Jerry MacFarlane

As I sit and type this, I’m noticing images that could be construed as a “me” in a past. One such image is that ‘me’ being frustrated that a close family member and I could not agree, thinking “we’re both intelligent people, why can’t we come together….what am I missing?”. This question informed me years later when I found the Work of Byron Katie because I had stumbled on to self-inquiry and came up with an answer that was insightful to me. I had stayed in the question. Somehow I intuitively knew or trusted there was another way to come to some peace in the disagreement. As much as I was pleasantly surprised with the result, I didn’t see its potential value as a way to change my life. I saw it as a kind of serendipitous fluke.

The second image I see is a book about vegetarianism that “I” read in July, 2000. It was surprisingly reasonable, not a trace of zealousness which is why I had continued to read it. In that image, there’s a chicken burrito that gets thrown away as soon as a connection was made between my food and what I was reading. My mind had changed on a fundamental level and the eating of meat was over, as far as I know. What was unforeseen in that was I would go on to never want meat again, i.e. no effort or trying was involved. So, this too laid the groundwork for my becoming a devotee of The Work.

When my marriage began shifting in the early 2000s, my interest in personal transformation was born—well, it became focused. Once again, I seemed to know or trust that there was an answer out there and after a few years of routinely searching the internet with such words as ‘consciousness’ and ‘science of mind’ I found a video of Byron Katie facilitating a man in The Work. THIS WAS IT!!! I was so excited… and still am. And the irony there was that the answer ‘outside’ was that the answer(s) was ‘inside’…a turnaround of sorts.

Since that discovery ten+ years ago, my interest and practice in The Work continues to deepen. It’s become clear to me that this is peace activism at its best, whether I’m volunteering on the Helpline or going inside on my own.

If your mind is open and you’re drawn to the mind/body magic of the epiphanies that can be unveiled in The Work, I invite you to join me so as to discover your own inner gifts.