“It’s so simple. … I could put it down for you in two minutes. Whether you’ll hear it, though, is another matter. That depends on your own heart. So here it is: The world is full of sorrow. The root of sorrow is attachment/desire. The uprooting of sorrow is the dropping of attachment. How does one drop attachment? You only look and see that it is based on a false belief—the belief that, without this, I cannot be happy. That’s false.

The moment you see that belief is false, you’re free. Good luck to you. It may take you one minute, it may take you twenty-five years. But the day you see it, you’re free. You’re free as a bird. You’ll be coming up to give retreats, you’ll be talking to presidents. You’ll be meeting popes. You won’t be fazed one bit. You’re free. You’re completely free. You’ll be making an ass of yourself, and it won’t bother you. You won’t bother to impress anybody.

… You don’t give a tinker’s damn what they think about you and what they say about you. You know what that means? Oh, boy, that’s freedom. You’re not bothered about whether they approve of you or they don’t. It’s all right. You’re happy. You don’t approve? All right, too bad; you move on. You’re happy. But that’s because you’ve discovered that your happiness does not lie in these things. You’ve got to see that for yourself. It’s useless reading a book, useless listening to me. You’ve got to see it.”

~ Anthony de Mello

Thx to Anna Bharati Wysocka