After a Far-Out Debate, Marianne Williamson Returns to Her 'Soul Base'

[DonViejo]

“I think like so many people here think. You don’t actually think you’re wacky when you’re here.”

Tarpley Hitt
Reporter

Updated 07.16.19 6:48PM ET Published 07.16.19 5:55PM ET

On Tuesday evening, a crowd of several hundred people milled around the art-deco lobby of the Saban Theatre, an “entertainment industry temple” in Beverly Hills, surrounded by blue light and a floor full of pink balloons. At least three attendees wore flower crowns. A fourth sported Mickey Mouse ears decked out as giant purple orbs. They had come to see Marianne Williamson, activist, author, friend of Oprah, metaphysical guru, longtime lecturer on a “spiritual psychotherapy” guidebook allegedly dictated by Jesus, and 2020 presidential candidate.

After a Cher Horowitzish debate performance, Williamson emerged as a half-loved, half-reviled, and somewhat-ignored political contender. But she is at home in Los Angeles. Though raised in Houston, The Politics of Love author moved to southern California as a teenager for a two-year stint at Pomona. Later, Williamson lived for decades in Los Angeles. She taught at the Philosophical Research Society, a non-profit archive dedicated to the study of “wisdom literature;” opened a hospice-like support center called the Los Angeles Center for the Living; founded Project Angel Food, an L.A. non-profit aimed at AIDS patients that delivered free meals; and wrote her first book, A Return to Love, which spent 39 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list under “Advice, How To, and Miscellaneous.” After a few years out of town, Williamson moved back in 2009, and ran as an independent for California’s 33rd Congressional district in 2014. Out of 16 contenders, she came in fourth.

That’s all in the past, though––a relic of 20th century rationalism and externally oriented problem solving, as Williamson likes to say. Tuesday’s fundraiser was about the present and the future, in which the spiritual leader plans to be serving as president. She kicked off the event with an a cappella God Bless America, a moment of prayer to the love that unites all people, and a brief call-and-response: “And so it is,” she murmured. “And so it is,” the audience echoed.

It marked Williamson’s first public appearance in Los Angeles since the debates and her June move to Des Moines, Iowa, the site of the critical first caucus state. Returning to L.A., Williamson told the crowd, felt something like eternal recurrence, in a good way.

“Coming back to Los Angeles always gives me a sense of soul base,” she said. “There has always been a sense for me that I was seen and heard in Los Angeles, because I think like so many people here think. You don’t actually think you’re wacky when you’re here. You just think like everyone else.”

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/marianne-williamson-returns-to-her-soul-base-after-a-far-out-202-debate?ref=home

[left-of-center2012]

1. Who?

[hlthe2b]

2. Did she really not think she'd need to modulate-- just a hair?

She's a walking, talking stereotype for New Age Los Angeles which is fine. But, to run for President, she's going to be treated as less than serious by the vast majority of the country and especially a Democratic constituency desperate for proof of competency after the damage done by Trump.

More to the point--after Trump,--how could anyone be seriously considering any less than the strongest, most proven candidate with demonstrated effectiveness in at least an applicable field? I just don't get it. She's the ONLY candidate, I just can not imagine why they are running unless it is simply for some personal objective.