Again, in those places where Marianne Williamson uses ‘love’ in a spiritual way that the meaning is ‘agape,’ the word was changed to ‘agape’ in these continuing quotes from The Gift of Change.
“Agape is our spiritual reality, untarnished by anything that has happened in the material world. A new commitment to agape is rising up from the depths of our humanity, and its power is changing us on a fundamental level. Recognizing who we are — that we are agape, that we are as God created us — is the most important thing we can do in any instant.
“In God we are infinite agape, and agape is the one and only force that hate and fear cannot withstand.
"So… regardless of who ridicules us, it’s important that we continue to celebrate agape — not only the good feeling it brings, but also its actual power to heal all things. On the level of true solution, agape is the answer no matter what category of human experience.
“The answer is that agape is inside us, just waiting to be unleashed. The darkness is an invitation to light, calling forth the spirit in all of us. Every problem implies a question: Are you ready to embody what you say you believe? Can you reach within yourself for enough agape, strength, forgiveness, clarity, serenity, patience, and faith to turn this around?
"As we block agape’s power to change our own lives, we block its power to change the world. As we release the fear-based thoughts we’ve been taught to think by a frightened and frightening world, we see God’s truth revealed: that who we are at our core is agape itself. And miracles occur naturally as expression of agape.
"Agape is to fear as light is to darkness: in the presence of one the other disappears. As we shift our perceptions from fear to agape (sometimes in cases where it’s not so hard and ultimately in cases where it takes spiritual mastery to do so) we become miracle workers in the truest sense.
"We don’t learn agape, which is already etched on our hearts; we do, however, begin to unlearn fear. And with every change we make from blame to blessing, we pierce the veil of illusion that separates us from the world we want.
"When we mentally identify with the realm of the spirit, we see endless agape, unlimited possibility, and the oneness of all things.
"It’s hard to stay loving in a loveless world. And yet, with God, it’s possible. When we spend more time working to view life through agapic eyes, and less time trying to figure out why we’re unhappy to begin with, then our lives transform much faster.
"We are here because we have a mission: to be the agape that is missing in a loveless world and thus reclaim this darkened world for light.
"God is present within us, in any moment, to help us return our minds to agape.
"Agape extended is the key to happiness; agape withheld is the key to suffering. The agape I seek can only be found as I extend my agape to others, then peace comes fairly easily.
"We were born with a natural desire to extend ourselves in agape, yet the thinking of the world then trains us to think unnaturally.
"All of us are on a spiritual path, but some people simply don’t know it. All of us, individually and collectively, are being forced by circumstances to remember who we are in relationship to agape itself.
"The truth is that our fundamental happiness stems not from anything that happens in the material world, but from agape.
"Total agape seems like a very tall order until we consider the reality that total agape is what we are.
"As we drop the layers of fear and illusion that have hardened around our psyches, we are left with the agape with which we were endowed at our creation.
"The birth of [our awareness of] our better selves [is] a gradual and continuous process, as in any given moment we either listen to the ego or we listen to agape. Which ever we listen to is what we will become. And whatever we become is the world we will inhabit. We can live in fear, or we can live in agape. And every moment, we decide.
"The real joy of living emerges from the experience of our true being — when we detach from other people’s projections onto us, when we allow ourselves permission to dream our greatest dreams, when we’re willing to forgive ourselves and others, when we’re willing to remember that we were born with one purpose: to give agape and to receive agape.
"In our time and through our efforts, we are called to a great vision: to think the thoughts of a world at peace, infused with total agape. For until we think the thoughts of peace, peace will not be ours. We will end war not because we hate it so much; we will end it by loving peace so much more. We will love it so much we will try to live it in our own lives.
"We know there is a world of agape that lies beyond what we see, and we were born to make it manifest. If we apply ourselves body and soul to the task, then one day — right here on earth — we will experience an illumined world.
"Crossing the bridge to a better world begins with crossing a bridge inside our minds, from the addictive mental patterns of fear and separation, to enlightened perceptions of unity and agape."
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