“How do human beings become robots? Listen to this: ‘Oh, you’re so pretty.’ And the robot swells with pride. I push the appreciation button and it’s riding high. Then, I push the other button, the criticism one, and it hits bottom. Complete control. We are so affected by approval! So easily controllable. And when deprived of it, we are frightened of making mistakes, afraid that people are going to laugh. 

How to get out of this? We have to understand why we can’t live without people’s approval. How to love people? Die to them. Die to the need for people. Understand what the drug is doing to you. Be patient with yourself. Then call the drug by its name: it is an artificial stimulant. Do you really want to live? Savor your senses, your mind. Appreciate your work, nature, go to the mountains and appreciate the trees and the stars, the night. Send the crowds away. And you will be completely alone. Then love will be born in solitude.”

                          Fr. Anthony DeMello, S.J., in “Walking on Water”

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