Marianne Williamson: Playing It Big

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine. . . . It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone, and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same.

~ Marianne Williamson
Excerpted from A Return to Love
HarperCollins, 1992

In response to my previous post in which I shared Marianne Williamson’s thoughts on what she learned from running for president, “Percy” commented:

She could run for mayor of wherever she lives, and start there.

Implied in this statement is the sentiment that Marianne Williamson isn’t “qualified” to be president; that she doesn’t belong in a presidential race.

I thought of all of this when I recently watched André Duqum’s August 2023 interview with Marianne; and in particular, that part of it (starting at 5:00) in which she addresses the sentiment that I believe underlies Percy’s comment and others like it.

This hour-long interview is part of Duqum’s Know Thyself podcast, and is entitled “Heart-Centered Leadership: A New Political Paradigm with Marianne Williamson.”

And, yes, since this interview Marianne has suspended (though not ended) her presidential campaign. Regardless, this insightful and hopeful interview remains both inspiring and relevant.

We live in prisons of our own making. The thinking of the world tells you that you are a being within a cage. It can be terrifying to think that we are bigger than that. And then the ego mind says it’s arrogant to think like that. Well, from a spiritual perspective, what’s arrogant is to think that you’re the small self [of the ego mind]. Yet God doesn’t create small selves; God only creates greatness. So we have arrogance and humility upside down.

And it’s interesting because, running for president, one of the things I see is, “How dare you! . . . Who thinks you can do that?” . . . Well, the U.S. Constitution.

[And yet] the affront, not just to the patriarchy or anything like that, but the affront to the ego mind! Because I see as much of that “How dare you!” from women as from men.

It’s such a testament to the belief that “[not just anyone] should be able to do that.” Well, actually, everyone should be able to do that.

~ Marianne Williamson
August 29, 2023

NEXT:
Minnesotans Launch Super Tuesday Push
for “Suspended But Not Ended” Candidate
Marianne Williamson


Related Off-site Links:
Marianne Willamson Ran on a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights, Why Won’t Biden Embrace It? – An Interview with Historian Harvey Kay – JENerational Change (February 22, 2024).
How Marianne Williamson Rises Without Mass Media Attention – Thu Pham (Diggit Magazine, February 19, 2024).
Candidate Marianne Williamson Exits Presidential Race – Mark Moran (United Press International News, February 7, 2024).

For The Wild Reed’s coverage of Marianne Williamson’s 2024 presidential campaign, see the following chronologically-ordered posts:
• Marianne 2024
• Marianne Williamson Launches 2024 Presidential Campaign
• Progressive Perspectives on Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Run
• More Progressive Perspectives on Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Run
• Ben Burgis: Quote of the Day – March 10, 2023
• Despite the Undemocratic Antics of the DNC, Marianne Williamson Plans on “Winning the Nomination”
• The Biblical Roots of “From Each According to Ability; To Each According to Need”
• Marianne Williamson on The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton – 05/30/23
• Marianne Williamson’s Economic Bill of Rights
• Three Progressive Voices on the War in Ukraine
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 27, 2023
• Marianne Williamson on The Issue Is with Elex Michaelson – 07/20/23
• Voters, Not the DNC, Should Choose the Nominee
• Marianne Williamson in New Hampshire
• Marianne Williamson: “Repairing Our Hearts Is Essential to Repairing Our Country”
• Marianne Williamson on Trump’s Day in Court
• Marianne Williamson on NewsNation – 08/25/23
• Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson Joins NYC’s March to End Fossil Fuels
• Marianne Williamson on Your World – 10/6/23
• Marianne Williamson’s “Radical Idea” of Putting People First
• Marianne Williamson: “We Need to Disrupt the Corrupt”
• “We Are Surging”
• “Let the People Decide”: Marianne Williamson on the DNC’s Efforts to Deny and Suppress the Democratic Process
• Democratic Presidential Debate: Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips – 1/8/24
• The Democrats Challenging Biden
• Bannering for Marianne
• Campaigning for Marianne Williamson in New Hampshire – Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
• Marianne Williamson: “I Have Decided to Continue”
• Marianne Williamson in Nevada – 2/4/24
• Forever Grateful
• What Marianne Williamson Learned from Running for President

See also:
• Marianne Williamson: “We Must Challenge the Entire System”
• Marianne Williamson on the Current Condition of the U.S.
• Marianne Williamson’s Politics of Love: The Rich Roll Interview
• Now Here’s a Voice I’d Like to Hear Regularly on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows
• A Deeper Perspective on What’s Really Attacking American Democracy
• Marianne Williamson on the Tenth Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street
• Marianne Williamson on How Centrist Democrats Abuse Voters with False Promises
• “Two of the Most Dedicated and Enlightened Heroes of Present Day America”
• Deep Gratitude
• “A Beautiful Message, So Full of Greatness”
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”
• Caitlin Johnstone: “Status Quo Politicians Are Infinitely ‘Weirder’ Than Marianne Williamson”

Opening image: Marianne Williamson in Nashua, New Hampshire – Saturday, January 22, 2024. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly)