I’m listening to Carolyn Myss, who I have a lot of respect for. But in her talking about prayer, I have to wonder about her beliefs that it (prayer) needs to happen to counteract evil. I have a problem with that line of thinking, I’m sure all the generals in all the wars on both sides prayed before going into battle.That includes the Cival War, WW2, and all the others. What would she have to say about that?

Comment by LINDA — August 30, 2011 @ 5:25 pm

WOW,,,, all the interviews you do Tami, are wonder full and inspiring but this one, excuse my language…. but this interview is a “kick in the butt” for our awareness, a wake up call, a no nonsense no holding back straight from the shoulder honest truth from a woman who knows. Thank you.

Comment by ALICE FRIEND — August 31, 2011 @ 6:54 am

Caroline Myss always brings a fresh new way towards wisdom on each topic she tackles.I have listened to a bunch of her cds over the years. Her early cds are like fine wine, as I mature in my spiritual practice, on relisten they bring out such complex flavors well blended and ready to delight today.They get so much better as I get a clue, she keeps it so real and freah in this new work.

Comment by Debrina — August 31, 2011 @ 11:00 am

Tami,
I am learning how to do what you do. Your skills today came across today far louder than the frightened woman you were speaking with. I still find it shocking that someone with her progressive understanding on so many levels would still cling to an ‘opposite force’. I don’t think there is anyone/anything out to get me.
Thank you again for modeling the integrity that I have come to associate with Sounds True.
Glen

Comment by Glen Ganaway — September 1, 2011 @ 9:04 am

Very provocative interview! I’ve never heard anyone really challenge the idea that “you create your own reality” in such strong terms before. Since this is something I believe, this speaker has helped me examine this point I have taken to be true. Interesting…

Comment by Talandis Jr. — September 1, 2011 @ 6:59 pm

I liked this discussion for the different angle from which Caroline Myss approaches the basic beliefs I have come to share. I just want to know, who are these new agers that she seems to feel that she is in very much disagreement with. The teachers that I am learning from are putting present day terminology to wisdom that is thousands of years old. I found it interesting that Caroline Myss says that we don’t create our own reality, yet she says that every prayer is answered and every thought is a prayer. Is that not affecting our reality? My reality is of abundance and a thriving life, my wife’s reality is of shortage and we better be very careful, yet we share the same bank account, all our income goes into the same pot. Virtually the same life yet two very different realities. Caroline also spoke of collective negativity causing tragic human events, isn’t that creating our reality.
Caroline is not talking about any “new agers” that I know of when she talks about seeing ourselves as special. We know that whatever we see as negative in others is also an aspect of ourselves.
I suppose there are dark angels, but angels only have the power that we give to them with our thoughts (prayers).
From the perspective of our physical bodies, evil exists. But from the view point of the spark of God’s light that we are, What can hurt us? Has anyone ever killed a soul?

Comment by Rich Featherly — September 1, 2011 @ 7:15 pm

Inspiring and insightful. I listened to this one TWICE. Myss cuts to the chase and reminded me, once again, why I own so many of her books and audio programs. Thank you!

Comment by Trish — September 1, 2011 @ 8:15 pm

The conversation made me stop and listen. No multi-tasking was done when I heard the info on good and evil. You just don’t hear that any more. Thank you for speaking out and giving food for thought. I love the prayer. Blessing and Love.

Comment by Patricia Goings — September 2, 2011 @ 5:09 pm

Although she is heartfelt in some of her points, such as what one must give up in the face of illness, much of her approach is shallow dualistic fundamentalism, she implies that the good old days were like when witches were burned at the stake– because then people realized the real presence of evil, (when in reality it was the Romans conquering the people of the British Isles and demonizing their beautiful Goddess based religion and those that lead it, and trumpeting their shallow understanding of the Christian religion). She talks about evil, but gives examples of ego-based mental posturing and actions and then claims that proves there are evil spirits making people do those things. She doesn’t understand that we are not our bodies, and not our thoughts and therefore not our minds, and so she thinks we are victims of those things. I’ll give you that she often has a feisty tone and I suppose that is how she convinces people who are less certain of their beliefs that she has something of value to teach them.

Comment by Paul — September 2, 2011 @ 5:46 pm

I loved listening to Caroline Myss: Prayer and the Reality of Evil. I would like to know what Carline’s Religious background is? I am a Born-again Christian, and I loved all the Scriptures she mentioned. And, the importance of Prayer on a personal level …thank you Gleda Peace, Love & Grace

Comment by gleda — September 2, 2011 @ 7:23 pm

This is so life-changing, convicting, and pure flowing. thank you! hugs, .. speechless, honestly!

Comment by Jennifer — September 2, 2011 @ 8:07 pm

Caroline Myss is a light in the darkness of all this modern day new-age hokum surrounding the nature of reality and our arrogance towards it. I applaud her courage and well-grounded wisdom.

Comment by Cathy — September 2, 2011 @ 8:54 pm

I have listened to everything Caroline Myss has published that I could find. The more time passes, the more I totally disagree with her perspective. She sounds like the typical victim that she first spoke of in her PBS progam about “woundology” … she has become the perfect victim of life. God Bless her and her efforts.

Comment by Cathy — September 2, 2011 @ 8:59 pm

The interview with Caroline Myss answered many questions I had regarding recent enthusiasm over lifetime coaches, gurus, etc.
I have one question about darkness. If this is not from God, where does this come from?
Is there opposing energy to the Divine?
Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Comment by Mari Chihaya — September 2, 2011 @ 10:20 pm

Tami this was an painful interview in all the years i have listen to your podcast and to the work of caroline myss her anger and resentment verges on bitterness , She makes such sweeping statements the ordinary/extraordinary she was hooked on is not my experience as a clinical social worker, working with low income famlies. Perhaps middle class parents are more child centered, but to use that to rant about evil and demonic behavior concerns me and does not feel at all spiritual. Her angst.to blame poor people for wanting a home of their own and call them evil without saying the banks manipulation and deregulation was evil, or planned human greed by the GEO of those firms driven by the need for growth is not wrong in itself however in these high tech times
algorithms are written daily that change, manipulate, hide, inflate
distort buying and selling on a scale that is hard to grasp that is demonic and evil

Comment by margaret — September 3, 2011 @ 10:26 am

wow! I was so psyched to see Caroline Myss on the site, I have been re-listening to Sacred Contracts, and have got to say this was not the Caroline I love…She seemed very sarcastic, critical, judgemental and egotistical. Maybe this is what I needed to hear that day but I think she return to some of her early divinely inspired stuff and relive humility!

Comment by Patty Heath — September 4, 2011 @ 9:11 am

Listened to this podcast. I am surprised at Caroline’s apparent anger. I believe it was her that had said (a year or two ago)something like… These are exciting times we are living in. we are getting to be part of this big change the world is facing.. etc ( not a quote)
Now I am hearing fear and get on your knees and pray like nothing else.. Just my thoughts. Diane

Comment by Diane — September 5, 2011 @ 8:21 pm

Caroline Myss is my all time favorite spiritual teacher. I often quote her to my clients to move them forward! I really love her no nonsense approach to life.

Comment by Judith Geiger — September 6, 2011 @ 7:59 am

Thank you again Caroline for your generous sharing of your wisdom . Thank you for your courage in talking about evil and dark forces that are around us ,and most of all for your beautiful prayers and reminding me again the importance of starting each day with prayer & remembering to pray throughout the day and again at night. Thank you Tami for asking wonderful questions on my (the listners behalf). More soul food, with gratitude Jan.

Comment by Jan O'Halloran — September 6, 2011 @ 10:21 am

Tami I truely admire you and what you have brought to the world but this?? … From my Tami Simon? I had CM’s materials years ago and found a bitter taste in some of it with her rather preachy self back then. I chalked it up to it being about me. But this one takes the cake! Who is she angry and preachy at? She might start looking in the mirror and stop all her projections. This is clearly her shadows coming out in full bloom. This was such a dualustic preaching, it is hard to accept it. She now attacks ‘New Age’ when much of her teaching falls into this category. Is she not the one to have talked about ‘creating’ and ‘manifesting’ your life?! Now she goes in to completely contradict herself. I want a refund for buying her previous works! I think, here, she goes back to her roots as most do in our senior years. And in this case, back to regression. It is a shame. Umi

Comment by Umi Redwalla — September 7, 2011 @ 11:12 pm

Based on all the comments, I see that I am not alone in being unmoored by this interview. In fact, I went and purchased the audio download for Sacred Contracts. I also plan to study her other works. I was touched by Caroline’s forthrightness and her deep concern for us human beings. While I was disturbed by her evil incarnate notions, I still see they made sense. Would life create angels without demons? Still, I don’t know enough about either to say whether I believe what she believes. And even if I did and disagreed with her assertion, that would in no way distract from Caroline’s great gifts and contributions to helping humans understand themselves better and in doing so, to be better human beings.

Comment by Marie — September 8, 2011 @ 12:24 pm

Myss makes it clear that language cannot adequately explain this MYSTERY. Yet, we are forced to use language to discuss it, and thus, we will always create a degree of confusion. I think her point is that prayer is the way to avoid confusion. When an individual enters into prayer (not prayer as petition but prayer as silencing ego),the individual enters into a non-dualistic domain that we participate in always but do not always recognize because we usually live on the plane of dualism. To some of the points about evil: she says that it is an energy. Energy seeks matter to influence. I can’t see that this is dualistic. I can’t see that this is Fundamentalism, though it is fundamental,rudimentary. I did not hear fear in her voice. I heard frustration. There are two conflicting movements in this country. One is to return to Fundamentalism, which personifies evil and allows for a very specific and limited and proprietary definition of evil. The other is to say that there are only two energies in life: love and fear. And there is a denial of evil. She is saying that neither is true. Evil is a part of the energy spectrum. Energy abhors a vacuum, so it will rush into those areas of denial. Personifying evil creates a different kind of vacuum. The frustration comes from her belief that we are focusing on characterizations of evil that do not serve us. And that focus has allowed for our lack of humility before its power. This lack of humility then allows for the energy to move in and take residence. And it resides in each heart. Even those of us who currently feel that all is well. All is not well. All cannot be well when “Revenge” is the premise and title of a new television series about to hit a major network. How many murders occur on television hourly?!! All is not well when there is the “Great Divergence in Income” that we see and experience. All is not well when the oceans will be fished out within mere decades. Etc. And to her comments about the hubris created by claiming that your child is special: your child is special, as are ALL children. But your child is ordinary, as are ALL children. Her point is that we have taught our children to focus on material accomplishments, getting ahead in the world. If we focused on being humble (just another human being on this planet of 7B), then there would not be the disparity of income that grows daily. Our water would be potable. Our food would nourish us. Etc. Etc. Etc. I think that her message is necessary and about time!

Comment by Robin Ridley — September 10, 2011 @ 11:24 am

Caroline tells us that the purpose of prayer may have more to do with changing us than the outer world. People need ritual, faith, and to be part of a group. If we don’t get these in a church we look for them elsewhere. Evil exists and enters us through our arrogance and our refusal to believe that we are ordinary and as vulnerable to difficulty and loss as others.

I appreciate that she is not afraid to step on a few new age toes when it is necessary.

Comment by Stanley — September 11, 2011 @ 4:23 pm

I love the direction that Caroline’s work has taken in recent years, ever since she first published “Entering the Castle”. Not only is it light-years beyond her earlier material, in many ways it’s far beyond what a lot of teachers are peddling these days. While I understand that her tone and choice of words often make it difficult for people to hear her message, I think the real reason so many people have a problem with Caroline Myss is that she gets too close to the truth on far too many subjects. We do not live in an age where people are comfortable with confronting naked reality head on (all of it, not just the Love & Light part), and Caroline’s teachings do just that. We’re also not a culture that possesses a meaningful understanding of concepts like surrender, humility, grace, or prayer — we’re a culture of arrogance, specialness, and narcissism, and our spiritual culture (the so-called New Age) reflects these values all too well. Caroline Myss’s work is an important corrective to some of this mess, and I am grateful for it.

Comment by Mark — September 14, 2011 @ 6:26 am

Forgot to say — Tami, you are an AMAZING interviewer. Someone I know once described you as the “Terri Gross of spiritual broadcasting” and they were absolutely right. You shined (shone?) in this interview…great work!

Comment by Mark — September 14, 2011 @ 6:39 am

I switched off this interview after 10mins! I’ve been to Caroline’s lectures over the years and as she has gotten older she has become more bitter and angry, she has nothing new to offer, its still the same old material from 17yrs ago. She screams and yells at her audience and I suspect she doesn’t really care about ther loyal students. Of course she has the right to be ‘both fully Divine and fully Human’ as we all do, but I’m so over Caroline Myss. On the other hand, Tami you have such Grace and dignity in the way you interview people, I could listen to you all day long. Keep up the wonderful work.

Comment by Jane — September 22, 2011 @ 7:40 pm

wow, there were so many things that sat wrong in me in listening to this interview. ONE: that there is an external evil force that we need to ward off? and an external positive force that that we better be grateful for… or else. while i recognise that i align with buddhist principles which don’t see these forces as big external meanies that we need to fear, i was surprised at how Myss reduced the worlds problems to this perspective of “evil is out to get us.” yes evil exists like anything else we choose to animate. as a commenter stated above Myss seems very afraid. i wished she could have come to us with that perspective rather than the angry, authoritative parent persona. unlike many other commenters, i did not appreciate Tami’s interaction with her. i wished Tami would have questioned her around: “it sounds like your God is an authoritative God, is that right?” or something. i felt like Tami was so in agreement i had to go read some Krishnamurti to clear my head after this.

Comment by JC Arora — September 22, 2011 @ 7:46 pm

As others have said, Caroline has some valuable things to say, but they easily get lost in her presentation of negativity. I’m tired of hearing her say how awful humanity is; she is out of touch (maybe too much Fox News). Not to be harsh, but perhaps Caroline could use an exorcism in the tradition of her roots.

Comment by Kuru — September 28, 2011 @ 3:58 pm

Priceless interview! Caroline Myss is a guiding light on this planet. She is courageous and does not mince her words to please. I pray that God continues to give her strengh to continue her excellent work that so many of us count on as we move through these turbulent times. Thank you Caroline and Tami. I am truly grateful for the work you are doing! May God bless you both.

Comment by Pat — October 9, 2011 @ 11:25 am

Priceless my a**… this woman is a fear mongering bitter angry example of dualistic thinking. I realize most of the world thinks like her… that something is out to get them and if they pray hard enough to a benevolent yet capricious “god” or “angel” they just might ward off “evil”. This is thinking from the old paradigm that is thankfully fading away.
I appreciate this interview for the way Tami handled it and for letting this woman stick her foot in her mouth. I will never listen to or read anything else by this fear based woman.

Comment by Roger — November 3, 2011 @ 6:34 pm

After listening to your interviews for so long, I neglected to notice that there was a way to comment—having just figured that out (duh!) I am so relieved to be able to read what others had to say about this very disturbing interview. It’s been lurking in my mind all this time because I had previously been so impressed and comforted by Ms.Myss. Without knowing what in her life has her in such a defensive, fearful and negative mode; all I can say is that it’s no surprise that at least one of the folks who enjoyed this described themselves as “born again christians”. Who else could be so moved by the mongering of fear and evil?
Tami, you are an excellent interviewer. You give everyone the space to reveal themselves. This one was terribly painful….I sincerely hope Ms. Myss will find her way home.

Comment by Rachel — November 12, 2011 @ 4:16 pm

First of all, I love Sounds True and the podcasts have been life-saving for me. Carolyn Myss, on the other hand, I find to be very arrogant and self-aggrandizing. In one podcasts she actually said, “most people have not lived through the kinds of extremes that I have lived through.” I couldn’t believe someone who claims to be a spiritual teacher would ever say something so silly. She has *NO* idea what “most people” have lived through and I had to stop listening to her after that. I had never once stopped a Sounds True podcast prematurely, but in that particular one she went on and on about how special she was and how most people were undisciplined and had not been through what she had been through. She radiates a totally angry, bitter, tight, and condescending energy which I want nothing to do with. Sad, because she does have a lot of wisdom to share, but her ego needs to be checked at the door.

Comment by davka — November 15, 2011 @ 5:02 am

After listening to your interview with Carolyn and reading comments, it occurred to me that I think much of Carolyn beliefs are derived from her life experiences as a medical intuitive, spiritual counselor etc. She does not mention speicifically what dark forces and good forces she has encountered in the intense work that she does. I think if her listeners were made aware of what she has personally encountered, it would lend alot of credibility to the controversial things that she shared with you.

Comment by Sheilah — December 28, 2011 @ 12:25 pm

I am truly delighted that “someone” has the guts to say what all we have thinking and were afraid to ask. Yes, it does put our minds into prospective.. thank you

Comment by nan — March 30, 2013 @ 7:25 am