The Work of Byron Katie
Hoo boy. Yesterday in Austin, my best friend Anna and I attended the first and last 15 minutes of "The Work of Byron Katie," which is sort of an organization like est was in the 70's and early 80's.
Byron Katie is a new age guru who makes a living off selling platitudes to people seeking enlightenment.
Byron Katie seemed to be a charismatic and attractive sort, but when she said, "There's nothing that happens in life that is not okay," Anna and I looked at each other and booked it outta there. We left her husband Brad there to soak up the rest of the wisdom of Byron Katie, and we went shopping for books.
I bought "Tipping the Velvet," which so far is a loin-stirring lesbian novel. I also bought a little journal for jotting down blog ideas.
When we returned for the last 15 minutes of Byron Katie's presentation, the participants had that perma-grin glaze on their faces and seemed enthralled by her message.
We tried not to sour the grand finale with our mutual skepticism, but we did ask a few devotees how it was, "nothing that happens in life is not okay," and they were only too eager to answer. The phrase "convoluted gibberish" comes to mind with regard to their answers, but hey, who are we to judge?
On the trip home after a lovely dinner with my Mom, I posed the question to Brad, "Explain to me how pedophilia in the Catholic church is okay, since Byron Katie said nothing that happens in life is not okay."
He tried his damnedest to answer, but he may be too new in "The Work" to formulate a response that didn't sound like nonsense.
I took est in the 70's and I came away with a few lessons I still use today. The est training was that thing where they yell in your face and won't let you go to the bathroom for 10 or 12 hours at a time.
I don't want to condemn The Work of Byron Katie without having experienced it fully, but it did sound like some real horseshit from what I heard. Still, some gurus work for some and some don't.
Regardless, everything that happens in life is NOT okay, and that's all there is to it.
And I think her name was originally Katie Byron, and she changed it to seem cooler.
Anna and I called her Smalley Stuart, anyway.
1 comment:
"Nothing that happens in life is not ok" can be written as "Everything that happens in your life is OK", meaning "instead of judging what you did or what they (her or him) did to you, just sit and observe, then ask yourself a series of questions about it. this pause and attitude will, according to her, allow to get a deep insight of the situation or event, much more than a rejection with "it was a horrible thing". In my words I would say "everything that happens is OK, so it must be accepted, but do not accept that it remains as such" in other words "don't just sit there complaining, do some work about it". This is the Work as I see it. Artur S
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