A Thousand Names for Joy

In Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy, Byron Katie delivers “The Work.” She is a master of self-inquiry and leads us to a joyous harmony with the way things are. Yes, we can all live in an awakened mind!

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Byron Katie Text Excerpt

Tom Park
For those who may not have heard of your work, just give us a little capsule – where you came from, where did this evolve from, and then a nugget of what’s The Work about.

Byron Katie
Actually, I was depressed for many, many, many years. It didn’t seem that there was a way out. I was very suicidal. Actually, extremely confused, so confused that I would even sleep on the floor next to the bed. Because my self esteem was so low that I didn’t believe I even deserved a bed to sleep in!
And actually one morning as I lay sleeping on the floor, a cockroach crawled over my foot. I opened my eyes and in place of all that darkness was a joy that I don’t attempt to describe. And it’s a joy that doesn’t leave. It was a reverence I can’t let go of. Simply because I saw that in that moment, that when I believed my thoughts I suffered, and when I didn’t believe my thoughts, I didn’t suffer.
I’ve come to see that this is true for every human being. Self -realization isn’t something you can tell or describe in a way that is lasting for everyone. Everyone’s birthright is happiness and freedom.
So I devised questions that take people into this experience of self-realizations. And the answers come from within them. So the Work, simply to answer your question, is a way to identify and question thoughts that cause all the pain and suffering in the world. And anyone with an open mind, can do it.

Tom Park
Very nice. May I call you Katie?

Byron Katie
Yes, please.

Tom Park
OK, good. So some of this reminds me of like “the Now,” being in the present. That’s a big stream of awareness in our culture these days. So, it’s similar to that concept right? Of being present.

Byron Katie
Well, actually, even I’ve come to understand through my own experience that even Now is the story of a past.

Tom Park
Really! Oh tell us about that…..