"Within the next ten years, America will experience a renaissance or a catastrophe. Something is going to happen to take us back to who we are. We have lost our spiritual rudder, and without it we have neither individual nor collective wisdom. Our culture has lost its sense of sacred connection ..."Within the next ten years, America will experience a renaissance or a catastrophe. Something is going to happen to take us back to who we are. We have lost our spiritual rudder, and without it we have neither individual nor collective wisdom. Our culture has lost its sense of sacred connection to any power or authority higher than ourselves. Our national conscience is barely alive as we slither like snakes across a desert floor toward any hole where money lies. Nothing short of an internal awakening will heal this wounded nation.

Both major political parties now steer the discussion of what truly ails us away from that which actually does, seeking to lodge us where they are lodged: in dangerous denial. They have no context for a more psychologically or morally pertinent discussion. They are now more alike than different, and neither one of them is any longer whom to truly serious political alternatives. They have become a game unto themselves. Our political renewal will not come from our political system as it now exists. It will come from deep within us.

There is a new prophetic voice in America, saying, as do all prophets, that we must repent -- which means literally to "rethink." This new prophetic voice is not a soloist but a choir. This time it will not be possible to silence one prophet, or even a few, and thereby stymie a broad-based social impulse for decades. This time, a prophetic calling is seizing the hearts of a critical mass. It is a voice of group conscience and a redefinition of citizen activism in American democracy.

It is time once more for the average American citizen to turn to the dominant power structure of our time and say, as did our Founders over two hundred years ago, "We have a better idea."

Author's Bio: 

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer. She has published eight books, four of which - including the mega bestseller A RETURN TO LOVE and the newly-released EVERYDAY GRACE - have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her titles also include ILLUMINATA, A WOMAN'S WORTH, and HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA. She also edited IMAGINE: What American Could Be in the 21st Century, a compilation of essays by some of America's most visionary thinkers.

Ms. Williamson has been a popular guest on numerous television programs such as Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and Charlie Rose.

Marianne Williamson has lectured professionally since 1983. In 1989, she founded Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area. Today, Project Angel Food serves over 1,000 people daily.

Ms. Williamson also co-founded the Global Renaissance Alliance (GRA), a worldwide network of peace activists. The mission of the GRA is to harness the power of non-violence as a social force for good.

Ms. Williamson's latest book - EVERYDAY GRACE Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness and Making Miracles, was published by Riverhead Books (Nov 2002) and quickly reached #1 on the New York Times Best-Seller List (Dec 2002).