A Thousand Names for Joy

Mitchell Byron Caitlin is the author of books devoted to a method of self-inquiry called “Work.” After thirty years, she began to suffer from a cruel depression. A mother and businesswoman, she lived in a small town in the southern California desert. For nearly ten years she continued to sink into paranoia, anger, disgust with herself, and constant suicidal thoughts; during the last two years she often couldn’t find the strength to leave her bedroom.
Then one morning in February 1986, while at a rehabilitation center, she realized something that changed her life. Caitlin believes her experience is similar to what is described under different names in Buddhist and Hindu literature. Caitlin calls it “awakening to reality.” In the moment of enlightenment, as she says:
“I discovered that when I believe my thoughts, I suffer, and when I don’t believe them, I don’t suffer—and this is true for every person. Freedom turned out to be so simple. I found that you don’t have to suffer. I found joy that never disappears for even a moment. This joy is in each of us, always.”
The famous translator of the Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell, selected fragments from the manuscript that enable Caitlin to shed light on the most important challenges that confront us: life and death, good and evil, love, work, and satisfaction with oneself.