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Marianne Williamson
Spiritual leader Marianne Williamson is the author of Healing the Soul of America. Today, she joined Oprah to discuss what really matters.
Oprah: We keep hearing over and over that it's time to get back to normal, but you feel we should not. What do you mean? Marianne: In some ways, of course, the concept makes sense. We want to keep the economy moving...and live our lives, but I think there are some improvements in our national character that have come about because of this tragedy. We're a softer people, we're a more deeply sober people. I think we realize now our vulnerabilities in a way that make us appreciate the fragility of life, that make us kinder to each other. We're hugging our kids a little more tightly. I think that we're thinking about our relationship to other nations. I think that when you suffer, you're more sensitive to the suffering of others. I think that this has taken us to a place that we don't want to lose. ... This tragedy has taken us to a ground of being that is like a precious vial of spiritual medicine. So we don't want to lose this, we want to use it, to mine it, so that it might be harnessed, so that it might become not only something that helps us grieve what has been already but to endure what's happening now. Oprah: You say a conversation with an Egyptian diplomat opened your eyes about how others see America. Like Peggy Noonan, you knew something like this was coming? Marianne: There are many people in the world who are not terrorists, who are not pathological or crazy, [but] who have very valid resentments of the U.S. As someone else said, the American people are ahead of the government in all this. The American people have been...learning about the place of America in the world. [We] have seen areas where perhaps we understand where [we] come across as arrogant or unjust. Our politicians are always saying that we're out to protect our vital national interests, but often those interests are not what we would like to see: interests of real peace, justice, brotherhood. In any human relationship, you have to look to yourself as well. We can learn now. We weren't looking, and if we were...we would have been thinking about some of this. I think now we shouldn't underestimate how much good can come from just talking amongst ourselves. I don't think it's enough to just say 'God Bless America.' We must say God Bless the World. Colin Powell was talking about how, from this point forward, we must listen to other cultures and respect other cultures in a way that has not been characteristic of American foreign policy. I think the American people are very compassionate and decent, but that's not been [seen], that face of deep respect of other nations and other cultures. Oprah: How do we battle evil? How do we reduce fear? Marianne: We are a good people. I've been involved with people sitting in small groups, praying, meditating, and speaking from our hearts about what really matters. You know, the terrorists have cells...well, we need cells of peace. It's not enough to just defend ourselves against violence. The greatest antidote to violence is that we proactively create fields of non-violence, fields of peace. Martin Luther King said we have a power in us more powerful than the power of bullets. The power of love can be harnessed—that's what Gandhi and Dr. King spoke of—harnessing our love that it might become a social force for good. What we do with the mind and we do with the spirit is important part of the healing. Prayer is a conduit of miracles. Government, technology, science [are] not a conduit of miracles. What those things can do, which is important, is to manage the effects of hatred, but love dismantles hatred. So we need to take our love seriously. This is where the rubber meets the road in faith. ... As we sit in silence and throw divine love onto this situation, and do so in community with others, that will bring forth a power out of our hearts and our consciousness and our prayers that no worldly power can express. It's time for us to find new modes and new dimensions of power to complement worldly modes of power. That's necessary now, and I think that many, many of us, particularly women, who believe in the powers of relationship, love and consciousness are ready to do the work that takes. You do the work, and you feel less afraid. More Marianne Williamson
From the show What Really Matters Now? |
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