If you’ve read the Introduction and the First e-mail, then you’ve read all that is being said here. I’ve kept it here for record purposes only. 🙂
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I think I know what I will post in Coffee-Time Philosophy Blog…. stories that have inspired me to rethink LIFE itself. Stories by Father De Mello.
Long ago I subscribed to an e-mail list on “Stories by Father De Mello” (Ed. it was called One Minute Wisdom). This list was run by Scott Reeves, of Arkansas. I eagerly awaited for a ‘morsel’ each day and when I read it, was inspired and thought about it for the rest of the day… often scratching my head to decipher the meaning.
Then one day the e-mail didn’t show up. I waited, thinking about a computer crash or something like that. Next day too it didn’t appear. Patience… after all that’s was Father De Mello’s teaching. I waited for a week, hoping it would resume. 10 days passed by and my patience turned to frustration and then to concern. I e-mailed the sender, first thanking him and then inquiring why he stopped sending the morsel. I received a very kind reply – from his wife – that the gentleman had passed away!! It suddenly opened my eyes to the reality of life.
I realized that the ‘honeymoon’ was over and it was now my turn to put everything together. I searched through my e-mails and one by one I collected all the e-mails I received and put them together in form of a book. Printed it and read it over and over again…. and shared it with a friend… and then forgot all about it. This was more than 5 years ago.
Last week while cleaning up my back-up hard disk (you do maintain a back up, don’t you?), I discovered this file. I didn’t want to print it again, but I wanted to re-read it… and ‘see’ if my perspective has changed any? Yes, it has. Many of the stories make a lot more sense now and often the inscrutable words jump out with meaning! I realized it was time to pass it on. Someone else needs to benefit now…
So here it is… the series, one by one.. START READING or go to the Waking Up tab.
PS: Turns out I had archived better than I thought. Here’s the first ‘subscription’ e-mail I received from Scott Reeves of Little Rock, Arkansas!
WELCOME
Let me explain what we do. As part of our ministry we send out daily meditations. The most fun and amusing of all of our meditations are drawn from the writings of a Jesuit Priest named Anthony de Mello, SJ. from his book One Minute Wisdom. Each spiritual anecdote is a conversation between the Master and his disciples.
De Mello explains that: “The Master in these tales is not a single person. He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, a Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian Monk, a Sufi Mystic. He is Lao-tzu and Socrates. Buddha and Jesus, Zarathustra and Mohammed. His teaching is found in the seventh century B.C. and 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; of doctrines, not of Silence.
“It will only take a minute to read each one. You will probably find the Master’s language baffling, exasperating, even downright meaningless.”
As De Mello says of his work: “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 Master’s cryptic language, it is possible that you will unwittingly chance upon the Silent Teaching that lurks within . . . 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, 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.”
HE THEN CAUTIONS: “Take the tales in tiny doses one or two at a time. An overdose will lower their potency.”
So that is what we do. Each evening we send one little dialogue for you to meditate on, chuckle, and carry with you through the day.
So welcome aboard . . . and enjoy . . . and may it all contribute to your spiritual growth.
Scott Reeves, Trusted Servant
THE SPIRITUS MINISTRY of
The Recovery Foundation
Little Rock, Arkansas
ScottR@Spiritus.Org
501-912-3636
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