 |  Marianne Williamson lectures internationally in the fields of spirituality and new thought. She teaches the basic principles of A Course in Miracles and discusses their application to daily living. Her inspirational words have provided encouragement to thousands and brought solace to people with life-threatening illnesses. Frequently drawing on incidents from her own life, she has the extraordinary ability to reach out and embrace people and illuminate their lives. She came to Los Angeles and the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in December, 2004 to talk about her book The Gift of Change and the tremendous social upheaval that we face. Following her presentation are short reviews of a selection of her books. For more information about Marianne Williamson please see www.marianne.com.
Marianne Williamson: I started lecturing in Los Angeles 21 years ago. So, returning is a little bit of a homecoming for me. And I'm always so grateful to the Bodhi Tree, who, now as always, is such a bastion. Sometimes you leave a place to get perspective on it. I always feel this about the United States when I travel abroad. I have a greater sense of both our strengths and our weaknesses. But when you leave Los Angeles, you just realize how good it is. I'm aware that this city gave me my career. No other city would have done that. They don't foster new things, and they almost invalidate someone if they come from here. But I know my experience was because I came from LA. So thank you, and for those of you I haven't seen in years, thank you so much for coming. I'm so glad that you're here. I want to talk to you a little bit about my book The Gift of Change. For those of you who have known my work, either lecturing or as a writer, you know that my subject is universal spiritual themes, particularly as expressed in a set of books called A Course in Miracles. What fascinates me is that intersection point between the eternal and the temporal or between broad- scale spiritual, metaphysical principles and how they can be applied to the practical, everyday human dramas in which we find ourselves. Consider the Jewish Star of David and the Christian cross. They are both visual symbols of that intersection point where the divine meets the human. The metaphysical point here is that it is the purpose of our lives, as it says in the A Course in Miracles when describing Jesus, to live on the earth, but think the thoughts of heaven. Heaven described in A Course in Miracles not as a condition or a place, but the awareness of our oneness. If we live on the earth aware of our oneness, that will bring heaven to earth. When in the Bible it says heaven and earth shall be no more, according to A Course in Miracles, that simply means that they shall no longer exist as two separate states. It is our mission in that sense to bring heaven to earth. The A Course in Miracles says the greatest power we have to change the world is the power that we have to change our mind about the world. Now I wrote A Return to Love some 12 years ago but started writing it 16 years ago. In a way, my book The Gift of Change is looking back at some of those principles many years later. In A Return to Love, I tell a story about how cruel the ego can be, and how hard it can be to forgive someone. Now I'm incredulous that the example I used in that book of how hard it can be to have to forgive somebody is about a man who stood me up for a date to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It never occurred to any of us at the time that this is a rather small example of the cruelty of the ego. I'm reminded of the Bob Seger song, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." It was pretty easy, in a way, to espouse forgiveness when nobody had really hurt us too much. We lived at a time when you just spouted a few metaphysical principles and expected everything to be okay by morning. Now I think the world has changed inalterably. Not only our own individual experiences but certainly the catastrophe of 9/11 have put all of us in a different and more sober place. I want to discuss what the gist of The Gift of Change is. It is how I see universal spiritual principle, namely, A Course in Miracles, in terms of the clearly radical change that has come upon the earth. When it comes to 9/11, the first sentence in the A Course in Miracles keeps playing in my head - that is that there is no order of difficulty in miracles. The A Course in Miracles says that God has an answer to every problem the moment that it occurs. In Alcoholics Anonymous, they say every problem comes bearing its own solution. And also, the Native Americans teach that when there is a poison in a forest or in a jungle, the antidote to that poison is within a certain number of feet away from where it was found. Now, look at this very different psychological orientation to problem-solving. Option A, what we're taught, particularly as Westerners: You have a problem, you have to figure out what to do about it. Option B: The answer already exists. It exists in a realm of consciousness, the mind of God, and it's like a file that's already in your computer. The first one says you get a Word document and start writing. The second says, check your files, it's already in there. Our problem is that we don't even know there is something to download, and number two, we are not yet the people who can download it. There's a saying that God can't do for us what he can't do through us. So if I say that from a metaphysical perspective, the moment the World Trade Center was destroyed, God had a plan, that doesn't mean we just sit here and he'll just handle it over there somewhere. In that sense, you can liken God to electricity, but we're the lamps. Now, if a house is wired for electricity, but there's no light fixture, there will be no light in the house. On the other hand it doesn't matter the form of the lamp or the design of the lamp or the age of the lamp, what matters is whether or not the lamp is plugged in. The electricity needs the light fixture and the light fixture needs the electricity. Together, they shed light. So you start with this notion for the plan for the salvation of the world. the A Course in Miracles says, as many spiritual paths do-human beings have free will. There's a line in the Bible: What man intends for evil, God intends for good. It is really an awesome notion. I've lived in Detroit for several years and gospel music takes on such meaning, particularly when you hear these lyrics from a metaphysical perspective. But one of my favorites is, "My God Is an Awesome God." This is the awesome principle that I'm pointing to here. According to the Course and many theological systems, no matter what people do, no matter how much choice for darkness we make, we can't do anything that takes us out of the purview of God's love. There is no such thing. If you believe in an infinitely powerful God, it's impossible that the moment the planes hit the World Trade Center, that God said, "Oh, shit, I don't know what to do." Neither do we believe in a God who would say, "I'll figure this out, just give me some time." Rather, we are talking about the idea of a force, a power, which in the instant that it occurred, had a plan. Going back to the principles of AA, in AA they also say to the alcoholic, your best thinking got you here. So we're doing what mortals do. This terrible thing has happened. We now have this horrible conflict on the planet with terrorism and many other things, and we are trying to figure out what to do. We are the problem. That's why a lot of times when they put my books in self- help sections, I always scratch my head because I write about philosophies that say, "You're the problem, you actually aren't the answer." It's when self surrenders and self submits and self says, "I blew it on such a level. Could you please do for me what I cannot do for myself?" As good Western thinkers, we think we need to know what to do. The spiritual perspective when you have a problem, whether it's your own individual problem or a global problem is, who must I become? Because when you look at the things we did that we wish we hadn't done, or we look at things that we didn't do that we wish we had done, the problem at the deepest level was not what we did or didn't do, it's who we were that we made such wrong-minded choices. Even if God has a plan for the salvation of the world, theoretically, you and I are not yet the people we need to be to, number one, discern the plan; number two, know how to carry out the plan; and number three, have the courage to carry out the plan even if we did. It's not just what you're trying to do in life; it's yourself as vessel.
"And so now history is saying, it is our job to radically and fundamentally change the world. Gandhi said the problem with the human race is that it's not in its right mind. We are on a suicidal rampage." - Marianne Williamson
I know in my life that sometimes I have to clean up my room. Every once in a while I'll read a feng shui book describing how our clutter is killing us. I usually call up a friend to baby-sit me, because I'm someone who, if I set out to clean out my room, will find within 15 or 20 minutes, that I really need a Starbucks or there's something on television I really have to watch, or whatever it is. Just doing it is too much for me, so I'll ask a friend to come and baby-sit. And she'll say, "Well, what shall we do?" I'll say, "Well, okay, let's just start anywhere, and she'll say, "Okay. This box. What shall we do with this box?" And I'll say, "Ohh." That box has been in my room for six years. I know I should deal with it. I know I should do something. And so I tell myself, if I keep it in my room, I'm pretending to myself that I intend to do something about it. But if I'm really honest with myself, I figured out already I can function without dealing with it, so I'm probably not going to. You know it's something you should do, but you've gotten to the point where you don't really have to if you don't want to. I think we have the parallel to that in our personalities. I know I should deal with that part of myself because I know I'm not totally together in that area. It could be money, it could be health, it could be body, it could be relationships, it could be career, it could be work, or it could be anything. It's something that you already know is a place in you where you are not the fully actualized human being that you might be. But you also have it figured out you are functioning without fixing it. You are coping without fixing it. For many of us, we got sober, we functioned, we got jobs, and we got relationships. We were impressed we got to be good. We thought that was it. We didn't think that getting to good was the means to anything else. We didn't have any expectation that history was going to beckon us and say, "Save the planet for future generations now." We didn't expect that. We thought other generations had already handled that. And we were grateful to them, of course. But we didn't think that any huge historical struggle was going to be placed at our feet in this lifetime. Now these are generalizations. There might be people in this room who say, "Oh I did." I honor that. But I am talking about general psychological forces within the cycle of history of our generation. And so now history is saying it is our job to radically and fundamentally change the world. Gandhi said the problem with the human race is that it's not in its right mind. We are on a suicidal rampage. In discussions and interviews, people say, "There have been wars before. You act like this is such a terrible time. There have been horrible situations in wars before." I categorically repudiate the denial that is inherent in that comment. Never before has nuclear proliferation provided the specter of global annihilation that exists in our world today. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ladies and gentlemen, those bombs were like little pinpricks compared to the bombs that exist today. We have them. Other people have them. We're not even sure who has them or where they are. And do not kid yourself, the behavior of the U.S. government, particularly today, has ensured that there are smart people and people with money who are working all day every day to get their hands on one. We understand that we stand in a moment in history where a radical turning around is needed. But for those of you who do not believe that and think that this is no different than any other time, it is like your are on your way to the Titantic. I've always felt that that's why the popular imagination has embraced the Titanic or the idea of Atlantis because these archetypes speak to some deep knowing inside us. But every time we embrace the archetype, we're shown you have an opportunity now to do it differently. If the world is a reflection of who we have been as metaphysics claims, then the only way that we can change the world is if we become different. I know that everybody here is a spiritual student. I have been a spiritual student with you for 20 years. I recognize in this city, in this country and in this world how many of us are spiritual students. But I submit to you that in far too many cases and too many ways, we're "C" students. It's not that we don't know what to do. We know what to do. We know the principles. We have all read the same books and listened to the same tapes. But in far too many cases, we forgive when it's easy. And we love where it's convenient. Now contrast that with a terrorist. Every time there's an act of terrorism, whether it's domestic or international, the American presidents have this odd habit, it seems to me, of calling any act of terrorism a cowardly act. I always scratch my head at that one. Evil. Absolutely. I'll go with wicked, unconscionable, horrible, violent, or cruel. The truth of the matter is that hatred has a perverse kind of courage. A terrorist is someone who is absolutely focused, committed and dedicated to hatred's agenda. They will do anything. They have given themselves and they are willing to be trained to do whatever it takes to perpetrate hatred's agenda. I can't imagine a "kinda", "sorta", casually committed terrorist. But I know many people, and sometimes I am one, who is casually, "sorta", "kinda" committed to love. The A Course in Miracles says miracles arise from conviction. It's like in the Yeats poem, "The good lack all conviction." Those who perpetrate, foster and articulate a fear-based agenda often speak with greater conviction than do those who foster, maintain and perpetrate and articulate love's agenda. When you stand convicted that is a really powerful concept. It is a traditional Christian concept-conviction, be convicted. A flag is a pretty good example here in a way of symbol. Let's say I have a flag and it's on a pole and it says love. If I just try to put the pole on the ground, it'll fall over. I have to stick it into the ground. I have to lay claim to a possibility. And so there are millions of more people on this planet whose hearts are filled with love, I believe, than there are people whose hearts are filled with hate. But people whose hearts are filled with hate have at this moment a choke hold on human history. And so there's an issue of laying claim to love's agenda.  I was about to speak at a bookstore near Detroit a few months ago and I asked the owner of the bookstore, "Michael, what shall I talk about?" He said, "I think you should talk about how hard it is to live a spiritual life. We're all trying so hard." I looked at him and I said, "No we're not." We don't meditate as much as we should. We're not really working hard to forgive the people who really did it to us. But we do say, "Oh, I'm trying so hard." It's one thing to revise your past but we even revise our present. Even when you see people who are really, really involved in activities that could make a difference, they start so gung-ho and then, could we do it when "The West Wing" isn't on. We are the only generation who has ever wanted to change the world over white wine and Brie. The change, as I understand it, does not have to do with a collection of more data. Spiritual advancement does not mean that we grow more metaphysically complicated. Many people in this room already know the basic principles because we've been learning it together for 20 years. The people, my generation of seekers, as I see it, need a psychological shift. It's like when you stay a student, at some point rehearsal is over. And if you take a good look at your life, I would like to submit to you to ponder this: Look at the stress and some of the challenges that you've had in your life over the last two and three years. Is it possible that some of those stresses and challenges were a direct focus on that part of yourself that you know stands between good and great. A focus that you know makes the difference between a life in which "yeah, you know, I'm coping, I'm functioning," and a fuller actualization of yourself. Is that not true? Is it something that you sort of thought you could get away with by not dealing with it? Now, why is it so important that we have to actualize ourselves more fully? Because whether you call it the authentic self, the divine self, the Christ self, or the Buddha self - I don't care what we call it - it is a space of quantum possibility. It is a vortex of the miraculous. The A Course in Miracles says miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. As we reach and inhabit a space of love in our lives, we don't even have to with our conscious mind plan certain things. What The Gift of Change is about for me is looking back at my life at successes and at failures and seeing changes that I brought about that I did not handle well and others that I did. I have seen how when I am conscious and truly sober - and by sober I use the word meaning emotionally sober - to the extent to which I am reflective, I am prayerful, I am slow enough, I'm really thinking about what I'm doing, I can stay at cause in my experience. When I'm moving too fast, when I'm too involved in the human drama of it all, when I'm not meditative, when I'm not prayerful, then my unconsciousness generates chaos. At that point, and at that level, it has absolutely nothing to do with what I intellectually believe in spiritually or theologically. It has to do with how much my own nervous system and personality was a vehicle for what I knew. We know the words, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to embody them in a whole new way. And to say that there is a historical imperative that we do so is an understatement. I was in Northern California several months ago, and I was walking through the redwoods. They were so magnificent and spiritually fulfilling. Do you know that we have only two or three percent of them left? It is so obscene. What we do to this environment is immoral. Recently I was reading about General Armstrong. Have you read about General Armstrong? Most of the redwoods that we have, that we can enjoy today, are because of this one man, an American general named General Armstrong, who came out West and fell in love with the redwoods and then bought all this land and put it in his will that they would be kept safe in perpetuity. I realized reading about this what a debt of gratitude we have to this man, General Armstrong. Every time one of us stands in awe and has just a delight in experiencing these redwoods, surely his soul must tingle. Just like every time a woman votes, Susan B. Anthony must feel it on some level. Many of us, when you hear what I have been saying today, if we're honest with ourselves, think, "I know she's right, but I don't think we can pull it off in my lifetime so I don't want to tell anybody, but I'm basically going to just party for as long as I have left." But now I want to throw a little Buddhism at you. Your karma, according to Buddhism, is not based on what you achieve in this life, it's based on what you die trying to achieve. Susan B. Anthony did not live to see the passage of the 19th Amendment, and she probably knew she wouldn't. The early abolitionists surely knew that slavery would not be abolished in their lifetime. When you are involved in deep, historical struggle for justice and brotherhood, you by definition are in a place where you understand that it is not about you. The soul satisfaction in the sense of meaning that we as individuals so long for, I think, counter-intuitively, paradoxically comes about when we're not just serving ourselves, but we are serving the forces of history. And if we do that, there will come a day when little children will come home and say to their parents, "My teacher said that they used to have these things called war. And whole countries would try to kill each other. Is that true?" The parents will be able to honestly say, "Honey, it is true, it used to happen but that was a really long time ago and it never happens anymore." Ladies and gentlemen, if you and I become the people we are capable of being on that day, our souls will tingle. I'd like to read a little bit from The Gift of Change, something about Los Angeles. Here's a little story that I think you'll remember. I have often heard people say they're afraid of change, but I'm someone who grows nervous when things don't change. At times I think I thrive on it. People are always walking into my house and saying, "Wait, didn't that picture used to hang in the other room?" I'm so obsessive about moving furniture, particularly pillows around, that once I actually lifted up a chair while my friend was still sitting in it. But I've also been done in by change. Overwhelmed by changes I myself set in motion. Casually releasing energies that were not casual at all. I've judged certain changes to be light spring showers that turned out to be hurricanes. I have underestimated the force of change. And so I've been humbled on the subject, having learned the hard way how important it is to move slowly on the inside when things on the outside are moving fast. While I don't fear change in and of itself, I fear myself when I'm not slow and conscious and prayerful while it's happening. In 1992, my first book, A Return to Love, was published. Thanks to Oprah Winfrey and her generous enthusiasm for the book, my world changed. Money came that I had never had before along with press attention and a slight celebrity status. I didn't think of it as incredible; I just thought of it as lots to do. I became a chicken with my head chopped off, no longer taking as much time to listen, to reflect, to meditate, to think. At a time when I most needed to repair to my inner room, to ask God to enter and explain things to me. I was beginning to forget. I was moving too fast. I put some second things first and some first things second in ways I would come to regret. I remember receiving my first royalty check, more money than I had ever seen. And perhaps particularly because I was living in Los Angeles at the time, I bought into the notion that if you have the good fortune to have money, you must buy a house. But I remember praying about this, and my guidance was clear, though it seemed odd to me - redecorate your condo. I kept having that thought - redecorate your condo. But people around me laughed at such a thought. Why would I redecorate my condo when I could afford a house? A Course in Miracles states that the Holy Spirit often gives guidance that sounds startling at the time, but I guess I forgot that part. I went with the voices of the world instead of the voices of my heart. Now in the great scheme of things, whether or not you purchase a house is not what matters. But it matters indeed when the voice in your heart loses volume in your head. Why was the Holy Spirit directing me to redecorate my condo? Because I needed time to adjust to the new turn my life had taken. I needed time to grow into my new circumstances, to inhabit emotionally the space I was already inhabiting materially. I needed time to think about what things meant and how to deal with new situations in the most mature way. Sometimes change lifts you up like a tornado and puts you down someplace you've never been before. Tornadoes are fast and they're also destructive. Speed can be the enemy of constructive change. Another reason I was being inwardly directed to remain in my condo, I think, was in order to say goodbye. I needed to say goodbye to parts of myself that were being called to transform into something new, and I needed to say hello to parts of myself that were being born. The biggest mistakes I have made in my life I would not have made had I taken more time. Time to think and meditate and pray. Perhaps you were one thing and now you're another. Perhaps you were in high school, now you're entering college. Perhaps you were single and now you're getting married. Perhaps you were married and now you're single. Perhaps you were childless and now you're a parent. Perhaps you had a child at home and now you no longer do. Whatever door you've walked through, your life won't be quite the same as it was before. The room you were in is behind you now. The emotional ground beneath your feet is different, and you need time to reorient yourself. Rushing through change is an unconscious move and it's a setup for mistakes. What I read is just an example from my own life where I feel that I rushed. But I think that the reason that issue is so important is because the world is changing so fast. The historical imperative that we've already discussed is that we change quickly to grow into the personhood that we need to inhabit in order to do what needs to be done. That same force in the Course is called the ego. In the Kabbalah and Judaism it's called "the secret behind" in Hebrew. It can be called the devil. It could be called the second force. The idea, though, is that there is a force, the Crucifixion rather than the Resurrection, which, as soon as you start owning your greatness, forces within you and forces outside you will say get down there. Now if you're blessed, there will be people in your life who say, "You go, girl," and there will be people in your life who help you put on your wings. But living in this world and particularly today, if you allow yourself to start actualizing the fullness of potential within you, there will be forces within you and forces outside which will insidiously be on the march to push you down. Now, truth trumps illusion. Where there's light in a room, darkness can't enter. The whole point of staying with spiritual practice, and that's really what the book The Gift of Change is about, is that we can become people who, number one, allow the change to happen; number two, don't let the change just wreak more havoc; and number three, become part of that huge, historical impulse, which has as its ultimate goal not only the change of our own hearts and our own lives but the change of the entire world. I want to take some questions and comments but I just need to say that I feel, having begun lecturing here in 1983, I've seen tremendous changes in the spiritual perspective of my generation. There's no reason for us to think that we can't go even further now. I think that everything that we have been through now in our lives was rehearsal. And that is not just for the young but for the middle-aged as well. As a matter of fact, the older you are, the more humbled you've probably been. Our mistakes can help prepare us further and I talk quite a bit about this in The Gift of Change. Sometimes it's when we feel that we have failed or made mistakes that can't be corrected and we think it is all over for us that God looks at us and says, "Can we start now?" Until we were that humble, he couldn't use us. One of my favorite quotes in the book is from a Christian pastor who wrote and spoke back in the 1930s, and he said, "I have looked in scripture and in history, and I cannot find any strong-willed individual whom God used greatly who he did not first allow to suffer deeply." So that gives you a little bit of the thinking that I was dealing with in wanting to write this book, The Gift of Change. It is my hope that it gives you on some level and in some way some insight, some "a-ha," some "yeah, I feel that way too," that inspires you on your own journey. I thank you very much. Do you have any questions or comments? Question: What can we do right now to make a change in ourselves and the world? Williamson: Just a few minutes ago I was talking about how as Westerners we always say "What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?" And there is a "Who do we be, who do we be, who do we be?" that precedes that. That's what Gandhi was speaking about. And that is what Dr. King was speaking of. These are probably the two greatest political lights of the twentieth century. Their achievements politically were tremendous. And yet, they based their politics in a change of heart. I asked the Dalai Lama, "If enough of us meditate, will that change the world?" He said, "If we want to change the world, we must have a plan. But unless we meditate, no plan will work." What I'm saying to you is not only unless we meditate, no plan will work, but also unless we meditate we won't even know what the plan should be. It does not come. It will not come rationally but through a sense of illumination. Now, none of us is going to be given the big overall plan. God is going to tell you what you need to do. God is going to tell me what I need to do. God will not be telling me what you need to do. And God's not going to be telling you what I need to do. Consider the whole political situation. I hope you will pick up my flyer about the Department of Peace. This is certainly one of the things we can do is lobby for a Department of Peace. In the world of doing, there are mid-term elections in 2006. We must begin now. One of the reasons that the "other side" of a political debate often defeats more progressive elements is that by the time our alarm clock rings, they already have had their coffee and they are out of the house. There's a reason why politics to me is the minor and not the major conversation. It is an important conversation and one in which I am very involved. However, when people say, "Oh, well, you're naïve to think it's about a spiritual change," I'll tell you this. When it comes to the material plane, including our political systems here and around the world, the forces of fear have it sewn up. When you don't even really know who won an election, the depression we feel is that it has gone too far. So what do you do when world or "earth plane" is sort of sewn up? Go otherworldly. As I said already, truth trumps falsehood. In the Western psychological tradition, if you have a problem, you try to fix the problem. In the Eastern tradition, which every meditator understands, you go directly for God and all that is not authentically you will drop. If you've ever transcendental meditated, you know that your path is not where you focus on a problem and try to fix it, it's that you focus on a "level of consciousness" and watch certain problems just dissolve. So the idea here in "level of consciousness", what I talk about in the book The Gift of Change, is our forming a unified field of "resurrective possibility". As we rise in consciousness, all that is not the higher truth and righteousness of universal brotherhood and justice simply will not be able to stand. Darkness cannot stand in light's presence. Do you see what I'm saying? Now, some people don't understand because they think I'm saying that's all we do. I'm not saying that things will not need to be done. But I am saying that when we are lifted, we will be able to do it more. So now there are some things to do. Get busy. There are Senators who will be running in 2006. Find the senatorial campaigns. Find out how your own congressional seat in your own district is doing. Mid-term elections can be huge. But meditate, meditate, meditate, meditate. As I quoted in my book, Illuminata, the Buddhists say "nothing is so fragile as action without prayer." My book, Healing the Soul of America, is about that intersection of political and spiritual activism. Question:How many people in the world are calling upon spirit? Some deadly acts of patriotism may be fueled by a sense for what they believe God to be. I don't know if there is a God at the top and he/she/it is expressing through all of us. Williamson: There are people saying that they are following religious dogma and religious doctrine, but that doesn't mean that they necessarily say they feel that they are following the spirit of love. A friend of mine who is a born-again, fundamentalist Christian, says, "I have a problem with this calling God love stuff." I'm not talking here about religious dogma. I'm not talking about religious doctrine at all. I'm talking about a living spirit of love. And in a perverse way, you could say about World War II that we did it out of love for our future generations. But you don't even have to concern yourself with other people's path and what other people are doing. God is not asking you to monitor others. The A Course in Miracles says that the primary responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for himself. We have a 24 hour job monitoring our own process. God, you don't need to know. That's the beauty of the system. It is none of my business what part God is assigning to you. The whole idea here is that there is a cosmic plan, a divine curriculum for each of us if I will simply forge ahead in trying to remove the blocks to my own awareness of love in ways my mortal mind could never understand. We often get stuck when we try to figure out what to do. What I am suggesting is that you don't even try with your mortal mind. Question:Because of the election and because George Bush got re-elected, I feel the need more to go inside. And in a weird way, I was kind of glad that he got re-elected because now I can focus on myself and my journey. We could use it as a way of bringing better change in our own lives. Williamson:Well, it wasn't like if Kerry got elected, though, everything was fixed. I honor what you're saying, but I would submit to you that tremendous human suffering is occurring in Iraq, and the same policies that have produced all that human suffering both in our own troops and in Iraqi citizens has been given a big green light. It's hard to be happy about that. On a certain level, the caricature of the ugly American is at an all-time high. Question:How do you respond to the Christians that stand behind the Bible and support the war in Iraq? They say the war is biblical and that it is God's design. They claim that it is in the Bible. Williamson:As a matter of fact, one of the reasons a lot of the right-wing Christians, support Israel as they do is that they believe this is the whole plan for Armageddon and that the Jews have to be in Jerusalem, etc. This is particularly frightening for many of us about George Bush because there is a perspective that says, "Armageddon has to come before Jesus can get here. So bring it on." Now, metaphysically, if you can learn the lessons from your Armageddon and I can learn the lessons from my Armageddon, then we can reach a place where we will not have to collectively manifest an Armageddon. I was asked by a San Francisco newspaper reporter what would you do if you met Donald Rumsfeld. What would you say to him? Now the A Course in Miracles makes it very clear. The personality level is the tip of the iceberg. If I met Donald Rumsfeld, I would try to be pleasant, and while I was talking to him, I would be praying for his enlightenment and mine. There are times when the deepest conversation will not and cannot occur, given the current configuration on the personality level. When I am talking to someone far right-wing, either political or religious type, as A Course in Miracles student, this is what I'm thinking: Dear God, please take from me my arrogant, left-wing self-righteousness that makes me so sure I'm smart and they're dumb. Please take away from me my judgment of those people who I don't like because I think they're judgmental. Dear God, remove from me my self-righteousness that makes me think I get it and they don't. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "You have no morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt." My job is to let go the part of me that on any level forgets that Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush are just as precious to God as anybody else. Because only from that place do I have any hope of creating a heart space in their presence without which no verbal communication would mean anything anyway. And that's why it's all work on ourselves. We get it, but do we practice it in the places where it's really tough to practice it. Question:I have not read any of your books nor heard you speak. Apparently you deal with life issues and your followers are very enthusiastic but I don't see how it all works? What am I missing here? Williamson:Okay. First of all, I don't think I have followers. I am fortunate that I have an audience and people who I'm privileged to say that have read my books. But I also think that there are people here who haven't heard me speak and haven't read my books, but simply that they have come to a lecture at the Bodhi Tree or they are already involved in the larger spiritual conversation. Basically we are dwelling in that conversation, which you're not, but welcome on behalf of everybody here. Now, let me answer your question. I am saying that if you meditate you will get clearer about whether to do A, B, C or D. And I'd like to tell you why. Your brain, when you meditate, literally emits different brain waves. When you wake up in the morning, you shower or bathe. You wouldn't dream of going out into the day with yesterday's dirt all over you. You probably don't say to people, "I had to give up showers and baths because I just didn't have time." Now, if after you wake up in the morning you read the newspaper, listen to the news on radio or TV and then add some caffeine, when you go out the door, you are taking yesterday's stress with you on your mind. When you don't get quiet in the morning, get prayerful, get reflective, read inspirational literature, or meditate, you are carrying not only your own stress, but the stress of people sometimes halfway across the world. Now, there's a line in the A Course in Miracles-you create what you defend against. What I'm saying to you is, if you don't cleanse your mind and cleanse your heart, you are more likely to make the wrong decision. For example, a situation with my boss triggers a certain childhood issue of mine that I have not cleared, therefore I am more likely to make the wrong decision because I erroneously have made my boss my father. Or I'm having such a difficult time forgiving someone at work that I'm losing sight of the big picture and I am going to let this low-level sense of getting at him lead me to make the wrong decision because I want some low-level ultimately cheap and shallow and stupid feeling where I got him. Those lower ultimately meaningless energies that are kind of hanging on are like dirt on the mind. The image I use in the book [The Gift of Change] is if you have a pot and it has impacted food on the bottom and you can't get it off, if you leave it overnight in soapy water that dirt over night will rise. What we're saying, sir, is that you and I and all of us here have some impacted issues that take away from our clarity, take away from our strength, take away from our serenity, take away from our higher intelligence and wisdom. I am saying that as you learn to be quiet, you literally achieve a different brain wave functioning. The woman that I am when I get up in the morning-read the newspaper, listen to the news, add caffeine, rush out the door-in the sense of my nervous system, I am literally a different woman than I am when I pray and meditate, do yoga, whatever, in the morning. Where I sit within myself in those ways will determine whether I choose A, B, C or D. And when I've been quieter and more reflective and more prayerful, the chance of my choosing the one that will lead to my greater good and the greater good of those around me is greatly increased. It's not that you don't have to choose between A, B, C, or D. We're talking about finding the wisdom within yourself to know which one to choose. There is also just one more little thing. As you do cultivate a greater quiet, spiritual practice, forgiveness, etc., A, B, C and D start to change too. Everything starts to reconfigure, including your boss, because all minds are joined. Question: I have strong feelings about President Bush and where our country is headed. How do you deal with that? Williamson:If I'm honest with myself, my ego says I don't want to pray for President Bush, because then that will help him do all that. I don't want to bless him because then that will give him more power when really, to pray for him is to pray for his enlightenment. What would be more wonderful than that? So the only way I can help enlighten George Bush is if I am more enlightened about him. It's all our own stuff. I want to tell a story about giving a speech in front of Laura Bush. Coretta Scott King had asked me to give a talk on Martin Luther King's birthday at Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. I was so excited and I was planning a talk about what I thought Martin Luther King's view would be of George Bush's military policies. Right before I went in to give the speech, I was told that Laura Bush was there as well. I thought, "Oh, my God," and I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. I thought, "You say you believe in Martin Luther King, okay, this is it, babe." On one hand, I didn't want to tone down what I saw as truth so as to not offend anyone; on the other hand, if I was not practicing peace towards Laura Bush, it's all bogus. Right? So I edited it a little. But the main thing was less in what I said and more in how I said it. And almost every time I mentioned the President, I would turn around and say, "Mrs. Bush, of course, we are praying for your husband at this difficult time." When the talk was over, I went to shake Mrs. King's hand and then I went to shake Laura Bush's hand, and when I got in front of her, I turned into this little girl afraid that Mommy might get mad at me. I started saying to her, "I'm really sorry if I..." She said, "Shhh." She put her fingers to my lips and she said, "You did great." She got it. She understood the effort that I had made not to dishonor him personally, and not to dishonor her given that she was sitting there. And I thought that was pretty interesting. Question:On both sides of the political spectrum, many people pray a lot. It almost feels like a battle of consciousness. Do we have enough over here to change it, or do they? Williamson: Let's talk the metaphysics of that. Lincoln's second inaugural address is very beautiful. He talks about how both sides, North and South, prayed to the same God, but only one could be answered. From A Course in Miracles perspective, you don't have to worry that God doesn't know bullshit when he hears it. And that's including our own, by the way. Now in the A Course in Miracles, truth trumps falsehood. The A Course in Miracles says, some religions have nothing to do with God. Where there is no love, there is no God. Period, that is the end of the story from a Course perspective. The A Course in Miracles says some people conspire with God who do not yet believe in Him. So any prayer that does not include love is a prayer that will seem to be unanswered. Any prayer that is of love will be answered, although not always in a form that you recognize or along your timetable. I must add that history has never moved in the right direction because the majority woke up one day and said, "Let's do this." The abolitionists were not the majority. The women suffragettes were not the majority. The American Revolution was not the majority. The Civil Rights' workers were not the majority. History does not work that way. It's that those who spoke that which is ultimately more loving and compassionate for life itself had a better idea, and literally, by standing convicted in that idea summoned cosmic forces. Fear can summon material forces, but only love can summon cosmic forces. Get those on your side and don't you worry. The cosmic forces would like to work with us but if we are too angry, too arrogant or cynical, the cosmic forces won't be able to use us the way it would wish. Question: Where would you suggest to go to study A Course in Miracles and spiritual studies? Williamson: A Course in Miracles is a self-study program. So you don't have to go anywhere. My book, Return to Love, is sort of the "Cliff Notes" of the Course. But with all due respect to Marianne Williamson, she's a vitamin and you need to eat the meal. That's why I would say just buy A Course in Miracles. Other than that, just come to the Bodhi Tree. You're already here. You're in mecca and you didn't even know it. I've started a project called "The Miracle Matrix." It's a kind of virtual fellowship based on that concept in the Course-an idea grows stronger when it is shared. As a matter of fact, if anybody here is part of the Matrix, what we were doing this week, is praying for Iraq, pouring light on Iraq. If you're interested in that process, it involves downloading lots of my tapes. Please check out the Miracle Matrix, if you're interested. [Marianne Williamson's web site is www.marianne.com. Question: The Fundamentalist Christians supported Bush and we should focus on them and try to make them feel guilty. Williamson:Well, that's not a strategy I would embrace. If you were trying to make someone feel guilty, that is an attack. If we are attacking, don't kid yourself that you're part of the solution if you yourself are attacking someone. If I'm attacking George Bush or I'm attacking a born-again Christian, it's no different than their attacking Iraq. Question:I just want to say that I'm a student of the Course and when I explained it to my friends, they just look at me like I'm apathetic. I try to explain that I'm going inside, I'm meditating, I'm praying to see what happens and what actions evolve but it does sound apathetic sometimes. Williamson: You just need to continue to articulate what you just said. The A Course in Miracles says that, as you grow closer to God, you grow closer to your natural talent at protecting your brothers. It's not that you're not going to do anything; you are going to do something. Everything you do is infused with the energy with which you do it, and as you become clearer as a woman in your own consciousness, what you are doing will be more powerful. Everything that I've been saying today is that we need to exit linear time. If you just move through the normal confines of time and space, as we know it, we're cooked. We have to exit that consciousness completely. The A Course in Miracles says that with our holiness, the wholeness of the mind, the spirit mind, we supersede, the spirit supersedes the laws of time and space. So what I'm talking about here is entering a realm of quantum possibility, in which there's no way with my mortal mind I could have any idea how to answer that. Make sense? But, in that realm, there is no time. It's all happening right now anyway-both the past and the future. Question: I'm experiencing a lot of guilt because I got my son to join the Army. He joined right before 9/11 and went to boot camp shortly thereafter. He has already been to Iraq once. He went into Baghdad and earned a medal of honor showing valor. Williamson: Congratulations, sir. Question: Thank you. Now they're going to make him go back and I feel a lot of guilt about it. Williamson: I'm so sorry, and I know that I say that on behalf of a lot of people in this room. Would you like us to say a prayer with you? Question: I would love that. Williamson: What is your name? [Lee]. What is your son's name? [Dean] Let's pray. Dear God, we know that you know the suffering of those in our armed forces, of the people of Iraq and the families of them all. We know that you know the story of Lee and Dean, and we join with Lee in placing this situation in your hands. We join with him in surrendering his regret, his feelings of guilt, and we ask you, Dear God, to lift these from him for his intentions were of love. And Dear God, we join with him in asking that you surround his son with a legion of angels. May there be angels to his left and angels to his right. Angels in front of him and angels behind him. Angels above him and angels below. May he be blessed and may he be shielded. May no weapon formed against him stand. May such a mantle of light surround him that no darkness can enter there. And so it is. We all say Amen. Question:I've been working hard to realize my dream of marrying the person that I want someday legally [a gay man]. From a political point of view that's one of the big reasons Bush won. I've had a lot of progressive friends tell me that there are many more important things going on that I should focus on other things. Williamson:The Republicans were very smart with that and what they did. I think that the fact that there is an effort to actually use the U.S. Constitution to limit the rights of a segment of the population is horrifying. And whether you know gay people or you're gay or not, is irrelevant. It affects all of us. It is such a dark turn in American history that all of us need to make a stand just on that level, having nothing to do with what you think about gay sex or gay marriage. It was interesting to see the relationship between Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony. The suffragettes and the abolitionists basically made a deal. Frederick Douglas turned out to be more of a male chauvinist than they thought at the time and later didn't live up to the deal totally. But in general, the arrangement between the abolitionists and the suffragettes was this: We have to go with the worse evil first. So the suffragettes put a lot of their efforts on hold because, as bad as it is that women weren't given the vote, it cannot be seen as horrible as slavery. Right? So the suffragettes put all their efforts into the abolitionist movement, and then when that basically had been completed, they said, "Okay, now you guys help us." Question: You have a scholar's breadth of history. Williamson: Thank you. I wrote a book about American history. [Healing the Soul of America] Question: Because of your impressive social activism and your commanding social presence, have you ever thought of running for political office? Williamson: People here in this room are being very kind to me, and many people are elsewhere, as well. But for whatever reason, my personality is one that brings a lot of criticism and it often has been very difficult for me. And so, I can't even imagine how it would be if I ran for office. Now, my greatest political heroes-Gandhi, King, Susan B. Anthony-never ran for an elective office. The part of politics that I'm interested in most, that I think is the lynchpin, is the part I'm already involved in, and that's the awakening of the American mind. Question: Why did you move to Michigan? Williamson: I moved to Michigan thinking I was moving there for a year or so to take a pulpit. I stayed longer than I should have because I saw a possibility. When it was time to leave, by then, my little girl was happy. And so now I have a happy teenager, and you don't mess with that. I realize all manner of darkness is kept at bay because she's happy. Question: I have a 9-year-old that I am concerned about. I'm concerned about her future. So what do we do? Spiritually and physically, we can manifest a tremendous amount of change by doing what we can, and being the leaders and being the movers and the shakers that you were talking about. Williamson: And not only that, I want to make it really clear to you people living in Los Angeles. No matter what anybody says about California, and no matter how much some people like to make fun of California, everybody knows what happens in California will be the rest of the country five years later. It's almost like, when you leave California, you're even more convinced, what goes down here just reverberates. Thank God for California. In A Course in Miracles, this is the deal. The A Course in Miracles says, when the Holy Spirit enters a situation, it is a win for everyone. So what we pray for is divine right order. There is in the mind of God a realm where your energies are in a very healthy, very functioning, high functioning and joy-producing way. And any chemical attachments or energetic attachments or romantic attachments that would mitigate against that high level of consciousness are erased and dissolved. But, our mortal mind cannot achieve that. Attachment is in our gut, so our mortal mind doesn't have a lot of power there. So that's why we invite the Holy Spirit. Question: I feel that Los Angeles has become a much worse place with you're not being here. Williamson: Thank you. It's time for all of us to step up. If Los Angeles needs a higher level of spiritual harnessing, and God's telling me to be elsewhere, that means that you have a job to do. When I asked the Dalai Lama, "How do you take your teachings and apply them to American politics?" He said, "That's your job," meaning, you're the American. So remember, all of us are special, the A Course in Miracles says, and none of us are special. If Los Angeles needs something and you know it, make yourself available. We all know that, but do we really know that. And so I join with all of you in this prayer. It's time to encourage each other. It's time to say to each other, "You go fly. You can do it. You're brilliant." The only way we can believe that about ourselves is if we help other people feel it about themselves. We talked a lot today in spiritual terms about the Crucifixion, the things that are going wrong. But the whole point of the Crucifixion is the resurrection, and we invoke the resurrection. We invoke the light by standing in the midst of darkness and acting as if the light has already come. And in the midst of a time where there are quite a few fear-based crucifixion energies, we are the people to invoke the resurrection, to know that as we become who we are capable of being, each of us in our individual lives, we will be joined on levels we can't even mortally or rationally understand and form a web of possibility for us and for other species all over the world. And I think whether we achieve everything we want to in our lifetime or not, from a Buddhist perspective, what is very good about that is that we will die happy. And that's not nothing. Let's pray. Dear God, we are told we do not ask you for too much before too little. And today we place in your hands every burden. We know that in you, Dear God, there are no limits, and all things are possible. We place in your hands the war in Iraq. We place in your hands environmental degradation. And we place in your hands, Dear God, our own lives. Remove from us our character weaknesses, heal our wounds. We place in your hands our joy and our sorrow, our goals, our hopes for ourselves and for our world. We enter into the divine space of miracles and endless love. May the spirit be as a divine elixir upon us, turning us in all ways from weakness to strength, from cowardice to courage, from littleness to magnitude, and from fear to love. May we become who you would have us be that we might do as you would have us do. And Dear God, we will. And so it is. We all say Amen. Thank you everyone for being here. Bodhi Tree, thank you so much. Please get on my mailing list or if you'd like to know when I'm in town by going to my website, www.marianne.com. Read about the Miracle Matrix. Pick up the article about the Department of Peace.
A Partial List of Marianne Williamson's Evocative Books: - Emma and Mommy Talk to God (1996)
- Enchanted Love: The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships (2001)
- Everyday Grace: Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness, and Making Miracles (2002)
- The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life (2004)
- Healing the Soul of America: Reclaiming Our Voices as Spiritual Citizens (1997)
- Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage (1994)
- Illuminated Prayers (1997)
- Imagine: What America Could Be In The 21st Century (2001)
- A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principals of A Course in Miracles (1995)
- A Woman's Worth (1994)
| Emma and Mommy Talk To God
By Marianne Williamson $14.95. 32 pp oversize: 9" x 11" cloth. ISBN 0060264640. Harper In this gentle and inspirational picture book, internationally acclaimed author and philosopher, Marianne Williamson and her daughter, Emma, share their own experience of talking about God. Emma isn't quite sure who God is and what it means to believe in Him. Her loving talks with her mother help her to realize that God is always with her to help her find her way. The glowing, light-filled, full-color illustrations are by award-winning artist Julia Noonan. The book is suggested for ages 3-7, but it is a resource to inspire children and adults alike. "We have no more important job to do than remind the generations that follow us of the existence of God's power, and of how, through prayer and forgiveness, we can experience His love in our daily lives. Such is the revolution of faith, which will, I believe, heal our hearts and heal this world."-- Marianne Williamson | | Enchanted Love:
The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships
By Marianne Williamson $24.00. 281 pp. Cloth. ISBN 0684870258. Simon & Schuster In this book, Marianne Williamson envisions a way of being in love with another person and, at the same time, at peace and at one with both God and ourselves. Here we discover "romantic love" as our newest spiritual frontier. "Enchanted partnership begins with the conscious understanding on the part of two people," she writes, "that the purpose of their relationship is not so much material as spiritual, and the internal skills demanded by it are prodigious." High romance, she continues, "is not about past or future. It is not about practicality. It is not about society or worldly routines. It is an audacious ride to the center of what 'is', at the heart of every person." The act of loving is a heartfelt and deeply personal inquiry into what two people really are and how we might become, while still on earth, "the angels who reside within us."  Filled with parables, classic myths and legends of love, Enchanted Love also contains Williamson's signature prayers which will inspire readers-whether single or coupled - to awaken to the possibilities of romantic enchantment. When the spirit moves through Marianne Williamson, her words overflow with extraordinary beauty and power. In her foreword, she writes that her book is "merely" one woman's musings on deeply romantic encounters and the inner world of feelings. But don't be fooled by her humble words. Marianne Williamson takes you to mystical lands. | | The Gift of Change:
Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life
By Marianne Williamson $21.95. 257 pp. cloth. ISBN 006058534X. Harper SanFrancisco "We are being challenged by world events, by the tides of history, to develop a more mature consciousness. Yet we cannot do that without facing what hurts. Life is not a piece of tragic fiction, in which at the end of the reading we all get up and go out for drinks. All of us are actors in a great unfolding drama, and until we dig deep, there will be no great performances. How each of us carries our role will affect the end of the play." - Marianne Williamson In this honest and uplifting book, author and lecturer Marianne Williamson delves deeply into the powerful role of change in our lives today. Far from being something to fear and avoid, she says, every change - even the most difficult and painful - gives us an opportunity to receive the miraculous gift of personal transformation. The only real failure in life, she observes, is the failure to grow from what we go through or experience. Williamson writes, "We are spirit, and thus we are more than the world. When we remember that, the world itself will bow to our remembrance." We will find real growth when we reorient ourselves using an eternal compass of spiritual principles, which alone can guide us on this path to wholeness.  By bringing our attention to the things that don't change, Williamson leads us across ten key bridges of transformation. Our attention and study of this small grouping of changes empower us to see life's transitions as opportunities for growth and rebirth, providing not only keys for shaping our lives, but also hope for transforming our world into a place of greater love and peace. The Gift of Change is about learning who we are so that we might become agents of miraculous change. "Today, we stand in the midst of the great illusions of the world and by our very presence dispel them. As we cross the bridge to a more loving orientation - as we learn the lessons of spiritual transformation and apply them in our personal lives - we will become agents of change on a tremendous scale. By learning the lessons of change, internally and externally, each of us can participate in the great collective process in which the people of the world, riding a wave of enlightened understanding, see the human race on a destructive course and turn it around in time." - Marianne Williamson | | Healing the Soul of America
By Marianne Williamson $24.00. 366 pp. paper. ISBN 068484270X. Simon & Schuster Marianne Williamson asserts that our culture has lost its spiritual rudder, and that we have lost all individual or collective wisdom. "Our national conscience is barely alive as we slither like snakes across a desert floor toward any hole where money lies," she writes, "And broad-scale social dysfunction throughout America-in large part stemming from institutionalized social and economic injustice-is met at present by political policies no more creative or enlightened than the building of prisons, more quickly." Clearly, we can no longer expect-or wait for-either major political party to address the spiritual causes of America's pain. "We will reap what we sow," she continues, "Collectively as well as individually, and if God is watching any of us then He is watching all of us. The morally concerned American must now take an active stand in turning American away from its current identity as a nation obsessively in love with its money to a nation more seriously invested in all of its children and the potential brilliance of every American." According to Williamson, we need a new paradigm of political understanding, a moral commitment to express it, and a new kind of activism to bring it forth. Healing the Soul of America is a blueprint for all three. Fighting words, which we all need to hear. | | Illuminata: A Return to Prayer
By Marianne Williamson $12.00. 240 pp. paperback. ISBN 1573225207.
$24.95. 300 pp. cloth. ISBN 0679435506  This is a book of contemporary prayer and meditation for people of all faiths. An ecumenical book of common prayer, Illuminata gives you a way to incorporate the spiritual themes of A Return to Love into daily life and helps you to return to prayer. The book is elegantly designed, two-color throughout, with printed end papers. A true gift of prayer. | | Illuminated Prayers
By Marianne Williamson,
watercolors by Claudia Karabaic Sargent $20.00. 102 pp. cloth. ISBN 0345435451. Simon & Schuster "I think of prayer as a spiritual lifeline back to where I most want to be," writes Marianne Williamson in this new book of universal prayers. Prayer is a powerful force that can lift spirits, guide journeys, and heal the heart. Illuminated Prayers is a book of spiritual wisdom to bring the power of prayer into your daily life. Beautifully illustrated in the manner of an illuminated manuscript, Illuminated Prayers offers a treasured keepsake of the power and enduring relevance of Williamson's message: Prayer illuminates our souls, and with prayer one can change the world. Dear God, As I wake up this morning, may Your spirit come upon me. May my mind receive Your emanations, my soul receive Your blessing, and my heart receive Your love. May all those I meet or even think of on this day feel better for it. May I contribute peace. May I serve Your purposes with all I say and do, today and always. Please show me how. Amen
--from Illuminated Prayers | | Imagine: What America Could
Be In The 21st Century:
Visions of a Better Future from
Leading American Thinkers
Edited By Marianne Williamson $16.00. 414 pp. paper. ISBN 0451204697. New American Library "We are living in extraordinary times, when old boundaries are melting, assumptions long sanctified are being fearlessly questioned, and mental boxes that had seemingly been made of steel are crumbling all around us. Ask someone in business about their quarterly earnings and they're liable to tell you about emotional factors affecting the workplace. Ask someone about their spiritual awakening, and they're liable to talk about extending their spiritual values into social activism. One simple thought now promises to transform Western civilization: At the deepest level, there is no separation between internal and external. All outer phenomena are mere reflections of consciousness, and there is no changing the external world without addressing internal factors. Knowing that our primary spiritual task is to love, the highest work of consciousness is to not only try to find our love but also extend it into the world." "Thus, in addressing the future of America, we have sought in this book to address issues of both personal, internal transformation as well as institutional, external change. At heart, they are not separate. Writing about our legal system, a law professor speaks of injecting love into the heart of it. Writing about religion, a theologian posits the value of a sacred sensibility in the functioning of our secular institutions. Our deepest understanding of the world today involves our recognition of the creative, yet often fragile, marriage between the inner and outer realms."  "No one who has written for this book is naive about America's problems. But each one of these authors has seen at least part of a way past those problems and found a way to articulate the path for others. They have obviously thought and felt deeply about their areas of expertise and responded deeply to their own imagination. What emerges is a compendium of possibilities for a future whose underpinning is not anxiety but a deep and abiding peace." -- Marianne Williamson In the realm of highest possibilities, what could America look like in 50 years? What kinds of changes would have to occur in order for that to happen? How can an individual or an institution best contribute to such change? What is the deeper story trying to emerge within this nation and the world? The answers to these questions are not impossible. Nor are they beyond our capabilities as a people and nation. They are, as everything else, a matter of choice. Marianne Williamson, best selling author of A Return to Love and Illuminata, asked these questions of such contemporary thinkers as Sarah Ban Breathnach (Simple Abundance), John Robbins (Diet for a New America), Eric Utne (founder of the Utne Reader), John Bradshaw (Healing the Shame That Binds You), Daphne Rose Kingma (The Future of Love), Debbie Ford (The Dark Side of the Light Chasers), actor Peter Coyote, cultural critic bell hooks, and many others. The result is Imagine -- a collection of forward-thinking essays on topics ranging from relationships to religion, from education to the environment to the economy, from food to sex to identity. This thought-provoking book invites you to imagine a better future, a better world. All author royalties from the sales of Imagine are donated to the Global Renaissance Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to imagining and working toward a better world for future generations. | | A Return to Love:
Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles
By Marianne Williamson $14.00. 308 pp. paperback. ISBN 0060927488. Harper  Based on the teachings of A Course in Miracles, Marianne Williamson's book is about the practice of love as a daily answer to the problems that confront us. She takes us on a psychological and emotional journey, where we surrender all preconceived notions of how we live and return to love as a practice, as a strength rather than a weakness, and as a daily answer to the problems that confront us. | | A Woman's Worth
By Marianne Williamson $12.95. paperback. ISBN 0345386574. Ballantyne  For several years, Marianne Williamson's message of self-acceptance and empowerment has touched the lives of thousands across the United States and Europe. In this testimony of her experience as a woman on the spiritual path, she addresses the questions of women who would like to 'have it all' but who are held back by low self esteem, lack of a support system and centuries of prejudice. Others are afraid of asking too much or of losing love and respect if they appear too greedy. Williamson proposes that women must first examine their own inner lives before going out to conquer the world. | Other Books containing the writings of Marianne Williamson:
| Quest: Discovering Your Human Potential
By (together for the first time ever)
Dr. Deepak Chopra, Stephen Covey, Thomas Moore,
Dr. Bernie Siegal, David Whyte, and Marianne Williamson $39.95. video. ISBN 2264400003. Zolar Entertainment). This video is now out-of-print. Six of today's most influential leaders in the field of personal development share their insights on the quest for spiritual harmony. Quest is a one-of-a-kind meeting with some of the most widely recognized thinkers of our time, in which we address the greatest struggle of all: How to become all that we truly are. | | The Wedding Vows from
Conversations with God:
With Thoughts from Gerald Jampolsky
& Marianne Williamson
By Neale Donald Walsch & Nancy Fleming-Walsch $12.95. 68 pp. cloth. ISBN 1571741615. Hampton Roads This splendid gift book is an invaluable resource for those couples seeking contemporary alternatives to traditional wedding vows. Drawn from the best-selling Conversations with God, Book 3, this collection honors the spiritual nature of all beings. Indeed, these are not simply vows, but something more: an outward manifestation of the deepest spiritual truths. Featured here are the vows spoken by Neale Donald Walsch and Nancy Fleming-Walsch at their own wedding. As Walsch writes, "We wanted a ceremony that spoke the truth of our hearts, and that allowed us to make promises that we knew we could keep." Also included here are short prayers, inspirational quotes from the Conversations with God series, and wonderful commentaries on love and relationships by Gerald Jampolsky, his wife, Diane Cirincione, and Marianne Williamson. "Angels surround us on all our paths. Hearing them, and heeding them, is the holy grail of love. What we yearn for most is to go home together-to really go home. And for that, we need more than each other's arms: we need each other's forgiveness and compassion and stalwart loyalty. Finding that, we find a smiling God." -- Marianne Williamson |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep Comments + ~Hate control freaks!