Byron Katie
Byron Katie
Byron Kathleen Mitchell, better known as Byron Katie, is an American speaker and author who teaches a method of self-inquiry known as "The Work of Byron Katie" or simply as "The Work". She is married to the writer and translator Stephen Mitchell. She is the founder of Byron Katie International, an organization that includes The School for the Work and Turnaround House in Ojai, California...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSelf-Help Author
Date of Birth6 December 1942
CountryUnited States of America
I've heard people say that they cling to their painful thoughts because they're afraid that without them they wouldn't be activists for peace. "If I feel peaceful," they say, "why would I bother taking action at all?"
There is no peace in the world until you find peace within yourself in this moment.
We've been looking outside us for our own peace. We've been looking in the wrong direction.
It's not possible to have a problem without believing a prior thought. To notice this simple truth is the beginning of peace.
The person who finds peace inside and lives it, is the one who teaches what true peace is.
A teacher of fear can't bring peace on earth. We have been trying to do it that way for thousands of years. The person who turns inner violence around, the person who finds peace inside and lives it, is the one who teaches what true peace is. We are waiting for just one teacher. You're the one.
My experience is the opposite.
Peace doesn't require two people; it requires only one. It has to be you. The problem begins and ends there.
I haven't had a single thought for 26 years. I have only understanding. It's somewhat complicated to understand that. I've hardly ever spoken about it. You're in a state of total peace of mind. A kind of nirvana.
Realizing that people should lie when they do makes me a little more open-minded, a little more tolerant, when my child or my partner lies.
The world you live in is 100 percent your own responsibility. If you don't like your world, it doesn't work to say, "Well, it's my mother's fault. She taught me how to think."
If people are living their lives for security and comfort and pleasure, then mind's every waking moment will be plotting those things. That's how it stays identified - as a body, as a you.
Mind is infinitely creative. And when it's not stuck, that's where the joy comes from. Something happens, and the way we think about it, understand it, see it, is actually hilarious, whereas before it used to depress us.
I do whatever I can to serve peace. My job is the end of suffering.