I don't live in the 33rd district where Marianne Williamson is running as a Congressional candidate. I wish that I did. As a woman and mother, I seek more viable and sustainable options for myself, my child, her friends and the next seven generations. And who better than Marianne -- a woman who has been a proponent of personal growth, responsibility and social justice for decades, an outspoken non-profit activist, the founder of Project Angel Food serving food to terminally ill AIDS and cancer patients since 1989, a single mother of a terrific young woman, and successful author and teacher -- to get this.
Is she perfect? No. We set ourselves up for huge disappointment when we expect perfection from people. Is she open to learning, growing and serving? YES. Is she a political animal? NO, and that's a good thing. We don't need more of the same. We need Marianne's fresh voice, a COMPELLING voice that isn't afraid to speak truth. In my experience through observing what she's done, both by listening and attending her lectures in NYC and LA, and, in reading her books over the past 30 years, it seems clear to me that Marianne Williamson would be a terrific congresswoman. She is a woman of our time!
This compelling desire within me to seek that which is more progressive has been a theme in my life from the time I can remember. When I was growing up, there were no complimentary words that I heard used to describe my passion to speak truth, to explore things beyond the status quo and my need to march to my own beat. When I was in my 20's, my brother said, We should hang the flag of the United Nations outside your window." In my early 30's, my mom said, "if I didn't know your father, I wouldn't know where you came from." The undeniable renaissance woman that I am was unsettling for others at times, and definitely harder on me as I strove to define myself... until recently. I am so clear that it is exactly my multi-faceted nature and life experience that allows me to empower other multi-faceted women, mothers, families and others, to live full out and prosper as authentic, engaged, compassionate emissaries of truth, teachers of transformation, leaders, sacred activists and compassionate parents. It was this inner and outer journey of embracing my unique self with love and acceptance that led to Marianne's first book, A Return to Love.
Marianne Williamson understands this inner drive to know oneself and one's place in this world, our relationship to one another and our charge to serve and transform and speaks it out. Her political platform is based on bringing consciousness and conscience to politics through sound legislation. She has spoken vehemently about eliminating the poverty that impacts single mothers and children, the warehousing of Latino and African-American men in prisons and resuscitating our individual and collective votes on initiatives that serve the greater good not the bank accounts of the few.
She is brilliant, informed, incisive, bold, articulate and eloquent. At any gathering where there are children, you will find her in dialogue with them just as equally as with the adults, for she genuinely cares about the well-being of children. She addresses the need for changes within our education system and the importance of having universal preschools available. Her support of women and her own personal commitment to growth and maturation that she has candidly shared about through her prolific writing and lecturing compelled and compels me to support Marianne Williamson's run for Congress. A driving intention behind my interviewing her on my radio show, http://www.millionmamasmovement.org/million-mamas-rising/, hosting a house party on her behalf and posting on social media, has been to introduce her to those who don't her and to share her election with everyone I know who might live in the 33rd district and beyond. Why? I've talked with her. When I was putting the details together for the Million Mamas March, Marianne was initially involved and very supportive. I attended the event when she announced her candidacy and I've seen her tirelessly campaign throughout these many months. She has never once bad-mouthed the other candidates. Rather, she has acknowledged them as being good people whom she has great respect for because she knows what it requires to run for office. I've attended a number of events where's she's spoken about her campaign and her platform, which is solid, and the challenges that we face. With all that in mind, the option of electing someone who doesn't speak, teach, and live what Marianne Williamson does to Congress, once again, seems unwise, given what is facing us politically and economically.
As I've (hopefully) matured spiritually, emotionally and psychologically, I've gotten clear that at its essence, politics is to be in service to human rights. There's no spirituality in politics; you might say there's a delineation. I felt that way once, too. Yet, all my life social justice, integrity, truth-telling and well-being for all has driven me. Ask anyone who knows me. My beloved bonus father, Arthur Silvers, a former civil rights leader, awakened the sacred activist within me when I first met him 17 years ago. He was a daunting figure and I appreciated hearing the experiences he had as the LA CORE chapter president in the '60s and his leadership with the NAACP later on. He schooled me about the "big business" of prisons and various other issues from his life experience as an architect, professor, peace activist and man of color.
So, now, I beg to differ that politics is not spiritual. Everything is spiritual. I am a sacred activist, (http://www.millionmamasmovement.org), I am absolutely a spiritual teacher (http://www.agapelive.com) that to my core knows that there is only One power, One Presence, One Life, One Love, One breath, whatever name you call it -- God, Good, Love, Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Higher Power, Source, Yahweh, Buddha, HaShem, Jesus, Mohammed, Allah, Beauty -- that animates, activates, sustains us. It is our Source and Supply. It is everywhere present to the degree that we are willing to see it, know it, claim it. We are all connected. We have direct access to It. It can only express Itself in, through, and, as each of us, who represent the One of us. Albert Einstein is credited with saying that we live in a friendly Universe. Einstein is also well-known for saying that we cannot solve a problem from the same level of consciousness that created the problem.
That being said, I cannot afford to stick my head into the sand and wait for "someone out there" to do for me and the children what I must do. I can't blame another for what I experience in my life. I lived a lifetime of unconsciously and consciously waiting on someone/something outside of me to take care of me and it didn't serve me. If we, us, not the "they" outside of us, don't begin taking more conscious and progressive actions, what will we, our children and the children coming to the planet inherit? If you have a tween or a teen in your life and have read the Hunger Games series, and seen both the Hunger Games and Divergent movies, it seems to me that the underlying themes, minus the Hollywood special effects, portend possible future experiences for us. I would invite you to perk up, look around and pay closer attention. I've heard people say that they don't want to be uncomfortable. Well, be aware that being a little uncomfortable today may prevent an avalanche of discomfort tomorrow.
Remember, "We, the people?" These three words are the preamble to the United States Constitution. Yes, it was divinely inspired, and a fantastic directional, timeless in its aims. How wonderful would it be if we were living out of those initiatives for all people. The constitution, when originally created, didn't extend these unalienable rights to women nor people of color. Let us now extend these rights to all women, all people of color and the first peoples, whose legacy and brilliance was ravaged, as though our forefathers thought that they could steal land and impose their ways on a people so beautiful and connected to natural rhythm and truth. This seems to have been a pattern of action practiced since our country began beginning with slaves being brought over on the ships, to help build this new land. Many of these same men who created this forward-thinking document were slave-owners. And, what about the Mother of us all, Mother Earth? My ignorance and man's and woman's ignorance (unknowing) and acts of inhumanity upon each other is simply staggering to me. Yes, we have made strides. Yes, we have much more freedom than ever before. And, yes, folks, we still have work to do. Wouldn't it be powerful to learn from the experiences we've had and seek to nurture and protect the resources available to us now to create a more sustainable, progressive and peaceful world that does work for everybody?
Well, let's bring it people. Let's really actualize Gandhi's invitation to us to, "be the change we wish to see." At the very least, let us begin to choose higher. It begins with a desire to see things differently. To recognize that while there are outdated systems that no longer serve us and are falling away, thankfully, we have viable options. We are whole not broken even though we may have experiences that have broken us open. To know that WE get to choose what we experience, that no person, no place, no institution can keep us from having our good because we're taking our power back.
This is a momentous election for those who live in the 33rd district. Rep. Henry Waxman, who retired in January, was this district's congressperson for the past 40 years. As his potential successor, Marianne Williamson brings a global perspective, vision and solution. It's a wonderful opportunity for residents of this district to choose to be a part of something vital and vibrant. People in the 33rd district, think about what you are voting for when you vote on Tuesday, June 3. I look forward to celebrating Marianne's victory on Tuesday. Her win will be an indication that people are ready to integrate the passion and idealism that existed in 60's with the sobering facts and opportunities that face us today into tangible, life-affirming progress in politics that support your unalienable human rights. If anyone can assist in this transformation, Marianne Williamson can. Go Marianne!
For more information, go to: http://www.marianneforcongress.com.
If you hunger to actualize your innate gifts as a sacred activist, and an emissary of compassion and social change in your family, community and business, email wendy@wendysilvers.com. Together we can birth and earth your vision into Be-ing. You don't have to do that alone.