I'm just finishing Byron Katie's new book, Thousand Names for Joy. It's really a lovely and inspiring book, and the thing that's a little confronting for me about it is that, while she doesn't exactly seem to say desires cause suffering (except the desire to get someone to do something, like love you - she does say
that causes suffering), her approach seems passive to me. Letting the world come at you as it will and letting go of desire for
any outcome at all.
Now she's (and you) have got me thinking about that. I feel "better" having the desires I've got, like to be peaceful, vital, and loving. Those desires seem pretty immediate and powerful to me if I remember to invoke them. But I'm getting the idea from this book that Katie is inviting us not to believe any of our thoughts, not even the ones that work for us! Trying to wrap my head around that, I keep thinking maybe she means don't identify with your thoughts, but I don't think that's what she's saying.
Interestingly, she is doing a free talk a week from Saturday in Los Angeles just a few miles away from my home. I think I'll go ask her about Desire.
I wonder if anyone else desires to go hear her talk?
