A Return to Love,
by Marianne Williamson
I just read “A Return to Love,” originally published in 1992 and hailed by Oprah Winfrey. Author Marianne Williamson’s stated purpose was to reflect on the 1976 book, “A Course in Miracles,” by Helen Schucman. I haven’t read “A Course in Miracles.” But now I want to!
The first few chapters of Williamson’s book grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I identify with her strongly, from her youthful “Dear John letter to God,” to her early confusion about what to do with her life, to her subsequent explorations in philosophy, religion and lifestyle. Williamson’s discussion about fear stunned me: “We’re afraid this isn’t the right relationship or we’re afraid it is… We’re afraid of failure or we’re afraid of success. We’re afraid of dying young or we’re afraid of growing old.” How true these statements are!
As Williamson says, our own painful thoughts are our demons. Mine certainly have been. But the way out of this self-made, person hell, Williamson says, is through inviting God back into our life. She cautions that to do that, we may have to hit rock bottom—a stressful and humbling experience—before we can come to the realization that “there’s a power in the universe bigger than you are, who can do for you what you can’t do for yourself.”
Williamson asserts that “A Course in Miracles” is a form of mind training that teaches us how to replace a thought system based on fear with one based on love, since God is love. That sounds pretty attractive to me. Is it attainable? I think it is. Williamson’s ideas reflect those of many spiritual teachers, both ancient and modern, who say that fear is created by the ego-mind, which tells us we are separate, individual beings fighting for survival in an impersonal universe. The awesome truth of our oneness with the Divine can be realized through “a force of consciousness called the Holy Spirit,” Williamson says. The Holy Spirit delivers us from the hell of our fears. Given the fact that Williamson is Jewish, and the Holy Spirit is a Christian concept, these are stunning declarations. Our battered world needs such uplifting ideas.