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Marianne Williamson
March 01, 2005
The Spiritual Basis of Self-Esteem
Excerpt from The Gift of Change by Marianne Williamson
I have learned, when my life has been most painful, that the me who can be hurt is not the real me. The woman in me, the professional in me, the writer in me, the teacher in me--what do they all mean? Are they not but bricks in a spiritual prison, seeking to circumscribe my life, when in fact a life cannot be circumscribed? What difference does it make if someone betrays me when my real self, my spirit, cannot be betrayed? Is not an insult an opportunity for me to look at the part of myself that can be insulted and say, "Ha, you're not even really me"? Is not the true self beyond sickness? Then who is it that gets sick? Is not the true self unlimited? Then who is it that can be imprisoned? Is not the true self eternal? Then who is it that dies?
That is the question: who are we, really? For if we think we are only small and separate, mortal beings, then the world we create will reflect that belief. We will live in a world of separation and suffering and death. Yet when we change our sense of who we are--when we realize we are boundless, unified with all lif--then the human experience as we know it transforms. The one exercise repeated in the workbook of A Course in Miracles states the following: "I am as God created me." In some essential way we still are who we were at the moment of our creation, and all problems derive from our forgetting that.
If you are as God created you, then no mistakes you've ever made or anyone's judgments or negative opinions about you can in any way determine who you are or change your value.* In the Holy Instant, we can remember our divine essence and choose to express it. And whatever we express will be reflected back to us. The universe is always ready to give us new beginnings that reflect our innocence, but we are not always ready to receive them. The sun can dawn, but we don't see it if the drapes are closed. No matter how much God loves us, we don't feel it if we don't believe it. As long as we think that we are less than God's perfect creation, then the experiences we attract to ourselves will be less than God's perfect creation. As we believe, so shall it seem to be.
. . ."Yet to the ego, that is not humility but arrogance, and you deserve a strong comeuppance for daring to believe in yourself."
~Excerpt From The Gift of Change by Marianne Williamson (pg 32-34)
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