Copyright 1994 by Marianne Williamson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States
by Random House, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York,
and simultaneously in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 94-67888
eISBN: 978-0-307-83325-9
v3.1
ALSO BY MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
A Return to Love
A Womans Worth
For
Diane Meyer Simon
My heartfelt thanks to
Gregorio Vlastelica, Ian Patrick, Mark Adams,
Max Dowling, Jeremy Walters, Carrie Rose,
Kenny DCruz, and Ansal Trafford,
whose work and ideas were the seeds of this book.
I am deeply grateful
to all the many, many people throughout the world
who have shared with me
your thoughts and your own prayers for light.
A WAY IN
I see in my mind a little ball of golden light.
I watch this light as it begins to grow larger and larger, until now it covers the entire inner vision of my mind.
I see within this light a beautiful temple.
I see a garden that surrounds the temple and a body of water that flows through the garden.
I see that the inside of the temple is lit by this same beautiful golden light, and I am here,
For I have been drawn here by the power and in the presence of God.
I dedicate my days and my relationships and experiences to You.
May Your Spirit, which is within me, so guide my thoughts, my feelings and my perceptions of all things
That I might grow into a happier, more peaceful, more loving human being.
Illumine my mind, illumine my life.
Amen.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
A mass movement is afoot in the world today, spiritual in nature and radical in its implications. After decades of declining influence on the affairs of the world, there is once again a widespread consideration of spiritual principles as an antidote to the pain of our times. Like flowers growing up through pieces of broken cement, signs of hope and faith appear everywhere. These signs reflect the light of a transcendent force at the center of things, present in our lives in a corrective and even miraculous manner, a light we can reach personally through internal work of a devotional nature. We are experiencing now an alteration of collective consciousness, centered not in government or science or religion per se. It is centered nowhere because it is present, at least potentially, everywhere. It is the rising up of our true divine nature, a reassertion of God in the consciousness of modern man.
Beneath the dramas of a changeable world lies what physicists call a unified field. This field, the wellspring of all possibilities, is not visible to the physical eye. We know that its components exist not because we can measure them (we cannot, for they are too small), but because we see the trails they leave in their wake. On the other hand, when we are not observing these components, they leave no trails. It is the very act of putting our attention on these elements that calls them into existence.
How like this is to the observation of religious rites. Do you observe the holidays? someone asks. What this actually means is, Do you observe the holiness of this day, that through the creative act of your observation, the day might be made holy for you? How profound a realization it is: the power of our own perception to influence the nature of life experience.
We see God when we observe Him. When we do not put our attention on Him, we do not see the effects of His existence. It is in consciously observing Him that we create a world in which there are holy things to be observed. This book is an effort to create a context for the observation of God, that we might see Him more clearly and call forth His power more perfectly in our lives.
Renaissance
T here is a spiritual renaissance sweeping the world. Most people feel it, some deride it, many embrace it and no one can stop it. It is a revolution in the way we think.
Its torchbearers are a motley mix. Some are religious in a traditional sense, while some are not. Some are successful in the world, while some are not. Some of us genuinely like one another, while some of us do not. Some are politically liberal, while some of us are conservative. Some seek Truth in fellowship and some seek Truth alone. Some of us are old and some of us are young.
We are an assorted group, an unlabeled group, but together in spirit, we are affecting the world in significant ways. We are turning away from a purely worldly orientation. We seek an ancient God and a modern God. We feel a current of change, a cosmic electricity running through our veins now. However disparate our personalities and interests, we all agree on one very important point: Mankind has come to a major crossroads, at which the spirit alone can lead us toward human survival.
We wage, in our way, a revolution based on love. We seek to replace an old, oppressive order, not so much politically or socially, but within our minds where it lives and works. We try to hate no one, for we recognize that hatred itself is the enemy. We hope to change the world into a place of grace and love.
The first shots have rung out in this revolution, but they were not shots. They were bursts of light, streaming silently yet dramatically through the hearts and minds of millions. This historic unfoldment has already begun, and it is playing out on inner planes.
The question on most peoples minds, whether conscious or unconscious, is this: What will happen now? From channeled entities claiming to hail from the Pleiades to fundamentalist Christians, from the prophecies of Nostradamus to visions of the Virgin Mary, from angels who whisper to a backwoods carpenter to scientific think tanks, come predictions of global shift, perhaps cataclysm, in the years ahead. Our own inner sense corroborates the evidence: It doesnt seem as though the future is going to be much like the past. It feels as though something is up, as though something significant and big is about to occur.
It feels, for one thing, as though something is fundamentally wrong. It isnt just the environment, just the wars, just the gangs or the violence or the drugs. It isnt just the lack of values or integrity or love. Something lurks. In Yeatss poem The Second Coming, he describes a time in which the center cannot hold. Our center isnt holding. The center isnt there.
And yet, the deeper the despair that seems to creep around the edges of things, the brighter the light that seems to beckon from the center. It turns out that the center only seemed not to be there; it has merely been ignored. To those who look inward, it is bright indeed. Now, in growing intensity and yearning, the mind of humanity is seeking its Source.