Some people walk into a room and the word “winner” is written all over them. You don’t necessarily know what their secret is, but you wish you had it. Was it their childhood programming? Family connections? Some amazing talent?

As many successful people as there are in the world, there are that many reasons for success. But one kind of material abundance derives from an almost otherworldly charisma, a sense of magic some people carry around with them like an aura of destiny. They may or may not have had the past experiences one normally associates with material success; their success seems almost to have come from something else.

This book is about that “something else” and the power that it gives us. It’s about a spiritual zone that has nothing to do with where we’ve been, how or whether we’ve been educated, or whether we’ve succeeded so far or have failed miserably. It’s about the ultimate success and perfection of God, potential in all of us whether made manifest or not, yet always available for full expression. Each of us is pregnant with the manifestation of that perfection, for that is who we are.

By aligning yourself with thoughts of infinite love for yourself and others, you gain dominion over the lower thought forms of the world.

This way is not a substitute for any worldly path to success so much as an inner way that informs all others. It is a path to material abundance through immaterial means, and a set of spiritual keys to worldly power. The ways of spirit are not the ways of sacrifice, but rather a way of opening yourself fully to the infinite glories of the universe.

The glories are there. They merely await your acceptance. What follows is an explanation of what they are, how they operate, and how you can tap into them.

The universe is set up to work on your behalf. The world is not a giant, uncaring, random expression of biological processes, but rather a living, breathing reflection of love for all living things. The universe itself is miraculous.

You do not have to believe this, of course. It might not feel that way to you at all.

But spiritual laws aren’t called “the good news” for nothing. Spiritual truth is always at work, beyond what the eye can see. It describes an invisible “other world” that exists in a realm beyond our mortal circumstances.

Our interaction with the spiritual world is governed by our thoughts. When we know this truth and consciously align our thoughts with it—sometimes even despite how we feel—we activate its spiritual power. We transform our mortal circumstances by bringing our thoughts about them into alignment with a world that lies beyond.

If you think of yourself as being at the effect of a random universe that does not care about you, then you will experience your life that way. If you think of yourself as being at the effect of a loving universe that does care about you, then you will experience your life that way.

No matter what is happening in our lives, we choose how we wish to think about it. And the greatest gift we give ourselves is often our willingness to change our minds. Despite what might seem to be the saddest and most intractable situation, we have the power to believe that something else is possible, that things can change, that a miracle can happen.

This simple shift in how we think can make all the difference in what happens next. How we think releases an infinite number of possibilities that could not have occurred had we not believed that they were possible. Such is the power of our thoughts to attract as well as deflect miraculous breakthroughs.

Free will means you can think whatever you want to think. You cannot, however, make untrue what is true or true what is untrue. The universe does care about you. The universe is set up to work on your behalf. And the universe is capable of bringing miraculous transformation to any situation of brokenness or lack. Regardless of what has happened in your life, the universe is able and prepared to bring you comfort and repair.

You are loved, and your purpose is to love. From a mind filled with infinite love comes the power to create infinite possibilities. We have the power to think in ways that reflect and attract all the love in the world. Such thinking is called enlightenment. Enlightenment is not a process we work toward, but a choice available to us in any instant.

Enlightenment is the answer to every problem. In any situation where you seem to be at the effect of forces over which you have no control, remember that God dwells within your mind, and there are no forces over which He has no control. Therefore, through His power within you, there are no mortal conditions over which you are powerless. Whenever your good is obscured by the appearances of a nonloving world, the universe is programmed to lift you out of that condition and return you to an abundant state.

As an expression of divine perfection, the universe is both self-organizing and self-correcting. To whatever extent your mind is aligned with love, you will receive divine compensation for any lack in your material existence. From spiritual substance will come material manifestation. This is not just a theory; it is a fact. It is a law by which the universe operates. I call it the Law of Divine Compensation.

Just as there are objective, discernible laws of external phenomena, so there are objective, discernible laws of internal phenomena. The law of gravity, for instance, is not just a “belief.” It is true whether or not you believe it. Spiritual laws are not just beliefs, either; they are descriptions of how consciousness operates.

Once we know this law—that there is a natural tendency of the universe to improve all things—then we lean naturally into the arms of God and allow Him to lift us up. We surrender our thoughts, then He uplifts our thoughts, then our experiences change.

From The Law of Divine Compensation. Copyright © 2012 by Marianne Williamson. Reprinted with permission by HarperOne, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers.