Brought me to tears

This is the book review I published for Tao Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey by Lao Tzu, as translated by Stephen Mitchell, on Amazon's website on January 15, 2013:

I LOVE this book.

Unlike some other reviewers, who have read several translations of the Tao Te Ching, I have read it for the first time.

While I was reading, a thought crossed my mind, "Under which rock have I been hiding for sixty years? Why have I found this book only now?"

Of course that judgmental thought in itself is out of sync with the Tao which, like the ocean, accepts whatever flows into it, whenever that may happen.

Suffice it to say, I am extremely grateful to have stumbled on the wisdom of Lao Tzu.

There are so many compliments to pay this book. Where to begin? Lao Tzu provided the content, which is simple yet profound. Stephen Mitchel has provided a translation that is elegant and poetic.

I was going to say that this would be my choice if I was allowed to take one book to that proverbial desert island. But then it occurred to me that, having read this one, I would have no need of books. Its message is inscribed in my heart - and that always goes with me.

All the same, as long as I haven't yet been stranded on that island, I'm sure I'll return to this gem repeatedly, to savour its beauty and no doubt to discover fresh insights on subsequent readings.

Potential customers who, like me, have not read the Tao Te Ching, may be interested to know how I found out about it. I'd read "A Thousand Names for Joy : Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are" (Byron Katie's commentary on excerpts from the Tao Te Ching) and, before that, "Loving What Is : Four Questions That Can Change Your Life" (which describes 'The Work' of Byron Katie). I'd found those books supportive too.

Reality is kinder than my story

Byron Katie repeatedly says that reality is kinder than your story.

Each time I've completed the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet, I've found that to be true!

Filling in the worksheet has demonstrated to me that I've exaggerated the impact that a person and/or a situation has had on me, and I've focused on the negative ramifications to the exclusion of everything else.

That's not even counting the fact that I've gone on to find myself guilty of the same fault as the other person!

So, by the end of the exercise, my story has fizzled out.

Non-Duality Authors

The Non-Duality authors whom I've read so far are:

• Byron Katie
• Jean Klein
• Francis Lucille
• Rupert Spira
• Eckhart Tolle
• Nathan Gill
• "Sailor" Bob Adamson
• Robert Scheinfeld (I consider his Non-Duality phase to have begun with his Being In Truth online course)

I've found the writings of all of these authors to be supportive.

However, speaking for myself, I find Byron Katie's material the most accessible.

Later edited to add Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching. I keep Stephen Mitchell's translation on my bedside table, and continually re-read it.

Loving What Is

I recently stumbled on a booklet entitled An excerpt from Loving What Is : Four questions that can change your life by Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell.

I have done the questionnaire, and have found it enormously supportive.

I was so inspired that I placed an Amazon order for two of Katie's books:

• Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life
• A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

The books still are in the mail, so I can't comment on them in more detail, but am looking forward to receiving them.

If you want to try Katie's questionnaire yourself, here's a PDF version of The Little Book.

As Katie says, everything you need in order to do what she calls "The Work" is available for free on her website.

With that having been said, I wanted to delve into "The Work" in more depth, so I ordered the books mentioned above.