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“God is not attained by a process of addition to anything in the soul, but by a process of subtraction” – Source: Meister Eckhart
He is not talking here in the sense of god as the religious God but more as true self awareness. By dropping illusions you find reality, reality is underneath so you cannot obtain it, you must instead remove what blocks it.
“You don’t do anything to be free, you drop something, then you are free” – Source: Anthony de Mello
In many societies we are born free but we enslave ourselves in imaginary goals such as needing to work in a certain profession, own a certain thing, marry a certain type of person, etc.
Continue reading “You don’t do anything to be free, you drop something”
“I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it” – Source: Anthony de Mello
A simple concept – we are taught from an early age to want and desire things and that when we get those things we will be happy. Unwinding that conditioning is not easy.
Did you hear about the lawyer who was presented with a plumber’s bill? He said to the plumber, “Hey, you’re charging me two hundred dollars an hour. I don’t make that kind of money as a lawyer”. The plumber said, “I didn’t make that kind of money when I was a lawyer either!” – Souce: Anthony de Mello
“The main preoccupation of society is to keep society sick” – Source: Anthony de Mello
We don’t really need most of what we have, society has taught us we need it and society teaches us that greater happiness lies in getting more, being respected more, etc.
Continue reading “The main preoccupation of society is to keep society sick”
“Don’t seek the truth, just drop your opinions” – Source: Zen Proverb
This comes back to understanding the difference between reality and illusion. The truth is very basic but we introduce labels and concepts about things – “this is beautiful”, “that is bad” and then claim these are the truth.
Continue reading “Don’t seek the truth, just drop your opinions”
I’ve really struggled to get my head around the concept that a ‘thing’ is also ‘not-the-thing’. I understood the basic idea that a ‘thing’ cannot exist without ‘not a thing’. A solid cannot be a solid if it is not surrounded by space.
But to then say both are one and the same fuzzled my mind. Then I recently came across someone describing it on a forum like this:
The Buddha says “See them, floundering in their sense of mine, like fish in the puddles of a dried-up stream — and, seeing this, live with no mine, not forming attachment for states of becoming.”
Thinkers like De Mello and Tolle interpret this as not attaching happiness to anything – no person, no thing, no outcome. By dropping this “I will be happy if” mentality we actually become happy – our default state.
Continue reading “Experiencing bliss … and understanding what it is!”
“Those who know do not speak and those who speak do not know” – Source: Lao Tsu
This is widely quoted, or other quotes are based upon it, by many spiritual leaders such as De Mello and Tolle but what do they mean?
Continue reading “Those who know do not speak and those who speak do not know”
“… looking for meaning on the level of mental concepts and if you look for meanings on the level of mental concepts all you can find is transitional temporary things. Belief Structures. Belief systems that can be satisfying for a while but sooner or later your belief system will clash with reality and will lead to suffering. So to look for the true meaning of life cannot be found. If you are able to relinquish your desire to understand conceptually and access that in you which is beyond concepts then you find the meaning of life but you may not be able to say what it is.” – Source: Eckhart Tolle
This is based on the easier to remember quote “Those who speak do not know and those who know do not speak“. Follow the link for a full explanation.