Awareness by Anthony De Mello

Awareness by Anthony De Mello is a book that explores the concept of spiritual awakening. Written by Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist, the book is based on lectures he gave at a retreat. It is a tough love approach to spirituality, with 25+ themes such as awakening, illusions, truth, wisdom, and more.

The book starts off by introducing the concept of awareness and how it can be used to nourish the soul. It then goes on to discuss various topics such as the importance of admitting to yourself that change is necessary, being open to discovering something new, dropping the barriers you have erected through your concepts and conditioning, and not seeing people as you are yourself, but as who they are.

The main themes of the book are about understanding yourself and the world in a way that will help you improve the quality of your life. It encourages readers to be aware of their thoughts and feelings, and to be open to learning and growing. It also emphasizes the importance of being mindful of our actions and how they affect others.

Some useful takeaways from the book Awareness by Anthony De Mello include:

• Admit to yourself that change is necessary.
• Be open to discover something new.
• Drop the barriers you have erected through your concepts and conditioning.
• Do not see people as you are yourself, but as who they are.
• Be aware of your thoughts and feelings.
• Be open to learning and growing.
• Be mindful of your actions and how they affect others.

What I Liked

A loved the format – short, almost aphoristic chapters. It’s a dense book, so the frequent breaks were useful to ponder and re-read his points.

I appreciated the guy as a truly independent and grounded thinker. When I read the he was a Jesuit and into deep spirituality…I was seriously skeptical. I expected a whole lot of vague mystical stuff coming from a Catholic / Christian outlook…sort of like a Story of the Soul by Therese of Liseaux kind of book (which was a truly weird book that I quit). Instead, he writes about how hard it is to be truly aware of ourselves – emotions, relationships, life, etc – and strategies to practice getting better. It reminded me a lot of Stoic, Buddhist, and modern Cognitive Behavioral Therapy books.

What I Did Not Like

Some of the stories are very uncomfortable and ethically fraught. That’s not a bad thing…just not what I expected.