[Dialogue] A radical understanding of "All is Good"

[Tim Wegner]

My daughter gave me a book by Byron Katie entitled "Loving What Is: 
Four Questions That Can Change Your Life" (see:
http://tinyurl.com/698gsar )

I never would have bought this book in a 100 years because judging by 
the cover it looks like an overly sweet self-help book. After 
reading, I discovered that that premature judgement couldn't be 
further from the truth. Byron Katie seems to me to be a strange cross 
between Joseph Mathews and Ekhardt Tolle. She has a radical 
understanding of "all is good" that reminds me of the RS-1 
conversation.

Byron Katie has a Buddhist-like understanding that suffering is 
caused by believing our thoughts that are inconsistent with reality. 
This made me immediately think of Ekhardt Tolle, who describes a 
process of transcendence that happens when you simply observe your 
thoughts. Only after making this connection with Tolle did I notice 
that he endorsed her book on the book jacket!

Byron Katie has a little different approach from Tolle, a series of 
four questions and a "turnaround" that enable you not to supress 
thoughts (can't be done) but to stop believing them. 

First one writes down some thought that is stressful and troubling. 
Then ask:

1. Is it true?

2.  Can you absolutely know that it's true?

3.  How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

4. Who would you be without the thought?

Finally, turn around the concept you are questioning, and be sure to 
find at least three genuine, specific examples of each turnaround. 
(This assumes that we project onto others attitudes we possess 
ourselves -- cf Ken Wilber, "No Boundary".)

Youtube has a copious amount of material on Byron Katie in action, 
just do a Youtube search for "Byron Katie". Here are two links for 
two parts of one conversation with a young woman who says "my mother 
is controlling". This illustrates the four questions and turnaround.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn14ooi-6UQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2296SdZ_xg

You may not get the full radicality of this from these youtube 
videos. Katie says she is a "lover of what is", and her affirmation 
of the "way it is" includes disaster, cancer, death of a loved one, 
and in her case, her impending blindness.

I would be very interested in whether any other folks make of this. I 
am planning a class in my my church.

Tim Wegner