Wisdom Hunter spoke with Byron Katie, author of Loving What Is: Four Questions that Can Change Your Life. Here's what she shared about the power of inquiry, the link between stressful thinking and suffering, and her upcoming event with Wayne Dyer.
ABOUT HER BOOKS
WH: How would you describe the common theme that runs through your books?
BK: That life is unlimited and that when our creativity is blocked, there is a way to free it. The answers live within us, and inquiry -- The Work -- takes us to them.
WH: How would you describe your "mission" or "purpose" in writing?
BK: To offer the four questions and turnaround of The Work to as many people as possible, knowing that anyone who uses them can tap into his or her own unlimited understanding of what is kind and good. What comes out of that is a happy life.
WH: What type of person would benefit most from reading your books?
BK: Anyone who wants more happiness, clarity, power, and love in his or her life. Anyone who is curious about the mind and how it works.
WH: What book or themes from your books are you most proud of and why?
BK: The four questions and turnaround, because inquiry allows us all to tap into our own wisdom, the wisdom that changes the world. "Proud" is the wrong word, though. I didn’t create these questions, or even find them. They found me.
WH: When you were researching and preparing your books, what sorts of things did you learn that surprised you?
BK: That there was a book at all.
WH: What is the most memorable thing a reader has told you about how your work affected him or her?
BK: A Christian minister said that she would recommend Loving What Is even above the Bible.
ABOUT THE GENRE
WH: What books or authors have been most helpful to you?
BK: In 1986, just after I woke up to reality, people showed me A Course in Miracles and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. These were the first "spiritual" books I had even seen. Recently, I have recognized myself in the mirror of my husband Stephen Mitchell’s Tao Te Ching.
WH: Are there any books, other than your own, that you have referred other people to time and time again?
BK: Only the book of themselves.
WH: What other writers or experts have you collaborated with or would you most like to collaborate with?
BK: I have written two books with my husband, the new one will be published in 2006, and one with my friend and agent Michael Katz. And Wayne Dyer and I have scheduled an event in September 2007 and look forward to [tapping into] the extreme power of giving that we both share.
WH: What is the biggest mistake most people make when it comes to personal development and spirituality – and how should we approach things differently?
BK: They believe what they think, without questioning their minds. This is how suffering is passed on. Until we question what we believe, we will continue to suffer.
WH: Aside from reading books like yours, what activities or practices would benefit your readers most?
BK: To question what they believe and turn it around. They don’t need to read my books either, they can find complete instructions on my website, thework.com.
ABOUT HERSELF
WH: What would you define as a turning point in your life?
BK: The moment I saw clearly that when I believed my stressful thoughts, I created all the suffering in my world.
WH: What global issues are you most passionate about?
BK: Ecology and the end of war with the self.
