Skip to main content

Awareness_Anthony DeMello S.J.

It sounds strange in a culture where we've been trained to achieve goals, to get somewhere, but in fact there's nowhere to go because you're there already.

The Japanese have a nice way of putting it: "The day you cease to travel, you will have arrived."

Your attitude should be: "I want to be aware, I want to be in touch with whatever is and let whatever happens happen; if I'm awake, fine, and if I'm asleep, fine." The moment you make a goal out of it and attempt to get it, you're seeking ego glorification, ego promotion. You want the good feeling that you've made it.

When you do "make it," you won't know. Your left hand won't know what your right hand is doing. "Lord, when did we do this? We had no awareness." Charity is never so lovely as when one has lost consciousness that one is practicing charity. "You mean I helped you? I was enjoying myself. I was just doing my dance. It helped you, that's wonderful. Congratulations to you. No credit to me."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Can you be certain?

. When something happens in your life, how often have you lost your sense of peace? I see this happen to people often; usually peace is relinquished by negative emotions or thoughts. Who in their 'right mind' would relinquish peace for irritation/anger (suffering)? It's obvious that what happens to us isn't unique. No matter what you experience you can always imagine others (or actually know someone) who experience similar things and some could be said to be 'better' or 'worse' off than you are. No one is alone and this is a clue to 'escape' from the judging mind. To judge/label an event as 'GOOD' or 'BAD' can't be completely certain; since either choice presupposes a 'correct' way to decide. There is no way to know which one is correct, and the choice is usually biased by desire, that is, "what do I WANT". When you choose sides you've trapped yourself in a fantasy prison (in your mind). There is no ...

What makes a religious tradition valuable?

. Any particular religious tradition doesn't 'contain' the TRUTH more than another. It's in a tradition's ability to transform a person that makes that tradition valuable. The value or truth in a tradition is subjective, so let go of conviction that causes animosity towards traditions that are different from 'yours'. Matthew