Awareness

Rating:
Summary: A handbook for life
Review: I can't say enough good things about Awareness by Anthony de Mello. I picked it up during a 5-day Ignatian retreat four years ago. It helped change my way of looking at the world and at myself.(...)

Rating:
Summary: Father Anthony will open your "eyes"
Review: Your inner "eyes", that is. He is a blend of St. John of the Cross and Brother Lawrence and is not bound by the constraints of his Catholicism but has distilled its essence. This essence is communicated with a distinct flavor of the best of the Eastern "mindfulness" tradition. You will be happy to have the good father as your spiritual guide. Sadly, he is no longer with us on this earth, but he certainly continues to guide us in our search for the deepest union of our selves with the Divine.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful insight for those grounded in their faith
Review: This will be a brief review, to cast my vote "for" this wonderful book and to offer some advice. I was greatly impressed with Father De Mello's advice to stop thinking about being aware and Just DO IT! That advice -- to be aware of the blessings of God in our world and in the brief section of the world we call our life -- is superb and valid no matter what your faith or outlook (assuming it is basically positive).
Just one word of advice -- the Vatican has, indeed, cast some aspersions on this book (at least for now; who knows when that may change). I would recommend this book be read by someone who feels comfortable with their faith and with their trust in the Lord. The book can seem a bit new age-y but it can also bless one's prayer life and one's response to the wonderful creation, which includes one's awareness.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding.
Review: Anyone who cannot benefit from this book does not love god with all his/her might, mind, and soul.

Only those who approach religion without their hearts involved will not benefit from reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: Awareness is Waking up to Spirituality
Review: Awareness is a compilation of De Mello's dialogues on spirituality awakening. De Mello dialogues have an in-your-face conversational style that is not what you'd expect from a Jesuit priest. He uses anecdotes to make his point and demystify enlightenment. The book is an easy read, perhaps too simplistic. On the other hand, it is also practical, with topics pertinent to our ordinary life experiences.

"Spirituality means waking up," explains De Mello. "Many of us, even though we don't know it, are asleep. We're born asleep, we live asleep, we marry in our sleep, we breed children in our sleep, we die in our sleep without ever waking up."

One of the underlying principles is the difference between interdependence and dependence. According to De Mello, interdependence is healthy and occurs when we have different roles in society, allowing us to interact and live more efficiently. Dependence is unhealthy and occurs when we depend on another for our happiness..

De Mello provides insight on religious dogma, insight that is pertinent to the religious battles that plague us to this day. "Scripture," he says, is "a hint, a clue, not a description. The fanaticism of one sincere believer who thinks they know causes more evil than the united efforts of two hundred rogues. The final barrier to the vision of God is your God concept. You miss God because you think you know. There is far too much God talk; the world is sick of it. There is too little dropping of illusions, dropping of errors, dropping of attachments and cruelty, too little awareness. That's what the world is suffering from, not from a lack of religion. Religion is supposed to be about awareness, of waking up. Look what we've degenerated into. Come to my country and see them killing one another over religion. You'll find it everywhere."

True faith is more than reciting scriptures. It is not something that can be worn on your sleeve. "Meditating on and imitating externally the behavior of Jesus is no help," says De Mello. "It's not a question of imitating Christ, it's a question of becoming what Jesus was. It's a question of becoming Christ, becoming aware, understanding what's going on within you. If you would die to the past, if you would die to every minute, you would be the person who is fully alive, because a fully alive person is one who is full of death. We're always dying to things. We're always shedding everything in order to be fully alive and to be resurrected at every moment."

In today's fear-based society, you may have forgotten what it feels like to be full of love and joy. "Happiness is our natural state," explains De Mello. "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." If you take the time to step away from your ego, you'll come to the realization that "Negative feelings are in you, not in reality. So stop trying to change reality. Stop trying to change the other person. We spend all our time and energy trying to change external circumstances, trying to change our spouses, our bosses, our friends, our enemies, and everybody else. We don't have to change anything. Negative feelings are in you. No person on earth has the power to make you unhappy. There is no event on earth that has the power to disturb you or hurt you." Awareness comes when we can step far enough back from our selves to drop our illusions and fantasies and reclaim the grace and magnificence of our creation.

Rating:
Summary: Father Anthony will open your "eyes"
Review: Your inner "eyes", that is. He is a blend of St. John of the Cross and Brother Lawrence and is not bound by the constraints of his Catholicism but has distilled its essence. This essence is communicated with a distinct flavor of the best of the Eastern "mindfulness" tradition. You will be happy to have the good father as your spiritual guide. Sadly, he is no longer with us on this earth, but he certainly continues to guide us in our search for the deepest union of our selves with the Divine.

Rating:
Summary: Thank God for Cardinal Ratzinger
Review: Sometimes I'll read a book and, maybe a couple of times along the way, I'll be forced to stop and just let my mind calm down. Just because something the author has written is so thought-provoking.

With this book I had to do that on almost every page. I don't think it's ever taken me so long to read 184 pages before.

I'm actually glad Cardinal Ratzinger, Chief of the Vatican Thought Police, decided to condemn Fr. de Mello's work. If it wasn't for the ensuing controversy, I might never have become aware of the work of this truly enlightened priest.

I don't approve of censorship, but sometimes these things happen when Catholic priests (or nuns) throw pearls before swine (which is unavoidable in the world of mass market publishing).

No bother. This book would not be appropriate for the handful of people who actually care about anything Ratzinger has to say, anyway. Not because they don't need to wake up reality, mind you -- they're just so enjoying living in a dreamworld, any attempt to disturb their slumber will only irritate them. You don't want to disturb the simple faithful.

Of course, maybe if they were disturbed a little bit, they wouldn't be so simple?

Rating:
Summary: A handbook for life
Review: I can't say enough good things about Awareness by Anthony de Mello. I picked it up during a 5-day Ignatian retreat four years ago. It helped change my way of looking at the world and at myself.(...)

Rating:
Summary: Reread this one every year!
Review: De Mello impresses how most of us are like sheep following popular opinion. We are conditioned by fear. This parralizes us and cuts us off from discovering joy. How rich life can be if we snap out of this delusion! His words have the force to help us do just that. It certainly has helped me.

Awareness is one of the best books I have ever read of this sort. There is nothing ambigious about De Mello's message. Two other books to check out are 'A Return to Love' by Marianne Williamson and 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle. Their style is different from De Mello's but they are also very liberating.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond Works
Review: This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read in my life. It's amazing how that saying is the truth..."when the student is ready, the teacher will come" This book came at the perfect time and it rocked my world. What an awesome truth teller. Read it slowly and savor each word