Losing the Moon

Losing the Moon: Byron Katie Dialogues on Non-Duality, Truth and Other Illusions

by Byron Katie

The Work Foundation, Inc., Manhattan Beach, California     © 1998     164 pp.

We know we're not in Kansas anymore when in 1985 a 43-year-old mother, housewife, and businesswoman in Barstow, California who was obese, alcoholic, depressed, and a rage-aholic had a spontaneous awakening in the attic of a halfway house as a cockroach crawled over her foot. As Enlightenment stories go, this has got to be right up there -- surpassing even that of John Wren-Lewis who got Enlightened after being poisoned on a bus in Thailand.

This is a book of dialogue between Katie and friends that occurred in 1998 in the Southern California area.  Katie responds to "issues on awakening, illusion, habits of mind, God, stillness, and other related topics.” The book is meant to be read as a meditation as "the dialogues are not addressed to the conceptual mind.”

Katie’s teachings center on taking personal responsibility for everything that occurs in our lives, and on seeing the world as a projection of our minds:

“The world doesn’t exist and we just come to see that clearly. It’s all an illusion. It never did exist. There is no way it can exist -- it’s all the reflection of a concept attached to inside. There is No One and Nothing. It’s literal. Are you ready to live without a world? Is that what you really want? Are you willing to lose the moon?”

As a way to lose the moon, Katie created a spiritual practice which is known as “The Work” which comes in the form of a four-question inquiry:   (1) Is it true? (2) Can I really know that it’s true? (3) What do I get when I hold that belief? and (4) Who (or what) would I be without that belief?

“The Work” is supposed to always be practiced in written form and is best undertaken when one is upset about someone or something. The theory is that what we do best is judge, and in tantra-esque fashion “The Work” makes use of the negative energy of judging to transmute it into the positive qualities of understanding and compassion, and above all to own our mistakes. Many of us are psychologically sophisticated enough these days to realize that the creepy qualities we perceive in others are usually projections, or reflections of those traits we ourselves possess and dislike. Katie believes that for Westerners “The Work” can be more fruitful than meditating or asking the Ramana Maharshi question of “Who am I?” In fact, it is claimed that several of Katie's students had awakenings under her tutelage after they had failed to do so in the company of such Advaita masters as Nisgargadatta and Poonja-ji. It remains a burning question in these hard times as to precisely which practices are most appropriate for contemporary Western seekers in terms of the likelihood of their success, and Katie has definitely conceived her own unique version of spiritual practice.

She is always and ever teaching that reality (i.e., what is) is the highest and greatest good. My own personal favorite quote from her book is:

“God is good. God is everything -- the end. You go on with your illusion that something is not okay and you lose, and you lose, and you lose.”

Is that not provocative?  In my opinion, Byron Katie is one of the most provocative teachers around these days. She may not be for everyone, but she is absolutely worth at least a brief acquaintanceship. Other books of hers and an audiotape can be found in the CSS library.

-- reviewed by Karen Fierman

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