“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love
I had a different post planned for this morning. It was going to be about books that have changed my life and I struggled with which books to include. There have been so many. I could write an entire book about the books, both fiction and non-fiction that have changed my life. But this morning I was blown away as I read Mastin Kipp’s blog The Daily Love. This is what I read:
“I’m so excited and energized right now!
It’s an incredible day for you, for me, for America and for the entire spiritual movement.
Why?
Because this past Sunday, my dear friend Marianne Williamson announced that she is running for the US House of Representatives.”
My life was changed in that moment because I’ve been feeling the call to become my authentic self and not continue my spiritual work all by myself. And one of my spiritual mentors, Marianne Williamson, has followed the same urge and stepped out into a new arena. The political arena, which most of us think is broken beyond repair. She’s someone who’s been broken, and found her way back to herself, and God. I can’t wait to see what her campaign is going to be like. She’s not going to be shouting about the problems we face, she’s not going to be tearing down her opponent. We’re going to see a completely new approach. She’s going to be suggesting peaceful, loving solutions to the problems we face. I’m so inspired by her willingness to be the trailblazer in finding new, previously unthought of solutions to our country’s problems.
As I wrote above, I’ve been feeling a call to get my message, if you want to call it that, out there to a larger audience. That’s why I started this blog. I’ve learned so much about myself and my relationship to the Divine over the years. I’ve been broken and built a new life and now it’s time to share what I’ve learned. And one of the people who has helped me on my spiritual journey, Marianne Williamson, is following her guidance and showing us all the way again. Only this time it’s not just by her words but also by her actions.
I have to say that I hate politics, because to me it’s all a bunch of posturing and a grab for power. Egos are at full inflation. At least that’s what it has been. The thing is we haven’t been able to get away from the old structure of politics, because politics play a part in every aspect of our lives. We’ve been taught that it’s bad to be the man or woman on the bottom. That’s why failure is so painful. We think we’ve lost our power. Marianne Williamson and so many other spiritual teachers, the list is too long to name them all here, are showing us that power doesn’t necessarily mean what we have traditionally thought. True power is knowing who we really are, and why we’re here. If we accept all of who we are, both the dark and light, and love ourselves, then we have authentic power. Nothing can shake us. Jesus knew that, Buddha new that, Lao Tzu knew that. Mahatma Gandhi knew that. Nelson Mandela knows that. The encouraging thing is that more and more people are waking up to that fact. And Marianne Williamson declaring her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives signals a shift from focusing on external power to focusing on internal power and changing the world using inner wisdom. When we connect with the Divine inside ourselves and look for solutions there, the solutions are so much more powerful and effective than manipulating the external world.
So, I encourage you to keep doing your personal, spiritual work to love yourselves and see where your guidance takes you. That’s what I’m doing. Who knows where it will take us. I know that if each of us follows our inner guidance, all the problems of the world will be solved, because we will each be doing the part for which we are designed.
© Lucinda Sage-Midgorden 2013
Sage Woman Chronicles 
I’ve been thinking of Marianne running for Congress as well, and I as you am a “fan” of hers… and I guess my initial thought was “Why”? Because our politics are so broken and so negative… my fear is that she’ll change for the worse or the political system will corrupt her… but I guess your attitude is perhaps best… that this is a very good thing, and may signal a shift from within… thanks for the post and the blog 🙂
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Michael,
Thanks for your reply. Of course, what you suggest may happen. Marianne may get eaten up by the system. Or it may seem that way. She’s been studying A Course In Miracles for many years now, and doing lots of personal work, so perhaps she’ll begin to change things. That’s my hope. If we support her with our good wishes and prayers, that will help.
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Wow, there might be hope for our country yet!
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I know. I’m excited to see what happens next.
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Mary, I agree with you. Hope is much better than despair.
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I just hope she’s a Democrat 🙂 but I also think having a more feminine voice added to that august body will only help our country; and to add the powerful voice of Marianne Williamson in DC is truly exciting! Thanks for sharing, Lucinda!
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Janet, she’s running as Independent. I understand why. She doesn’t want to be influenced by any party. I agree with you, we need more women in Congress.
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I’ve been pondering this issue all week. I have a really hard time believing that she would even be elected, let alone have any influence once she gets there. For me, spirituality and politics go together even less than religion and politics, BUT it will be a very interesting thing to watch and when my backs against the wall I believe that anything is possible. In the end it’s about HOPE. I see the groundswell of spiritual warriors expanding rapidly, in no small part due to the work and guidance of Marianne Williamson, and I believe if we all continue to do our part, as you suggest Lucinda, miracles will occur. Maybe this will be one of them.
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Dorothy,
If nothing else, she’s made me turn away from focusing on the negative and looking for positive people and solutions to our problems. I’m so used to complaining and feeling powerless. Now, I feel hopeful and I’m looking for ways to help with the change.
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Ah Lucinda, I just love that ‘writing’ from Marrianne Williamson; it is so true. And I am blown away to know that she is running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Spirit certainly is working through all of us and we in turn are taking action from our Higher Self. It gives me hope about humankind, just knowing that she is running for the House; thank God:) I also love your statement, “True power is knowing who we really are, and why we’re here.” That’s an amazing statement; I have never thought of power being that but I now see that true power truly does have to do with knowing who we are and why we’re here. Also, your statement, “When we connect with the Divine inside ourselves and look for solutions there, the solutions are so much more powerful and effective than manipulating the external world.” also resonates with me. I’ve recently been experiencing tapping into my Divine Self at a deeper level and acting on it’s guidance and I HAVE been finding it so much more effective than trying to change people and situations; it’s far more rewarding to have the solutions from come from within.
Blessings, Rita
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Lucinda, I just read your post and commented on it. I gotta tell ya again, I just love your writing. It has such a great flow and the content is so well written….this blog is just a beginning. I see your writing published somewhere for so many more people to read. And you have such important information to share. So thank you, I am truly blest to be reading your material.
Love, Rita
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Rita,
Thank you for your kind comments. I’ll keep working to improve what I share.
Lucinda
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I understand it’s important to not feel small and diminished. At the same time, don’t you think that when you think there are no limits at all – that the ego is at its maximum strength? I wonder how M. Williamson brings God into any of this. What limits does she set for the ego? I don’t think that God intended life on Earth, a life with a body, to be a free for all.
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Jane, I appreciate your reply to my post. It’s good to have opposing opinions so we can create a discussion.
To answer your reply, no, I don’t think that the ego is at maximum strength when I see no limits, IF, I’ve connected with God and I see myself through her/his eyes. Yes, there are people who hate themselves so much that they over-compensate by over-inflating everything they do. Those individuals are wounded and in need of love so much that they do anything they can to get attention. That’s not what I meant in my post. And that’s not what I think Marianne’s quote means.
As for Marianne Williamson running for Congress, if you’ve read any of her work and heard her speak, her purpose in life is to help each of us find our connection to God, love ourselves, find our purpose and fulfill it. She had to go through some dark times to discover herself. Because of her struggles to heal herself, she’s humble. She’s learned that our egos are that small part of us that wants to keep us down and afraid of sharing our talents. It’s our ego that whispers all those negative things in our ear that cause us unhappiness. It’s God that encourages us to acknowledge our talents and the talents of others. It’s God that encourages us to dream big, love big and accomplish big things.
As for your last comment, again I disagree. My thinking is influenced by both Process Theology developed by Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne and Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversation with God books. In Process Theology, there is an aspect of God that learns and expands through our experiences. So, in that way, we’re meant to have all kinds of experiences, a free for all, if you will. It’s the only way God can learn, since he/she doesn’t have a body. In the Conversation with God books, God tells us that she/he wants nothing from us and that no matter what we do, we’re loved unconditionally. All I know is that there is much more us and our relationship with God than we can possibly understand.
You are, of course, free to disagree with me. After all we each have our own point of view about how we see things. That’s what makes discussion exciting.
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I can’t respond to all your references, half of them I’ve never read, but how can we know what God sees when He looks at us? How can we even presume to know that? That’s ego at it’s best, it seems to me. Either pure ego, we like what we’ve done so we assume that G-d does too, or we don’t like ourselves and we conclude that G-d doesn’t either. There is no way for a human to be objective, to know what G-d sees. We can hope and pray that G-d views us favorably; that’s about it. I don’t know where it’s written that G-d said “Dream Big.” I am sure that God created the world with an ethical system in mind and that not every dream that humans can dream up is something that G-d would be encouraging or approving of. I’m a little thrown off by NDW’s presumed conversations with G-d. All of which is to say that NDW’s presumed conversations with G-d sound like a lot of NDW (and ego) to me, and very little G-d.
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Jane,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. You’ve given me things to think about. It’s hard to communicate using only words. I get so much out of watching body language and hearing tone of voice. So, I may be misinterpreting when you wrote, “We can hope and pray that G-d views us favorably; that’s about it.” I believe that God loves unconditionally, which means she/he loves us no matter what we do, or who we choose to be. Perhaps we can agree to disagree. After all, we each have our own relationship with God and our own purpose. I honor your willingness to respond to my blog post and share your thoughts. It takes courage to disagree with someone. Blessings, Lucinda
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Lucinda, Thanks for the dialogue. G-d may love us unconditionally, but just remember that He created us, so He had to have had something in mind, and that love doesn’t mean that He has to always condones our actions. I would doubt very much that G-d created and gave life to the people on Earth with no thought or hope or intention of infusing them with a moral and ethical sense; I would highly doubt that G-d would have given life and then said “whatever you say or do is fine with me.” We as parents don’t just do that to our own children; we teach them right from wrong, or at least we should. That’s part of our basic responsibility.
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Jane,
You’re welcome and thank you. We don’t see God the same way, but that’s okay. I loved what Mark Nepo said on Super Soul Sunday, “We need every spiritual path to create the human spring. We need to listen to what calls to each of us.” From our discussion, I think you’ve heeded a call to be an ethical person and to teach your children to be the same. That’s fantastic! You have great influence for good and I think we can use more of that.
I believe God doesn’t want anything from us. However, I’ve chosen to be an ethical person too. I’ve chosen it not because God wants me to be ethical, but because Her/His love inspires me to be so.
I support you on your path.
Blessings,
Lucinda
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