Mello Quotes

When the eye is unobstructed, the result is sight. When the ear is unobstructed, the result is hearing. When the mind is unobstructed the result is truth. When the heart is unobstructed, the result is joy and love. ~ Anthony De Mello

You are so proud of your intelligence," said the master. "You are like a like a condemned man, proud of the vastness of his prison cell. ~ Anthony De Mello

Dana daydreamed of one day being able to set her agenda at B.Altman with the same courage and tenacity as the woman who was now driving the VW while speaking animatedly about her travel plans for the near future. She would be journeying to India in search of exotic merchandise for the store's Indian extravaganza, a lavish event planned by Ira Neimark and Dawn Mello to compete with Bloomingdale's Retailing as Theater movement. The movement was the brainchild of Bloomingdale's Marvin Traub, who staged elaborate presentations such as China: Heralding the Dawn of a New Era. Typical extravaganzas featured fashion, clothing, food, and art from various regions of the world.
"I'll bring back enough items to make Bloomingdale's blush!" Nina said confidently. "And I'm not just talking sweaters, hats, and walking sticks. I'll stop first in the Himalayas and prowl the Landour Bazaar."
Lynn Steward ~ A Very Good Life ~ Lynn Steward

The seeker says, "I do not know." That takes honesty. The master says, "I do not know." That takes a mystic's mind that knows things through non-knowing. The disciple says, "I know." That takes ignorance, in the form of borrowed knowledge. ~ Anthony De Mello

The law is an expression of God 's holy will and as such must be honored and loved," said the preacher piously. "Rubbish," said the Master. "The law is a necessary evil and as such must be cut down to the barest minimum. Show me a lover of the law and I will show you a muttonheaded tyrant . ~ Anthony De Mello

A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality. ~ Anthony De Mello

To those who seek to protect their ego true Peace brings only disturbance. ~ Anthony De Mello

Let the story do its work in you, and when it is done then you won't need the story anymore. ~ Anthony De Mello

Said the monk: "All these mountains and rivers and the earth and stars - where do they come from?" Said the master: "Where does your question come from?" ~ Anthony De Mello

The best things in life cannot be willed into being. ~ Anthony De Mello

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. ~ Anthony De Mello

There is another more subtle way in which the innocence of childhood is lost: when the child is infected with the desire to become somebody. Contemplate the crowds of people who are striving might and main to become, not what Nature intended them to be- musicians, cooks, mechanics, carpenters, gardeners, inventors- but "somebody": to become successful, famous, powerful; to become something that will bring not quiet and self-fulfillment, but self-glorification and self-expansion ~ Anthony De Mello

Life is easy, life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings. ~ Anthony De Mello

Live your life as you see fit. That's not selfish. Selfish is to demand that others live their lives as you see fit. ~ Anthony De Mello

the tragedy of an attachment is that if its object is not attained it causes unhappiness. But if it is attained, it does not cause happiness – it merely causes a flash of pleasure followed by weariness, and it is always accompanied, of course, by the anxiety that you may lose the object of your attachment. ~ Anthony De Mello

The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-Tzu's dictum: "Those who know, do not say; Those who say, do not know." When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the master, "Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?" All of them indicated that they knew. Then he said, "Put it into words." All of them were silent. ~ Anthony De Mello

If you search within your heart, you will find something there that will make it possible for you to understand: a spark of disenchantment and discontent, which if fanned into flame will become a raging forest fire that will burn up the whole of the illusory world you are living in, thereby unveiling to your wondering eyes the kingdom that you have always lived in unsuspectingly. ~ Anthony De Mello

A religious belief ... is not a statement about Reality, but a hint, a clue about something that is a mystery, beyond the grasp of human thought. In short, a religious belief is only a finger pointing to the moon. Some religious people never get beyond the study of the finger. Others are engaged in sucking it. Others yet use the finger to gouge their eyes out. These are the bigots whom religion has made blind. Rare indeed is the religionist who is sufficiently detached from the finger to see what it is indicating - these are those who, having gone beyond belief, are taken for blasphemers. ~ Anthony De Mello

Extend
your arms
in welcome
to the future.
The best
is yet to come! ~ Anthony De Mello

To be properly wicked, you do not have to break the Law. Just observe it to the letter. ~ Anthony De Mello

There are three stages in one's spiritual development," said the Master. "The carnal, the spiritual and the divine." "What is the carnal stage?" asked the eager disciples. "That's the stage when trees are seen as trees and mountains as mountains." "And the spiritual?" "That's when one looks more deeply into things - then trees are no longer trees and mountains no longer mountains." "And the divine?" "Ah, that's Enlightenment," said the Master with a chuckle, "when trees become trees again and mountains, mountains. ~ Anthony De Mello

RNA interference has proven to be a quite reliable mechanism for turning genes off in a whole variety of different plants and animals. ~ Craig Mello

When you get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding ... you can be yourself. Relaxed. You'll no longer be driving with your brakes on. ~ Anthony De Mello

My mom has a very subtle way of encouraging. ~ Craig Mello

A zealous disciple expressed a desire to teach others the Truth and asked the Master what he thought about this. The Master said, "Wait." Each year the disciple would return with the same request and each time the Master would give him the same reply: "Wait." One day he said to the Master, "When will I be ready to teach?" Said the Master, "When your excessive eagerness to teach has left you. ~ Anthony De Mello

Greatest discoveries come from passionate scientists with naive curiosity ~ Craig Mello

Most people end up being conformists; they adapt to prison life. A few become reformers; they fight for better lighting, better ventilation. Hardly anyone becomes a rebel, a revolutionary who breaks down the prison walls. You can only be a revolutionary when you see the prison walls in the first place. ~ Anthony De Mello

The master never seemed to have his fill of gazing at his firstborn child. "What do you want him to be when he grows up?" someone asked. "Outrageously happy," said the master. ~ Anthony De Mello

I went to Bergdorf Goodman as an assistant in the fashion office and that was really my first exposure into the world of retail. Dawn Mello was president at the time and she had just left Gucci where she found Tom Ford. ~ Roopal Patel

It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth, in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear! ~ Anthony De Mello

Look for competence not claims. ~ Anthony De Mello

Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone you must say to yourself: I am dying and this person too is dying, attempting the while to experience the truth of the words you are saying. If every one of you agrees to practice this, bitterness will die out, harmony will arise. ~ Anthony De Mello

Pleasant experiences make life delightful. Painful experiences lead to growth. ~ Anthony De Mello

I was neurotic for years. I was anxious and depressed and selfish. Everyone kept telling me to change. I resented them and I agreed with them, and I wanted to change, but simply couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. Then one day someone said to me, Don't change. I love you just as you are. Those words were music to my ears: Don't change, Don't change. Don't change ... I love you as you are. I relaxed. I came alive. And suddenly I changed! ~ Anthony De Mello

Ordinarily, everything we do is in our self-interest. Everything. ~ Anthony De Mello

Say goodbye to golden yesterdays: or your heart will never learn to love the present. ~ Anthony De Mello

Have you ever attempted to organize something like peace? The moment you do, you have power conflicts and group wars within the organization. The only way to have peace is to let it grow wild. ~ Anthony De Mello

All that you give to others you are giving to yourself. ~ Anthony De Mello

Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self. ~ Anthony De Mello

What we need is not just action that will bring about change but sight that will bring about love. ~ Anthony De Mello

A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate. "Tell me, O Master," he said, "why you have come into this world." "To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters. ~ Anthony De Mello

This truth I firmly hold, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding;
my life has been a gift, a blessing to the world. ~ Anthony De Mello

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a world where everybody said, 'We don't know?' The fact is that you're surrounded -God and you don't see God, because you KNOW ABOUT God. The final barrier to the vision of God is your God concept. You miss God because you think you know. The highest knowledge of God is to know God as unknowable. All revelations, however divine, are never any more than a finger pointing at the moon. As we say in the East, 'When the sage points to the moon, all the idiot sees is the finger'. ~ Anthony De Mello

The day you are happy for no reason whatsoever, the day you find yourself taking delight in everything and in nothing, you will know that you have found the land of unending joy called the kingdom. ~ Anthony De Mello

This is what Wisdom means: To be changed without the slightest effort on your part, to be transformed, believe it or not, merely by waking to the reality that is not words , that lies beyond the reach of words. If you are fortunate enough to be Awakened thus, you will know why the finest language is the one that is not spoken, the finest action is the one that is not done and the finest change is the one that is not willed. ~ Anthony De Mello

If the heart is unobstructed, the result is love. ~ Anthony De Mello

The Master was exceedingly gracious to university dons who visited him, but he would never reply to their questions or be drawn into their theological speculations. To his disciples, who marveled at this, he said, Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts? ~ Anthony De Mello

After all, the only thing harder than allowing yourself to care is pretending that you don't. ~ Sarah Mello

You can will an act of service but you cannot will love. ~ Anthony De Mello

Problems exist only in the human mind. ~ Anthony De Mello

People who deliberate fully before they take a step will spend their lives on one leg ~ Anthony De Mello

Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable. ~ Anthony De Mello

The only way that someone can be of help to you is by challenging your ideas. ~ Anthony De Mello

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. ~ Anthony De Mello

A good teacher offers practice , a bad one offers theories . ~ Anthony De Mello

The Rose does not preen herself to catch my eye. She blooms because she blooms. A saint is a saint until he knows he is one. ~ Anthony De Mello

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. ~ Anthony De Mello

A lost coin is found by means of a candle; the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story. ~ Anthony De Mello

Concepts are always frozen. Reality flows. ~ Anthony De Mello

The Master made it his task to destroy systematically every
doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these
things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now
being taken as descriptions.
He loved to quote the Eastern saying When the sage points
to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger. ~ Anthony De Mello

I want to make a difference in the world because I believe that's what science is for. ~ Craig Mello

For to love persons is to have died to the need for persons and to be utterly alone. ~ Anthony De Mello

"What is the secret of your serenity?" Said the master: "Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable." ~ Anthony De Mello

If you wish to attain to lasting happiness you must be ready to hate father, mother, even your own life and to take leave of all your possessions. How? Not by renouncing them or giving them up because what you give up violently you are forever bound to. But rather by seeing them for the nightmare they are; and then, whether you keep them or not, they will have lost their grip over you, their power to hurt you, and you will be out of your dream at last, out of your darkness, your fear, your unhappiness. ~ Anthony De Mello

As you identify less and less with the "me", you will be more at ease with everybody and with everything. Do you know why? Because you are no longer afraid of being hurt or not liked. You no longer desire to impress anyone. Can you imagine the relief when you don't have to impress anybody anymore? Oh, what a relief. Happiness at last! ~ Anthony De Mello

When I speak, you must not listen to the words, my dear. Listen to the Silence. ~ Anthony De Mello

Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by the stupidity of society and culture. To acquire happiness you don't have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired. Does anybody know why? Because we have it already. How can you acquire what you already have? Then why don't you experience it? Because you've got to drop something. You've got to drop illusions. You don't have to add anything in order to be happy; you've got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings. Do you know where these things come from? From having identified with all kinds of labels! ~ Anthony De Mello

All conflict comes from attachment. ~ Anthony De Mello

What is love?"; "The total absence of fear," said the Master; "What is it we fear?"; "Love," said the Master. ~ Anthony De Mello

Drop your false ideas. See through people. If you see through yourself, you will see through everyone. Then you will love them. Otherwise you spend the whole time grappling with your wrong notions of them, with your illusions that are constantly crashing against reality. ~ Anthony De Mello

The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong. ~ Anthony De Mello

Rare indeed, is the relationship in which the other is not cultivated for what one can get for oneself. ~ Anthony De Mello

You must cultivate activities that you love. You must discover work that you do, not for its utility, but for itself, whether it succeeds or not, whether you are praised for it or not, whether you are loved and rewarded for it or not, whether people know about it and are grateful to you for it or not. How many activities can you count in your life that you engage in simply because they delight you and grip your soul? Find them out, cultivate them, for they are your passport to freedom and to love. ~ Anthony De Mello

There is no explanation you can give that will explain away all the sufferings and evil and torture and destruction and hunger in the world! You'll never explain it. Because life is a mystery, which means your thinking mind cannot make sense of it. For that you've got to wake up and then you'll suddenly realize that reality is not the problem, you are the problem. ~ Anthony De Mello

If you never condemned you would never need to forgive. ~ Anthony De Mello

Can one be fully human without experiencing tragedy? The only tragedy there is in the world is ignorance; all evil comes from that. ~ Anthony De Mello

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. ~ Anthony De Mello

You can never be free
as long as you have an ego to defend. ~ Anthony De Mello

A nice definition of an awakened person: a person who no longer marches to the drums of society, a person who dances to the tune of the music that springs up from within. ~ Anthony De Mello

Spirituality practiced in the state of activity is incomparably superior to that practiced in a state of withdrawel. ~ Anthony De Mello

I lack the Lord's own gentleness of heart, for I see deliberate malice where he sees ignorance and weakness. ~ Anthony De Mello

When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself. ~ Anthony De Mello

Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it. ~ Anthony De Mello

Everybody was talking about the religious man who committed suicide.
While no one in the monastery approved of the man's action, some say they admired his faith.
Faith?" said the Master.
He had the courage of his convictions, didn't he?"
That was fanaticism, not faith. Faith demands a greater courage still: to reexamine one's convictions and reject them if they do not fit the facts. ~ Anthony De Mello

Most people tell you they want to get out of kindergarten, but don't believe them. Don't believe them! All they want you to do is to mend their broken toys. "Give me back my wife. Give me back my job. Give me back my money. Give me back my reputation, my success." This is what they want; they want their toys replaced. That's all. Even the best psychologist will tell you that, that people don't really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is painful. ~ Anthony De Mello

You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone. ~ Anthony De Mello

The way to really live is to die. The passport to living is to imagine yourself in your grave. Imagine you're lying in your coffin ... Now look at your problems from that viewpoint. Changes everything, doesn't it? ~ Anthony De Mello

You keep insisting, I feel good because the world is right! Wrong! The world is right because I feel good. That's what all the mystics are saying. ~ Anthony De Mello

How sad if we pass through life and never see it with the eyes of a child. ~ Anthony De Mello

We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause - for what they call success. Those are words that do not correspond to reality. They are conventions, things that are invented, but we don't realize that they don't correspond to reality. What is success? It is what one group decided is a good thing. Another group will decide the same thing is bad. ~ Anthony De Mello

On the question of his own enlightenment the Master always remained reticent, even though the disciples tried every means to get him to talk. All the information they had on this subject was what the Master once said to his youngest son, who wanted to know what his father felt when he became enlightened. The answer was, 'A fool.'
When the boy asked why, the Master had replied, 'Well, son, it was like going to great pains to break into a house by climbing a ladder and smashing a window--- and realizing later that the door of the house was open. ~ Anthony De Mello

To hell with Kira.
What matters to me is L.
L ~ NisiOisiN

You see persons and things not as they are but as you are. ~ Anthony De Mello

'Without the help of mathematics,' the wise man continued, 'the art could not advance and all the sciences would perish.' ~ Julio Cesar De Mello E Souza

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

"I seek the meaning of existence," said the stranger. "You are of course assuming," said the Master, "that existence has a meaning." "Doesn't it?" "When you experience existence as it is - not as you think it is you will discover that your question has no meaning," said the Master. ~ Anthony De Mello

It's only when you become love - in other words, when you have dropped your illusions and attachments - that you will "know." As you identify less and less with the "me," you will be more at ease with everybody and with everything. ~ Anthony De Mello

Suffering is given to you that you might open your eyes to the truth. ~ Anthony De Mello

In many ways we were drugged when we were young. We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause. ~ Anthony De Mello

The Pew Biomedical Scholars are a synergistic community whose connections are reinforced over the years. ~ Craig Mello