A Politics of Love

        

The more often I hear people in everyday conversation  talk about “news avoidance,” which means they can no longer cope with the daily dose of anger, failure, fear, and frustration pouring from most of our news publications, the more frequently I turn to Marianne Williamson, whom most biographical notes describe simply as a spiritual leader, an author (of 14 books), and a political activist.

I’ve seen or heard her in all of those roles, and the more I’ve found myself entangled in the sad and constantly bewildering US headlines in 2022, the more I’ve sought  refuge in Williamson’s solutions, especially those set out in her 2019 offering A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution (HarperOne). A neat antidote.

Williamson doesn’t indulge in exegesis; neatly-turned prayers; nor the word God. She’s not tempted by biblical hermeneutics. She doesn’t evangelize. She is honest, and firmly committed to making the US a better place to live in—right now! (Note the serenity in the attached Connecticut picture.) 

And that’s clear from her opening chapter: “The amelioration of unnecessary human suffering, both here and around the world, should be the bottom line of all US policy.”

She writes: “Consider spending five minutes every day… sending love from your heart to everyone in your country, and then extending that love to every sentient being in the world.

“Such meditative practice opens the mind to new dimensions of problem-solving as new synapses, new connections arise automatically.”

Our biggest failure, says Williamson, is to limit our imaginations to twentieth-century prejudices, surrendering to the insidious illusion that there’s a limit to what’s possible.
Anxiously she asks: “Shall we pave the way to humanity’s higher purpose, in line with our historical mission, or shall we continue our current stumble into the depths of an irredeemable fall?”

This is not a rhetorical question, she insists. It’s a literal one, and cannot be answered by anybody but ourselves.

“The day has come for an American reckoning,” Williamson concludes. This is not the time to close our eyes, but to open them to the light within.

“It is a time of atonement, a time of replanting, and a time of deliverance. Or not; the choice is ours. In honor of our ancestors, and in honor of our descendants, may we choose wisely. May we choose love.”

Perhaps what we most need as we face 2023 is a new handbook from Kindle! Preferably written by Williamson.