" All is well, all is well, though everything is a mess, all is well". Do you want happiness or a relationship? ( )

It took me an awfully long time to read this because of distractions, so over the past few days I've gone back and read it from the beginning. And I find myself thinking "But I already thought this to be true, what you're saying isn't some great revelation."
But now that I think of it, the reason I thought it to be true was this book. It was only a year since I last attempted to read it, but it had such an impact that I've integrated it into my thinking and completely forgotten the source. ( )

L'unico libro che mi ha interessato del sacerdote discusso dall'ortodossia cattolica. Gli altri suoi libri son ripetitivi. Alcune storielle son godibili per ironia! ( )

My review from Dec 2007:

Really helped bring peace of mind to my life and clarify my thoughts about religion, what's good and what's not so good about it. I found it especially helpful at presenting a response against the definition of "being a success" or "being a good person" that is too often put forth in the media and in too many mainstream religions today.

When reading it, it's important to understand that De Mello sometimes communicates through exaggerations or contradictions. (For instance, he tells us on pg. 35 - "The only way someone can be of help to you is in challenging your ideas." No doubt, all of us can think of countless other ways and specific situations in which someone could be of help to us in a way other than by "challenging our ideas".) De Mello has intentionally chosen this style in order to battle the sea of misconceptions that he sees over flooding our society. Rather than go through the semantic hoops that are technically necessary in order to make the subtle distinctions that he is after, De Mello chooses to "shock the truth out of us". He says things that are not intended to be completely accurate, and are sometimes even logically inconsistent, but rather contradict our culture's common assumptions, forcing us to either totally dismiss what he says or, if we read with an open mind, to consciously think about the point that De Mello is trying to communicate.

This is a stylistic choice that fits with his view that logic is unable to fully capture reality. He explains, "the guru cannot give you the truth. Truth cannot be put into words, into a formula. That isn't the truth. That isn't reality. Reality cannot be put into a formula. The guru can only point out your errors. When you drop your errors, you will know the truth. And even then you cannot say." ( )

Essential reading – forthright, incredibly insightful, challenging and blunt – readable only in small chunks (there’s so much to digest) – the book is, in fact, excerpts from some of deMello’s renowned workshops. ( )