Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de MelloMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Context & Why I read this book
No. 10 in my 52-book reading challenge. This book I picked to get an alternative angle on my 2021 slogan "A year of Ratio & Will" where I focus on rationality and willpower.
What is the book about as a whole?
This is a spiritual book about "waking up" from the "unaware" life.
The book's structure
It has about 60 short chapters, most of which are only 3 pages long. Here are some of them:
- On Waking Up
- On Wanting Happiness
- Listen and Unlear
- Good, Bad, or Lucky
- Our Illusion About Others
- Fear — The Root of Violence
- Labels
- Clinging to Illusions
- Detachment
- Addictive Love
- Losing Control
- The Land of Love
One lesson
This book is filled with precious ideas, but one of the most profound I found in a chapter about "clinging" in relationships. De Mello argues that depending on another human being on a psychological and/or emotional level means, first, that you give them the power to influence your happiness, and second, that you then usually demand exactly that from them. Since they have the power to make you happy, you require them to do so! But "...where there is love, there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy; my happiness does not lie in you." This is something I personally had to learn the hard way but I come to find is at the core of any good romantic relationship.
Reading Recommendation?
Since I already had read De Mello's The Way to Love, I had high expectations. And overall they were met. De Mello manages to introduce rather spiritual ideas in a down-to-earth manner. In sum, I give this a 8 out of 10 which means Very good; would recommend nearly without restriction. I will come back to this for sure.
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