Who Would You Be Without Your Story?: Dialogues with Byron Katie
★★★★ 1/2
"The end of suffering and the beginning of clarity.”
“This book is a collection of 15 dialogues that occurred throughout the United States and Europe with Byron Katie. Some of the people who worked with Katie have painful illnesses, others are lovelorn or in messy divorces. Some are simply irritated with a co-worker or worried about money. What they all have in common is a willingness to question, with Katie’s help, the painful thoughts that are the true cause of their suffering. In every case we see how Katie’s acute mind and fierce kindness helps each person dismantle for themselves what is felt to be unshakable reality. Although these dialogues make fascinating reading—some are both hilarious and deeply moving at once—they are intended primarily as teaching tools. Each took place in front of an audience, and Katie never lost connection with that audience, repeatedly reminding each person in the room to follow the dialogues inwardly, asking themselves the questions the participant must ask. The dialogue between Katie and these volunteers is an external enactment of precisely the kind of dialogue each person can have with their own thoughts. The results, even in the seemingly most dire situation, can be unimagined freedom and joy.”
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"In this book, I am communicating through this writing, and I hope my communication is an expression of impermanence and lack of independent existence. But if I mistakenly cling to my egocentric ideas and write about my understanding only in order to convince others of my views, I am not expressing prajna. My communication becomes only an expression of my self-centered desire. (I try not to do this, but I am not sure that I am truly expressing prajna—so please don’t trust me!) You must be really free from what I say and you must inquire into prajna and practice prajna yourself. What I can communicate to you is only my own understanding from my reading, my practice, and my daily life; I cannot communicate an understanding of the reality of your life. You must inquire into your life for yourself."
— Shohaku Okumura, Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo
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“If you put your hand into a fire, does anyone have to tell you to move it? Do you have to decide? No: When your hand starts to burn, it moves. You don’t have to direct it; the hand moves itself. In the same way, once you understand, through inquiry, that an untrue thought causes suffering, you move away from it.”
― Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life
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