Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson (born July 8, 1952)^[1] is a spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to establish a United States Department of Peace. She is also the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area.^[2] She has published ten books, including four New York Times #1 bestsellers.

Her book, The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife, was published in January 2008 and spent five weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her latest book, published in November 2010, is called A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever. She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose^{[citation needed]} and Politically Incorrect.

Biography

Williamson attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where her roommate was film producer Lynda Obst.^{[citation needed]}

Philosophy

As a minister in the Unity Church,^[3] Williamson's philosophy adopts a New Thought approach to spirituality. She tries to incorporate ideals originally established in Christianity and Judaism^{[clarification needed]} with a new-age light, using statements such as "You've committed no sins, just mistakes." She also promotes tenets of Zen Buddhism such as the belief that one must empty his or her mind through enlightenment to truly find God. 

She gained early attention discussing A Course in Miracles with Oprah Winfrey. She credits her claimed insight to Oprah Winfrey, who invited Williamson to The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss her first book A Return to Love.^[4]

A notable quote of hers is, "In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it."^[5]

Popular culture references

A passage from Williamson's book, A Return to Love, has become popular as an inspirational quote^[6] and has been used, amongst other places, in the 2005 film, Coach Carter and the 2006 film, Akeelah and the Bee. It is often incorrectly attributed to Nelson Mandela;^[7] Williamson herself is quoted as saying, "As honored as I would be had President Mandela quoted my words, indeed he did not. I have no idea where that story came from, but I am gratified that the paragraph has come to mean so much to so many people."^[7] Williamson has been featured in some films, including The Power of Forgiveness showcased at the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival in 2009^[8] and in the documentary movie "Living Luminaries on the Serious Business of Happiness".

Bibliography

Books	Description
A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course In Miracles	The book is based on the author's experiences as a teacher and lecturer on the self-study guide, A Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace, 1975),
Imagine What America Could Be In The 21st Century: Visions of a better future from leading American thinkers	The book provides Williamson's vision of an improved America and a prescriptive call towards Americans to action for significant positive change.
Emma & Mommy Talk to God	The book asserts that caring for an individual's "soul" is just as important as caring for his or her physical well being.
Healing the Soul of America: Reclaiming Our Voices as Spiritual Citizens	The book describes the combination of vision and politics in American history, and how it gave rise to both the nation's beginnings as well as the nature of American nationalism and values.
A Woman's Worth	The book promotes Marianne Williamson's opinions about the world of the "modern woman".
Enchanted Love: The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships	This book is about Willaimson's beliefs about "the true nature" of relationships between two individuals, and how human beings have the potential to become "the angels who reside within us" while still on earth.
Everyday Grace: Having hope, finding forgiveness, and making miracles	The book shows Marianne Williamson returning to her spiritual roots, writing about the art of nurturing a thriving soul in a harsh world.
Illuminata: A Return to Prayer	The book regards bringing prayer into people's daily lives.

References

1. ^ Knapp, Gwenn (2006). "StarBios Report for Marianne Williamson". MOTTASIA Inc.. http://www.adze.com/Celebrities/MarianneWilliamson.htm. Retrieved 2006-07-12. 
2. ^ Marianne Williamson - The Miracle Matrix
3. ^ Lippy, C.H. (2006) Faith in America: Organized religion today. Praeger. p 241.
4. ^ Dr Wayne Dyer's Inspiration radio show, 2 April 2007, about 7 minutes 50 seconds and 8 minutes 30 seconds from start
5. ^ "Marianne Williamson Quotes". about.com, Women;s History. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/m_williamson.htm. Retrieved February 24, 2011. 
6. ^ See Wikiquote:Marianne Williamson
7. ^ ^{a b} "That famous speech that Nelson Mandela never gave". http://aetw.org/mandela.htm. Retrieved 29 July 2009. 
8. ^ http://dbiff.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=20

External links

• Official Web Site
• "That Famous Speech that Nelson Mandela NEVER Gave"
• Williamson interview
• Tom Butler-Bowdon commentary on A Return To Love
• Sacred Awakening seminar

www.livingluminariesmovie.com

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Name	Williamson, Marianne
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Date of birth	July 8, 1952
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