The Happiness Podcast 56 -The Final Liberation
Jul 28, 2020
A reflective guide to noticing automatic, mechanical reactions in daily life. It explores how praise, blame and self-identity hijack behavior. It invites candid self-observation without judgment. It highlights the surprising freedom that comes from admitting personal foolishness and stopping the endless swapping of one inner problem for another.
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Mechanical Lives Driven By External Approval
- Most people live mechanically, reacting with thoughts and emotions borrowed from others rather than observing themselves.
- Anthony de Mello illustrates this with pride from compliments and misplaced shame about a nation's poverty to show how automatic moods arise from external triggers.
Radical Humility Frees You From Approval
- Admitting 'I'm an ass' disarms ego and ends the need to defend or seek approval, which De Mello calls the final liberation.
- He frames blunt self-admission as freeing everyone from mutual manipulation and status games.
Approval Chains You To Others' Expectations
- Seeking approval conditions you to be controlled and live up to others' expectations, making you a 'monkey' of praise and blame.
- De Mello emphasizes that being affected by praise ensures being harmed by blame, trapping you in others' standards.