9 Anthony de Mello Quotes on Truth

Anthony de Mello quotes on truth

1. A disciple said to him, 'I am ready, in the quest for God, to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?' The Master calmly replied, 'One's beliefs about God.'

4. All I did was sit on the riverbank handing out river water. After I'm gone, I trust you will notice the river.

11. 'I wish to become a teacher of the Truth.' 'Are you prepared to be ridiculed, ignored and starving till you are forty-five?' 'I am. But tell me: What will happen after I am forty-five?' 'You will have grown accustomed to it.'

19. Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy.

22. Suffering is a sign that you're out of touch with the truth. Suffering is given to you that you might open your eyes to the truth, that you might understand that there's falsehood somewhere, just as physical pain is given to you so you will understand that there is disease or illness somewhere. Suffering points out that there is falsehood somewhere. Suffering occurs when you clash with reality. When your illusions clash with reality when your falsehoods clash with the truth, then you have suffering. Otherwise there is no suffering.

36. To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, 'You may live with me, but don't become my follower.' 'Whom, then, shall I follow?' 'No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.'

37. To a visitor who described himself as a seeker after Truth the Master said, 'If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else.' 'I know. An overwhelming passion for it.' 'No. An unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong.'

39. 'What, concretely, is Enlightenment?' 'Seeing Reality as it is,' said the Master. 'Doesn't everyone see Reality as it is?' 'Oh, no! Most people see it as they think it is.' 'What's the difference?' 'The difference between thinking you are drowning in a stormy sea and knowing you cannot drown because there isn't any water in sight for miles around.'

53. Concerning the power of story, William Dych, S.J. writes in his introduction to selected writings of Anthony De Mello, 'A master was once unmoved by the complaints of his disciples that, though they listened with pleasure to his parables and stories, they were also frustrated for they longed for something deeper. To all their objections he would simply reply: 'You have yet to understand, my friends, that the shortest distance between a human being and truth is a story.''