Posted April 19, 2003
The Most Important Minutes In Your Lives
Anthony de Mello, SJ
What I'm about to say will sound a bit pompous, but it's true. What is
coming could be the most important minutes in your lives. If you could
grasp this, you'd hit upon the secret of awakening. You would be happy
forever. You would never be unhappy again. Nothing would have the power
to hurt you again. I mean that, nothing. It's like when you throw black
paint in the air, the air remains uncontaminated. You never color the air
black. No matter what happens to you, you remain uncontaminated. You
remain at peace. There are human beings who have attained this, what I
call being human. Not this nonsense of being a puppet, jerked about this
way and that way, letting events or other people tell you how to feel. So
you proceed to feel it and you call it being vulnerable. Ha! I call it
being a puppet. So you want to be a puppet? Press a button and you're
down; do you like that? But if you refuse to identify with any of those
labels, most of your worries cease.
Later we'll talk about fear of disease and death, but ordinarily you're
worried about what's going to happen to your career. A small-time
businessman, fifty-five years old, is sipping beer at a bar somewhere and
he's saying, "Well, look at my classmates, they've really made it." The
idiot! What does he mean, "They made it"? They've got their names in the
newspaper. Do you call that making it? One is president of the
corporation; the other has become the Chief Justice; somebody else has
become this or that. Monkeys, all of them.
Who determines what it means to be a success? This stupid society! The
main preoccupation of society is to keep society sick! And the sooner you
realize that, the better. Sick, every one of them. They are loony,
they're crazy. You became president of the lunatic asylum and you're proud
of it even though it means nothing. Being president of a corporation has
nothing to do with being a success in life. Having a lot of money has
nothing to do with being a success in life. You're a success in life when
you wake up! Then you don't have to apologize to anyone, you don't have to
explain anything to anyone, you don't give a damn what anybody thinks about
you or what anybody says about you. You have no worries; you're
happy. That's what I call being a success. Having a good job or being
famous or having a great reputation has absolutely nothing to do with
happiness or success. Nothing! It is totally irrelevant. All he's really
worried about is what his children will think about him, what the neighbors
will think about him, what his wife will think about him. He should have
become famous. Our society and culture drill that into our heads day and
night. People who made it! Made what?! Made asses of
themselves. Because they drained all their energy getting something that
was worthless. They're frightened and confused, they are puppets like the
rest. Look at them strutting across the stage. Look how upset they get if
they have a stain on their shirt. Do you call that a success? Look at how
frightened they are at the prospect they might not be reelected. Do you
call that a success? They are controlled, so manipulated. They are
unhappy people, they are miserable people. They don't enjoy life. They
are constantly tense and anxious. Do you call that human? And do you know
why that happens? Only one reason: They identified with some label. They
identified the "I" with their money or their job or their profession. That
was their error.
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!" You could be a
plumber or a lawyer or a business man or a priest, but that does not affect
the essential "I." It doesn't affect you. If I change my profession
tomorrow, it's just like changing my clothes. I am untouched. Are you
your clothes? Are you your name? Are you your profession? Stop
identifying with them. They come and go.
When you really understand this, no criticism can affect you. No flattery
or praise can affect you either. When someone says, "You're a great guy,"
what is he talking about? He's talking about "me," he's not talking about
"I." "I" is neither great nor small. "I" is neither successful nor a
failure. It is none of these labels. These things come and go. These
things depend on the criteria society establishes. These things depend on
your conditioning. These things depend on the mood of the person who
happens to be talking to you right now. It has nothing to do with
"I." "I" is none of these labels. "Me" is generally selfish, foolish,
childish -- a great big ass. So when you say, "You're an ass," I've known
it for years! The conditioned self -- what did you expect? I've known it
for years. Why do you identify with him? Silly! That isn't "I," that's "me."
Do you want to be happy? Uninterrupted happiness is uncaused. True
happiness is uncaused. You cannot make me happy. You are not my
happiness. You say to the awakened person, "Why are you happy?" and the
awakened person replies, "Why not?"
Happiness is our natural state. 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. To acquire happiness
you don't have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired. Does
anybody know why? Because we have it already. How can you acquire what
you already have? Then why don't you experience it? Because you've got to
drop something. You've got to drop illusions. You don't have to add
anything in order to be happy; you've got to drop something. Life is easy,
life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your
greed, your cravings. Do you know where these things come from? From
having identified with all kinds of labels!
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