To All the Marianne Williamson Haters Out There

I get it…but she’s actually on Team Humanity.

Marianne Williamson wouldn’t be considered a mainstream, button-up traditionalist. She evokes “woo”, and she has a spiritual vocabulary that gives many science-oriented people an allergic itch. Believe me, I get it.

When you saw her on the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary Debate stage, you probably thought “WTF is she doing up there?! It detracts from serious contenders.” And if you weren’t familiar with her before 2020, you might have gotten the impression that she’s a mystical kook whose spirit guide dragged her out of a crystal cave to run for president. If I thought that were true, I’d be disturbed by Marianne Williamson too.

But there’s a more nuanced and productive perspective we could take.

Critical thinking is fine, misogyny is not

To be sure, there are things that give me pause about Marianne Williamson, like her squishy stance on recommended healthcare approaches.

While she clearly isn’t a grift-y anti-vax promoter, I still think she walks too fine a line when it comes to vaccines and other health matters. But in our black and white, if-you’re-not-with-us-you’re-against-us world, anyone trying to express a complex opinion is going to be torn apart in the modern-day torture rack called “Social Media.” In fact, that’s what prompted me to write this post.

Recently one of my favorite podcasts made merciless fun of one of her Tweets. While I love the Conspirituality Podcast guys and think they are doing important work, it got me wondering why so many people hate on Marianne Williamson and with such seething vitriol. I quickly found plenty of articles about how “dangerous” and “scary” she is (for example, here and here), most written in response to her running for president in 2020 and most written by white men (with plenty of women echoing their sentiments).

Now I’m not aiming to smash the patriarchy with this post, but I wouldn’t mind whittling it down a bit. So I’m offering up a different perspective on Marianne Williamson — one with gratitude for her nudging me away from the patriarchy, toward the more fertile ground of holistic thinking…

Another perspective

I was living in Los Angeles in the early 1990s when a friend brought me to one of Marianne Williamson’s lectures. I had never heard of her or read any of her books (still haven’t). Nor was I familiar with A Course in Miracles, the bible-sized tome she lectured on (to this day, I’ve never been able to scratch the surface). But being raised Catholic, I was comfortable with “spiritual speak” and so I was curious.

I ended up attending about a dozen Marianne Williamson lectures over the course of a couple years and never encountered proselytizing or pressure to join any group or give money (besides a small suggested donation to cover costs). Never once did I get an insincere or “kooky” vibe.

Here was this well-spoken, confident woman, talking about “God” in a large, jam-packed theater. She took familiar terminology — which I had only heard in reference to an external, male savior — and made it relevant to everyday life that a 20-something like me could appreciate. She would talk about relationship and career issues through a spiritual lens, in a way that made sense in a secular world. And when she talked about society, democracy, or world events, she inspired participation.

Fast forward a few decades. Now an older Marianne Williamson, still poised and confident, was on the presidential debate stage. Though she wasn’t my candidate of choice, I could see how her “one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other” vibe freaked people out. Yet during the familiar, staid formulaic debates, I welcomed her fresh re-frame to issues and wished more people could have done the same.

Sure, Marianne Williamson isn’t for everyone. But for many like me, she opened up a different way of thinking about the spiritual ideology that has dominated for so long. The Roman Catholic church I knew only allowed ordained men to give sermons on the altar, while women were considered “separate but equal” (at best).

Though I always sensed something was off with the church’s patriarchal structure, it wasn’t until I encountered Marianne Williamson’s work that I understood how valuable a woman’s voice could be in addressing deep societal and spiritual issues. And as I’ve grown older and wiser myself, I’ve come to know how badly women’s voices are needed — particularly as yet another war rages.

That’s why it pains me to see sincere, compassionate women being torn down. We already have too many in the patriarchy fighting for a return to a mythical past where order and imperialism reign. As we push to create a society where equality thrives instead, let’s not defeat our purpose by harkening back to the trials of Salem.

We need wise voices, including yours

Assuming democracy survives this moment in history, it will be because of voices like Marianne Williamson’s, who…

respect humanity and the fragility of the planet,

are unafraid to speak their truth,

bring fresh, courageous ideas to the table,

and advocate for all of the above as part of paving the path toward a brighter future.

We’ll only arrive at that future when more of us chip away at old ways of thinking. As more people open their minds — while still being discerning — things will start to shift. And perhaps as this happens, we’ll be able to see the value of both science and spirituality, without one negating the other.

So challenge yourself to hold space for those people who encourage you to reexamine unhealthy norms and replace them with better, more loving ones. Because as you break away from outdated and limited ways of thinking, that’s also when you’ll find your voice.

And when your voice joins the chorus, real change starts to happen.

But don’t be surprised if, like Marianne Williamson, you encounter harsh resistance. Share your voice anyway. It’s a far better use of your time than tearing people down.