The healing of America (edition 1997)

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 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. ( )

No home should be without this book. It's like the Holy Bible. ( )