Anthony de Mello

Recall the kind of feeling you have when you succeed, when you have made it, when you get to the top, when you win a game or an argument.  And contrast it with the kind of feeling you get when you really enjoy the job you are doing, you are absorbed in, the action you are currently engaged in. . . .  Notice the qualitative difference between the worldly feeling and the soul feeling.  . . .  Now attempt to understand the true nature of worldly feelings—of self-promotion, self-glorification.  They are not natural, they were invented by your society and your culture to make you productive and to make you controllable.  These feelings do not produce the nourishment and happiness that is produced when one contemplates nature or enjoys the company of one's friends or one's work.  They were meant to produce thrills, excitement—and emptiness.

A disciple suddenly discovered the richness of fecundity of emptiness -- the realization that everything is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty of self. In this mood of divine emptiness, he sat in joy under a tree, when suddenly flowers began to fall all around him.

And the angels whispered, "But I haven't uttered a word about emptiness."

"True," the angels replied. "You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard of emptiness. This is true emptiness." And the showers of blossoms continued to fall.

I used to be stone deaf. I would see people stand up and go through all kinds of gyrations. They called it dancing. It looked absurd to me -- until one day I heard the music!