Sitting at an event, listening, drinking in what’s going on is so incredibly sweet.
Day 2 of the Mental Cleanse in Los Angeles.
The day is mapped out and scheduled, there’s a huge conference room with many chairs all lined up for the audience, and on stage two big comfy chairs for Byron Katie and whomever is sitting with her investigating something troubling about the human condition.
Yesterday, five different people shared, and some were the kind of situations I thought, when I first encountered The Work….
….you can’t really question THAT situation and find peace….
….can you?
A teenager hearing horrible voices, a drunk husband who peed in the hallway, a young woman who had been sexually molested by a step father, terror of the huge earthquake coming to the west coast of the US, and the impending death of aging parents.
These are some of what we think of as the greatest difficulties of life.
At least I’ve thought it.
Relationships are maybe one thing, or being annoyed at your job, or not having enough money, or running out of gas in your car, or missing a flight, or a family feud….
….but death? Earthquakes? Abuse?
Is it possible to come to peace with very frightening events?
Yes.
That’s what I know and remember as I sit listening, hearing these brave people do their work, and doing my own.
Every time someone goes up into the chair to work on stage, it’s really an investigation for all of us. We’re all here sharing the questioning of these stories that appears tragic in the human condition.
We’re doing it together.
Katie said to the audience….
….“you can un-do 1000 years of suffering this morning.”
By getting very still and inquiring.
By asking, is it true, that thought you’re thinking? That image you’re seeing?
Isn’t it just a memory? Is a memory reality?
Can you be in this present moment, looking around, feeling what is here, seeing, hearing….
….without being so sure bad stuff could happen any minute?
Are you sure those things are as insurmountable, impossible, sick, violent, horrible, and debilitating as you’ve believed?
Are you OK in this moment? Did you make it through?
I keep noticing…..yes.
I’m right here.
What is this that’s right here? Who is this? What is this life I’m living? What is suffering? What is peace?
“Every time we do this work, we’re answering the question: who am I?” ~ Byron Katie yesterday at the Cleanse
And that’s the most exciting thing to wonder about, ever.