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Post by Smithee on May 31, 2012 13:45:04 GMT 10
Anthony de Mello, S.J., “One Minute Nonsense”
Said a disciple, “We have to dress and eat – how do we get out of all that?”
“We eat. We dress,” said the Master.
“I do not understand.”
“If you don’t understand, get dressed and eat your food.”
Later he said, “You never rise above anything you fight shy of.”
Later still, “People who want to rise above a well cooked meal and a well tailored garment, are out of their spiritual minds.”
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Post by Smithee on Jun 1, 2012 17:15:02 GMT 10
"Sincerity is not enough," the Master would frequently say. "What you need is honesty."
"What's the difference?" someone asked.
"Honesty is a never ending openness to the facts," said the Master. "Sincerity is believing one's own propaganda."
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Post by Smithee on Jun 2, 2012 12:52:53 GMT 10
"How long will it take me to solve my problem?"
"Not one minute more than it takes you to understand it," said the Master.
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Post by Smithee on Jun 3, 2012 12:48:56 GMT 10
The disciple was a Buddhist. "What is the mind of Buddha?" he asked.
"Why not ask about your own mind or self instead of someone else's?" said the Master.
"Then, what is my self, O Master?"
"For that you have to learn what is known as 'the secret act'."
"What is the secret act?"
"This," said the Master, as he closed his eyes and opened them.
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Post by Smithee on Jun 4, 2012 14:44:34 GMT 10
On voting day the Master would always be the first to show up at the polling booth.
He could never understand why some of the disciples failed to exercise their right to vote.
"People are ready to pay their taxes and shed their blood for democracy," he said. "Why will they not take the trouble to vote and make it work?"
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Post by Smithee on Jun 5, 2012 20:19:24 GMT 10
Said a curious disciple, “Give us a sign to know when one is enlightened.”
Said the Master, “Here’s one. You find yourself asking, “Is it I who am crazy, or is it everyone else?”
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Post by Smithee on Jun 6, 2012 13:41:52 GMT 10
A disciple complained about the Master's habit of knocking down all his cherished beliefs.
Said the Master: "I set fire to the temple of your beliefs, for when it is destroyed you will have an unimpeded view of the vast, unbounded sky."
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Post by Smithee on Jun 7, 2012 15:05:35 GMT 10
A despondent disciple complained that, because of his handicaps, he was being cheated by life.
"Cheated?" cried the Master. "Cheated? Look around you man! With every moment of consciousness you are being grossly overpaid!"
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Post by Smithee on Jun 8, 2012 11:47:05 GMT 10
"What is the secret of your serenity?"
Said the Master, "whole-heated co-operation with the inevitable."
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Post by Smithee on Jun 9, 2012 18:27:15 GMT 10
When asked what he did for his disciples, the Master said, "What a sculptor does for the statue of a tiger: He takes a block of marble snd pounds away at anything that doesn't look like a tiger."
When his disciples later asked what exactly he meant, the Master said, "My task is to hammer away at everything that isn't you: every thought, feeling, attitude, compulsion that adheres to you from your culture and your past."
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