Anthony de Mello Quotes
Obedience keeps the rules. Love knows when to break them.
De Mello, Anthony. One Minute Wisdom. Doubleday, 1988, p. 116.
In 1877 Wasburn was dropped from the List of Ministers by the Unitarian Church. He had become quite atheistic.
This is an amazing speech which illustrated the best of the development and growth of Islam. Note that: The ruler who has just been given ALL secular AND religious power admits candidly that he may not be the best qualified. This would not happen for over another 1000 years and even today is very rare in any society. In addition, he invites the citizens to correct him when he is wrong. Later, Calihs would, like the Christian kings and popes claim infallibiity and kill any who suggested otherwise. And daring to correct the ruler was capital offence for most of history and is even dangerous in some Muslim countries today. Last and perhaps most amazing, the new Caliph called for an affirmative leveling of the inequality of rights and power and announces it asa one of his major responsiblities. It is this kind of vision so unheard of at the time which shows us why so many flocked to Islam at the time. From a fairness, human rights, and accoutabiity of the ruler point of view Islam was the most modern of the religions then. Tragically, other forces shaped Islam for the next 1500 years and most Muslim countries become the least modern and its rulers are least accountable to the citizenry with none of the other rights and concept of fairness that Abu Bakr and other early Islamic leaders brought.
In a number of traditional cultures it is considered impolite and disrespectful to be critical of leaders. Actually, this is also true in armies, police departments and especially many corporations even in modern society. In Japan, until recently many newspapers would not print criticisms of the government in most cases. However in the political arena, if there is democracy and no legal restrictions on criticism, cultures change over time and people hold their leaders more accountable.
Anthony de Mello, also known as Tony de Mello, was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A spiritual teacher, writer, and public speaker, de Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted numerous spiritual retreats and conferences. He continues to be known for his storytelling which drew from the various mystical traditions of both East and West and for introducing many people in the West to mindfulness-based practices he sometimes called "awareness prayer."
