Photo courtesy of Wake Up
“Everything you do is infused with the energy with which you do it.”
You’ll find inspiring quotes almost everywhere you look these days, largely on Instagram, Pinterest and, of course, sprinkled through the pages of The Collective. Like many of these, this one originally belongs to Marianne Williamson, speaker, activist and author of four New York Times bestsellers, including the highly acclaimed A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.
Catching up with Marianne, her own energy is clear and convincing. From the human personality to existential philosophy and 21st century politics, she offers astute insights into some of the most fundamental aspects of life. And with over three decades as a spiritual teacher – and a stint as a US Congressional candidate – Marianne certainly has a lot of wisdom to share.
Here is just a taster on…
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MIRACLES
A miracle is a shift in perception. Some people say it’s as easy as ‘oh just change that thought’. Well, if it was that easy we’d all be enlightened masters.
Look outside the window, look at a flower, look at anything happening, the world is clearly filled with miracles. But we have a very limited, narrow-mind dominated and fear dominated filter that keeps us from seeing all the extraordinary miracles that are around us all the time.
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EGO
If I’m anxious crazy, depressed or angry I know that it’s not my true self-talking… at that moment it’s important to bite your tongue and send no texts, no emails and make no phone calls. Control your behaviour – at least have impulse control, which will be far easier if you meditated that morning. And having done those things, saying that prayer – saying that you are willing to see this differently – something comes over you. It could be a book, it could be an insight, it could be a teacher, it could be a phone call, a song lyric… you will be gently lifted out of the illusions that are causing you pain to the truth that causes you peace.
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SOCIETY
The older you get the more you are concerned for future generations. I also think that, at this particular time, no matter how old you are, a conscious person should be able to see the urgency of this moment. Unsustainable is not an ugly enough word.
I think that it’s all of our personal mission to wake up in the morning and be, as people, as good as we can – as loving, as forgiving, as merciful and as dedicated as we can be. And by so doing we contribute in whatever way we can to that larger collective mission. It’s an all hands-on-deck type of moment and each and every one of us needs to see ourselves as responsible for doing our part.
This is not the age of soloist this is the age of the choir.
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MEDITATION
You wake up in the morning and you take a bath, you take a shower. Why? Because you don’t want to take yesterday’s dirt on your body into the day. Well, if you don’t pray and you don’t meditate you are taking yesterday’s stress into the day. If you wake up in the morning and you turn on the TV or the news or computer then you’re not only taking yesterday’s stress from your life but the lives of people from all over the planet. So meditation and prayer in the morning purifies our thinking and cleanses our thinking the same way taking a shower cleanses your body.
We’re all distracted these days; we’re all unfocused and that’s not a very creative way to live – it’s a very stressful way to live. And so whether you’re writing a book or doing anything else, your creative capacity will be greatly diminished.
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SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
Spiritual exercise is like physical exercise, you never get to stop. If I’m not working on keeping my muscles up, my muscles are headed down. If I’m not working on keeping my thought forms up my thought forms are headed down. I don’t get to look in the mirror and say ‘I like the way my body looks so I don’t have to exercise anymore, go to the gym anymore, run anymore. I don’t have to do yoga anymore.’
Until we get to the point of total enlightenment – a point I have not reached – I don’t get to say ‘Well, I’m peaceful and loving today so I don’t have to meditate anymore.’
I am very clear that my lessons keeps coming. I am on the same trajectory of growth as anyone else I know and clearly my lessons keep coming.
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To hear more of Marianne Williamson’s lessons, join us on her Australian tour with Wake Up Project and keep an eye out for Collective Hub’s full story in August’s Issue 24.
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