A Return to Love audiobook

This book changed my life, but I NEVER recommend it to anyone because it found me at a time that it could provide answers to my own personal questions. It has, of course, a huge following and the backing of its own sizeable foundation, so obviously I am not the only one who was able to gain from it. Anyhow, if it finds you, may it find you lost and leave you found, as it did for me.

This book is the source of the famous quote which is often misattributed to Nelson Mandela, "'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us'....." I mostly read the book because it was the source of this famous quote. Overall it was a good book--there were some interesting ideas and engaging anecdotes to illustrate them. However, I didn't give it five stars because I felt that it was somewhat repetitive and a tad wandering. I didn't feel that the organizational scheme was especially strong. Also, I was a little irritated by her continual shifting in the way that she referred to God. Sometimes she referred to him as a person, but sometimes she referred to him as this mystic love force that is in all of us. It’s interesting that she is sometimes very aligned to LDS thought—such as in her idea that we have been alive and will be alive forever since life extends beyond the body; yet some of her other ideas are very unaligned. If you can overlook some of her new age mumbo jumbo (one part that is especially controversial is her suggestion for victims of aids/cancer to write letters to the disease) then you might enjoy the book.Now that I’ve given you the caveat, let me share some of the interesting things about the book. Basically the whole book is based on her perspective on love and how we need to change the world by letting God’s love shine through us. She calls this being a miracle worker. I would say her biggest premise is that we are not hurt by love that we are denied, but we are hurt by love that we deny others. I think it’s often true—forgiveness brings healing. She also asserts that the opposite of love is fear, the only moment that matters is the present moment, what people say or do is not who they are (p. 96), and we need to surrender to God by giving up attachment to results (p. 56).Actually one of my favorite quotes from the book isn’t the famous one. She says, “The experience of love is a choice we make, a mental decision to see love as the only real purpose and value in any situation. Until we make that choice, we keep striving for results that we think would make us happy. But we’ve all gotten things that we thought would make us happy, only to find that they didn’t. This external searching—looking to anything other than love to complete us and to be the source of our happiness—is the meaning of idolatry. Money, sex, power, or any other worldly satisfaction offers just temporary relief for minor existential pain” (57). This reminds me of Moroni 7:46. If we don’t have charity—we have nothing. I think that scripture isn’t just Heavenly Father chastising us and telling us that if we are not charitable we are bad people and we are cast out. He’s saying that everything else of this world will fall away—(as Marianne Williamson would say everything else is an illusion) but only charity is lasting and will bring true happiness.One of my favorite anecdotes is a good way to sum up the book. She shares the story from another book “Quantum Healing” by Dr. Deepak Chopra. For a research experiment in the 1970’s rabbits were fed a toxic diet to study the effects of high cholesterol. However, the researchers noticed that one group of rabbits was inconsistent and experienced fewer negative symptoms. It was discovered that the only difference was that the student feeding those rabbits liked to take them out of the cages and pet them. The point is that love can have effects unexplained by science which is something I believe. The idea sort of ties into the next book I am reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Primer libro que leo de esta escritora espiritual y me ha gustado bastante. No comulgo con todas sus ideas, pero es muy interesante.

This is my "go-to" book for hope in life... If this quote from the book doesn't get you, then it isn't for you (Although I first read it 20-odd years ago, it still gives me a smile on a cloudy day)....“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Ok, this book is what every confused cristian needs to read! LOL This book is too amazing to write a short review so I will try to sum it up. We all are born into a certain religion but sometimes we don't know exactly what to believe. We follow certain rules our belief system has set up but not enough to be considered a good cristian, or a faithful catholic, etc. So I think that a lot of us end up giving up on religion and God. Big mistake! God is Love, that is what I learned through this book. Yes..you've heard that a million times before but after re-learning it through this book you will finally comprehend just what that means. We are not bad people, no matter what we've done. We are made to the image of God who is Love. When life goes wrong and we are wounded some of us act in a wrongful way out of fear (the Ego) and seperate further and further from our starting point (Love) but we can return to love whenever we'd like....by shifting our perception...by not giving in to the ego's illusions...by not allowing our mind to be controlled by fear. It is so much deeper than I could ever summarize but the lesson to be learned is one that will stick with you for the rest of your life...if you trully grasp this concept and put it into practice you will not see your world the same ever again...you will discover where it is that you have to go when you are at your worst, lowest, and weakest moments in life. Words could never explain how grateful I am to have read this book at my age...it avoided many years of wandering through life feeling confused, lost, and alone.

[Wherein I out myself as a believer] I picked up this book after attending one of Marianne Williamson's weekly lectures here in Los Angeles. I'd found the talk itself unfocused and difficult to track, but I'd been blown away by the Q&A period afterward: it's rare to witness a speaker that good at speaking off the cuff, especially to different (and thorny, and wide-ranging) personal issues; girlfriend was in the zone completely, channeling the bejangles out of some kind of benevolent spirit—and one with a delightful sense of humor to match its deep compassion.I tore through the book, both because it's written simply and because so much of it made sense: that God (or "God", if you're not there yet) is love; that you will always feel better living in love than in fear; that lying and obfuscation are the enemies of happiness, and so on. I must have been halfway through before I realized that the stories it contained seemed familiar because they were—I'd read them in this very book, back in December of 2011, just after a miracle you'd have thought would humble me, but a good two months away from finally giving in. I am my stubborn mother's willful daughter, to be sure.I have not read A Course in Miracles, but if this book accurately translates its principles (and there's no reason to think it doesn't), ACIM is a mixture of Eastern (Hindu, Buddhist) and Western (Judeo-Christian) philosophies, heavy on the Western/Christian. (And a lot of the language she uses to translate is straight out of 12-step, which, again, leads right back to Christianity.) Which is to say that there's nothing in here that's particularly revelatory, and plenty that is sensible. I'm not sure that as a philosophy, ACIM would survive deep scrutiny—and there are plenty of skeptical and Christian sites on the web that state just that. But except for the last dozen pages or so, which get into some pretty trippy ACIM interpretations of Christian symbolism, it provides a sturdy enough framework for spiritual growth, with dozens of lovely prayers and metaphors for hewing to a path of love.

A type of "realism" that I can respect

I have yet to find a book or an Audio book that reaches as deep into you as this one does. A Return to Love is a great Book, but it is a truly incredible Audio book! The tone of her voice, and the way it's spoken is so perfect, that you hear every word, and feel she is talking directly to YOU! I have listened to 100's of Audio books over the years, and have not found anything close to this one. Deepak, Millman, Lucado, Dyers, and as much as I hate to say it, even Mariannes other audios don't hold the magic this one does. If someone has found an audio that gets as deep into your soul as this one does, PLEASE write me and let me know what it is. And Marianne, Please consider doing an Unabridged version of the audio. If you have not listened to this audio book yet, and are looking for some spiritual enlightenment, you have no idea what your missing out on here! Buy the Tape, even if you have read the book!!! Time and time again, I have gone back and listened to this tape, and it never loses a bit of the magic I felt the first time I heard it. This Audio will remind you of so much you have forgotten through the years. The best Audio book I have EVER listened too!

I knew of this book for a long time, but never read it. However, after a difficult breakup with my fiancee, it was recommended that I read this. Actually, one of the main reasons why i never read it is because I thought it was for women (a chick book). Swallowing my pride and needing something profound to read, A Return To Love was exactly what I needed. Also, as a hardened military guy; I allowed myself to 'feel' her experience through me. I'm happy that i allowed myself to loosen up and be healed by reading this great book. Overall, I think I'm a better man for it.

Before I get into the review of this particular book, I'd just like to reiterate how much I enjoy Marianne Williamson's style of writing. Honestly, the only reason I picked up this book (before reading it I had no idea what "A Course in Miracles" was, so why would I bother reading reflections on the principles of it) was because of the way her book, "Everday Grace", was written. I love her thoughful asides and allusions to experiences in her own life; it's as though she's talking to me and we're having a conversation where I'm getting know a little bit more about her with every book I read, rather than me just reading words on a page.So back to "A Return to Love". I'm actually glad I didn't know anything about "A Course in Miracles" before reading this because I believe it would have tainted my reactions to Williamson's points; I have experienced reading a book and reading someone else's reaction to it and being completely turned off because that was not how I interpreted it. Reading "A Return to Love" with a clean slate helped me stay open to her version of the Course's principles.Initially I thought I would be inundated with Christian references - Williamson explains that a lot of the terminology in the Course relates to Christianity - and while there were numerous instances of theological ideas, especially Christianity, I didn't feel overwhelmed by them. Williamson presented them in a way that, if I didn't already know they were Christian, I wouldn't have known they were related to a particular religion at all. And I never felt as though she was pushing religion at all; everything was kept very open and she acknowledged the fact that not everyone will see things eye-to-eye with her.I can't evaluate the actual principles suggested in the book, since they are not Williamson's own ideas, but I can comment on her extrapolations. The majority of the time I found her insight thoughtful, truthful and refreshing; however, there were definitely times (particularly in the last chapter) where I felt she was stretching it a bit. I had a hard time grasping how she was relating Easter and Christmas to every day life choices; though in hindsight, I guess I should just accept those ideas since I had no problem with the concept of crucification and resurrection as it relates to our lives.The one thing I took away from this book is that a strong faith and truly believing that you will never be handed anything that can't make you a better, stronger, wiser person is the foundation for a happier life. It's not going to be easy and I'm still resisting the idea of giving up control of my life but I think it's worth exploring; my desire to control everything hasn't worked out for the best, maybe this is a better solution.

I read this book when it first came out. I gave it a 5 star rating because over 20 years years later the cover still makes me smile. I remember a particular lesson where Marianne teaches us how to see tragedy as a challenge to love more deeply. That really stuck with me. The book is sincere, based on her love for A Course in Miracles and her own experience. You don't have to be A Course in Miracles practitioner to understand and benefit from reading the book. I would like to read it again.