Marianne Williamson
(1952-)

American Writer, Founder The Peace Alliance

birthdate: July 8
birthplace:
Houston, Texas

QUOTES

The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.

Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.

Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.

In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.

Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.

We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past, but by the love we're not extending in the present.

When an idea reaches critical mass there is no stopping the shift its presence will induce.

The spiritual path -- is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don't know it.

May we not succumb to thoughts of violence and revenge today, but rather to thoughts of mercy and compassion. . . . We are to love our enemies that they might be returned to their right minds.

The secret of success is to realize that the crisis on our planet is much larger than just deciding what to do with your own life, and if the system under which we live the structure of western civilization begins to collapse because of our selfishness and greed, then it will make no difference whether you have $1 million dollars when the crash comes or just $1.00. The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

Maturity includes the recognition that no one is going to see anything in us that we don't see in ourselves. Stop waiting for a producer. Produce yourself.

We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right."

We are so trained in the thought system of fear and attack that we get to the point where natural thinking -- love -- feels unnatural and unnatural thinking -- fear -- feels natural. It takes real discipline and training to unlearn the thought system of fear.

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.

The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.

Fill your mind with the meaningless stimuli of a world preoccupied with meaningless things, and it will not be easy to feel peace in your heart

As we let our light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.

Nothing liberates our greatness like the desire to help, the desire to serve.

The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world.

If you give your life as a wholehearted response to love, then love will wholeheartedly respond to you.

Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyze, understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck it.

In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.

"The power of nonviolence is not circumstance-specific. It is as applicable to the problems that confront us now, as to problems that confronted generations in the past. It is not a medicine or a solution so much as a healing process. It is the active spiritual immune system of humanity."

 

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