You know, some young man said to me one of my lectures a few years ago, well, you know, Ms. Williamson, really, I mean, you're just kind of an ex-hipy, and you guys were just sex, drugs, and rock and roll, really.

And I remember saying, excuse me, that was just part of the day?

I said, the rest of the day, we stopped a war.

What have you done, young man?

Thank you.

Yeah. young man. Thank you. Hi, I'm Jeff Krasno and welcome to Commune, where every week we explore the ideas,

values, and practices that bring us together and help us live healthy and purpose-filled

lives. So what do you want to be when you grow up? I would have loved to be a fly on the

wall when someone asked a young Marianne Williamson that question. Today, it can be difficult to

sum up everything that she's done in her life. She's a spiritual teacher,

a prolific speaker, a best-selling author, a philanthropist, a community organizer, an activist,

and a former congressional candidate. You may have read her hugely successful book,

A Return to Love, or listened to her groundbreaking lectures on the book A Course in Miracles.

The consistent theme in her career is spiritual transformation and political activism.

But when Marianne began speaking and writing on those topics, a professional path wasn't really visible.

Today, we get to chat with the world-renowned Marianne Williamson about how she carved her own career path,

and we take a look at the history of American politics through a spiritual lens.

This career niche didn't exist when I began my career, so I didn't think of it as a career.

When I was growing up, you could be a clergy, you know, organized religion, or you could be an academic.

You could be a teacher of comparative religion, let's say. Those were the only

two niches. There weren't people, like you used the phrase, spiritual teacher, whatever this

career niche is today. So when I started lecturing on a course in Miracles, I didn't think of it

...