Byron Katie’s Attitude and Philosophy

I felt that Byron Katie had gained my trust and I was keen to find out more about The Work by listening to live session of Katie facilitating The Work with other people. I was amazed at this woman’s attitude and philosophy!

I discovered that Katie was not some sort of spiritual guru who had studied New Age and Eastern Religions for years. I found Katie to just be a normal woman who had suffered from the tyranny of her own thoughts for years and had decided that she wanted peace. This led her to totally accept “what is” – even to the point of risking being labelled by other people as uncaring or tolerating suffering and wrongdoing in this world.

Katie sometimes jokes with people who ask her if she had a religion before she discovered The Work, she answers, “Yes, my husband should pick-up his socks!” What she means by this is that she held onto the belief of what her husband should be like and how he should behave. These beliefs contributed towards her confusion, apathy and suffering – all the “teaching” that she needed in order to find freedom from her stressful thoughts and to find lasting inner peace. Katie is convinced that there is enough in our everyday life and our relationships to teach us about life and teach us about ourselves, so that we may find freedom from our anxious thoughts.

Listening to Katie facilitate The Work is poetry in motion; it exudes truth without the false promises that most self-help and spiritual practices make. There is no pretence and there is no manipulation. Inquiry offers peace of mind as the only reward rather than stirring-up the fantasies of neurotics. No stressful thought can stand against inquiry – not even your deepest convictions or your most terrifying fears.

Katie helps people to discover the truth that already exists within their heart, rather than trying to tell them what they should believe or how they should conduct their lives. Katie invites people to believe what they want to believe – what is true for them, nothing more and nothing less. You see, we know what is true for us when we look to how a belief makes us feel and how we treat ourselves and others, when we attach to it. Inquiry is not about determining what is right, wrong, good, bad, fair or unfair – inquiry is about questioning our attachment to a thought. Katie takes the time to listen to people as they freely express their beliefs and feelings. She then helps them to see that their strongest convictions are untrue – because of how those thoughts make them feel on the inside. In between this inquiry, Katie often comes out with the most wonderfully profound wisdom which I found blows me away with its profound truth, amazing relevance and beautiful simplicity.