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 (14)

"What a pretty baby you have there!"

"This is nothing! You should see his photographs!"

Words [and concepts] are indicators, not reflections, of reality. But, as the mystics of the East declare, "When the Sage points to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger!"

Anthony de Mello

Religion (13)

The poet Awhadi of Kerman was sitting on his porch one night, bent over a vessel. The Sufi Shams-e-Tabrize happened to pass by. "What are you doing?" he asked the poet.

"Contemplating the moon in a bowl of water" was the reply.

"Unless you have broken your neck, why don't you look directly at the moon in the sky?"

Words are inadequate reflections of reality. A man thought he knew what the Taj Mahal was because he was shown a piece of marble and told that the Taj was just a collection of pieces like that. Another one was convinced that, because he had seen Niagara water in a bucket, he knew what the Falls were like.

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (14)

"That's a clever dog you have there," said a man when he saw his friend playing cards with his dog.

"Not as clever as he looks" was the reply. "Every time he gets a good hand he wags his tail."

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (12)

A woman at a bank asked the cashier to cash a check for her. Citing company policy, the cashier asked for her identification.

The woman gasped. Finally she managed to say, "But Jonathan, I'm your mother!"

If you think this is funny, how come you yourself fail to recognize the Messiah?

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (10)

A cowboy was riding across the desert when he came upon an Indian lying on the road with his head and ear to the ground.

"How ya doin', chief?" said the cowboy.

"Big paleface with red hair driving dark green Mercedes-Benz with German shepherd dog inside and license plate number DST965 going west."

"Gee, chief, ya mean ya hear all that just listening to the ground?"

"I'm not listening to the ground. The SOB ran over me."

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (9)

A man got into a bus and found himself sitting next to a youngster who was obviously a hippie. He was wearing only one shoe.

"You've evidently lost a shoe, son."

"No, man" came the reply. "I found one."

It is evident to me; that does not mean it is true

Anthony de Mello

Awareness (7)

Reality, mostly, is not what it is but what we have decided it is:

A little old Jewish lady sits down in a plane next to a a big Swede and keeps staring at him. Finally she turns to him and says, "Pardon me, are you Jewish?"

He says, "No."

A few minutes later she turns to him again and says, "You can tell me, you know - you are Jewish, aren't you?"

He says, "Most certainly not."

She keeps studying him for some minutes, then says again," "I can tell you are Jewish."

In order to get rid of the annoyance, the mans says, "Okay, so I'm Jewish!"

She looks at him again, shakes her head, and says, "You certainly don't look it."


We first make our conclusions - then find some way to arrive at them

Anthony de Mello