Marianne Williamson

How does one go from being born a child of the 1950s, in a traditional Texas household, to growing up as a teen in the culturally earthshaking 1960s and early 1970s, to working as a cocktail waitress and lounge singer to becoming what interviewer called "one of the most powerful and articulate voices of the new consciousness?"

That appears to be the timeline for Marianne Williamson, author, lecturer, a kind of spiritual voice and leader, community activist and powerful speaker for a new sort of spirituality based on fulfilling potential, on love, and on conquering learned fear. 

And that doesn't say it all. The Houston-born acclaimed author and lecturer is considered one of the most recognized names in contemporary spiritual literature and philosophy. In a field where new voices and new fads pop up on a regular basis, Williamson has the status of icon and legend. She's a force and a voice, a personality and leader who's taken seriously throughout the world.
That's because Williamson connects the spiritual and personal to a world-view. 

There's a direct path-line for Williamson, beginning seriously in 1982 when she began talking to small groups on A Course in Miracles, which she called "a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy." But it wasn't just talk, although her speeches and speaking engagements became hugely popular in the Los Angeles Area, attracting thousands of people each week.  Williamson acted, a quality that has always been the hallmark of her world-view. In Los Angeles and in Manhattan, she founded Centers for Living, nonprofit organizations offering counseling, support groups, meals and cleaning services for people with AIDS or Cancer and other life-threatening diseases. 

The trajectory of four of her books give an indication of the growth of her outlook and thinking and the expansiveness of her character and personality. She began with A Return to Love, in 1992, a deeply personal, spiritual book that basically synthesized in written and organized form her reflections on the universal spiritual principles of A Course in Miracles. 

This was followed by A Woman's Worth, which explored what it meant to be a woman in contemporary society. It suggested that women explore their inner selves before successfully tackling and conquering the world at large. This was followed by Illuminata, a book of prayers and meditations. 

Her latest book is called A Gift of Change, an ambitious, expansive book which examines, with a keen and insightful eye, today's American social and political landscape. In an approach which she calls "holistic" politics, she's observed today's rancorous climate of divisiveness and red and blue states and called for a return to the ideals and visions of our founding fathers, combined with a new, deeper understanding of self and spirituality. She's calling for a greater tolerance, compassion and spiritual awareness in an age and political climate that appears to have precious little room for any tolerance, compassion or spiritual awareness. 

Or, as she has written in Healing the Soul of America, "We have lost our sense that political debate is not what was meant to divide us as a nation, but rather to sustain us. We have left behind the delicate balance between the celebration of our diversity and the dedication to our unity that lies at the heart of the American ideal.”   

Williamson continues to be a major star on the speaking circuit and continues her charitable work for the critically ill. She is, in the age of celebrity, well aware that she has become a celebrity icon for the new spirituality.

She's used it to spread her message and her thinking worldwide. She is also the cofounder of the Global Renaissance Alliance that has since become The Peace Alliance. The mission of the Peace Alliance is to harness the power of nonviolence as a social force for good.