Rediscovering Life: Awaken to Reality - Softcover

De Mello, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 030798494X ISBN 13: 9780307984944

Verlag: PRH Christian Publishing, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

A companion to Anthony De Mello’s all-time bestselling work of inspiration, Awareness.

Anthony De Mello was one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century. Since his death in 1987, his stature has only increased. His books, including Song of the Bird, Sadhana, and the international bestselling Awareness are considered by many to be some of the most influential spiritual teachings of the last 50 years.
 
Now, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his passing, Image Books is proud to present what may very well prove to be the last published work of this beloved spiritual teacher. Based on a lecture given just months before his death, Rediscovering Life invites us to unlock the deeper meaning of our lives. By becoming aware of the circuitous and habitual nature of our limiting thoughts, we can find simple solutions that will release us from feelings of isolation, anger, sadness and depression. In short, De Mello offers us a new way to look at the world and God that will transform our lives.
 
Rediscovering Life is a timeless and compassionate book that will awaken you to the beauty of human experience and increase your ability to see God in all things.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

ANTHONY DE MELLO was a Jesuit priest known throughout the world for his writings and spiritual conferences. A native and lifelong resident of India, he died suddenly in 1987. His many including Awareness, Song of the Bird, Sadhana, The Way to Love, Wellsprings and Awakenings have been translated into more than 35 languages.

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 Let me begin by telling you what I plan to do. The theme is the rediscovery of life.

I discovered something about ten years ago, and it turned my life upside down. It revolutionized my life. I became a new man. This is what I’m going to share with you. I am happy to share it with you, in a special kind of way, though you might say to me, “How come you heard this just ten years ago? Hadn’t you read the Gospels?” Of course I’d read the Gospels, but I hadn’t seen it. It was right there, but I hadn’t seen it.

Later, having discovered it, I found it in all the major religious writings, and I was amazed. I mean, I was reading it, but I hadn’t recognized it. I wished to God I’d found this when I was younger. Oh, what a difference it would have made.

So, how long will it take to give it to you? A whole day? I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think it will take more than two minutes. Grasping it or get­ting it might take you twenty years, fi fteen years, ten years, ten minutes, or one day, three days—who knows. That depends on you.

Various people have told me over the years, since my initial discovery, that their lives were pretty much revolutionized, too. But not too many people—I’m sorry to say, very few have. I tend to think that if out of the one thousand people who are listening to me, if one person hears it, that’s a pretty good average. Is it difficult to hear? Is it dif­ficult to understand?

It’s so simple that a seven-year-old child could understand it.

Isn’t that amazing? And in fact, when I think of it today, I think, Why didn’t I see it?

I don’t know. I don’t know why I didn’t see it, but I didn’t. Now, maybe one or another of you might see it today, or might see part of it. What would you need to see it? Just one thing: the ability to listen. That’s all. Are you able to listen? If you can, you might get it.

Now, listening is not as easy as you might think it is. Why? Because we’re always listening from fi xed concepts, fixed positions, fixed prejudices. Listening does not mean swallowing, though. That’s gullibil­ity. “Oh, he says it, so I take it.”
I don’t want any of you to have any spirit of faith while you’re listening to me. I mean, you could take what the Church teaches on faith; you could take the Bible on faith, etc. Don’t take me on faith. What I want you to do is to question everything I’m say­ing, think about it, come back at me. Feel free to do that even while I’m talking. Ask questions, raise your hands anytime.

But then, listening doesn’t mean attacking, ei­ther, though I’m going to say something that is so new that some of you are going to think I’m crazy, that I’m out of my mind. So, then, you’re going to be tempted to attack. If you tell a Marxist there’s something wrong with Marxism, the fi rst thing he’s likely to do is attack you. If you tell a capitalist there’s something wrong with capitalism, he’s up in arms. If you tell an American, “Hey, you know, there’s something wrong with the United States”— and the same with the Indian person if you’re at­tacking India, and so on.
It doesn’t mean swallowing, it doesn’t mean at­tacking. It doesn’t mean agreeing.

Did you hear about the Jesuit superior who was a great success? People would ask him, “How come you’re such a great success as a superior?”

He would reply, “Very simple. The formula is sim­ple: I agree with everyone. I just agree with  everyone.”

They would say, “Don’t be absurd. How can you be a successful superior, agreeing with everybody?”

He would reply, “That’s right. How could I be a successful superior, agreeing with everybody?”

So, it doesn’t mean agreeing with me. You could disagree with me and get it. Isn’t that  amazing? It means being alert. Be alert. Be watchful.  Listen with a kind of a fresh mind. That’s not easy, either— listening with a fresh mind, without prejudices, without fi xed formulas.

Just yesterday somebody told me a story. You know the famous saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Well, this guy was having an affair with the doctor’s wife and was eating an apple a day, so—he got it all wrong. He got it all wrong! He was living from a fixed formula, see? A fi xed position.

Someone also recently told me a story about a priest who was trying to convince an alcoholic pa­rishioner that he ought to give up drinking. So, the priest gets a glass of alcohol, pure alcohol, and he gets hold of a bug, a worm, and he drops it into the glass. And the poor worm begins to wriggle and dies. And he says to the parishioner, “You got the message, John?”

John says, “Yeah, Father, I got the message. I got the message. You know, you got a bug in your stom­ach, alcohol is the thing to kill it.” So he got the message, yes. John wasn’t listening, see? He wasn’t listening.

I know a case where a Father wasn’t listening, either. This man goes to see the parish priest. The parish priest was reading the newspaper, didn’t want to be disturbed. He said, “Excuse me, Father.” Father was irritated; he ignored him. “Excuse me, Father.”

Father said, “What is it?”

He said, “Could you tell me what causes arthri­tis, Father?”

Father was irritated. “What causes arthritis? Drinking causes arthritis, that’s what causes arthri­tis. Going about with loose women causes arthritis, that’s what causes arthritis. Gambling causes arthri­tis, that’s what causes arthritis. Why do you ask?”

He said, “Because it says in the paper here that the Holy Father has arthritis.”

Father wasn’t listening, see? If you are ready to hear something new, simple, or unexpected against almost everything you’ve been told ’til now—ready to hear that?—then, maybe you’ll hear what I have to say.
Maybe you’ll get it.

When Jesus taught the good news, I think he was attacked not only because what he taught was good but also because it was new. We hate anything new. I hated anything new. Give me the old stuff. We don’t like the new. It’s too disturbing. Too lib­erating. So, the ability to listen: Buddha formulated it beautifully. He said, “Monks and scholars must accept my words not out of respect, but must ana­lyze them, the way a goldsmith analyzes gold: by cutting, scraping, rubbing, melting.” You must not accept my words out of respect, but should ana­lyze them by cutting—the way the goldsmith ana­lyzes gold, see? Cutting, scraping, rubbing, melting. Okay, so we’ve got that clear.

What’s this thing we call life? Take a look at the world and then I’ll invite you to take a look at your own life. Take a look at the world. Poverty every­where. I read in the New York Times recently that the bishops of the United States claim that there are thirty-three million people in the United States who are living below the poverty line, a distinction drawn by the government itself. If you think that is poverty, you ought to go to other countries and see the squalor, the dirt, the misery. You call that life?

Well, I’ve got news for you. I can show you life even there. About twelve years ago, I...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: PRH Christian Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 030798494X
• ISBN 13: 9780307984944
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 128
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland