"Problems only exist in the human mind"
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De Mello’s line is a gentle grenade: it detonates the everyday assumption that “problems” are out there in the world like potholes or bad weather. By insisting they “only exist in the human mind,” he isn’t denying pain, injustice, or material constraints; he’s demoting “problem” from an objective fact to a mental category. That shift matters because categories smuggle in narratives: blame, urgency, identity (“I’m the kind of person bad things happen to”), and a constant demand for control.
The specific intent is spiritual and diagnostic. De Mello, a Jesuit priest steeped in Eastern contemplative traditions, often tried to pry people loose from compulsive thinking by pointing out how suffering multiplies when the mind turns events into stories. The subtext is almost mischievous: if the mind manufactures the sense of “problem,” then the mind can also withdraw it. Not by positive thinking, but by seeing the machinery of interpretation at work. “Exist” here is doing heavy lifting; he’s redefining reality in psychological terms, where what hurts most isn’t the stimulus but the label and the resistance attached to it.
Contextually, this fits late-20th-century cross-pollination between Western religion, mindfulness-like awareness practices, and therapeutic language. It’s also a rebuke to modern productivity culture, which treats life as an endless backlog. De Mello offers an escape hatch: not from hardship, but from the compulsive mental posture that turns hardship into a permanent emergency.
The specific intent is spiritual and diagnostic. De Mello, a Jesuit priest steeped in Eastern contemplative traditions, often tried to pry people loose from compulsive thinking by pointing out how suffering multiplies when the mind turns events into stories. The subtext is almost mischievous: if the mind manufactures the sense of “problem,” then the mind can also withdraw it. Not by positive thinking, but by seeing the machinery of interpretation at work. “Exist” here is doing heavy lifting; he’s redefining reality in psychological terms, where what hurts most isn’t the stimulus but the label and the resistance attached to it.
Contextually, this fits late-20th-century cross-pollination between Western religion, mindfulness-like awareness practices, and therapeutic language. It’s also a rebuke to modern productivity culture, which treats life as an endless backlog. De Mello offers an escape hatch: not from hardship, but from the compulsive mental posture that turns hardship into a permanent emergency.
Quote Details
| Topic | Meditation |
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