A book to return to
Awareness
The main takeaway
Notice the thoughts, labels and desires shaping your experience before automatically treating them as yourself.
The short summary
De Mello uses stories, questions and spiritual teaching to examine familiar ways of experiencing life. Drawing on several traditions, he invites readers to observe their thoughts, investigate attachment to identity and become more attentive to themselves and other people.
One idea at a time
Key takeaways.
Idea 1
Observe the inner conversation
De Mello invites readers to notice emotions and reactions, creating space to investigate what is happening within them.
Idea 2
Examine identity labels
He asks what happens when a job, nationality or reputation becomes so central that a challenge feels personally threatening.
Idea 3
Investigate attachment
In his spiritual account, attachment can make a desired outcome feel essential to your existence.
An everyday example
An illustrative example: a challenged idea
Someone dismisses your idea in a meeting. You notice embarrassment and a wish to appear clever, then consider what the criticism reveals.
Sources and credits
Ideas credited to Anthony de Mello. This page uses original wording and an original everyday example.
Spiritual reflection across traditions. The account of identity and suffering represents de Mello’s interpretation.
Penguin Random House: Awareness De Mello Center: an excerpt from Awareness