INTERVIEW with a VISIONARY:
Marianne Williamson

By Peter Fenderson

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer. She has published eight books, four of which—including the mega bestseller, A Return to Love, and the newly released, Everyday Grace—have been at the top of the New York Times bestsellers list. Her titles also include Illuminata, A Woman’s Worth, and Healing the Soul of America. In 2000, she edited Imagine: What American Could Be in the 21st Century, a compilation of essays by some of America’s leading visionary thinkers.

Marianne has been a popular guest on numerous television programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and Charlie Rose. She has lectured professionally since 1983. In 1989, she founded Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area. Today, Project Angel Food serves over 1,000 people daily.

Marianne is a co-founder of the Global Renaissance Alliance (GRA), a worldwide network of peace activists. The mission of the GRA is to harness the power of non-violence as a social force for good.

Her latest book, The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life, will be released in November.

Marianne Williamson speaks regularly at the Royal Oak Music Theater at 318 West 4th Street in Royal Oak, MI. Visit her website at www.marianne.com for times and dates.

HGJ: Marianne, why is there so much love in the human heart, and yet so much negativity manifested around the world at this time?

MW: Fear. I think hatred and fear display a perverse kind of courage. They seem to know what they want, as it were, and go after it. When we choose to express our love as passionately as some people demonstrate hate, the world will turn around. The human race is being challenged to love with conviction, not just a self-centered, narcissistic love, not just a romantic love, not just a personal love; we are being called by history to evolve into a universal compassion, a love that encompasses every area of our lives. We will see how weak fear is once we demonstrate how powerful love is.

HGJ: So is it possible that we can create a more peaceful and loving world through our personal relationships?

MW: It is definitely possible for us to create a more peaceful and loving world. Absolutely, but just through our personal relationships? No. Our political and social relationships must be turned to love as well. That is where the major wound is and that is where the healing must be as well.

HGJ: Over the years, one of the hallmarks of your teaching has been healthy personal relationships. Could you define what you believe the ideal elements of a healthy relationship are?

MW: There is a place where one soul shows honor for another. And in that space, there is a respect, compassion, and honesty which lifts the relationship above the chaos in the world today. There is so much chaos pervading so much of our lives that we have to consciously lay claim to more harmonious energies. Relationships are the place where fear and love really do get out. Whenever we find guilt in another, the relationship belongs to fear. Whenever we look for the innocence in another, the relationship belongs to love. That’s not always easy, of course, but our willingness to focus on the innocence beyond our mistakes is the key to enlightened relationships.

HGJ: Near the end of Everyday Grace, you talk about the Golden Rule and the importance of fostering love and compassion for one another, both individually and as a community. Is it naíve to believe that love and compassion can offer real world solutions to real world problems?

MW: No, it is not naíve. What is naíve is to believe that the human race will survive if we do not do that.

HGJ: Grace has been defined as strength received from the divine in time of need. For someone who is seeking emotional, spiritual or physical well-being, could you define what a miracle is?

MW: According to A Course in Miracles, a miracle is a “shift in perception from fear to love.” Sometimes it’s a simple tweaking of our own perspective from focus on blame to focus on forgiveness, from faithlessness to faith, that makes all the difference in the world. A miracle is a divine intercession introduced into our thinking from a thought system beyond our own.

HGJ: Is this how ordinary people can receive miracles in their lives?

MW: In God’s eyes, there are no ordinary people.

HGJ: Marianne, you’ve described angels as both a metaphor for the divine light already within ourselves, and as the direct thoughts of God.

MW: A Course in Miracles says that angels are the thoughts of God. That is not a metaphor—that’s a literal power.

HGJ: With that in mind, how important is faith and humility in receiving guidance from God?

MW: A Course in Miracles says that “faith is an aspect of consciousness,” which means there is no such thing as a faithless person; you either have faith in the forces of fear, or you have faith in the forces of love. But wherever we choose to place our faith will determine our experience of life. If I choose to have more faith in the power of a disease to destroy me than in the power of God to heal me, than I am choosing not to take some spiritual medicine that is offered me. Humility is important because it means that we recognize that God is smarter than we are, that the divine mind can know things the mortal mind cannot grasp. God can’t teach us anything if we think we already know everything.

HGJ: That is so incredibly true. Marianne, your spiritual journey started at a very early age. Based on your experience, is the mystical path something that we are guided on or just guided to?

MW: What happens at some point is that we become conscious that we’re on the path we’ve actually been walking on all along. There are people on the path, there are beings on the path, both incarnate and disincarnate which guide us along, both before and after we realize they are there.

HGJ: I think one of the most profound spiritual lessons I’ve ever learned from your teachings is that grief is the means by which we learn compassion. It seems like such a simple concept, but it can be so difficult to learn. How important is grief to the growing process?

MW: There’s a Carly Simon lyric where she says there is “more love in a broken heart.” Heartbreak blows you open and you begin to realize that everybody has been suffering just as much as you have, you just weren’t aware of it. And when you begin to heal from your heartbreak, you can never forget that there are people still suffering the way you once did. Being there for them becomes a need within yourself.

HGJ: What does one person say to another when their heart has been broken? Do you just chalk it up to karma?

MW: The fact that its karma doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to say. You comfort people in whatever way given to you to do so at the time. Through a card, whatever kindness is available. Always offer to pray for someone during there difficult hours, or at least pray for them even if it wouldn’t seem appropriate to tell them.

HGJ: You’ve heard the phrase “Think Globally, Act Locally.” Does it work?

MW: I don’t think that saying is any longer adequate to the times in which we live. That statement was promulgated prior to 9/11. Today we must not just think globally, we must act globally. The U.S. government acts on the global stage on your behalf, and being able to express feelings about that are an important aspect of right living at this time. People sometimes use “think globally, act locally” as an excuse to turn away from our international challenges. People can do that, but they shouldn’t try to use spirituality as a cover for it.

Peter Fenderson, M.A. is a freelance writer living and working in the Detroit area. He can be reached at 800-351-8337 or via e-mail at pfenderson@att.net.