Love Quote by Anthony de Mello

De Mello frames Truth like a lover we claim to want but flinch from when it actually shows up at the door. The line’s punch comes from its built-in contradiction: “the human heart longs” for Truth because it promises “liberation and delight,” yet our “first reaction” is “hostility and fear.” That whiplash is the point. He’s not doing philosophy so much as spiritual diagnostics, naming the reflex most self-help culture politely edits out: we prefer the idea of awakening to the experience of being awakened.

The intent is pastoral and provocative. By calling it a “great mystery,” de Mello avoids blaming the reader outright; he invites self-recognition without moral scolding. But the subtext is sharper: the ego treats Truth as an extinction event. If Truth means seeing yourself clearly, it threatens your favorite stories - your grievances, your status, even your sense of being right. Hostility becomes a defense mechanism, fear a confession that the old identity might not survive the encounter.

Context matters. De Mello, a Jesuit-trained spiritual writer with a cross-cultural sensibility, wrote for modern seekers wary of dogma but hungry for clarity. In that environment, “Truth” isn’t primarily a set of propositions; it’s an inner seeing. The rhetorical move is to reframe resistance as predictable, not pathological. If fear is the first response, it doesn’t invalidate Truth - it signals that something real is at stake.