The Work of Byron Katie

June 20, 2008 2:02 AM

The Work: "For thousands of years we’ve been told not to judge, but we still do it all the time—how our friends should act, whom our children should care about, what our parents should feel, do, or say. In The Work, rather than suppress these judgments, we use them as starting points for self-realization."

The Work is a self-inquiry process developed by Byron Katie, to help people grow and benefit from their pain, anger, or suffering.

Though I and many others here feel skeptical towards many types of self-help, I feel this lady is sharing a very powerful cognitive tool that could benefit many of us. The process, called "The Work", involves asking four questions and turning around a thought or assumption we make about the world. Its step-by-step, participatory nature keeps it very different from the "just listen to the authority" style self-help systems.

The videos on the right hand side are illustrations of "The Work" in action.

Here is a fascinating account of a workshop Ms. Katie held attended by Jewish and Arab individuals.

posted by The ____ of Justice (36 comments total)

This is revolutionary how? Isn't it just the process of critical thinking? Developing the ability to query your acquired tenets is an instinctive element of growing up with an enquiring mind.
posted by freya_lamb at 2:43 AM on June 20

The Gimmick
posted by poppo at 3:02 AM on June 20

i had a supervisor at work who at a meeting kept telling us to "turn it around" whenever we complained about something, including what the company was failing to supply us with in order to do our jobs

in short, it's the kind of thing that can be abused by people who want to evade their responsibilities or avoid being accountable

that meeting didn't go well for him at all ...
posted by pyramid termite at 3:18 AM on June 20

The load of old bollocks.

It's just another third-grade lifestyle philosophy aimed at people who move their lips when they read. That said, this is no bar to success. I'm sure if it reaches that sort of media-magical critical mass, it'll sell by the truckload. Just like manure.
posted by rhymer at 3:21 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

hmm. I'm pretty sceptical of this:

I've heard you say you're a lover of reality. What about war and rape and all the terrible things in the world? Are you condoning that?
Quite the opposite. I notice that if I believe it shouldn't exist when it does exist, I suffer. Can I just end the war in me? Can I stop raping myself and others with my abusive thoughts and actions? Otherwise I'm continuing through me the very thing I want to end in the world. I start with ending my own suffering, my own war. This is a life's work.

So what you're saying is that I should just accept reality as it is and not argue with it. Is that right?
The Work doesn't say what anyone should or shouldn't do. We simply ask: What is the effect of arguing with reality? How does it feel? This Work explores the cause and effect of attaching to painful thoughts, and in that investigation we find our freedom. To simply say that we shouldn't argue with reality is just to add another story, another philosophy or religion. It hasn't ever worked.

Can I just end the war in me?!
posted by patricio at 3:44 AM on June 20

The Snark is a self-inquiry process developed by Peter McDermott, to help people grow and benefit from other people's pain, anger, and suffering.

For thousands of years we’ve been told not to judge, but we still do it all the time—how our friends should act, whom our children should care about, what our parents should feel, do, or say. In The Snark, rather than suppress these judgments, we let rip, using them as starting points for self-realization.

Please send a certified cheque or money order to:
The Snark Foundation
c/o Peter McDermott
PO Box SC 1AMMR
Liverpool
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:10 AM on June 20 [10 favorites]

Weird, I thought all Liverpool postal codes were SC 0USER.
posted by ersatz at 4:39 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]

Can I stop raping myself and others with my abusive thoughts and actions?

Nice. I think all person problems are best thought of in terms of inappropriate and offensive metaphors.

"Can I stop my Nazi gambling problem from perpetrating a Holocaust on my life?". "Can I stop sexually molesting my lungs with my perverted smoking?". The possibilities are endless.
posted by burnmp3s at 4:52 AM on June 20 [13 favorites]

Gurdjieff just called and he want the name of his process back.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:53 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

sounds like the Landmark Forum in a new dress. which was Werner Erhard's est in fresh underwear.
posted by quonsar at 5:12 AM on June 20

That's what she said.
posted by erniepan at 5:25 AM on June 20

This Work explores the cause and effect of attaching to painful thoughts, and in that investigation we find our freedom.

The Buddha called and he said you can keep his eight-fold path.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:43 AM on June 20 [5 favorites]

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Mk. 4.24
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Matthew 7
posted by caddis at 6:13 AM on June 20

rhymer: aimed at people who move their lips when they read.

What's that supposed to mean? How else am I supposed to be reading?
posted by trueluk at 7:14 AM on June 20

Jeez, there's a lot of negativity here. Could you guys please stop raping yourselves and others?
posted by Greg Nog at 7:18 AM on June 20

The Work of Byron, Lord:

Fain would I fly the haunts of men -
I seek to shun, not hate mankind;
My breast requires the sullen glen,
Whose gloom may suit a darken'd mind.
Oh! that to me the wings were given
Which bear the turtle to her nest!
Then would I cleave the vault of heaven,
To flee away, and be at rest.

You can all go screw, judges and judged.
posted by spicynuts at 7:55 AM on June 20

Appropriately enough, in carny slang "The Work" means the angle that you use to con someone.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:07 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

We simply ask: What is the effect of arguing with reality? How does it feel? This Work explores the cause and effect of attaching to painful thoughts, and in that investigation we find our freedom.

This isn't necessarily bullshit. I'm not entirely sure I need a worksheet for it, though.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 8:19 AM on June 20

At least Gurdjieff had the decency to include all sorts of obfuscatory and weird terminology. This stuff linked is formulaic tripe that is tantamount to rearranging your patio furniture.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:26 AM on June 20

could you imagine your patio furniture rearranging you?
how would you be different of your patio furniture rearranged you?
posted by quonsar at 8:41 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

how about i re-arrange your face?
posted by spicynuts at 8:43 AM on June 20

rhymer: aimed at people who move their lips when they read.

What's that supposed to mean? How else am I supposed to be reading?

That's first room stuff: I now move my lips when other people read.
posted by rhymer at 8:54 AM on June 20

Finally a therapy based on the comic
stylings of yakoff smirnoff: in the work, patio furniture rearranges you!
posted by condour75 at 9:01 AM on June 20

This seems like it could be useful for many people. Those invested in maintaining their current points of view excepted.
posted by pointilist at 9:05 AM on June 20

pointilist, you realize that you just did the obverse of what the so-called "Work" espouses?
posted by Burhanistan at 9:10 AM on June 20

I didn't say it would work for me.
posted by pointilist at 9:11 AM on June 20

Oh christ, what a shitty editorializing post about a shitty money-making scheme.
posted by OmieWise at 9:47 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

I thought logged in members did not see ads.
posted by Cranberry at 10:03 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

The Buddha called and he said you can keep his eight-fold path.

That's very generous of The Buddha (what else would you expect), but I'm pretty sure she was planning on stealing it regardless.
posted by JeffK at 10:05 AM on June 20

I'm not judging you guys for snark, but I am suggesting you turn it around.
posted by Benjy at 10:05 AM on June 20

I'm glad to see there are so many of you guys who are "above" this kind of thing.

I guess I was under the impression that there are a lot of us who suffer from hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness in general. Many of you seem to know how to NOT be this way (congratulations), but there are others of us who haven't been shown, or given any basic tools to help us reflect on our own thoughts and see how they might be distorted or narrow.

As you know, a simple behest to "stop being a hypocrite" or calling "pot kettle black" does nothing other than cause a person to be defensive.

And yes, this kind of tool is neither revolutionary nor original. It is also less sophisticated than other approaches, and inappropriate for many people, to be sure.
posted by The ____ of Justice at 10:09 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

The ___ of Justice. It's kind of tilting at windmills to try to go about saving the souls of the internet people, no?
posted by Burhanistan at 10:12 AM on June 20

I could never figure out how to tilt a windmill. Too short, I think.
posted by The ____ of Justice at 10:15 AM on June 20

You don't tilt a windmill..you tilt AT windmills. Perhaps pick up Don Quixote.
posted by spicynuts at 10:18 AM on June 20

The point is that this isn't really the place to go about posting unsolicited resources for self-help. In fact, that's very pretentious of you and ignoring the message of this particular branded thing that you're sharing.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:18 AM on June 20

Burhanistan,

agreed. I am asking the admin to remove the post.
posted by The ____ of Justice at 10:27 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]