An inspired Marianne Williamson (find her on Twitter!) returns to talk about her new online course, Aging Miraculously, and other important topics. What a privilege to collaborate with such a beautiful soul who does so much to bring light into the world.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer. Six of her ten published books have been New York Times best sellers. Her books include A Return to Love, A Year of Miracles, The Law of Divine Compensation, The Age of Miracles, A Course in Weight Loss, Everyday Grace, A Woman’s Worth, Illuminata, and The Gift of Change. Marianne has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Good Morning America and Charlie Rose.
To Avoid Suffering Is to Deny Healing Says New York Times Bestselling Author Marianne Williamson in New Book on the Modern Epidemic of Depression and the Power of Spiritual Healing
The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment
By Marianne Williamson
In her new book, renowned spiritual teacher and bestselling author Marianne Williamson offers an impassioned spiritual perspective on the epidemic of depression sweeping our society, and joins a growing chorus of voices addressing the overmedication of America. Williamson challenges the broad appropriation of deep sadness as a medical issue, claiming there is a “spectrum of normal human suffering” that calls for spiritual, not medical, intervention.
Based on a career of over three decades counseling people in depressing, even life-challenging situations (and drawing as well from her own deep periods of grief), in TEARS TO TRIUMPH: The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment (HarperOne; Hardcover: June 14, 2016) Williamson argues against what she calls the “pathologizing of deep sadness,” and reveals how the radical application of love and forgiveness serves as a spiritual solution to a spiritual problem.
Combining her customary references to A Course in Miracles with an in-depth inquiry into the spiritual responses to suffering within the stories of Buddha, Moses and Jesus, Williamson opens up a much-needed conversation about the fundamental sources of human suffering as well as its transcendence.
TEARS TO TRIUMPH boldly states that “modern civilization has itself become a depressing phenomenon, predicated on principles that dissociate human beings from the feelings of connectedness and wholeness without which happiness cannot be found.” Williamson argues that psychic pain, like physical pain, exists for a reason; it should be listened to for the messages it conveys and addressed on a causal level. “The mind,” says Williamson, “is imbued with an immune system no less than is the body, giving it extraordinary abilities to heal itself.”
This groundbreaking book also explores the collective dimensions of our current epidemic of emotional suffering, suggesting that “overconcentration on an individual’s pain can obscure the larger social issues that breed depression among the larger population.” Some of the issues addressed in this book include:
- Emotional torment — why is such suffering a part of our experience? What does it mean? And how can we survive it and even transcend it?
- What is the response to suffering at the heart of all great religious teachings?
- Why is it important to be fully available to our suffering, as opposed to suppressing it or numbing it?
- Why has our suffering become a profit center for the pharmaceutical industry?
- What is the relationship between individual and collective suffering?
- What are the spiritual principles that deliver us from our pain, and how do we apply them?
TEARS TO TRIUMPH is a clarion call not only to the reader, but also to society to heed the deeper message of our suffering and the suffering of others. Most importantly, it illuminates the path by which spiritual principles deliver us beyond deep sadness and emotional pain.
Thanks Marianne, and Thanks Paul for asking Marianne (again!). Always glad to hear your pov, Marianna. I’d just like to add a thought, as a wordsmith who appreciates all others’ take on the power of words. Your objection to “Self Love” may be true for you, but for me, as someone who dealt with Self Loathing, and has taught yoga and meditation to incarcerated youths who suffer this affliction as well, I found that the phrase “Self Love” is/was a key by which many young people who are not students of higher understanding are allowed entry through the portal of the bigger concept of ONEness that — until that moment when they can say, “yes I love my bigger Self now!” — was unavailable to them. Perhaps this is an archaic phrase for higher-thought people such as yourself, but for beginners on the road less traveled, especially the locked-up-selves and addicted ones who never heard of such a thing as a “spiritual life” … it’s a blessing. A concept they can relate to, and “get.” I find that words in general are pretty fickle characters. Just scribbles and scratches, and we’re all just trying to get to the same place using them in various ways. I do so appreciate you as a wisdom teacher and understand your objection(s) to this much-used phrase. But … to me Self Love is a meaningful tool for those of us who have/had no clue to what awaits us. Offered lovingly by teZa Lord, author of “We Are ONE” amzn.to/2gGzk7G and spiritual blogger lordflea.com
What a brilliant take TeZa… thank you… well done…
I totally get it. Thank you, Teza…
I knew you would, dear Marianne. OmmmLove!