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ILLUMINATIONS By Marianne Williamson Every woman's life is different, but there are fundamental ways in which we are all the same. For all our different dramas, we each struggle to give birth to our higher selves. Whether we are young or old, whether our dramas are public or private, we are always evolving toward either a smaller and more fearful self, or a larger and more loving self. The effort to be rooted in love is the effort to grow wise. Wisdom is like marinade. First you take what a book said, or what a teacher said, and then you mix it with your own ideas. Then you add experience and pour in a few buckets of tears. Add memories of lost love, a pinch of personal humiliation and a teaspoon of deep regrets. Add to that a cup of courage. Leave it to soak for a few years and—voila!—darn it if you have not become wise. The woman who holds a child in her arms and says, "It's okay that they laughed at you. You are smart; I promise you are"; the woman who holds a man in her arms and says, "You are no less of a man for having lost your job; to me, you are brilliant and strong"; the woman who can give hope to those who have no reason to hope; the woman who can endure deep pain and know that this too shall pass, and can hold on till it does—the woman who can do and say these things, and has the courage to mean them, carries a conviction that makes them true. 
From the May/June 2000 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. Subscribe now!
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