“This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead”

—  Anthony de Mello

Rejection
One Minute Wisdom (1989)
Context: "What kind of a person does Enlightenment produce?"
Said the Master:
"To be public-spirited and belong to no party,
to move without being bound to any given course,
to take things as they come,
have no remorse for the past,
no anxiety for the future,
to move when pushed,
to come when dragged,
to be like a mighty gale,
like a feather in the wind,
like weeds floating on a river,
like a mill-stone meekly grinding,
to love all creation equally
as heaven and earth are equal to all
— such is the product of Enlightenment."
On hearing these words one of the younger disciples cried, "This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead," and walked away, never to return.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead" by Anthony de Mello?
Anthony de Mello photo
Anthony de Mello 135
Indian writer 1931–1987

Related quotes

Benito Mussolini photo

“Christ is dead and his teachings moribund.”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

As quoted in Twentieth Century Journey: The Start 1904-1930, William L. Shirer, Little, Brown & Company, (1976) p. 402 (proclaimed in 1922)
1920s

Henri Barbusse photo

“The dead are specters of the living, but the living are specters of the dead.”

Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist

Light (1919), Ch. XIV - The Ruins
Context: I am not in pain. I am extraordinarily calm; I am drunk with tranquillity. Are they dead, all — those? I do not know. The dead are specters of the living, but the living are specters of the dead. Something warm is licking my hand. The black mass which overhangs me is trembling. It is a foundered horse, whose great body is emptying itself, whose blood is flowing like poor touches of a tongue on to my hand.

Richard Dawkins photo

“Religion teaches you to be satisfied with nonanswers. It’s a sort of crime against childhood.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author
Roman Vishniac photo

“You can't teach biology with a bottle containing dead animals and organisms.”

Roman Vishniac (1897–1990) American photographer

Shepard, Richard F. "Roman Vishniac, 92, a Biologist And Photographer of Jews, Dies". New York Times (1859-Current file); Jan 23, 1990; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1951 - 2002) pg. D23.

E.M. Forster photo

“But it struck him that people are not really dead until they are felt to be dead. As long as there is some misunderstanding about them, they possess a sort of immortality.”

E.M. Forster book A Passage to India

Source: A Passage to India

William Faulkner photo

“any live man is better than any dead man but no live or dead man is very much better than any other live or dead man”

William Faulkner book The Sound and the Fury

Source: The Sound and the Fury

Jane Roberts photo

“Now there are classes indeed where the newly dead are instructed. I used to teach some of these.”

Jane Roberts (1929–1984) American Writer

Session 331, Page 331
The Early Sessions: Sessions 1-42, 1997, The Early Sessions: Book 7

Terry Pratchett photo

“Anyway, if you stop tellin' people it's all sorted out afer they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Variant: If you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.
Source: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Chuck Palahniuk photo

“If the living are haunted by the dead. Then the dead are haunted by their own mistakes.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Damned

Source: Damned (2011)

Related topics