumor about the famine proved true.

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (4)

A married couple was returning from the funeral of Uncle George, who had lived with them for twenty years and had been such a nuisance that he almost succeeded in wrecking their marriage.

"There is something I have to say to you, dear," said the man. "If it hadn't been for my love for you, I wouldn't have put up with your Uncle George for a single day."

"My Uncle George!" she exclaimed in horror. "I thought he was your Uncle George!"


Anthony de Mello

Awareness (3)

Assumptions:

A couple of hunters chartered a plane to fly them into forest territory. Two weeks later the pilot came to take them back. He took a look at the animals they had shot and said, " This plane won't take more than one wild buffalo. You'll have to leave the other behind."

"But last year the pilot let us take two in a plane this size," the hunters protested.

The pilot was doubtful, but finally he said, "Well, if you did it last year I guess we can do it again."

So the plane took off with the three men and two buffaloes. But it couldn't gain height and crashed into a neighboring hill. The men climbed out and looked around. One hunter said to the other, "Where do you think we are?" The other inspected the surroundings and said, "I think we're about two miles to the left of where we crashed last year."

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (2)

Three wise men set out on a journey, for even though they were considered wise in their own country, they were humble enough to hope that travel would broaden their minds .

They had barely crossed into a neighboring country when they saw a skyscraper in the distance. What could this enormous object be? they asked themselves. The obvious procedure would have been to go up and find out. But no - that might be too dangerous. Suppose it was something that exploded as one approached? It was altogether wiser to decide what it was before finding out. Various theories were put forward, examined and on the basis of their past experiences, rejected. Finally, it was determined, also on the basis of past experience, of which they had an abundant supply, that the object in question, whatever it was, could only have been placed there by giants.

This led them to the conclusion that it would be safer to avoid this country altogether. So they went back home, having added something to their fund of experience.


Assumptions affect Observation. Observation breeds Conviction. Conviction produces Experience. Experience generates Behavior, which, in turn, confirms Assumptions.

Anthony de Mello

About Prayer (23)

An efficiency expert was making his report to Henry Ford. "As you will see, sir, the report is highly favorable, except for that man down the hall. Every time I pass by he is sitting with his feet on his desk. He is wasting your money."

Said Ford, "That man once had an idea that earned us a fortune. At the time I believe his feet were exactly where they are now."

There was an exhausted woodcutter who kept wasting time and energy chopping wood with a blunt ax because he did not have the time, he said, to stop and sharpen the blade.

Anthony de Mello

About Prayer (21)

A monk was walking in the monastery grounds one day when he heard a bird sing.

He listened, spellbound. It seemed to him that never before had he heard, really heard, the song of a bird.

When the singing stopped he returned to the monastery and discovered, to his dismay, that he was a stranger to his fellow monks, and they to him.

It was only gradually that they and he discovered that he was returning after centuries. Because his listening was total, time had stopped and he had slipped into eternity.


Prayer is made perfect when the timeless is discovered.
The timeless is discovered through clarity of perception.
Perception is made clear when it is disengaged from preconceptions and from all consideration of personal loss or gain.
Then the miraculous is seen and the heart is filled with wonder.

Anthony de Mello