DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711140034

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER  

                                            LENGTH:   99 lines

AUTHOR SAYS SPIRITUALITY IS FUELING POLITICAL ACCTIVISM IN U.S.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON'S writing crosses religious lines and delves into the deepest elements of human spirituality.

That's what followers in Hampton Roads say about the author who has been on The New York Times bestseller list three times. She is known as Oprah Winfrey's spiritual mentor, the talk-show host having bought 1,000 copies of Williamson's ``Return to Love'' to give to friends.

Hampton Roads fans can get a glimpse of Williamson on Sunday, when she appears in Suffolk as part of a tour for her new book, ``The Healing of America.''

``Her books are asked for on a daily basis,'' said Donna Pecoraro, manager of Waldenbooks at Lynnhaven Mall. ``We sell everything she has written. She certainly has her own following.''

A manager of another local book store calls Williamson's works ``fantastic.''

Williamson is one of the most recognized names in contemporary spiritual literature and philosophy. In addition to Winfrey, celebrity followers include Cher, Raquel Welch and Liz Taylor. (Williamson presided at Taylor's last wedding.)

Millions of non-celebrities have snapped up her first three books, ``A Return to Love,'' ``A Woman's Worth,'' and ``Illuminata.'' Also, writing with her 7-year-old daughter, Emma, she's published a children's book, ``Emma and Mommy Talk to God.''

``She is one of the visionary lights on this planet today,'' said Cheryl LaBrucherie, one of the author's personal assistants.

Williamson is a 45-year-old single mother who started her literary career while working for the Los Angeles Philosophical Society. Her first book was based on the ``Course in Miracles,'' after she started lecturing on the subject.

The course, composed in 1975 by three Columbia University professors, promotes the idea that miracles aren't extraordinary at all. They are everyday happenings caused by natural expressions of love, said Dr. Catherine Clark, a member of the Oneness Center for Purposeful Living and Leadership, the organization sponsoring Williamson's Suffolk appearance.

Her newest book, ``The Healing of America,'' notes a spiritually motivated activism now emerging in America, according to Clark.

``Within the next 10 years, America will experience a renaissance or a catastrophe,'' Williamson says in the book. ``Something is going to happen to take us back to who we are. We have lost our spiritual rudder, and without it, we will have neither individual nor collective wisdom.''

In the book, Williamson shares her vision of a new political understanding based on a return to the spiritual and political tenets of our founding fathers, Clark said. She reminds readers that they are heirs to a philosophical and political fortune and urges Americans to reacquaint themselves with those ``first principles,'' transform them into vital, living truths, and use them to build a citizen-based political culture.

``Our culture has lost its sense of sacred connection to any power or authority higher than ourselves,'' Williamson says in her book. ``Nothing short of an internal awakening will heal this wounded nation.''

Oneness, the sponsoring group, is a non-profit organization serving as a catalyst for positive change. Founded in 1990, the purpose of the organization is to provide opportunities for personal growth ``through a deeper understanding of our human and divine nature,'' group officials say.

The group also is asking the mayors of Hampton Roads cities to declare Sunday, the day of Williamson's appearance, as The Healing of America in Hampton Roads Day.

``Most importantly, we are asking that every person in Suffolk and other cities in Hampton Roads observe a few moments of silence and prayer at noon, with the intent of the Healing of Hampton Roads and America,'' Clark said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Marianne Williamson

Graphics

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Appearance by author Marianne Williamson

WHEN: 3 p.m. SundayWHERE: Temple Beth El, U.S. Route 17 in

Suffolk, near the Chesapeake line.

COST: $20 in advance through Ticketmaster, 671-8100. $25 at the

door.

INFORMATION: 455-3555.

PRINCIPLES FROM ``THE HEALING OF AMERICA''

1. The power within us is greater than any power outside us.

2. Government should concern itself less with how to allocate our

external resources and more with how to harness our internal ones.

3. The source of wealth is our capacity for genius. Creation of

wealth through the stimulation of creative thinking is thus the

primary source of economic recovery and stimulation.

4. The highest political dialogue is not adversarial but rather a

synergistic conversation between high-minded liberal visions for the

country and high-minded conservative ones.

5. The politics of hate is a branch that does not bear fruit.

That is why another branch is starting to grow. Love is a more

powerful political and social tool than hatred.

6. We will not move forward as a nation without repenting for our

lack of righteousness toward other Americans in the past and

present, and all other nations in the world.

7. We must acknowledge the power of the inner life, the wisdom

found in silence and the primacy of the voice of conscience.

Otherwise, the American experiment will end. It shall have failed.

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