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January 29, 2008
My Journey To Obama
By Marianne Williamson
I didn't start out with him.
I thought people were projecting wildly onto him, making positive assumptions that he hadn't earned and filling in empty spaces in his resume with mere hopes of substance. But the longer campaign season has worked for me; having watched the candidates move through time, I've seen who's grown and who hasn't. I've ended up – at least for now – with Obama.
I'm perplexed by the question often presented by his opponents, "Yeah, but how is he really going to change things?" To me, he already has. He has awakened the sleeping giant of American democracy, and that is the greatest antidote to every problem we face.
Then there's the "Yeah, but it's all just pretty words" argument. Oh please. Kind of like, "Of the people, by the people, and for the people"? "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"? "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country"? And "I have a dream"? Are we to think words never actually changed the world? For me personally, he had me at "Yes, We Can."
Of course, there's the notion that someone else might know what to do from Day One, given how much experience she's already had in Washington. But one of the things I like about Obama is that he hasn't had more experience in Washington. I think he's had just enough to know what he's doing, but not so much that his consciousness has been completely permeated by the rules of that game. When I think of the American government, I'm reminded of a line oft said in Alcoholics Anonymous, "Your best thinking got you here." I don't support Obama because of his position on specific issues; I support him because of his worldview.
To quote Einstein: "We will not solve the problems of the world from the level of thinking we were at when we created them." Obama is a dreamer, and I say Good for him. Only Bobby Kennedy's mythic idealist – who "dreams of what hasn't been and asks 'why not?'" -- will have the power to lead with a new state of consciousness. And nothing short of a new state of consciousness will create a new state of the world.
Obama is a risk -- as is any new President, actually -- because we don't really know where he would lead us. But his main opponent, in my mind, is a greater risk -- because we do. She has clarity and brilliance about a world that is, but he has visions and intimations of a world that could be. He's the natural heir to Bobby Kennedy's mantle of a pioneer who seeks a newer world. There's a wagon train behind him, and I'm on it.
Because I am a dreamer too.
Posted by mwblog at 08:41 AM | Comments (10)
January 28, 2008
Feminism in the Age of Now
"What! You're not voting for Hillary? But I thought you were such a feminist!"
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times. So let me explain why I'm not voting with my vagina…
As a feminist, I believe nurturing and nourishing a world trying to be born is the most effective way to heal the malevolent effects of a world that needs to pass away.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I believe inclusion is more powerful and life producing than is exclusion.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I believe tending and mending is a more effective way to deal with the world's stress points than is fighting or fleeing.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I believe having a vision for what I want the world to become is more important than simply solving the problems that have arisen in the world that is.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I'm more concerned with creating a world my great, great grandchildren can live in than in trying to make things better for me right now.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I am convinced that building authentic relationships is a more effective, creative way to build peace than just strategizing to destroy enemies and manipulating alliances.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I relate more to the honest sharing of a wife who sometimes misses a note, to the too-scripted sharing of a woman who never does.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I look forward to voting for the first woman President; but when I do, I want her to be one whose positions and policies reflect a feminine worldview.
That is why I support Obama.
As a feminist, I get that masculine armor is not our strength, our ability to love is our greatest power, and our urge to repair is our greatest calling.
That is why I support Obama, pray for him unceasingly, try to strengthen his chances…. and will support whoever wins.
----- Marianne Williamson
Posted by mwblog at 08:13 PM | Comments (1)
