Anthony deMello and his spirituality  (Sp. II)

From the start of the course on "Spirituality", I have emphasized not to expect that this course would answer all your questions, and I 'm sure you have become aware of that. It was not the purpose of this course for me to function as some kind of guru, somebody who teaches people to be spiritual and help them in their spiritual practices. The course has given basic information on how one should look at spirituality, but it was not geared toward application of spirituality to one’s personal life.

This kind of guidance can come from the works of Anthony de Mello, which are so closely related to the vision of Diarmuid O'Murchu, and his concept of spirituality.

Anthony De Mello, a Psychotherapist and a Jesuit priest from India, died suddenly in 1987 at the age of 47. He was a well-known writer and speaker on spiritual topics. His approach blended insights from Eastern religions with Christian traditions. His many books, tapes and retreats are circulating all around the world. Many see him as a great spiritual new leader, and his influence is still quite a living thing. One can get daily inspiration from Anthony de Mello on mysticism, spiritual growth, self realization and spiritual healing.

A quote that expresses how I feel about him:

“It’s extremely hard for me to believe that anyone would find anything de Mello says to be anything other than orthodox. He was a very devout churchman.” Fr.Francis Stroud.

“De Mello censure reflects Vatican misgivings about Eastern thinking”, writes John L. Allen jr. of NCR staff.

Anthony de Mello once wrote: “Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy.”
By that standard, (says Allen Aug. 23, 1997) de Mello was brought a bit closer to the mark, when the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned the works of the Indian Jesuit. He was known for his attempts to bridge Eastern and Western spirituality-- for “relativizing” faith, and thus leading to “religious indifferentism.” - The censure of de Mello seems to reflect deep misgivings in Rome about the impact of Eastern religious thinking on Christianity.
Works by de Mello:

Conversations with the Master

A De Mello Spirituality Conference in His Own Words

Contact with God: Retreat Conferences

The Heart of the Enlightened: A Book of Story Meditations

One Minute Wisdom 1988

One Minute Nonsense

More One Minute Nonsense

Praying: Body & Soul

Sadhana: A Way to God 1984

The Song of a Bird

Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations

Walking on Water

Wellsprings

Awareness 1992

The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of Anthony DeMello

!!! www.amazon.com Shows you the whole list and let’s you make a choice (if you can!)

To connect you with teaching let me give you a few lines from the introduction to One Minute Wisdom :

“The Master in these tales, he says, is not a single person.

He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, a Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi,

a Christian Monk, or a Sufi Mystic. He can be Lao-tzu and Socrates, Buddha or Jesus, Zarathústra and Mohammed. The teaching of the Master is found in the seventh century B.C., as well as in the twentieth century A.D. His wisdom belongs to East and West alike.

Do his historical antecedents really matter? History, after all, is the record of appearances, not Reality; a record of doctrines, not of Silence.

It will only take a minute to read each of the anecdotes that follow. You will probably find the Master̓s language baffling, exasperating, even downright meaningless.

This, alas, is not an easy book! It was written not to instruct but to Awaken.

Concealed within its pages - not in the printed words, not even in the tales, but in its spirit, its mood, its atmosphere - is a Wisdom which cannot be conveyed in human speech. As you read the printed page and struggle with the Master̓s cryptic language, it is possible that you will unwittingly chance upon the Silent Teaching that lurks within the book, and ... be Awakened, and ... transformed.

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, but 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.

Caution: Take the tales in tiny doses - one or two at a time. An overdose will lower their potency.

SENSITIVITY

“How shall I experience my oneness with creation?”

“By listening,” said the Master.

“And how am I to listen?”

“Become an ear that gives heed to every single thing the universe is saying. The moment you hear something you yourself are saying, stop."

HARMONY

For all his traditional ways, the Master had scant respect for rules and for traditions.

A quarrel once broke out between a disciple and his daughter because the man kept insisting that the girl conform to the rules of their religion in the choice of her prospective husband.

The Master openly sided with the girl.

When the disciple expressed his surprise that a holy man would do this, the Master said, “You must understand that life is just like music, which is made more by feeling and by instinct than by rules.”

IDENTITY

“How does one seek union with God?”

“The harder you seek, the more distance you create between Him and you.

So what does one do about the distance?”

“Understand that it isn̓t there.”

“Does that mean that God and I are one?”

“Not one. Not two.”

“How is that possible?”

“The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song—not one. Not two.

MECHANICAL-NESS

The Master once asked his disciples which

was more important: wisdom or action.

The disciples were unanimous: “Action, of course. Of what use is wisdom that does not show itself in action?”

Said the Master, “And of what use is action that proceeds from an unenlightened heart?” [that comes forth from a heart without wisdom]

WORSHIP

To the disciple who was overly respectful the Master said, “Light is reflected on a wall. Why venerate the wall? Be attentive to the light.”

DESTINY

To a woman who complained about her destiny the Master said, “It is you who make your destiny.”

“But surely I am not responsible for being born a woman?”

“Being born a woman isn̓t destiny. That is fate. Destiny is how you accept your womanhood and what you make of it.”

REBIRTH

“Make a clean break with your past and you will

be Enlightened,” said the Master.

“I am doing that by degrees.”

“Growth is achieved by degrees. Enlightenment is instantaneous.”

Later he said, “Take the leap! You cannot cross a chasm in little jumps.”

DREAMS

“When will I be Enlightened?”

"When you see,” the Master said.

 “See what?”

“Trees and flowers and moon and stars.”

“But I see these every day.”

“No. What you see is paper trees, paper flowers, paper moons and paper stars. For you live not in reality but in your words and thoughts.”

And for good measure, he added gently, “You live a paper life, alas, and will die a paper death.” **real death is the joy of having ‘known’ (experienced) the presence of the divine and to know that you will return to where you came from: the divine LifePower, that you were united with while living.

ESCAPE

The Master became a legend in his lifetime. It was said that God once sought his advice:

“I want to play a game of hide-and-seek with humankind. I̓ve asked my Angels what the best place is to hide in. Some say the depth of the ocean. Others the top of the highest mountain. Others still the far side of the moon or a distant star. What do you suggest?”

Said the Master, “Hide in the human heart. That̓s the last place they will think of looking for you."

HOMECOMING

“There are three stages in one̓s spiritual development,” said the Master. “The carnal, the spiritual and the divine."

“What is the carnal stage?” asked the eager disciples.

“That̓s the stage when trees are seen as trees and mountains as mountains.”

“And the spiritual?”

“That̓s when one looks more deeply into things—then trees are no longer trees and mountains no longer mountains."

“And the divine?”

“Ah, that̓s Enlightenment," said the Master with a chuckle, “when trees become trees again and mountains, mountains.”

SIN

One of the disconcerting—and delightful— teachings of the Master was:

“God is closer to sinners than to saints.” This is how he explained it:

“God in heaven holds each person by a string. When you sin, you cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot—and thereby bringing you a little closer to him. Again and again your sins cut the string—and with each further knot God keeps drawing you closer and closer.”

IDOLATRY

The Master never wearied of warning his disciples about the dangers of religion. He loved to tell the story of the prophet who carried a flaming torch through the streets, saying he was going to set fire to the temple so that people would concern themselves more with the Lord than with the temple.

Then he would add: “Someday I shall carry a flaming torch myself to set fire to both the temple and the Lord!” [the concept we have of God]

CREATIVITY

“What is the highest act a person can perform?”

“Sitting in meditation.”

But the Master himself was rarely seen to sit in meditation. He was ceaselessly engaged in housework and fieldwork, in meeting people and writing books. He even took up the bookkeeping chores of the monastery.

“Why, then, do you spend all your time in work?”

“When one works, one need not cease to sit in meditation.”

DESTRUCTION

For all his holiness, the Master seemed vaguely opposed to religion. This never ceased to puzzle the disciples who, unlike the Master, equated religion with spirituality.

“Religion as practiced today deals in punishments and rewards. In other words, it breeds fear and greed—the two things most destructive of spirituality.”

Later he added ruefully, “It is like tackling a flood with water; or a burning barn with fire.”

Some more thoughts from de Mello’s book: AWARENESS -

The perils and opportunities of reality - How Happiness happens 57

I am sometimes asked, “Is this growing in awareness a gradual thing, or is it a ‘whammo̓ kind of thing?” There are some lucky people who see this in a flash. They just become aware. There are others who keep growing into it, slowly, gradually, increasingly. They begin to see things. Illusions drop away, fantasies are peeled away, and they start to get in touch with facts. There̓s no general rule.

[I like the following story - it’s an excellent reminder for us at all time!]

There̓s a famous story about the lion who came upon a flock of sheep and to his amazement found a lion among the sheep. It was a lion who had been brought up by the sheep ever since he was a cub. It would bleat like a sheep and run around like a sheep.

The visiting lion went straight for him, and when the sheep-lion stood in front of the real one, he trembled in every limb. But the lion said to him, “What are you doing among these sheep?”

And the sheep—lion said, “I am a sheep.”

And the lion said, “Oh no you̓re not. You re coming with me.” So he took the sheep-lion to a pool and said, “Look!” And when the sheep-lion looked at his reflection in the water, he let out a mighty roar, and in that moment he was transformed. He was never the same again.

If you̓re lucky and the gods are gracious, or if you are gifted with divine grace (use any theological expression you want), you might suddenly understand who “I” is, and you̓ll never be the same again, never. Nothing will ever be able to touch you again, and no one will ever be able to hurt you again.

5 min. - So, have you come to understand your "I" - what is your "I"? Look over the meditations we just read, and take a few minutes to find there for yourself, answers to those question. Mark those ‘words’ or ‘phrases’ that express what you are, or are invited to become.

Awareness and contact with reality 63

Awareness is: To watch everything inside of you and outside, and when there is something happening to you, to see it as if it were happening to someone else, with no comment, no judgment, no attitude, no interference, no attempt to change, only to understand.

As you do this, you̓ll begin to realize that increasingly you are dis-identifying from the “me.”

St. Teresa of Avila says that toward the end of her life God gave her an extraordinary grace. She doesn̓t use this modern expression, of course, but what it really boils down to is ‘dis-identifying from herself’.

If someone else has cancer and I don̓t know the person, I̓m not all that affected. If I had love and sensitivity, maybe I̓d help, but I̓m not emotionally affected. If you have an examination to take, I̓m not all that affected. I can be quite philosophical about it and say, “Well, the more you worry about it, the worse it̓ll get. Why not just take a good break instead of studying?”

But when it̓s my turn to have an examination, well, that̓s something else, isn̓t it? The reason is that I̓ve identified with “me”—with my family, my country, my possessions, my body, me.

How would it be if God gave me grace not to call these things mine?

I̓d be detached; I̓d be dis-identified. That̓s what it means to lose the self, to deny the self, to die to self.

Thomas Merton

cf CL p.68f MZM Mystics and Zen Masters Thomas Merton 1961-1999 - The Seven Storey Mountain - Thomas Merton, 1948 - The Last of the Fathers Thomas Merton, [St.Bernard] 1954 - Thomas Merton: Essential Writings, selected with an introduction by Christine M. Bochen. Orbis Books (Maryknoll, N.Y., 2000). 191 pp., paperback, $14.00. - ‘The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals,” edited by Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo. HarperSanFrancisco (New York and San Francisco, 2001). 375 pp., paperback, $16.00. - When Prophecy Still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax,” edited by Arthur W. Bid-die. University of Kentucky Press (Lexington, Ky., 2001). 448 pp., cloth, $39.95. Reviewed by Nancy Hartnagel Catholic News Service Hartnagel is wire traffic editor at Catholic News Service in Washington. - Thomas Merton: A Thomas Merton Reader Ed. Thomas P.McDonnell 1974 ThM

`We are living in the greatest revolution in history, a huge, spontaneous upheaval of the entire human race. Not a revolution planned and carried out by any particular party, race or nation, but a deep elemental boiling over of all the inner contradictions that have ever been in people, a revolution of the chaotic forces inside everybody. This is not something we have chosen, nor is it anything we are free to avoid.'

Do these words resonate with your experience? You might be surprised to learn that they were written initially in the 1950s by the prophetic genius, the late Cistercian monk, Thomas Merton. He was one of several people who began to feel and perceive new vibrating forces, pulsating right across our world. It was like the birthpains of new possibilities, a dream being born! cf O’Murchu in OurWorld inTransition introd

Though Thomas Merton died in 1968, the famous spiritual writer and Trappist monk lives on, as evidenced by three new books.

In the first one: “Thomas Merton: Essential Writings,” editor Christine M. Bochen offers passages from Merton̓s books, letters, prayers, poems and essays that, as she says, “could only offer ‘a taste of Merton̓ intended to lure readers to read more of Merton for themselves.”

In her introduction, Bochen tells about Merton’s personal history, stressing “the integral relationship” between his words and life. The selections that follow are grouped in sections reflecting Merton’s journey: his calls to contemplation or prayer, to compassion and to unity. This book is a good introduction to Merton, since it demonstrates how his Trappist vocation together with his writing made him a 20th-century spiritual guru. Of value for me are her are reflections on his “simple way of prayer,” on the meaning of contemplation in “a world of action,” and on nonviolence and peace, subjects no less compelling now than in Merton̓s time. The book also includes a helpful chronological outline of his life and published works.

The second book: “The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals,” editors — Trappist Brother Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo comprises in one publication the seven volumes of Merton̓s journals published from 1995 to 1998. This condensation is a wonderful read and could easily be Merton̓s unofficial autobiography. Journal entries cover the years 1939 to 1968, taking Merton from the age of 24 to his premature death at 53. Major themes are introduced and revisited: discernment of writing and monastic vocations, the pull of solitude and need for a hermitage (!), battles over church censorship (!) , a growing abhorrence of war and violence, love of nature, a surprise love affair with a student nurse in 1966, the challenges of fame.

Here is a excerpt that expresses his spirit (Notice: it’s from Feb. 17,1966)

“The morning got more brilliant, and I could feel the brilliancy of it getting into my own blood. Living so close to the cold, you feel the spring. This is man̓s mission! The earth cannot feel all this. We must. Living away from the earth and the trees, we fail them. We are absent from the wedding feast.”

The third book, “When Prophecy still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax” contains letters the two writers and poets, who became friends at Columbia University in 1935, wrote each other over three decades. The letters reveal playful, punning friends, writing unselfconsciously about the trials and tribulations of their solitary lives. After college, the two saw each other only a handful of times, which adds poignancy to their correspondence.

Editor Arthur W. Biddle provides an introduction, chronologies helpful notes, throughout the letters, and a long interview with Lax condensed from taped conversations he had with the poet on the Greek island of Patmos during the 90's. Most of Lax̓s letters have not been published before. Readers with time for only one of these books might take their cue from Merton himself. “My best writing has always been in journals,” he said.

MERTON the hermit. . . on nature

"I live in the woods out of necessity. I get out of bed in the middle of the night because it is imperative that I hear the silence of the night, alone, and, with my face on the floor, I say psalms, alone, in the silence of the night. It is necessary for me to live here alone without a woman, for the silence of the forest is my bride and the sweet dark warmth of the whole world is my love and out of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all the secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their beds all over the world."

The mystery of Thomas Merton's marriage to the forest is a rich and overlooked sub-theme of the most celebrated spiritual stories of modern times.

Curiously, what remains hidden or obscure in his very public discourse on matters of the sacred is the significance that the natural world played as the ecstatic ground of his own experience of God. But a close reading of his many writings reveals his intimate rapport and progressive union with creation ‘as the body of divinity’ - at once veiling and unveiling the God he so longed to behold and be held by.

Thomas Merton spent his whole monastic life listening for that secret pulsating ‘in the heartbeat of creation’, and wedded the forest so he could listen with absolute rapture and commitment as one would to a beloved, "for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death...." What he heard in the murmurings of wilderness were "the sweet songs of living things" whose choirs he joined as a solitary monk offering a psalm of glory and thanksgiving on behalf of humankind. In time his own center became "the teeming heart of natural families" as his unique subjectivity opened to the cosmos in wonder and awe, sounding a silent interval of praise in the rapturous hymn of creation. Excerpted from: When The Trees Say Nothing -Writings on Nature - by Thomas Merton - Edited by Kathleen Deignan

172 From Thomas Merton, Essential Writings Christine Bochen

"First, let me struggle with the contradiction that I have to live with, in appearing before you in what I really consider to be a disguise, because I never, never wear this (a clerical collar). What I ordinarily wear is blue jeans and an open shirt; which brings me to the question that people have been asking to a great extent: Whom do you represent? What religion do you represent? And that, too, is a rather difficult question to answer. I came with the notion of perhaps saying something for monks and to monks of all religions because I am supposed to be a monk.... I may not look like one.

In speaking for monks I am really speaking for a very strange kind of person, a marginal person, because the monk in the modern world is no longer an established person with an established place in society. We realize very keenly in America today that the monk is essentially outside of all establishments. He does not belong to an establishment. He is a marginal person who withdraws deliberately to the margin of society with a view to deepening fundamental human experience. Consequently, as one of these strange people, I speak to you as a representative of all marginal persons who have done this kind of thing deliberately.

Thus I find myself representing perhaps hippies among you, poets, people of this kind who are seeking in all sorts of ways, and have absolutely no established status whatever. So I ask you to do me just this one favor of considering me not as a figure representing any institution, but as a status-less person, an insignificant person who comes to you asking your charity and patience while I say one or two things....

I stand among you as one who offers a small message of hope, that first, there are always people who dare to seek on the margin of society, who are not dependent on social acceptance, not dependent on social routine, and prefer a kind of free-floating existence under a state of risk. And among these people, if they are faithful to their own calling, to their own vocation, and to their own message from God, communication of the deepest level is possible.

And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be, is what we are.
informal talk delivered at Calcutta, October 1968, AJ 305-8

One of the Fathers of Citeaux said - with some surprise - I was searching for God in my prayers, and I found him in my work.

I have learned to search for God in prayer to find him in my work.

Desire for deeper spirituality requires that we pass a ‘draw-bridge’; to be able to search for God and to find him we have to allow the bridge to be raised, to close us off for some time from the world around us.