When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
Anthony De MelloRead
Problems only exist in the human mind.
Interpretation
Problems are a creation of our thoughts, not external realities.
This quote by Anthony De Mello emphasizes the idea that the challenges and obstacles we face are largely a product of our perceptions and thoughts. It suggests that our mindset and interpretation of situations play a pivotal role in defining what we consider to be problems, indicating that by changing our thoughts, we can alter our experiences of reality.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming mental barriers.
When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
Perfect love casts out fear. Where there is love there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy; my happiness does not lie in you. If you were to leave me, I will not feel sorry for myself; I enjoy your company immensely, but I do not cling.
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.
The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.
What is a loving heart? A loving heart is sensitive to the whole of life, to all persons; a loving heart doesn't harden itself to any persons or things.
Those who make no mistakes are making the biggest mistakes of all - they are attempting nothing new.
What we do not make conscious emerges later as fate.
I daresay anything can be made holy by being sincerely worshipped.
As a southerner born after the epic events of the civil rights movement, I've always wondered how on earth people of good will could have conceivably lived with Jim Crow - with the daily degradations, the lynchings in plain sight, and, as the movement gathered force, with the fire hoses and the police dogs and the billy clubs.
Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.
To practice Aikido fully you must calm the spirit and go back to the origin.
Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means that it still matters what Penn did two hundred years ago or what Franklin did a hundred years ago; I never could feel in New York that it mattered what anybody did an hour ago.
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