Things to make you go, “Hmmmm!”

I first discovered the words of Anthony de Mello when we first went to theological college but it was far from approved reading. The books were hidden away in the colleage Quiet Room, which was my favourite place in the whole campus(that’s not saying a lot; I hated the place as a whole). But de Mello’s books awakened a capacity in me for imaginative contemplation that I’d hitherto repressed.

Some short quotes from “One Minute Wisdom”

Aloneness

   To a disciple who was always seeking answers from him the Master said, “You have within yourself the answer to every question you propose- if you only knew how to look for it”

And another day he said, “In the land of the spirit, you cannot walk by the light of someone else’s lamp. You want to borrow mine. I’d rather teach you to make your own.”

Blinkers

“If you make me your authority,” said the Master to the starry-eyed disciple,”you harm yourself because you refuse to see things for yourself.”

And after a pause he added gently,”You harm me too because you refuse to see me as I am.”