Why I Love The Work of Byron Katie

Thanks for your comment. You sound disgruntled, and I have a feeling (and correct me if I'm wrong here), that your upset has to do with a previous expectation that The Work to fix everything in your life, only it did not. Now, you're on a mission to tell everyone how much of a fake Byron Katie is.

Here's my response:

First, I don't believe in miracle cures. There is no one "answer" that will solve every problem for every person on the planet. I like The Work, but it is not the only thing I do. It is, in fact, something I personally use once in a while as opposed to daily. But I like Byron Katie's philosophy and I'm big into "unplugging," so I like to share her ideas here.

I did read that link you provided and the ensuing thread. Even the person who posted the article provided a clarification and an update, and if you go about halfway down the page, you'll see that someone who has gone to Katie's 9-day intensive clarified that all the exercises were strictly voluntary, that no pressure was involved.

Regardless, one kooky 9-day intensive does not a cult make. A cult, in my book, is an organization that sucks you in to the point where it takes over your life. One week and a half workshop is not the same thing as being involved daily or weekly in a pressure-filled organization.

I've been to many of Byron Katie's live events. I started going years and years ago, whenever she happened to be in LA. She has and does still give a lot of free workshops. I must have started going around 2000, way before she got nationally recognized. Neither then nor now (I just saw her last fall) was there any pressure put upon me to sign up for a longer workshop. I was not sold anything. There was no sales pitch whatsoever.

Katie sits down, invites someone from the audience to come up and do The Work, and then she does The Work. That's it. When the times up, she says thank you and we leave. There are no post-workshop announcements, trying to convince us we need a week-long intensive to learn it more. That's it. I walk in, sit down, listen, and walk out.

Certainly, she's got a lot of swag being sold at the back of the room, but I don't begrudge her making money off of what she does...especially when said purchases are done without pressure and are entirely voluntary.

I'd say, in the past 8 or so years I've been doing The Work, I have probably spent less than $50, and that would be on a few books and tapes. That's the price of an expensive meal in Los Angeles. Big deal.

Transparency, or lack thereof, is another thing to look for when it comes to cults. The Work is entirely transparent. All the information you need to do it is provided for free on her website, along with free videos to watch.

In comparison, I have yet to find any solid information anywhere on what exactly people learn when they go to Landmark Forum. I had a friend in a similar organization, Lifespring, many years ago. She kept wanting me to come to an introductory seminar. I kept saying, "do you have any information, a brochure at least?" No, she did not. "You just have to come and experience it," she said. And there's a huge red flag.

Now, there is the issue of whether Katie is being put forward as some sort of saint or guru. Yes, she is, and if that sort of thing annoys you, then you probably won't be drawn to her. But in her defense, she's not going around like other gurus and saying she's perfect or has somehow cured all her life problems. She has cancer. Her eyesight is failing. She is very transparent on these failings of her physical body.

Finally...can The Work be dangerous? Yes, if only that there is a particular personality type that likes to latch on to the spiritual flavor of the week and grasp onto it as if it were the second coming of Christ. These people inevitably jump enthusiastically into whatever lifeline they think they've found, put their hearts and souls (and pocketbooks) into it, hoping and believing that this will suddenly cure them of themselves.

People like that will most likely get too sucked into Byron Katie...but then those same people, given a different environment, would have become fundamentalist Christians or a Hare Krishnas.

With everything, a certain detachment helps. I use The Work and respect Katie, but I don't believe she is the end-all and be-all or my only answer. I see The Work as a useful tool. As such, I use it when it is helpful to me. Other times, I use yoga, or Reiki healing, or EFT. There is not one thing that I grasp onto as my life preserver, to the point where I lose my head over it.

So as long as you don't lose your head over it, I see no harm or danger in doing The Work. It is, after all, free, and when you sit down to do it at home, you are only doing it with yourself, not Katie.