The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money, and Miracles (The Marianne Williamson Series) - Hardcover

Williamson, Marianne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062205412 ISBN 13: 9780062205414

Publisher: HarperOne, 2012

Synopsis

Marianne Williamson is a bestselling author (Return to Love, Healing the Soul of America), a world-renowned teacher, and one of the most important inspirational thinkers of our time. In The Law of Divine Compensation, she reveals the spiritual principles that help us overcome financial stress and unleash the divine power of abundance. A guru to anyone interested in spirituality, Williamson's words ring with power and truth as she assures us that, with faith in God's promise of prosperity for all, we need never fear the future.

About this title

About the Author

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and activist. Six of her published books have been New York Times bestsellers. Her books include A Return to Love, A Year of Miracles, The Law of Divine Compensation, The Gift of Change, The Age of Miracles, Everyday Grace, A Woman’s Worth, and Illuminata. She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Good Morning America, and Charlie Rose.

From the Back Cover

Unleash the Divine Power of Abundance

“Author, activist, and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson is often considered one of the defining voices for a new generation of spiritual seekers.”—Spirituality and Health

“Williamson focuses on what defines meaningful work and how our jobs can be an extension of our spirituality. As she teaches . . . the sense of endless possibility to reshape our lives unfolds.”—Huffington Post

“The Law of Divine Compensation assures us that everything will be all right since the universe is set up to work for us. . . . We are challenged to believe that miracles do happen and what is lacking can become abundant.”—Spirituality and Practice

Reviews

For more than 30 years, Williamson, a student and teacher of the spiritual “discipline” called A Course in Miracles, has been distilling the guide’s dense texts for a general audience. Her seminal piece, A Return to Love (1992), remains a classic of spirituality writing, and in subsequent books, she has used parts of that original volume to show how the Course can be applied to such diverse problems as reshaping America and even losing weight. Here the task is to explain how the Course’s core principles—everything but love is an illusion, and letting go of fear and shifting one’s trust into a loving state produce miracles—apply to people who are broke and broken. Williamson’s easy, caring writing style makes almost anything seem possible, and here it is used to best advantage to rethink issues about why people continue to have doubts even under the best of financial conditions. The take here is that while today’s circumstances make it easy to believe in scarcity rather than abundance, in spirit there is never a lack of possibility. The rest of the book goes on to “prove” this is true and offer ways to incorporate more positive thinking into one’s life. Fans will appreciate this approach; unbelievers will scoff; but those in the middle, given Williamson’s gentle power of persuasion, might say, “It can’t hurt.” HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Most of Williamson’s books have been best-sellers, and she’s a familiar media face who knows how to attract an audience. --Ilene Cooper

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Law of Divine Compensation

By Marianne Williamson

HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright ©2012 Marianne Williamson
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-06-220541-4

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

The Law of Divine Compensation

Some people walk into a room and the word "winner"is written all over them. You don't necessarily knowwhat their secret is, but you wish you had it. Was it theirchildhood programming? Family connections? Someamazing talent?

As many successful people as there are in the world,there are that many reasons for success. But one kindof material abundance derives from an almost other-worldlycharisma, a sense of magic some people carryaround with them like an aura of destiny. They mayor may not have had the past experiences one normallyassociates with material success; their success seemsalmost to have come from something else.

This book is about that "something else" and thepower that it gives us. It's about a spiritual zone that hasnothing to do with where we've been, how or whetherwe've been educated, or whether we've succeeded so faror have failed miserably. It's about the ultimate successand perfection of God, potential in all of us whethermade manifest or not, yet always available for full expression.Each of us is pregnant with the manifestation of thatperfection, for that is who we are.

By aligning yourself with thoughts of infinite love foryourself and others, you gain dominion over the lowerthought forms of the world.

This way is not a substitute for any worldly path tosuccess so much as an inner way that informs all others.It is a path to material abundance through immaterialmeans, and a set of spiritual keys to worldly power. Theways of spirit are not the ways of sacrifice, but rather away of opening yourself fully to the infinite glories ofthe universe.

The glories are there. They merely await your acceptance.What follows is an explanation of what they are,how they operate, and how you can tap into them.The universe is set up to work on your behalf.

The world is not a giant, uncaring, random expressionof biological processes, but rather a living, breathingreflection of love for all living things. The universe itselfis miraculous.

You do not have to believe this, of course. It mightnot feel that way to you at all.

But spiritual laws aren't called "the good news" fornothing. Spiritual truth is always at work, beyond whatthe eye can see. It describes an invisible "other world"that exists in a realm beyond our mortal circumstances.Our interaction with the spiritual world is governed byour thoughts. When we know this truth and consciouslyalign our thoughts with it - sometimes even despite howwe feel - we activate its spiritual power. We transform ourmortal circumstances by bringing our thoughts aboutthem into alignment with a world that lies beyond.

If you think of yourself as being at the effect of arandom universe that does not care about you, thenyou will experience your life that way. If you think ofyourself as being at the effect of a loving universe thatdoes care about you, then you will experience your lifethat way.

No matter what is happening in our lives, we choosehow we wish to think about it. And the greatest gift wegive ourselves is often our willingness to change ourminds. Despite what might seem to be the saddest andmost intractable situation, we have the power to believethat something else is possible, that things can change,that a miracle can happen.

This simple shift in how we think can make all thedifference in what happens next. How we think releasesan infinite number of possibilities that could not haveoccurred had we not believed that they were possible. Suchis the power of our thoughts to attract as well as deflectmiraculous breakthroughs.

Free will means you can think whatever you want tothink. You cannot, however, make untrue what is trueor true what is untrue. The universe does care aboutyou. The universe is set up to work on your behalf. Andthe universe is capable of bringing miraculous transformationto any situation of brokenness or lack. Regardless of whathas happened in your life, the universe is able andprepared to bring you comfort and repair.

You are loved, and your purpose is to love. From amind filled with infinite love comes the power to createinfinite possibilities. We have the power to think inways that reflect and attract all the love in the world.Such thinking is called enlightenment. Enlightenmentis not a process we work toward, but a choice availableto us in any instant.

Enlightenment is the answer to every problem. Inany situation where you seem to be at the effect of forcesover which you have no control, remember that Goddwells within your mind, and there are no forces overwhich He has no control. Therefore, through His powerwithin you, there are no mortal conditions over whichyou are powerless. Whenever your good is obscured bythe appearances of a nonloving world, the universe isprogrammed to lift you out of that condition and returnyou to an abundant state.

As an expression of divine perfection, the universeis both self-organizing and self-correcting. To whateverextent your mind is aligned with love, you will receivedivine compensation for any lack in your materialexistence. From spiritual substance will come materialmanifestation. This is not just a theory; it is a fact. It isa law by which the universe operates. I call it the Law ofDivine Compensation.

Just as there are objective, discernible laws of externalphenomena, so there are objective, discernible laws ofinternal phenomena. The law of gravity, for instance, isnot just a "belief." It is true whether or not you believeit. Spiritual laws are not just beliefs, either; they aredescriptions of how consciousness operates.

Once we know this law - that there is a natural tendencyof the universe to improve all things - then welean naturally into the arms of God and allow Him tolift us up. We surrender our thoughts, then He upliftsour thoughts, then our experiences change.

The practical issue is whether we choose thoughtsthat activate or deactivate the Law of Divine Compensation.We activate it with every loving thought. We deactivateit when we give more credence to the reality and powerof the material world than to the reality and power of love.If our circumstances tempt us to think thoughtssuch as, "I must not be good enough," "I will never haveanother chance," "It will take forever for this to rightitself," or "I hate whoever is to blame for this," thenmiracles, though they are programmed into the natureof the universe, cannot make their way into our awareness.With every thought we think, we either summon or blocka miracle.

It is not our circumstances, then, but rather ourthoughts about our circumstances, that determine ourpower to transform them.

The Law of Divine Compensation applies equallyto all situations, but in this book we will focus on itsapplication to money and the lack thereof. In a time ofeconomic uncertainty - when circumstances make itparticularly tempting to believe in the scarcity of thematerial plane over the abundance of the spiritual - ourcapacity to think differently is the miracle-worker's edge.Bills stare you in the face. Foreclosure looms.

Credit is wrecked. Jobs aren't available. And with allthat comes chaos on many fronts. Who doesn't need amiracle then?

If you identify only with your body and its reality,rather than with your spirit and its reality, then you'retempted to think that diminished material assets somehowdiminish who you are. But you are not merely abeing of the material world; you are a being of unlimitedspirit. And in spirit there is no lack. You are not lackingjust because your circumstances are.

If your core belief is "I lack" and you carry that beliefwith you, then you will subconsciously perpetuate orcreate the circumstances that reflect the belief. But yourcircumstances are completely malleable: they simplyreflect the dictates of your mind.

Regardless of what limits exist in your materialworld, your immutable truth is that you are an unlimitedspiritual being. By remembering this, you summonthe Law of Divine Compensation.

You are a loving idea in the Mind of God. Circumstancesshould not and need not tempt you to believeotherwise. The universe showers you with love not becauseof what you have done or not done, but because ofwho you are. Think of the universe itself as a personallove note from God to you. God is love, and in sharingHis love you share His power. By aligning yourselfwith thoughts of infinite love for yourself and others,you gain dominion over the lower thought forms of theworld.

In a material sense, your situation might indeedbe bleak. You might have been given a raw deal, evenbeen betrayed by others. You yourself might have madea huge mistake. Still, what matters is what you thinknow: Are you lingering in the past, or are you allowingfor a miracle in the present? Are you blaming yourselfand others, or blessing yourself and others? Are youclinging to your faith in the reality of the disaster, oropening your mind to the possibility of a miracle?Realign your thoughts with the thoughts of God, and inany given instant the universe is ready to begin again.The laws of time and space are more malleable than wethink.

Mistakes and wrong turns need not throw us off.The capacity for correction is built into the universe,just as it is into the workings of a GPS. If you'veprogrammed an address into your GPS but then take adifferent turn than it recommends, the GPS automaticallycreates a new route. And so does the universe.

Perhaps you thought you'd get to where you wantedto be financially through achieving a certain credential,doing a particular job, or making a particular investment.But then something happened: the economyworsened, you made a mistake, or someone else did.The Law of Divine Compensation gives us the assurancethat the universe will simply create a new route.

What is lacking shall become abundant, and what iswounded shall be healed. From "out of the blue" - ormiracle-mindedness - miracles will flow forth naturally.Why? Because perfection is your eternal home, to whichthe universe is programmed to return you whenever youhave deviated, for whatever reason, from the thoughtsthat get and keep you there.

That is how loved you are.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Law of Divine Compensation by Marianne Williamson. Copyright © 2012 by Marianne Williamson. Excerpted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062205412
• ISBN 13: 9780062205414
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208