Language of Love with Dr. Laura Berman - Getting Your Head Out of the Sand: A Talk with Marianne Williamson

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

On today’s episode of “The Language of Love,” Dr. Laura Berman sits down with internationally acclaimed author and lecturer Marianne Williamson. Dr. Berman’s grief journey following the death of her son Sammy has been greatly illuminated and shaped by Williamson’s past works, such as “A Return to Love” and “Tears to Triumph,” so sitting down for an interview with such a beloved soul-guide has been a longtime plan of hers. In today’s interview, Dr. Berman and Williamson talk about this incredibly difficult time that we are living in, and how crucial it is for us to stay present and engaged, rather than hiding our heads in the sand. How can you find your voice and help to promote peace and integrity when you just want to hide away from the ugliness of the world? Williamson says we must start acknowledging our own power and refusing to be silenced. In particular, Williamson believes that empaths and spiritually-minded people have a huge responsibility right now in helping to heal the world. She urges listeners to find a way to overcome the ‘overwhelm’ and tap into their amazing powers, because sitting by idly will only lead to further spiritual and physical destruction of our country and climate. “The effects of love are maximal,” says Williamson. “We [need to] stop disengaging from the political system.”   Dr. Berman and Williamson also talk about ‘The Course in Miracles,” which Dr. Berman is working through and which Williamson narrates for the audiobook. Listen to this inspiring episode and let Dr. Berman know your thoughts on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, I'm Dr. Laura Berman, a sex and relationship therapist. And for the past three decades, I've been helping people learn how to love and be loved better. That's what we're doing here on The Language of Love, where I get to answer calls and emails from people just like you. My goal with The Language of Love is to help you discover more meaningful emotional and physical intimacy and to help you build more awareness of how precious and sacred your sexuality really is. Be sure to email me or reach out with your very own love sex relationship

questions. And I might just answer them live on the air. It's time we all become fluent in the language of love. Thanks for joining me. I'm so excited and so honored this episode to bring one of my favorite, one of the world's favorite spiritual teachers, political activists, thought leaders, Marianne Williamson. She's also a bestselling author of 14 books, four of which have been New York Times bestsellers. Thank you so, so much for joining us, Marianne. Oh, well, it's great to be with you, Laura. Thank you for having me. Marianne has a podcast too, right? Conversations with Marianne. And I love how you describe it, that you dig into the question of how did we get here or how did we get to where we are and how can

we change things now? How did we get to where we are and how can we change things now? And I mean, that's really kind of the question I want to ask you, you know, get your thoughts on in these freaking crazy times. How did we get here? Who better to ask that question than you? Well, there are different ways that we can look at that, of course. And some of the trajectories that have brought us here go back thousands of years. Some of them go back hundreds of years, and a lot of them go back 40 years because it was 40 years ago that this society adopted such an overly financialized perspective and placed it right in the middle of our economic system and ultimately in our political system. That was when we introduced the idea of trickle

down economics, massive transfer of wealth into the hands of 1% with this idea that if we took care of the stockholder class, the CEO class, the corporate bigwig class, that that would actually aid the country because all of that wealth would trickle down. Because they'd all share it. Job creation. That was based on the assumption. Right. They would share, they would create jobs, et cetera. But what actually ended up happening was that the money was basically hoarded. You know, before the 1980s, CEOs, it was illegal for a CEO

to be paid in the form of stock options. Once a CEO could be paid in the form of stock options, there was an inherent conflict between the CEO trying to treat the workers well and the CEO creating wealth for him or herself, which is why you have these gargantuan, multi-hundred-million-dollar CEO salaries now, that CEO is being rewarded basically for squeezing every last dollar possible out of the workers. Yes, and not caring about anything but the board.

That was shocking to me. This was years ago when I first started. Anyone who's tried to go up against a corporation, which let's just face it, not all of us have, but I've been trying to go up against a corporation with Snapchat these days. Right. And so I'm seeing exactly an example. And their first priority is to the sharehold, like to their board, not, you know, to it's not to their users. It's to the bottom line. So what you and your family have experienced is the absolutely tragic consequences of what we're talking about. Yeah. No ethics. No compassion. No sense of is this right or wrong? no sense of hello we can't let this happen we can't even take the risk this could have tragic consequences in the life of a child now multiply what you have experienced millions and millions

and millions of times and you find that it is endemic it is now infused not only into way the corporation operates but because corporations now have such gigantic power they do more than many countries. Oh, absolutely. It's like first big pharma, health insurance companies, big oil, gun manufacturers, defense contractors, they all get what they want first. And then whatever is left, well, we wish you well. And this has so corrupted our society. And once again, Lauren, no one unfortunately knows better than you. That's how we got here. Talk all you want about personal responsibility. But once again, Laura, you and your family could not have taken more personal responsibility. You can't. This has just got to stop. And now it has to do with peril to

our democracy, has to do with peril to our environment. It has to do with spending two trillion dollars each on wars that were both spectacular failures. Yeah. After which the most we can say is oops. Now says about about the Iraq war, all the thousands of people who died, the terrible chaos, oops, because defense contractors and their short-term profits now dominate our foreign policies, whether or not we can actually go to war. Fossil fuel companies actually dominate our energy policies, even though we're talking about whether or not this planet will be habitable. Big food companies, big agricultural companies, big chemical companies, putting whether it has to do with our chemicals and our pesticides, whether it has to do with

chemicals in our food that we know are carcinogenic. It's like, well, making money for somebody. Yeah, exactly. There's an awakening going on. Yeah. That's what I feel like at the very least. And this is one of the reasons I'm so excited to have you on because this show fundamentally is how to love and be loved better, love yourself, love your community, love your partner. And it's very easy, you know, and I, and many of my listeners are like me and like I think you, super empathic. And it can be a hard time. It's so easy to feel overwhelmed with everything you're saying about all the things that are so screwed up. And I believe, and I want you to get into, that first of all, obviously, it's not hopeless,

but that part of what you're about always, and now with this upcoming event you have called Love in Action is that it's really your whole, I mean, if I had to sum up your teaching and who am I to sum up your teaching, but it's about moving from fear to love in all aspects, right? And this upcoming seminar you have, which I know is November 5th to 6th, you have so many, not only you, but so many great speakers, Deepak Chopra, Catherine Woodward Thomas, but it's called love in action and i just love that idea because to me that's the antidote so will you talk about what love and not just the event i want to hear about that but what your sense of what love and action actually is first of all if i may i want to push back a little

yeah on this ridiculous notion that we have bought into that we're so empathic we're so sensitive. It's so overwhelming. Give me a freaking break. Can we stop now? Every human being is fragile. Every human being is sensitive. The idea that I'm empathic, therefore that justifies my not showing up for the world at such a critical time needs to be called. Yeah, I agree. But that's what we do. We stick our heads in the sand because we're overwhelmed, but the idea is there's something else we can do. Right. So if we're sticking our head in the sand, let's call it let's say to one another you're sticking your head in the sand all right not you're so empathic and i understand you're so overwhelmed i'm trying to be compassionate

so we're empathic and we feel alive and we're sticking our head in the sand well we really know okay go ahead tell me the divine mother is fierce when you're messing with her children yeah she is the divine mother is fierce when you're messing with her home which in this case is the earth. Okay. Sometimes love and compassion say no. Right. You of all people. I know I'm there. Tragically know that. So none of this, like that's my, I'm sensitive. That's my excuse for not addressing the fact that they are killing our children. Right. I agree. Okay. 100%. Right. So I think, first of all, I think we really need to push back on any idea that we're empathic. So it's difficult. Can you imagine what it took for abolitionists? Can you imagine

what it took for women's suffragettes who were spat on, thrown into jail. Can you imagine if people had tried to get out of fighting the Nazis? Because I'm empathic, I'm too sensitive. And that's what many people did in all of those scenarios. And then there were those who didn't. And we want to be the ones who didn't stick their heads in the sand and make a difference. I actually don't know if many did. I think that that's- I mean, look at all the people in Nazi Germany who stuck their heads in the sand and said- talking about America. Yeah, I'm talking about in the allied countries. No, no. I was just thinking about the things that the examples you gave throughout history. There have been those

who just didn't step up. And it's time, I think, that we all do. Those who did not step up in Germany, I think in all fairness to the German people, that wouldn't have been those who didn't step up, didn't step up because they felt they were empathic. They were afraid. They were afraid or they either bought into the philosophy themselves. And also, let's not forget how many stood up with profound courage to save Jews and others. But in terms of where we are today, I think those of us who are empathic should be the last ones to remain silent. The last ones are going to overwhelm because the truth of the matter is if you have a spiritual basis, you know that as it says in the Course in Miracles, the effects of love are maximal.

There is no order of difficulty in miracles. That's why I felt, you know, if you have a background and what changes one life. You're the person who has a clue as to what would change the world. And you are demonstrating it yourself, taking your own personal tragedy, standing up, making a stand in the culture. This is what we do. We don't, we don't, you know, you are perfect. It would be easy to turn, to curl up into a ball on a certain level and not do anything and just say, fuck it, you know, and I think that we want to work against that. Right. So that's what I want your guidance on. Not just I mean, I get it personally, but I mean, for all the people listening who want to curl up in a ball right now. Well, like I said, the first thing we do is we

stop perpetuating the myth. We stop perpetuating the picture. OK, that that was why I wanted to push back. Just stop saying it. It's ridiculous. Call it what it is. You know, and, you know, just like, no, no, no, no, no. And this is not a moment to say, oh, I'm just too, you know, the Dixie woman thing is over. I don't know. And you cannot use and you cannot use a faux spiritual, not you personally. We cannot use a faux spirituality. We have now our democracy is under assault. Our environment is under assault. Our voting rights are under assault. People of color at the hands of certain injustices in our police and criminal justice system are under assault. Our people all over the world are under assault. If there are people in our military

industrial complex decide, we think a war there would make another trillion dollars for us. So maybe that would be a good idea. What we do is we stop disengaging from the political system. There are many people, next year we're going to have midterm elections. I have something called the candidatesummit.com where I have endorsed really good people who are running for Congress, But because corporate influence so dominates both political parties, the people who are saying the best things have a difficult time getting past their platform. They don't have a platform. Yeah, that's right. So I hope people will go to CandidateSummit.com. Great. Inject yourself into the situation.

You, I saw your your PSA. You know that this is going to take federal action. You know, this is going to take you know that it's going to take federal action. let's stop pretending. And we should be, you know, our empathy should be towards those children who are not getting a decent education. Our empathy should be towards the people who are being victimized by this very economically amoral system. What, and once again, Laura, you have seen it, unfortunately, in your own life, an amoral economic system inevitably produces is immoral results. I don't think anybody at Snapchat wakes up in the morning figuring out

ways to harm our children. They wake up in the morning thinking it's not their business to have to worry about our children. It's their business to make money. That's right. And that we must call that system. It is a killer. Yeah, it is. It's a byproduct. I think that's such a great point because, you know, the evilness, quote unquote, the evil results are a result of an amoral economic system. So we have to shift from an economic bottom line to a humanitarian bottom line. Now there's a line in the Course in Miracles, which says love restores reason and not the other way around. You know, people who say, oh, we can't just go around making public policy about loving each other. That'll be chaotic. No, chaos is what we have now. Yes. People who say,

yeah, people who say, no, we need to be responsible stewards of the economy is what we have now, responsible stewardship of the economy. When 1% of Americans own more wealth than the entire middle class. When people say, oh, the economy is good. It's good for who? It's good for a small portion. And you and I and all of us who have been fortunate enough to be in the club, it's the best place in the world to be. But America is supposed to be that if anybody works hard enough, they can be in the club. Everyone can be in the club. Yeah, absolutely. So there is righteous commerce and there is fair profit. And I think you and I and your listeners would celebrate righteous commerce, fair profit. But the system now works in such a way as to mitigate against righteous

commerce. Snapchat is not righteous commerce. The system mitigates against fair profit. That is not fair profit. It is blood money. Yes. And so women of America and the sensitive women of America are not going to stand up to this. What's the end game? Who's going to, right? Okay. So now you're listening and you're getting it and you're inspired and you're like, okay, so now what, What do I do? And, you know, what is that an action? What should I do? Right. If someone's asking. The body would not survive if it did not have a healthy immune system. It's kind of amazing how much injury and assault the body, human body can take as long as there's a healthy immune system. The psyche also has an immune system. It's amazing how much heartbreak we can take.

We can survive. Yes. Civilization also has an immune system. The immune cells of a civilization are individual citizens who are activated to help. Okay. When you have that, so in the body, one cell is assigned to the blood and one cell is assigned to the bones and one cell is assigned to the pancreas and one cell is assigned to the lungs, et cetera.

In society, some of us are really impassioned about animals. That's your assignment. Some of us are really impassioned about the environment. That's your assignment. Some of us are really impassioned about sex trafficking. That's your assignment. and politics is our collective assignment. Everybody listening right now, if they're an American citizen, and these things are being played out everywhere, but for those who are

American citizens, each and every one of us have next year congressional elections, and some, a third of Americans, have senatorial elections. Find out now who's running. Find out now what's in your primary. Those, for instance, who read my substack, start really learning. We need to move from an economic to humanitarian bottom line. They're learning about it. Yeah. Right. So let me say that again.

So if you're just, you're mentioning the Substack. So people know what that is. If you go to Marianne Williamson, Marianne Williamson dot Substack, S-U-B-S-T-A-C-K dot com, they can sign up for newsletters, information, teachings, meditations. It's one newsletter. And what happens? every day you receive a meditation in the morning. Yeah. And then later in the evening, you might receive something about major corporations that now dominate our foreign

policy or Afghanistan or something having to do with something having to do with the corporate duopoly, something having to do with our need to change from a dirty economy to a clean economy, from a war economy to a peace economy. I'd love to. So that's the perfect way to take action, right? So we're saying, what's the first step? You're saying, inform yourself, inform yourself. Yes. So go to Marianne Williamson, MarianneWilliamson.substack.com. Perfect. That's the perfect answer. So, because I think that is what often paralyzes people is like, okay, I don't know how to navigate this. I've never been in politics before, you know, but now I have to be because shit's hitting the fan here and too much is happening. And so

I'm ready to take action is what they're saying. So this is a great place to start. Well, the fact that we've been so disengaged is part of how it goes. Right. That's how we got here. Yeah. You know, 10 states in our country don't even require half a year of American civics, government or history. Too many Americans don't don't even remember the basic first principles, haven't read the Declaration of Independence since they were 12 years old and doesn't even, don't even remember what it says. If you weren't taught as a child, what the bill of rights says, you're likely not to, as an adult, not to be horrified as you should be when it's directly under assault. And we just get fed from the same bubble of corporate own media,

which is part of what I call the political media industrial complex. So you have to read independent media. You have to kind of know what's going on and have your eyes open. The Course in Miracles says it is not up to you what you learn. It is merely up to you learn whether you up to you, whether you learn through joy or through pain. Yes. Going back to your situation, you've learned some things. You learned it through pain.

Yeah. Let's enough of us now. Enough pain. Wisdom. Yes. And I've learned a lot the other way, too. But Lord knows I've learned a shit ton through pain. I mean, we all have, but I don't think that's necessary.

I think. Absolutely. And Snapchat's just an example of how all of them operate, Laura. So you mentioned The Course in Miracles. A lot of people who listen to me and follow me know that I obviously have known about The Course in Miracles for many years. I've read pretty much all of your books. And A Return to Love, obviously, is sort of the classic.

And I go on these miracle hikes with Tina, who's your friend, too. But Tina, I jokingly call, she's too humble to call herself this. but my on-the-site course tutor, because when I do a lesson and I'm hiking with her, we'll talk about it. But I know that actually we're recording this just one day after the woman who brought, who basically published the Course in Miracles, Judith Skutch, passed away. And I was reading a lesson. I think it's lesson 163. I was reading something. I'm not on 163 yet, but it says there is no death. The son of God is free now, like you're free, meaning there is no death, but we're those humans of us, you know, still here. Right. I'm just curious. Cause I

know you were close to her. I'm curious if you have any thoughts on, on grief and the course or your perspective on that. Cause certainly I'm up close and personal to grief these days. and so is everybody else in their own way. Well, Judy was a much older woman. So in Judy's case, there's nothing except to be happy for her. Yeah, that's a good point. The case of a young person passing

is of course very different. Judy's death, however, cannot be called a tragedy. But I'll certainly tell you what the Course in Miracles says. The Course in Miracles says, physical birth is not the beginning of life, but a continuation of life.

Physical death is not the end of life, but a continuation of life. The Course in Miracles says the physical body is like a suit of clothes. When you take off your clothes, you don't think you're ending. And when we take off the body, they're not ending. New from Nespresso.

Blend wellness into your coffee routine with the Coffee Plus range, infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like Coffee Plus B12 to help support immune function and Coffee Plus B6 to keep your day moving. or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight our new double espresso with ginseng extract whatever lies ahead don't change your morning let your morning change you

discover coffee plus on espresso.com what god created cannot be uncreated so when someone has passed it's like imagine yourself a television set they're on cable they're still broadcasting but they're on cable. You don't get cable. Although often it's the death of someone who we love that actually leads us on a path of expansion to opening more of those cable stations so that we can pick up that broadcasting. Now, in the Christian religion, when Jesus says, death shall be the last enemy, what he meant is it will be the last thing you think of as an enemy because we will evolve to a point where someone's dropping their physical body will mean nothing to us other than the shadow is gone.

So we have our human experience of deep grief, which you certainly know well. What is in the New Testament, the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection? What is in the Old Testament, the 40 years between slavery in Egypt and deliverance to the promised land, that time element symbolizes the time it takes for our human experience to catch up with the change in consciousness. I'm sure that people have said to you and to your husband, the day will come, not that you ever forget him or would ever want to, but that your life will grow so large around it that it will become a peaceful memory and a peaceful relationship. Yes. So that takes time. So that's the symbolism of those 40 years

or the three days, depending which time it takes. You're, you're in the condition of slavery and the condition of the cross and the condition of the crucifixion of the horror, but your mind changes. And I know from having spoken to mutual friends of ours, yes, that you are actively involved in doing that work oh yeah not denying your human experience but denying its power to ultimately defeat you yes and one of the ways we and so it's what in the course of miracles is called positive denial you're not denying the experience you deny its capacity to to defeat us ultimately right to do the end yeah and so when the course of miracle says there is no death the son of god is free saying there there isn't any death and i don't feel that there's you know

in sammy's case and then really in my i've lost both my parents as well i feel that 100 that they shed their bio body suit you know and but there's still energy never dies but i'm also aware and i'm just throwing this at you to see what you think of it. I'm also aware that there's this balance within me where I'm very committed to not bypassing the human experience of my grief and my loss because Lord knows I could probably do that and go right to, you know, woo-woo, positive, you know, whatever. Like I have to be in this body and feel the loss. But at the same time, I also am aware, along the lines of your metaphor of network versus cable stations, that the lighter my density, the higher my body's frequency, the more elevated I am energetically, the easier I can access them. And so there's this constant balance in me between not ignoring the truth of the loss and the anger, not wallowing in it, but not ignoring it, and also being swimming in the peace.

You know, what are your thoughts about that balance? It's an art form. Navigating those waters is a journey that involves exactly what you said. the time to be heartbroken is when your heart is breaking, but you can feel it on one hand, you have to allow yourself, you know, we don't allow grief enough in our society. I agree. You know, when I was growing up, people wore widow's weeds. People didn't wear black all the time, the way we do now. And so when people wore black, it was a big deal. That's why Jews often have the black on the material in the Talmud. It says for the first year, most religious

traditions, focus on that first year to let you say in the Talmud, there's actually a place where it says during the first year, it is permissible for the immediate family member to get up during the meal. The rest of the time you're plopped. We live in a society where your mother died two months ago. Aren't you over it yet? The righteous response is no, I'm not. So what's important there, of course, Laura, and I'm sure you're very keen on this, is to surround yourself with people who recognize the balance themselves. Yeah. Who will, if you need to just sit down and cry today, will sit down and cry with you. If, but will also be sensitive enough to know, to say gently at another time. Do you feel like maybe going out and get your ass up? Yeah, that it is. And

especially in that first year. I think also the fact as you are exemplifying and demonstrating here being on your podcast, you keep moving the subconscious mind. And I've seen this in my own life. Or go with the flow and choose Ginseng Delight, our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you.

Discover Coffee Plus on Nespresso.com. The subconscious mind has a profound capacity to put something on a shelf. It does. For you to say, I have a podcast today at this time. I'm going to show up for it. I'm going to hold it together. And it's like something in your subconscious says, fine, we'll cry later. Yeah, absolutely.

And that's important and holding that. So it is the balance that you're assigned. And remember, grief is functional. Grief is not dysfunctional. You know, I used to say when I would lead grief support groups, this is a grief support group. It's not a grief denial group. it's just like a bruise you know if you have a big bruise on your arm other than putting arnica on it you can't rush it no you can't it's gonna heal and there is and because you i'll tell you something because you are sensitive to it the way you are because you are sophisticated about it the way you are because you are attending to all of the imperatives the way you are i'm sure you're already beginning to see but a year from now two years from now we'll see even more deeply the genius of your own psyche. Yes. Yeah. No, I can see glimpses of that now. And for someone like me, the challenge is not rushing to meaning, not rushing. We both have colleagues in the

personal empowerment field. My father died three months ago, and I have a book coming out next month about grief. It's very easy to rush as someone who lives in part of the purpose to heal and to teach. It's very easy to rush to what's next. And I felt that pressure from the outside. And that doer and performer in me has to really push it back and say, I don't know what the hell's going to happen. I know I'm just in the cocoon right now. I'm just going to do this little bit every day that feels good, that's in service to my healing, but everyone else's, and that's it. And I think, you know, it's hard for me to do. I think it's hard for everyone to do. Don't you think? Well, yes. However, I think the more you trust in a divine intelligence,

the more you realize your grief is not random the universe is not uncaring it really gets down into you know Einstein said either everything is a miracle and nothing is a miracle either God is on the case here or God is not on the case here if you believe in an all-loving universe then the universe is very hip to everything Laura needs at this time yeah everything your son needs everything your husband needs everything your family needs and everything that your your other son needs as well yeah and so being alert to that you know the idea that when I'm busy I don't have time to grieve is really nonsense because sometimes you know just like they say if you want to get something done ask a busy person to do it busy people are actually contrary to the myth of just we're

performing performing some of the most some of the people who achieve the most are those who realize, I must give an hour to silence reflection. You know, Blaise Pascal, and this goes back into the questions you were bringing up at the very beginning of what's going wrong. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, every problem in the world can be derived from, reduced to, traced back to, man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. You know, you see this not only in our individual experiences, but also in our collective experiences. When we left Afghanistan, we faced the fact that after 20 years, we left and the Taliban was back in power within 11 days. I know. That means we failed spectacularly. Spectacularly. Almost 2,000

Americans died, scores of thousands, some people say over 100,000 Afghans died, $2.3 trillion, $2 trillion of which went only to defense contractors. And we don't have a national psyche that could even take the time to ask ourselves, what just happened? And what just happened is exactly what happened in Iraq. And what just happened in Iraq is exactly what happened in Vietnam. That's true. And so their idea, the dominant political paradigm is so regressive. You're going to bring in some of the generals who were the ones who presided over the failure, not that all should be on them because they were acting at the behest of civilian leadership. So I'm not a fan for how the whole thing's been put on the military. The people

who presided over the failure had been brought in to tell us what went wrong. It's outrageous. We as a nation, as a society, that's why people like yourself, Laura, by taking the stand you are about Snapchat, about fentanyl, we have to do it. We have to say we are going to talk about meaningful things. I don't care if you don't like it. And we are pushing back. And that's what we need to be saying to our sisters. That's what we need to be saying to our communities. Not, I know you're sensitive. We need to be saying, speak up with me. Yes, come with me. Speak up with me. We are speaking up now for the sake of our children and the sake of our, and you know, just like in your area, you are educating people. I've learned from you. I learned from you. I

remember watching you. I learned, not that I was surprised because I already know how the system operate, but some of the specifics. Yeah. And in every field, whether it's listening to me or anybody else that the idea that, oh, I did, you know, I said to one woman, once I said, she said, I just don't know. I just don't know where to go to find out the information. I said, I have watched you get on the internet. You wanted a Donna Karan, pearl encrusted bra. you wanted size 34 C it was made five years ago. You would not get off the internet until you found it. Tell me you don't know how to check the internet. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Google it, baby. It's hilarious. Do you ever stop when a woman wants to find something? She knows we do. And

when we're angry, I mean, my, my husband always says there's nothing more powerful than an angry mama. And, you know, when we're all share that with you. Yeah, we should all share that with you because millions of children are at risk. And, you know, we have millions of children in the United States, over 23 percent who are hungry. I know we have millions of American children who go to school and schools where they don't even have adequate school supplies to teach a child to read. If a child can't learn to read by the chance of age of eight, the chances of high school graduation are drastically decreased, the chances of incarceration are drastically increased. When I was in college, we had 300,000 people in jail in the United States. We have 2.3 million

now. Wow. And that's not even a lot of time. No, well, in the 70s. Yeah, but still, that's what, 30, 40 years, 50 years. I mean, 50 years. That's a decade here. That's a decade or two, 50 years, but that's still... Just know things have gone down. That's the point. Things have gone down. Yeah. Do you ever stop and think about the impact you've had on so many millions of people? I feel very grateful to think that anything I've said or done has been of use to people. I'm very grateful and I feel very privileged, particularly grateful to Oprah, who I know has, uh, given you a platform that she has given me. And because I, my work would not have gotten out there at the level that has gotten mine either. And I'm deeply, deeply grateful

to her. Yeah. Wow. Yes. And we are very, very, I mean, I, I like, she is, wasn't a mate. I mean, and I, you had that platform many years. I only got, you know, I became, came into the platform toward the end of it, right? Like as she would last few seasons of her show and you, you know, it was not just, we definitely give Oprah a big credit there, but it's also you and how you resonate and your heart and your intentions and what you're committed to and what you're calling us all to action about. So definitely if you want to take your head out of the sand, or if it's already out of the sand and you want to take action and step up and are ready to really do that. And that's what we're calling on you to do to, to put love into action, go to

MarianneWilliamson.substack.com. And also is there information, where can they learn about the love and action? I'll be posting about it, but November 5th or 6th, if you can make it the love in action seminar. Yeah. And that's it in love and love in action, 2021 dot com love in action, 2021 dot com. And that's what myself, Catherine Woodward, Thomas, Deepak Chopra, Michael Beckwith, Ayanna Van Zandt, Andrew Harvey. Great. Yeah. Great people. Just all the greats of inspiration. And it's really, you're inspiring people along, you know, beyond the lines of what we, the little bit we've just talked about, but how, what love and action looks like in the world.

Well, I think when, you know, when you go back to what we were talking before about whatever your passion is, I think we have to, you know, the way I see the world, you and I were talking before about a divine intelligence, you know, the acorn is already programmed to become the oak tree. The bud is already programmed to become the blossom. The embryo is programmed to become the baby. And I think we are programmed to become everything that is our unlimited creative potential in this lifetime. That includes being people who know how to both endure and transform difficult moments.

The Course in Miracles says that God has the answer to every problem the moment the problem occurs. So if people go to love and action, it's not like I or any of the speakers going to say, you go do this. It's that you're going to end up feeling, I am so filled with insight. I am so clear about who to call. I am so clear what to look into. I am so clear what class to take. I am so clear what organization. I am so ready for action. Because what's happening now, Laura, it is one or the other. It is either the fall of Rome or a new renaissance. Yes. A new earth. Yeah. yeah it's one or the other this is the pivotal moment we can't idle and this is it and we can't

idle it neutral is unsustainable because you as much as anyone on the planet knows what the status quo hath wrought yes i got a front row seat to that you sure did you should and we're and it's affecting love from us thank you and it's affecting all of us whether we are in the middle of the tragedy or not. And I think that's what's really important. You know, if it may not be on your doorstep yet, you know, but it's affecting your life. You know, I've been saying for so long, if it's a public issue, it will get to your private door. Yes. I've said to people for so long, good luck with all that green juice. Good luck with all that gluten free. You know, they're poisoning the water, right? You know, they're poisoning the air, right? How do you

think you can wall yourself off? How are you going to wall yourself off if the tornado hits your town? How are you going to wall yourself off if the hurricane hits your town? How are you going to wall yourself off? Or as in cases like yours, it's just a limit to how much any individual can have a thousand eyes in there. We can't live that way. We can't. So this idea that only individual action, all I can, and also when I hear Americans

say, all I can do is take care of my own corner. No, that's actually not all you can do. Not if you're living in a democracy where one person can make a hell of a lot of difference. And then the other thing I think, Laura, is for us to show up for each other when we need the help. I know for you, if you say, I've heard you talk about your issue, if you put the call out, okay, we're all going to Washington. Well, I happen to live here, but if you, you know, I mean. Oh, I will. I've got, they've got still being drafted right now to make social media companies that have children on any social media company that has children on them must allow parental monitoring software. And they don't want to because Snapchat doesn't want to. And TikTok doesn't want to because they don't want anyone else having access to any of their data. So it's

all economic because they want to keep that to sell themselves. And they're afraid that if an outside parent monitoring system that would alert the parent when their child is talking to a drug dealer or a prostitution ring or a predator or is getting bullied or anything else. They don't want to do that because then they're accidentally allowing some of their data to go to a third party app. And that's the only reason. And they say, oh, we're going to create our own. But like Instagram created their own and the kid can turn it off. Like that's their version of creating parent monitoring software. So, that's the bill. Wendy Wasserman Schultz is going to spearhead, and we're hoping to get both. I think everyone can agree that where children are concerned,

privacy should not be as much of an issue when it comes to social media. The social media companies should not be allowed to fall back on privacy laws and keep us from monitoring our children, or our children shouldn't be on those apps, and they shouldn't be allowed to market to children. Everything you just said is so important. I hope you will let me interview you about it. I certainly would want to put it on my sub stack and put it out.

I know when I was listening to you, and I hope that this is true of everyone who is listening now, Captain, just tell us what to do. That's the next step. The next step is for everyone who just heard you to make a mental note when Laura puts it out, what she needs us to do,

that we will put it on our on our social media, that we will call our congresspeople and lobby for that bill. And once again, this goes back into no longer being disengaged from politics. Debbie Wasserman Schultz can put the bill out there, but then it has to get to the point where the leader of the House would actually, you know, bring it to vote. That's where people have to become politically active. You know, you were captaining it. Now it's going to take millions of us calling our congresspeople standing for this calling our senators saying we want this and it you know they're much like mothers against drug and strong driving although i think that's had some the best of intentions but i think some of what happened with that has has not all been

really politically well not politically it's just that they're i think they're i've met many women in jail. A young girl, she's 18 years old. She's drunk or stoned, no different than you and I might've been when we were 18. But you and I were lucky she wasn't. Someone was killed in the car. How does that help society that she's still in jail? So you think that was like the Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Well-intentioned and they did a lot of good. Please don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to be misunderstood there, but that has some complications to it. Interesting. Yeah. See, we'll have to read your sub stack to learn about that. Yeah. Well, right now I would love to, what you were just talking about, and I want everybody

who is listening right now, please know what Laura said has got to be something that you're going to need all of us. And we see this as a, I'm there. I know I'm really there with you, Laura. And I hope everybody listening is just going to take all of us calling our Congress people, putting it on our platform. So you just tell us when, when will that bill be hopefully soon. I mean, I heard it was going to be a couple of weeks that it would be finished being written. And as soon as there is action to take and people to call, I will be, I will definitely let you know and put it out there, but it will be soon within the next, hopefully within the next couple of weeks, if all goes well, I will definitely put it on my platform. And I hope

But many people who are listening right now, that's that's the psychological shift, the psychological shift. A lot of it has to do with sisterhood. It's not enough to just hear you say it. Now, everybody listening needs to say, OK, I'm going to be on that. I'm going to do that. Yeah, you're making that intention. I'm looking for that. I'm aware of it. It's on my radar and I'm going to take action. And I'm going to call my congressperson. People have got to stop disengaging from the political process. And you actually can call your congressperson. Exactly. And actually, it's as you say, my name is such and such.

I live at such and such address. This is a constituent call. Now, you might think to yourself, my congressman, that person who took that my name and got my message is not going to tell the congressman or the congresswoman. But if 12 of those calls come into the office, they sure as heck will. Yes, they will. They'll say, hey, we got a lot of calls today. Exactly.

That's exactly how it happens. Yes. And imagine if they get 100. Okay. We cannot afford for our Congress people to only hear from us every two years or every four years when the corporate lobbyists they are hearing from all day, every day. Snapchat's money. Snapchat's lobbyists are in their ears. I've come across that.

Exactly. So you and I got to make up for that. We have to be louder than the lobbyists. That's right. When hatred and immorality is shouting, love can't afford to just whisper. Yeah. Amen. That was beautiful.

Amen. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all your wisdom, all you do for us and the way that you continue to wake us up and shake us up. Right back at you. And in addition, I know I speak for so many who have already made this clear to you, our

deepest condolences to you and your family, but also I know for, I speak for so many and how admiring I am for the space that you are holding now, uh, for what you are demonstrating and also for the work that you're starting to do and will do in the future. So count me on the team. Thank you so much. I love you, Marianne. We'll talk soon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know, the same way you can skip an ad? I get it.

I'm Siyaya and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. Where some see heroes and others see egos,

Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion-dollar swings, the end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com.