Everyday
Grace Having
Hope, Finding Forgiveness, and Making Miracles by
Marianne Williamson
ISBN
1573222305
288 pages, US$ 13.97
What do your spiritual convictions have to do with traffic jams,
job anxiety, reading the newspaper, or arguing with your spouse?
Everything, according to Marianne Williamson. It is the way we
live in our everyday world that determines the shape of who we
are. So Buddhist or Muslim, Christian or Jew, it is the moment
when our daughter doesn't make the basketball team, or our best
friend lands our dream job, or our business instinct tells us to
bury the guy across the boardroom table that tests and builds our
living faith.
With an attitude of hope, a call to forgive, a celebration of
miracles, and the promise of strength and grace, Williamson helps
us find our sacred footing on ordinary ground.
No matter where we are or what we're doing, there is the
opportunity to be happy, and to be holy. The large and small
difficulties of our days challenge us to open our hearts and
minds. And in this book of hours, Marianne Williamson teaches us
to ride the currents that lurk in each of those moments of opening
to a sea change of the soul.
My father used to speak of the
Byzantine Rule, which is that nothing is as it appears to be. I
have always had a sense that something is missing in this
world-that at the very least there is something important we're
not discussing.
I believe that hunger for a
"lost dimension" of experience is a natural yearning in
all of us, and it doesn't go away just because we ignore it. It is
evidenced among other places in the millions of children and
adults who obsessively read the Harry Potter books. It is said
that fiction is where someone gets to tell the truth. We are a
bunch of silly Muggles, and we really do miss out on the magic of
existence. There's a collective knowing that a dimension of
reality exists beyond the material plane, and that sense of
knowing is causing a mystical resurgence on the planet today. It's
not just children who are looking for a missing piece. It is a
very mature outlook to question the nature of our reality.
We are like birds who have
forgotten we have wings, kings and queens who have forgotten our
royal heritage. We feel enslaved by conditions that should have no
power to bind us, and powerless before forces over which we have
been given dominion. No wonder our children are drawn to reading
about a world in which people live a more magical existence than
the one we offer them here.
I have watched my daughter bury
herself, like so many other children, heart and soul in the Harry
Potter books. I remember that when I was her age I had a similar
fascination with books like A Wrinkle in Time, Half
Magic, and the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. In a particularly
passionate moment, my daughter once told me that the only time she
was really happy was when she was reading Harry Potter.
And, sadly, I understood what she meant. It was the only place she
felt she could stay in touch with all the magic.
When I am honest with myself, I
know that I cry deep inside, just as my daughter does, when I
cannot find the magic. Emma has asked me several times,
"Mommy, are the Harry Potter books true? Are there really
magical places like that?" And I answer her as honestly as I
can, which is to say that I answer "yes." But she is
never satisfied when I talk about different realms of
consciousness, when I tell her that the magic in Harry Potter is a
magic that lives in all of us. She wants a simpler magic, which I
understand. And I assume that one day she'll find her own path to
the magic that lives and breathes inside her. No one can take the
journey for anyone else-even parents for our children-as much as
we might like to. But if and when my daughter makes her own
mystical journey, she will learn that magic indeed is here in this
world right now. It is literally all around us. Each of us has a
mark on our forehead, just like Harry Potter, that speaks to the
fact that all of us come from a very magical source.
Harry Potter is one boy in a long
line of mythical heroes who have reminded the human race that we
are so much more than we think we are, so much more powerful than
we seem to know. Jesus said that we would someday do even greater
works than He; should we not take Him at His word? And should not
"someday" be today? It's time for us to start working
miracles, if indeed we have the capacity within us to do so.
This book is for those who seek to
work miracles. The search for the Holy Grail of miraculous
power-humanity's instinctive understanding that we are meant to
soar above the limitations of our physical world-has been going on
for ages. Yet now the search has become a popular yearning not
just among monks or adventurers in far-off places, but among many
of us living very practical lives. We wish to cultivate the sacred
in the midst of the great and small difficulties of our daily
existence. We want spiritual principles to be more than beautiful
abstractions; we want them to actually transform our lives.
"Heaven and earth shall be as
one," according to the Bible, meaning that one day we will
live on the earth but think only the thoughts of heaven. The
intersection between our material and spiritual existence is the
mystical power represented visually in both the Christian Cross
and the Jewish Star of David. It is the point where the axis of
God meets the axis of humanity. The modern mystic is someone
seeking to embody that point in his or her own experience.
In the words of author Manly P.
Hall, mysticism is not a religion, but a "conviction of the
heart." I realize now that the journey, which started in my
childhood-beginning with books about magic, then moving on to
philosophy classes, astrology, tarot, the I Ching, and
ultimately more classical theological studies and A Course in
Miracles (a self-study psychological training based on
universal spiritual themes)-has been a fairly common version of my
generation's spiritual journey. I was once someone-and in the
1960s and 1970s, there were many of us-who had moons and stars on
the walls of every place I lived and encrusted in the jewelry of
every outfit I wore. And we needn't discuss the Maxfield Parrish
prints: the color, the light, the hint of another reality . . .
I can see now what I was going for,
however crudely, and I have compassion for the young woman I was,
always thinking there was "something more." Now that I'm
firmly planted in my middle years, I can see that the spiritual
path has been the calling of my soul for a very long time, and I
am ready to devote the rest of my life to walking it as best I
can.
The seeker in us is always seeking
more Truth, knowing that the search goes on forever. The mystic in
us, on the other hand, is trying to practice what we've learned of
it: right here, in this moment, whatever we are doing. The mystic
is a spiritual practitioner, seeking not merely to understand the
principles of spiritual awareness, but to embody them as best he
or she can. We embrace the idea-advanced by both ancient
philosophers and modern physicists-that the world is one.
Everything connects to everything; therefore, as we change, the
world cannot but change with us.
Modern mystics form a kind of
spiritual underground in the world today, seeking to transform
everything. We are everywhere, as mystics have always been
everywhere; we come from every religion, as mystics have always
come from every religion; and some of us relate to no religion at
all. The mystical realm lies beyond all dogma and beyond the
evidence of the physical senses. The mystic has been called to an
inner journey, through the darkened entanglements of human
existence to the radical love at the heart of God.
I have written this book as a
traveling companion for the modern mystic, who goes through his
day with the deepest desire to be in the world but not of the
world-to be walking with her feet planted firmly on the ground,
but thinking with her head soaring powerfully through the sky. To
live solidly grounded, but from a spiritual foundation,
integrating within ourselves the consciousness of earth and the
consciousness of heaven-such is the mystic's longing. And that
longing is not for ourselves alone. For as any one of us finds our
wings, the entire world is lifted.
The mystical path is not always
easy, and my hope is that this book might be a bit of a map
through some of its thorniest passages. I do not write as someone
who has mastered the way, but as someone who has been walking it,
though often clumsily, for several decades of my life. There are
bits of information I've discovered on my way, pieces of knowledge
and understanding that have made their way to me, as they've made
their way to mystic travelers for generations. I have seen
darkness, but I have glimpsed a little light as well.
May this book shed light on
someone's path, and may all of us enter the illumined door beyond
which darkness is no more. May the darkened skies of the human
heart be lit by the Light of Truth. May the mercy and the peace of
God be upon us now and for all our days.
Amen.
The Mystical Wands
The first thing a mystic needs is
his or her tools. When I was a little girl, every August my mother
would take me to the store to buy school supplies. First there was
the important decision to be made about my lunch box. Did I want
Cinderella on the front of it, or ballet shoes, or Snow White,
perhaps? And then, of course, there were the notebooks, pencils
and pens, erasers, and myriad other accoutrements, such as index
cards, Marks-A-Lots, and notebook dividers. Only when I had all my
supplies together was I prepared to go to school.
Ultimately I realized that tools
are essential to almost any worthwhile endeavor. You don't go to
school unprepared, you don't try to climb a mountain unprepared,
and you don't walk the mystical path unprepared.
What are the mystic's supplies?
They are spiritual principles, much like magical wands in their
capacity to turn any situation into a crucible of miraculous
transformation. They change the world by changing us. The mystic
path is a journey of personal transformation, and while the goal
of the journey is to become our true selves, we can only do this
by letting go of who we are not. If we wish to experience the
fullness of life, we must cut through layers of illusion that hide
the truth of who we really are. The mystical path runs through a
very deep forest-the forest of our own psyche-and we need our
supplies in order to walk through it.
We meet monsters and demons on the
inner path. We meet humiliation in order to grow to the point
where our behavior would not lead to humiliation; we meet
rejection in order to grow to the point where our behavior would
not lead to the pain of rejection; we meet the pangs of deep
regret in order to grow to the point where our behavior would not
lead to regret. We meet the monsters in order to slay them. The
only way to rid ourselves of darkness is by bringing it to light.
Until we have met the monsters in
ourselves, we keep trying to slay them in the outer world. And we
find that we cannot. For all darkness in the world stems from
darkness in the heart. And it is there that we must do our work.
The universe is holographic, which means the whole is present in
every piece. Therefore, as we address the shadow within us, we are
addressing the shadow of the world. The mystic does not deny the
darkness, in ourselves or in the world, but affirms a light that
lies beyond it. And we have faith the light will prevail because
we have faith that light is our true identity. Our task is to
remember that. We invoke the light by actively acknowledging it is
there, standing as Harry Potter stood on platform 93Ž4, knowing
the door would reveal itself because of the nature of who we truly
are. Being magic, Harry lives in a magical world. And, being
magic, so do we.
The mystical realm arises from a
different mode of perception than the one we are used to. The
human race now stands on the brink of a historic transformation,
with new eyes, new ears, new minds, and new hearts emerging from
the cosmic drama of human evolution. As an embryo becomes a baby,
we are becoming a new, more spiritualized version of ourselves. We
are growing mystical wings as we evolve, as any species does, in
the direction that supports our survival. We are moving now toward
a universal compassion because, if we do not, we will cause our
own extinction. To be a mystic is to choose rebirth, for ourselves
and for the human race. We are participating in a collective
quantum leap forward, in which our species will experience a
fundamentally new chapter in our history.
Fundamental change is not a casual
occurrence. We cannot casually commit to the process of spiritual
transformation. It's not enough to say, "Oh, I think I'll be
a mystic this year." Mysticism is not a trend. Our entire
being is called to the task,
for the journey from density to light involves every aspect of who
we are. Whether we are angry at the dry cleaners because they've
ruined our favorite sweater, upset with a friend who has broken a
promise, or frightened at the diagnosis of cancer in the breast of
a best friend; whether we're worried about the state of our
marriage, looking for a new job, or anxious about nuclear bombs
and terrorists in our midst, we see that everything we go through
is a step along the path. We are taking the mystical journey as a
way of transforming the world by transforming ourselves. Only by
finding the love within us can we provide the love that will save
the world.
Each of us carries, in the depths
of our consciousness, a boxful of mystical tools. And central to
our tool kit is the magical wand. A wand is not just silliness
from children's literature. Fairy tales are rife with archetypal
truths that teach not only children, but open-minded adults as
well, deep and fundamental truths about the nature of our reality.
A wand is a medium of power, not just for wizards, but also for
you and me. A wand is essentially a principle, an intention, a
focused thought. When focused thought is negative, it creates ill.
And when focused thought is loving and enlightened, it creates
miraculous breakthroughs. A mystical wand is the illumined power
that emanates from the mind when it is married to the heart.
Most of us love, to be sure. Yet
far too often our love is passive; we must be proactive in our
love in order for it to change our lives. Spiritual laziness has
no place on the path. First, we must outgrow the myth of
neutrality. For in fact there is no neutral thought; all thought
leads to love or to its absence. One who is not committed to love
is surrendered to that which opposes it, opening up the door to
fear as surely as one who consciously welcomes that fear.
There is so much love in the human
heart, yet hatred threatens our planet. And why? Because hatred is
currently more committed than love. In the words of philosopher
Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph
is for enough good men to do nothing." Indeed, the forces of
fear in this world are more disciplined, more courageous in a
perverse kind of way, than are the forces of love. For hatred, as
we know all too well, has no problem announcing itself and its
intentions to the world. Our response should not just be that we
oppose hate; our response must be that we love the world. Then and
only then will love truly triumph: when the children of God don't
just feel our love, but express our love.
Our task then is to harness the
energies of love-to actualize its enormous power in practical and
meaningful ways. Love too must announce its intentions to the
world, with all the passion born of a compassionate heart. We are
a species that has everything, yet what we lack is what only we
can give: conviction. It is the conviction to love that gives
birth to miracles.
In the words of the French
philosopher Teilhard de Chardin, "One day, after we have
mastered the winds and the waves, gravity and the tides, we will
harness for God the energies of love. And then, for the second
time in human history, mankind will have discovered fire."
The mystic lives with that fire in
our hearts. And that is why we use our wands, directing the power
of their fiery glow to the darkened areas of human existence.
Everything we encounter throughout the day is a spiritual
opportunity, if we approach it with love. Every moment challenges
us to rise to our highest: to choose strength over weakness,
forgiveness over blame, faith over faithlessness, and love over
fear. And when we can't, we ask God to help us. In choosing love,
we are choosing to be healed from the forces that would hold us
back. Love heals the world by healing our minds, for that which is
healed on the level of consciousness is healed on the level of
ultimate Cause.
The world will change when we
change. We are living at a time when our technological power has
so vastly outdistanced our spiritual progress that we are
threatened by the prospect of global catastrophe. And yet there is
within us the knowledge-etched on every human heart-that indeed
there is a power beyond the mortal mind, which can do for us what
we cannot do for ourselves. And if ever there was a time to humble
ourselves, atoning for the arrogance of human conceit, it is now.
There is a ripple of rising consciousness among the peoples of the
earth today, as we consider the possibility that there might be a
better way-a way the mechanical, rationalistic, technological left
brain cannot access-which offers us hope that the mortal mind
cannot.
There is another way of knowing,
another way of living, and another way of loving on this earth.
This "other way" is a realm that is full of magic and
miracles. It is a world more real than what we see around us. It
is the realm from which we have come, and to which all of us long
to return. "As to me," wrote Walt Whitman, "I know
of nothing else but miracles." Everything but miracles, in
time, will dissolve in the presence of love.
Our imagination is the womb out of
which a new world will be born. Think of every situation in your
life as being ripe for new birth. See luminous energy emerging
from your heart, extending outward to touch all things. Cast the
light over your childhood home. Cast it over your physical body.
Cast it over warring nations. Cast it over the entire planet. Cast
it over the people you love. Cast it over the people you judge.
Feel now a bolt of energy coming over you as you extend this
light. Avoid the temptation to invalidate this image. It's not an
idle fantasy, for the light is real.
Now allow the light to flood your
body, your blood, your bones. Allow it to illuminate your mind,
your emotions, your relationships, your career. Congratulations.
You have picked up your wand and begun to use it.
Our choice to stand within a field
of infinite possibility is our miraculous authority in any
situation. Changing our mental perspective is much like changing
the lens on a camera. In the Bible it is written, "Be still
and know I am." That moment of stillness is when our mental
lens has a chance to refocus. And there, in a moment of sacred
connection with all life, we know that only love is real. In the
midst of war, we can quietly and powerfully know that peace is our
natural state. In the midst of sickness, we can quietly and
powerfully know that health is our natural state. To "know I
am" is to know, and affirm, that only God's universe is real.
Everything is a veil of illusion brought about by our illusion of
separation from Him. Our greatest power to change our world lies
in our power to see beyond the veil. For we will invoke the world
we choose to see. This may mean we repudiate the testimony of our
physical senses, or even of our logical minds. This repudiation is
a positive denial of the so-called realities of a darkened world.
As we stand firmly within a point of light-though darkness might
be all around us-the darkness begins to dissolve into the
nothingness from whence it came.
The attention we pay to the nature
of our thinking, therefore, is the most powerful attention we can
pay. Our spiritual victory lies in rising above the mental forces
of fear and limitation, using our wands to purify our thought
forms, thus attaining the power to heal and be healed. We will
think anew and see anew. Such is humanity's next step: our
spiritual challenge, our power, and our destiny.
End
of Excerpt
About
the Author Marianne Williamson is the #1 New York
Times-bestselling author of Illuminata,
A
Woman's Worth, and A
Return to Love. Her books have been translated into more than
twenty languages. Currently, Marianne Williamson is the spiritual
leader of The Church of Today, a Unity church in suburban Detroit.
