Marianne Williamson

I found this book in the $1 pile at a bookstore in Taos, NM, and maybe made a joke about it to my sister, but an older lady overheard and highly recommended the book. I felt horrible because, I actually would have voted for Marianne Williamson if I could have, and I didn’t want this nice old lady to think I was making fun of her! Anyway, I ended up buying the book, and even if I didn’t really like it I definitely learned a few things.

Firstly, after reading this… Marianne should have show more been president. I sincerely believe that she could unite the people in a way that Biden tried and failed to do, because she’d actually be sincere about it. Of course, they’d never let her win the primaries because she was proposing actual real change as policy (for example reparations for black people… she discusses this in this book that came out 20 years before her presidential run, that’s a lot more consistency than most “real” politicians). But this book definitely accomplishes a progressive agenda using language (spirituality and patriotism) that more conservative people would potentially understand, and eventually come around to accepting more leftist views. It’s a smart tactic, but I detect a sincerity there; I know everyone made fun of Williamson for being a weewoo hippie weirdo but I appreciated the spiritual aspects of this book the most of all.

So there’s a lot to like about her as a person— why didn’t I like this book? Williamson makes a lot of bold claims that I’d say are more in line with my political views, like conceptualizing America as modern-day serfdom. She’s aware of the contradictions of America but doesn’t ascribe reason to them at all; her patriotism effectively misdiagnoses the symptoms. There’s a real, political reason to not want to disavow America, but it’s intellectually ingenuous to characterize slavery and genocide as negative blips in our history, or to glorify the Revolutionary War at all. It’s refreshing that the book is optimistic, though, in a world of politics based on pessimism. Ironically, this book was printed right before 9/11, which makes Williamson’s optimism bittersweet. Her assessments have only become more true, and her prediction of spiritual rebirth hasn’t happened yet because we’re more polarized than ever. I didn’t find this book unrealistic or fanciful, but I hope we can find it in ourselves to follow this type of guidance someday soon. show less

There's a lot more to Marianne Williamson than most people seem to give her credit for, including--until a few weeks ago--me! Her ideas are quite good, but especially on a day when the current president seemed to express Messianic delusions, I'm a little wary of Williamson's spiritual zeal. As a book, A Politics of Love held up most of the way through, but the last 30 or so pages got pretty tedious and repetitive. Right now it seems like it would truly take a miracle for her to get elected, show more but whatever happens, I hope she will stay engaged with politics and continue to prod us towards becoming our better selves. Appointing her to head the new U.S. Department of Peace would be an excellent place to start. show less

Not bad, not brilliant, but I will never forget Williamson's statement that the reason so many people cry, "Oh God!" during orgasm is that orgasm is an experience of God. There's a lot of truth in that, I think. Maslow demonstrates that most people have what he calls "peak religious experiences" and these are not usually what the institutional churches would like us to believe. They tend to be love, sunsets, rainbows, silence, childbirth, pain, joy, death, beauty and yes, even orgasm, rather show more than sitting in a church of a Sunday morning. show less

Williamson is currently running for US President. This book is a hodgepodge of influences which she herself doesn't recognize as crass syncretism. This is one of the earlier books to assert that "new age" consciousness in America should shape the rest of the planet whether other people want it or not. Argues for open borders. Illuminata refers to the renaissance of the fallen human race, as she sees it. Not worth the time to read.