How to Stop Violence in the World

Someone from the UK calls Byron Katie and asks about terrorism. 'Is there anyone in the world you can't live peacefully with, no matter how hard you've tried? That,' Katie says, 'is why there is terrorism in the world.' 'We have all experienced that,' Katie says. 'These are not extremists shooting people; they're mostly normal people, with the normal problems. You can't expect other people to do what you're unable to do. You can't expect them to change if you can't change.' Given the beliefs of a terrorist, the outcome is inevitable. If you believed what they believe, you would necessarily act as they do. The only solution is to question the beliefs that lead to violence and to notice where the sense of horror is being generated: in the mind of the person who is horrified. 'If there's any horror in it, that's the unenlightened mind,' Katie says. 'It's what you are believing about their response that is causing the hate in your world, the world of your understanding. That is where it gets horrific.' What thoughts are you believing that make peaceful coexistence impossible with a partner or a child? Katie invites her caller to make an inventory of those thoughts on the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet. 'Whether that person loves me or hates me, if I can live peacefully with them, that's the end of one religious fanatic: me.' copyright 2015 Byron Katie International, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, visit thework.com.