I looked at her page on Wikipedia. I find it VERY odd that in the 'cricitism' section there is NO mention of her questionable cult-like practices. I can only assume that her cronies are always on that page every few seconds deleting anything like that..??!!? So I took the liberty of adding this, though I'd be surprised if it stays very long. There are serious psychological impl
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Anticult If it hurts, you are lying. ... I bow to the floor, kneel in praise, of those who discovered Truth before me and were kind enough to talk and write about it. Jesus, Siddhartha, Katie, ... WOW Anticult... that is AWFUL. I take back what I said in my last post about the 4 questions in and of themselves being harmless!! 1 - "If it hurts, you are lying." That is
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotePenelopeByron Katie is becoming more and more mainstream. I was at a bookstore yesterday in Salt Lake City that I hadn't been to in a while, just passing time because I was on-call for work in downtown SLC. It's a "metaphysical" bookstore and I don't frequent them like I used to anymore. There was a whole display on a wall with her products, books and CDs and her
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I just wanted to clarify two things about my 5/14 posts: 1) Buddhism does not use unethical mind control methods and is most certainly not a cult. 2) The definition of the word "dissociation:" Dissociation is a partial or complete disruption of the normal integration of a person’s conscious or psychological functioning.[1] Dissociation is a mental process that severs a connect
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotejj52Personally, I'd rather be miserable and be in myself, than be blissed out and dissociated. I guess that's why it didn't work for me! I'll take good ol' fashion stress any day over "coming out of myself." Before reading the O article about Byron Katie, I had been reading a book of introduction to Buddhism. Everything she says sounds just like what I wa
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotejj52I remember telling someone at The School how strange it was that BK seemed so confused. She stammers often, and blinks and nods... like a robot trying to process or retrieve the information you requested... If I had a dollar for every person I saw sitting there with that blank look of utter confusion on their face... well, I would have my money back from The School! I think it's m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

We talked last night and he clarified that he's ok with me reacting to and pointing out his tone or body language - what he doesn't like is that I assume I know what he must be feeling without asking him. :) QuoteSplash90Quotejj52We paired off into groups and practiced listening to what people were saying literally... everything. It was supposed to train us to filter out all sarcasm,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Just to clarify - I was replying to Ralpher in this message. :) QuoteSplash90In defense of Byron Katie, you wrote:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotejj52We paired off into groups and practiced listening to what people were saying literally... everything. It was supposed to train us to filter out all sarcasm, hidden meanings, implications, insinuations, etc. Now that I think about this... that's really messed up! My husband is always telling me to do that - just listen ONLY to the actual words he says and ignore the tone and everyt
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Someone may have already suggested this, but Steven Hassan's books are excellent resources not only for understanding personal experiences with a cult, but for communicating effectively with current cult members. I've only read his first book Combatting Cult Mind Control but my understanding is that his more recent one Releasing the Bonds has even more detailed and refined advice fo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Anticultalso I am truly blown-away by the intelligence, flexibilty of thought and insight from the people in this forum, who are analyzing Byron Katie, and the other LGAT seminar manipulators. Truly amazing. Many hundreds of people, and over time even thousands, will be helped by exposing what is really going on inside the Byron Katie seminars. End the secrecy and conscious deceptions.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe AnticultDoes "ralpher" stand for a proud Byron Katie The Work Vomiter? ROFLOL!!! QuoteThe AnticultSo these guys play Mind-Tricks that would be laughed out of a Philosophy 101 course on the first day. But sadly, the public is not as trained as it needs to be in these areas. We need some serious education in this stuff. There are two courses that I wish were required in hi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotejj52Why didn't he just say: "I don't want to be a guru, so don't ask me for advice"? What is all this awkwardness around brunch, and your spouse's agreement of qualities you may have? What in the world does that have to do with being a guru? Absolutely nothing. It's just extra little details in an attempt to convince the audience that what he says is true.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Oprah's just an unwitting 'guru promoter' because she's always looking for good self-help methods. She's like the 'guru database' or maybe the 'guru hub.' ;) Does that make her the Ultimate Guru?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe AnticultThe alleged Guruphiliac, Jody, has made a response about Byron Katie, and it is quite ugly. Comment #15 Guruphiliac's conclusion... BLAME THE VICTIM...of organized systematic thought reform that is founded on extreme deception and manipulation. This guy is supposed to have something to say about these issues? The best he's got is BLAME THE VICTIM? Blame pe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

jj52, I feel for you and what you went through! You were definitely in a cult environment in The School. You pretty much summed up every cult experience with your description in your quote below. (Note: I define 'cult' as 'any group or person who uses mind control techniques.') I was in the ICOC for 15 years and the results were the same even though the 'venue' wa
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In defense of Byron Katie, you wrote: It looks like you're no longer here but just in case, I figured I'd reply. As another poster already pointed out, ideas can absolutely hurt people. And Katie's ideas CAN hurt someone. For example, asking someone to think of herself as the abuser rather than the man who repeatedly raped her as a child, can (and statistically is likely to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"