Monday, March 11, 2013

The Happy Wanderer goes global


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Orbis Books have recently launched The Happy Wanderer in the USA.
The book is also available through Amazon.com:
I discovered an excellent review of the book on the Amazon webpage and would like to share it here:
The Happy Wanderer...
Review by Dom Gonzalvez

"There are only two times in life: now and too late." Bill de Mello chose the `now' of 2011 to write the biography of his brother, Tony. He made a timely decision as subsequent years may have been `too late'.

The men and women who personally knew Tony de Mello become fewer every year. They are vital sources for the biography for they were eye-witnesses to what Tony did, and ear-witnesses to what he said. They know the gospel of Tony's life. Bill was just in time to track them down before their voices fall silent forever.

These witnesses helped fill out the chapters of Tony's life to an extent that pleased and astonished Bill. The 14-year age gap between the brothers de Mello had made the task of writing a comprehensive biography difficult. Bill's memories of Tony were a patchwork of early childhood impressions, followed by long blanks of the absent Tony who was away with the Jesuits. The long blanks were filled in by witnesses. A clear picture emerged of Tony's training and progress in the Society of Jesus, his skill as a priest/therapist, his universal vision of spirituality, and his magnificent power of presentation.

What makes the biography powerful is Bill's approach. The Vatican's condemnation of Tony's works is still a fiery topic, but Bill does not give it emphasis. He sets out to show who and what Tony was, and leaves the task of evaluation to the reader. His aim in writing the biography was "... to share whatever information I could garner from my own memory and from others who knew Tony and who personally interacted with him."

I, as a reader, do have an evaluation to present.

Do Tony de Mello's writings endanger the faith of Catholics as claimed by the Vatican in its Notification of 1998? Since Bill expresses no opinion, I sought out what Tony's companions said.

Fr Joseph M Feliu knew Tony since the time they were twenty year olds studying philosophy. They became friends and remained so till Tony's death. He states: "Tony... expressed himself via simple stories about the spiritual insights with which he was enlightened. He may have seemed to be a borderline Christian, but in fact he was a man who never crossed the border drawn by Jesus, assuming the good Lord ever drew such a line. Tony was at the crossroads and frontiers of faith and had a unique vision of reality that many questioned because they did not share this vision. His spirituality was not constrained by creeds but all the same found both inspiration and expression very much within the Catholic Church."

THE EASTERN CHRISTIAN
Tony saw himself as an Eastern Christian.

Western Christianity is a comparative new-comer to India. I say "western" Christianity because eastern Christianity came to India with St Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century, whereas western Christianity came with the Portuguese in the 14th century.

Tony wrote an unusual essay, "An Eastern Christian Speaks of Prayer", for a journal of theology in 1982. The essay is reproduced in appendix 6 of the biography.

In the essay Tony traipses effortlessly between Eastern and Western concepts of God and prayer. It is vintage de Mello!

Understanding Tony's viewpoint requires an understanding of India. In addition to being the world's largest democracy, India is also home to the world's major religions. In many a city centre in India a Christian Church, a Mosque, a Hindu temple and a Zoroastrian fire temple co-exist. Religions respect each other's truths. Tony was exposed to religious tolerance and respect from his earliest days. This unique religious atmosphere of his native land permeated Tony's outlook.

SADHANA
When I read the chapter entitled: "Sadhana - Birth and (R)Evolution" I was reminded of Mahatma Gandhi's "My Experiments with Truth." Tony was a spiritual experimenter. While he leaned to Eastern mysticism, he also used western psychology and psycho-therapy to improve the spiritual life of Jesuits and other religious.

Indian (and Eastern) words often have deep connotations, moreso than English words. Tony chose the word Sadhana - a means to the divine - as the name of his main course on spirituality. One of Tony's friends (a witness!) described the course:
"The main segment of the course would be one on spirituality, specifically the Spiritual Exercises and Jesuit spirituality. Tony saw spirituality and psychology intimately tied up with each other. He saw Gestalt Therapy with its stress on taking responsibility for one's life and actions, its emphasis on getting in touch with one's self through becoming aware of one's feelings and its advocacy of total honesty with oneself and others as the perfect foil to spirituality."

In addition to Gestalt Therapy, Tony also brought in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S N Goenka. Vipassana is insight meditation that originated with the Buddha.

Tony was a stirrer and shaker!

"Sadhana - Birth and (R)Evolution" is aptly named. Tony started the revolution, and the evolution continues to this day. The chapter has my vote as the best in the book to understand what Tony de Mello was about.

BILL'S SKILLS
Nobody but Bill could have written Tony's biography as it stands.

Tony's companions and students - the contributors to the biography - opened up to Bill with a frankness that they'd have shown to no other researcher. Bill's charm overcame defences, revived memories and had people reveal incidents, thoughts and opinions that were private and personal.

Bill reveals Tony the boy, the man, the human being, the brother, the Jesuit, the innovator and maverick who is always a faithful priest.

Tony appreciated the difficulty of dogma. Someone once wrote: "the inevitable result of a dogma is that it asks people to believe impossible things and then makes them feel guilty... guilty when their innate reason rebels." Instead of heading down the path of dogma, Tony taught the importance of the Socratic "know thyself" for understanding Christ's message that "the kingdom of heaven is within you."

I found the biography to be the story of a man's spiritual evolution. Tony evolves. The stimulus of every challenge results in spiritual growth, often in an unexpected direction.

Tony evolves into a master teacher who helps people wake up to themselves. Instead of contradicting, he innovates so that questioners see a new angle which reveals where the answer lies.

I imagine that had Bill, an agnostic, said: "Tony, I don't have a soul", Tony, quoting C S Lewis, might have replied:
'Bill, I agree.
You have no soul.
You ARE the soul.
You have a body.' 

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