Quotevlinden I invite you all to inquiry, to your own marvelous death of the body (before it dies) as you understand it to be and to be born of who and what you are not to your mind and then to understand what you are in that, as that unknowable known. I hope that you have followed what I have just written, as so many of you who love The Work for so many months or years have been able to do. You
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quotehelpme2timesByron Katie wrote about...cancer...radiation...death and dying... Shocking and scary words that can strike fear, anxiety and sadness in anyone who has gone through serious cancer and death in the family... But in terms of general information, there does not appear to be cause for worry or talk of death or dying in virtually all cases of Basal Cell Carcinoma. However, if B
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

All right everyone, please excuse me for picking this one apart. I guess I'm feeling pretty bold... and like someone just raped my mind after reading this... Not to be insensitive to BK's little bout with cancer... but I'm certainly not to let sympathy prevent me from saving myself, and finding/naming the errors here. And, I'm not going to let it dissuade me for seeing her for
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This is actually not surprising. Strange timing. Of course, I wouldn't wish that on her, no matter what. Or on anyone. I've heard BK talk about her previous diagnosis of cancer, which turned out to be wrong. And, she's been in pretty poor health for awhile, or so I heard through people more acquainted with her. The blog entry is weird, as usual. When Stephen was ta
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Anticult, "Just spend 10 minutes if you REALLY DEEPLY believed that "Love is a Murderer - Bring it on". How might you live your life?" Well, I think I would probably feel free to go out and kill someone, like that Rochelle woman did. Especially if I loved that person, or felt deep emotion towards them that I confused with love. And, I might have absolutely no boundari
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quotehelpme2times So far I've found this quote defining love as a destructive force - from Byron Katie's Question Your Thoughts, Change The World: QuoteOnce you open to love, you lose your whole world. It's over. Love leaves nothing. It's totally greedy. Our pain is in denying it. (p. 14) There no question that Byron Katie is changing people's core beliefs. I wouldn�
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteThe AnticultHii jj, just to be clear, I was not actually talking about any of the Responses written so far, just throwing an idea into the mix. Of course I am not saying for a person to do anything, or not do it, etc. I actually do believe in Free Thought and Free Minds! and I mean it! :-) Unlike the cults believe, disagreeing, assertiveness and skepticism, etc is GOOD! Its very very
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Sorry that happened Guruphobiac. I saw that there, and thought maybe you had done it yourself. Ouch. Imagine having a little snippet of one of your posts here pasted into Guruphiliac's blog, being taken a bit out of context, and inspiring 83+ comments/arguments? I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying... it is rather disturbing to find your words that were posted here posted e
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Anticult Lets be aware of NOT just doing a Turnaround to the Turnaround. That is what BK teaches, its a mind-trap. Instead, lets use fact and evidence-based Critical Thinking and analysis to Dispute the false claims being made, like the Carl Sagan Baloney Detection Kit, and other strategies, that are about carefully gathering evidence, proper logic and reason, etc. I think that is the
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Well, I went to Guruphiliac's site to read the comments after what helpme2times posted. Carol Skolnick's comments were really trippy. Someone called her a person more "seasoned" with The Work, and that is really obvious. Here's an "insider's" perspective of what Carol Skolnick had to say: (Again my comments are in bold.) I'm a long-time reader and
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

corboy, Okay... you're right. Dang! A lot of the archives are already empty! So... what are they trying to hide? -jj
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Oh dear... now Oprah is moving Tolle into the world? What's next? -jj Quoteal3rIt looks like you are right, Tolle seems to really be cashing in right now. Even for an Oprah Winfrey book pick, A New Earth has been a sensation. About 3.5 million copies of Eckhart Tolle's spiritual self-help guide have been shipped since Winfrey announced her selection four weeks ago. The
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotehelpme2timesIn the Guruphiliac blog entry, in which Byron Katie's 9-day "School" is criticized, an apologist writes in a comment attempting to discredit the criticisms. I'm copying the apologist's comments here in italics, and adding my questions/reactions in bold. Thanks, helpme2times! I've got some things to say in response to this, too. This gives me anoth
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Okay, I have some friends who know a lot about the internet (which I don't), so I asked for their help saving those pages. Apparently, someone has already updated the google cache for BK's webpages. HOWEVER... this is the good news for anyone concerned... there is such a thing as the internet archive, where ALL of BK's webpages are permanently and forever logged and stored. Thes
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteThe AnticultThat article above said... Quote: "So what went wrong with Laudenslager? “I would say she got off to a good start and it just wasn’t enough,” Mitchell says. “It takes work. I don’t call it ‘The Work’ for nothing.” Was Byron Katie saying that Rochelle Laudenslager DID NOT WORK HARD ENOUGH on The Work? It seems she is saying that if she worked harder at The Work, it wou
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotehelpme2times "If you don't tell me I'm sick, I have no way of knowing." (p. 56) This may be very obvious to everyone here, but I've got to write these things out for my own sanity. The fact that BK's website is changing, and having read these excerpts from this book... well, it's triggering, to say the least. My brain is trying to do flippity-flops her
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Okay, so... Byron Katie's website says: "Byron Katie, founder of The Work, has one job: to teach people how to end their own suffering." That is her JOB? And who ordained her? Who licensed her? Who gave her this job? It's already established that she is not a professional, and not qualified to teach or treat anyone. So, how is this her job? Now, is this going to disap
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE JOKING! Are they changing the website because of what is being said here? Trying to wrap my brain around that one... -jj
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Anticult, This is so bizarre. She killed someone and all "Mitchell" can do is blame her for it? It's because she didn't do enough of The Work, eh? Nothing is ever BK's doing, is it? Whatever. Ugh. -jj
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteGuruphobiacSome years ago I corresponded with Carol Skolnick, before she hooked up with Byron Katie. I met her via the various incarnations of the ex-SY lists. SY is Siddha Yoga, the Baba Muktananda and Gurumayi cult. I joined and mostly lurked on those lists as I had been part of a yoga-based guru-centered cult that shared some similarities with Siddha Yoga. Carol had been pretty badly burn
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

By saying Byron Katie is an "anti-Christ"... I mean that I literally came to see how she was subtly talking people out of their Christian belief systems. She did The Work with people who were concerned about evil and the devil, and had completely convinced them afterward that evil did not exist, nor did the devil or any dark forces, whatever you choose to call them. I asked one w
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, now that we know Carol Skolnick's conversion story... I'd like to share my experience getting involved with The Work. A woman I was acquainted with, Sherry, gave me Byron Katie's book on CD to borrow. Of course, it was one of those "You need this, take it" kind of borrows... it's not like I asked for it. Sherry was the member of a small cult-like group downt
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

corboy, You are FULL of wonderful information. That really helps put the whole thing in perspective. Thanks! Anticult, I do remember hearing talk of studies that were being conducted at The Schools to help get The Work on the map, so to speak. I wonder what ever came of it... or if it was even legit, because it was probably conducted by BK's loyal followers. Probably not very ob
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteThe Anticultthis begs the question...about how Katie and Katiephiliacs represent "stories". If to her, everything is just a "story" and there is "no reality", then there is no just thing as "objective reality" or "truth". So one story is no more "true" than the next story, they are both just a story. So in that cosmology, even
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Anticult That Turnaround stuff is a sick mind-virus, I do feel very sad for all those regular folks who are going to get duped and sucked into this. this is a bad one, for those who get sucked in, and can't get out. No matter what you say to them...they will Turn It Around, over and over. Its a profoundly perverse process. You said that right. BK tells you that eventually Th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Shadowp.s. I'm glad you kept Issac, jj Thanks! Me too. I can see the differences between your experience and the one at The School. Not only did you give something, you got something... and it wasn't "something of value". It actually sounds like a very sweet experience... not one that would leave you wondering how you were going to get back across the country wi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Let's not forget that she had a facelift. How is THAT loving what is? She is a walking contradiction, yes. Of course, at first she tells you (in the book) to question only the thoughts that cause suffering. At The School it becomes very apparent that the key to real freedom (ahem) is to question all of your thoughts, and to realize that everything is nothing. -jj
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The PTSD thing really bothers me, too. The idea of her in veterans hospitals makes me angry. There's a video online... it's been mentioned here before... where Byron Katie is doing The Work with a woman who survived a terrorist's bomb. She obviously has some post traumatic stress... but BK keeps pushing her and insisting that the physical reaction she is having is just about her
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I'm checking on Skolnick's credentials. Don't find anything that suggests the right to practice "soul surgery" on people. -jj
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Oh... and the "scholarship" program is not a discount. They give scholarships to just about anyone. It's really just an interest free loan. Recipients have to pay that money to BK International over time. Ever heard of a "scholarship" that you have to pay back? Not really a scholarship at all, is it? -jj
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"