Bestselling author Marianne Williamson is running for a U.S. Congress seat in California's 33rd District, which includes Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, and Malibu. She has written six New York Times bestsellers about spirituality and self-help including A Return To Love, which Deepak Chopra called "a classic" and Oprah Winfrey has endorsed. These are some things she has written or said in her books and interviews.
1. She suggested that trained meditators can bring world peace.
When we meditate, our brains literally emits different brain waves ... I totally agree with the theories expressed by the TM movement and others that enough meditation done by trained meditators would bring about world peace.
Talk City, June 16, 1998
2. She thinks we need to give up the idea of national sovereignty.
Ultimately we will leave behind as quaint such notions as "national sovereignty." We will realize that all of us are one. Or else....
Marianne Williamson blog, July 22, 2006
3. She thinks "it's a woman's prerogative to know magic."
We begin as friends and then develop a shared realization, conscious or unconscious, that we are bearers of magic and that our circles of support are circles of mystical power. It's a woman's prerogative to know of magic, and to practice magic, and to use her knowledge to help the world.
A Woman's Worth, page 9
4. She's open to 9/11 conspiracy theories.
...to have questions about 9/11, to me, is no different than having questions about the Warren Commission. And I don't believe in the single bullet theory of the Kennedy assassination either.
5. She thinks monogamy might not be for everybody.
While monogamy can be a beautiful, even sacred bond, it might not be the agreement that best suits everyone. Our thinking that monogamy is inherently a nobler arrangement than any other has created a nation of hypocrites — which is what we've become. Don't kid yourself. Historically, monogamy didn't begin as a way to ensure that two people could relax into the deepest intimacy. It began as a way for men to assert their ownership over a woman's body.
A Woman's Worth, page 71
6. She thinks Hillary Clinton's most important role as First Lady was supporting her husband.
It's great that [Hillary Clinton] takes an active role politically, but one of her most important functions as First Lady is to help Bill Clinton emotionally, to provide him and their daughter with the feminine, intimate, personal support that every person needs in order to live most powerfully in the world.
A Woman's Worth, page 108
7. She compared AIDS to Darth Vader.
Underneath Darth Vader's ugly mask lay a real man with a real heart ... Imagine the AIDS virus as Darth Vader, and then unzip his suit to allow an angel to emerge. See the cancer cell or AIDS virus in all its wounded horror, and then see a golden light, or angel, or Jesus, enveloping the cell and transforming it from darkness into light.
A Return To Love, page 241
8. She suggested that karma might be playing some kind of role in children's poverty in Africa.
It could be argued that that's their karma, but that doesn't get me off the hook for my karma. It might be their karma as either an advanced soul or whatever, to give me an opportunity, but the point remains the same. That doesn't give me an out. That's a slippery slope ... It might be their karma to be poor, but it's my karma to help."
The Moore Show, 10:40 mark
9. She thinks female politicians shouldn't be "men in drag."
[Women are] definitely headed for the White House, please God, and to Congress, the state house, the mayor's office, the boardroom, and every other seat of worldly power. But when we get there, we must arrive as women, not men in drag. Being a woman means much more than just having a vagina.
A Woman's Worth, page 92
10. She used to wake up every night during "the Witching Hour."
Several years ago, I found myself waking up at 4:15 each morning, my eyes popping open as if on cue Later, I learned that in days of old, 4:15 was considered the witching hour. How perfect, that seemed to me. We would all awaken at the same time and join with one another, and worship, and know.
A Woman's Worth, page 8
11. She thinks Friday the 13th shouldn't be considered bad luck.
We are used to thinking of Friday the 13 as bad luck. In fact, Friday the 13 was the day the witches gathered. When the patriarchal system headed by the early church, began to squelch the power of women, witches were deemed evil, and many great women were deemed witches. Their meeting time, then, was seen as bad luck rather than as what it truly was: a time for women to gather and share energy and pray together and heal.
A Woman's Worth, page 9
12. She argues the masculine "do" and the feminine "is."
The masculine is active, the feminine passive; the masculine is dynamic, the feminine magnetic. The masculine does while the feminine is.
A Woman's Worth, page 62
13. She wrote that most women are "borderline hysterical."
Most women today are borderline hysterical. We are loudly hysterical or quietly hysterical. Our despair is acted out externally, or it cuts through our bodies in the form of physical illness. We are desperate to find serenity and peace.
A Woman's Worth, page 85
14. She wrote that illness is an illusion.
Sickness is an illusion and does not actually exist. It is part of our worldly dream, our self-created nightmare.
A Return To Love, page 228
15. She argued that we are poor because a lack of love.
Money is not scarce. It is not a finite resource. We are not poor because the rich are rich. We are poor because we do not work with love.
A Return To Love, page 196