Born into a modest blue-collar immigrant family in San Francisco’s Sunset District in 1950, Jackie Speier strongly considered entering a convent before choosing to become a lawyer, and served as legislative counsel to Representative Leo Ryan. On November 18, 1978, she joined a fact-finding mission (that the State Department deemed safe) to explore constituent concerns about relatives involved with Jim Jones’s People’s Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. In the events leading up to the infamous cyanide-laced Kool-Aid mass murder of 918 people (the largest massacre of American citizens before 9/11), Ryan and Speier, after visiting the compound, were ambushed at the nearby jungle airstrip. Ryan died, struck by 45 bullets. Speier was shot five times. In great pain, she pretended to be dead until the gunmen left, then waited for 22 hours before receiving medical attention. She conceded to death—but death didn’t come. It was then she made a vow that if she survived she would dedicate her life to public service.

With four bullets still in her body, Speier currently serves as House Representative of the 14th District, which includes parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties—the same seat once held by Ryan. Determined to fulfill her tarmac vow, Speier has gone on to become a courageous legislative champion of underdogs, notably on issues of women’s rights, LGBT, wage discrimination, sexual harassment, worker safety, veterans’ benefits, gun reform, and much more. She serves on two prestigious House Committees (Intelligence and Armed Services) and has lately been in the headlines as a key participant in the presidential impeachment hearings.

Her autobiography, Undaunted, tells the story of a devout Catholic’s rare gift of faith and resilience in the face of an unusual series of life hurdles. We caught up with the tireless congresswoman late one evening as she was wrapping Christmas gifts before boarding a plane back to Washington D.C.

Common Ground: How do you embody Undaunted, particularly in light of the impeachment hearings in Washington?

I think you can never give up. Whether we feel that there’s going to be a conviction in the Senate is really not relevant to our process in the House. Historically, I’ve seen things change overnight. I feel very strongly that the president has committed a high crime and misdemeanor and bribery. We would be totally irresponsible if we let him get away with it. Because if he does gets away with this, then any president who follows can get away with anything. He said, “I can do anything I want under Article 2 of the Constitution.” If allowed, this creates an autocracy within a couple years.

From a viewer perspective it feels like civil war in terms of the divisiveness. Can you put readers in the front row as to what the vibe is like in the House now?

No, it’s actually not. Most of what you hear as divisiveness is the Republicans playing to an audience of one. They’re trying to get their gold stars so Trump will help them get reelected. It’s all about self-preservation.

How do you respond to detractors who accuse Democrats of staging a witch hunt?

It’s hard for me to take that seriously when this was the result of a whistleblower complaint that has been fully corroborated by the president’s release of the summary of his phone call with [Ukrainian president] Zelensky. All the testimony we’ve heard since only corroborates it more and has added new elements in terms of his unwillingness to release the [foreign aid] money, which impacts our national security. If Russia is successful in taking over the Donbass region of Ukraine, that’s the beginning of World War III in Europe.

How did your childhood and family life teach you about grit?

I grew up on Irving in the Inner Sunset and then in South San Francisco and eventually went to Burlingame for high school. My parents were very blue collar. We had a fairly austere childhood. There weren’t a lot of perks and extras. I learned grit by having parents that weren’t softies. They were disciplinarians, tough on us. With my own kids I sometimes fail at being so tough. [laughs] Maybe I didn’t want them to turn out as tough as me.

Did you have a happy childhood?

Yes. I mean here I am wrapping Christmas presents and it’s kind of funny because in our household we didn’t make Christmas lists. You just got whatever you got. [laughs] One year I got a dented suitcase! That was my Christmas gift! It was modest. We went on only three vacations during my entire childhood. One was to the World’s Fair in Seattle. One was to Tijuana and Ensenada, the other to Yosemite. We didn’t stay in hotels. We stayed in a camper.

You occupy the same House seat that Leo Ryan did more than 40 years ago. What kind of man was he?

He was an iconoclastic kind of guy. Some might describe him as a bit of a loner. I used to say, “He eats bureaucrats for lunch.” He believed in what I call experiential legislating. He wasn’t content to have a bureaucrat say, “This is how it is.” He wanted to find out for himself. Early in his career, after the Watts riots, he went down there as a substitute teacher. He spent a week at Folsom prison. He went up to the ice floes in Newfoundland and Labrador during the harp seal hunts. He was quite unique and put his constituents first.

What compelled him to investigate Jonestown?

He had constituents with young adult children that had gotten involved in the People’s Temple. They formed a group called the Concerned Relatives, complaining that their letters weren’t getting through to their children. Congressman Ryan did what his other colleagues representing constituents in San Francisco didn’t do because they were too reliant on Jim Jones, who had the ability to rally 2,000 people if a precinct walk was needed. In many
respects Jim Jones was credited with helping George Moscone get elected and then helping him successfully repel a recall election.

What were you expecting when you went to Guyana?

I was very nervous about the trip even though the State Department was telling us that everything was great—that we had nothing to worry about. I had listened to all of the interviews and I just felt that we didn’t know enough. I really feared. I was about to buy a condominium in Arlington, Virginia, but I literally put a clause in the contract saying that it was contingent on my surviving the trip because I didn’t want my parents to be saddled with a property 3,000 miles away.

I even wrote a note to my parents that I left in my desk drawer saying that if anything happened to me I wanted them to know that I loved them, that my life had been great. And by the way I had a thousand-dollar life insurance policy at the credit union. [laughs] Kind of funny, thinking back on it. So I had a premonition, but I also felt that if I didn’t go I was going to discourage women from being successful in staff leadership positions in Congress because there were very few at that point.

The Jonestown story is spellbinding. Do you mind sharing how you wound up getting shot five times and left for dead?

It was a very intense experience. When we got there we started interviewing many of the constituents, the children of constituents. I had brought all these letters that I wanted to hand deliver. The people we interviewed seemed to be subject to mind control because they all repeated the same thing to me. We weren’t getting very far and then toward the end of the evening Don Harris, who was the NBC reporter, hands us a note with the names of two members who wanted to get out. My heart sank because I thought, “Oh, my God, this is it. It really is true.”

I spent the night in a cabin with five members of the People’s Temple. They were rugged cabins with tin roofs. It rained all night so I was just hearing this pelting sound and couldn’t sleep. Then the next morning Congressman Ryan and I retrieved the one woman and young man who openly wanted to leave. As they got their belongings word spread that some people were leaving. Then more and more people wanted to leave. It got very, very tense. The tension was so high. Jones was complaining and scolding the defectors. We finally got out and I thought we’d dodged a really potentially risky situation. As it turned out we went to the airstrip where I’m loading passengers onto the plane and unbeknownst to us a tractor trailer with seven gunmen had followed behind us at some distance. They had come onto the airstrip. I had my back to them so I didn’t see what was happening.
They started shooting.

Congressman Ryan was shot and I turned and as I was trying to go toward him he got shot again and dropped. So I ran under the plane and hid behind one of the wheels—and then played dead. Then at some point they came and just started shooting at point-blank range. Congressman Ryan was shot 45 times. They riddled his body with bullets. I had been shot five times.
I’m lying on this airstrip, and I thought, “Oh, my God, this is it. I’m 28 years old, I’m never going to live a long life, get married, have kids. This is it.” So I said the Act of Contrition [the Catholic prayer expressing sorrow for sin and asking for God’s help] and waited for the lights to go out. And when they didn’t I had this vision of my grandmother who was then 87 flash in front
of me. I thought, “I just don’t want her to have to live through my funeral if I can avoid it.” So I pulled myself up at some point, dragged myself around the plane because the engines were still running, and someone shoved me in the cargo hold. Obviously the plane wasn’t going anywhere because it had bullet holes in the engine and one of the tires.

Eventually they took me out and placed me in a tent on the side of the airstrip—unfortunately on an anthill. [laughs] But as I’ve said many times since, “You don’t sweat the small stuff when you’re dying.” I was on the airstrip for 22 hours without medical attention and thought I was going to perish—either they were going to come back and finish us off or I would die there. It was a painful time. The NBC producers Bob Flick and Tim Reiterman eventually came to the tent with some 150 proof Guyanese rum and got me through the night. I promised myself that if I did survive I’d never take another day for granted and would live every day as fully as
possible and dedicate my life to public service. And that’s what I’ve done.

For those who don’t know the story, can you explain what ensued that day back at Jonestown?

So in the middle of the night, even though there were no cellphones back then, word came through the jungle that the White Night trials that they had rehearsed many times had actually been done for real, and that people
had died. I remember lying there thinking of all these people I had met—including a group of about 40 that wanted to leave.

How many died

918. They refer to it as a mass suicide, which it wasn’t. It was Jim Jones executing all of them by force or persuasion. Babies and children were injected with the cyanide. They didn’t drink the cyanide Kool-Aid.

Drink the Kool-Aid—that’s a loaded expression for you.

Yeah. I’m not fond of it although I’ve used it once or twice myself.

This makes you something of a de facto expert on cults and cult behavior.

Not by choice, obviously. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but I certainly observed it up close and personal.

We live in the Bay Area, which is known for its counterculture and alternative spirituality. After Jonestown have you been particularly cynical?

People’s Temple was not a church, it was not a religion, yet they got all the protections that we give to churches under the First Amendment. I think the fact that Jones was able to cloak himself with a religious cape made some look the other way. There were a lot of political reasons why people and local law enforcement looked the other way. Illegal conduct, whether it’s pedophilia under the cross in the Catholic Church or the kind of sexual and physical abuse that Jim Jones engaged in—none of it is above the law.

What physical handicaps do you endure as a result of getting shot and what reminder do they provide?

I have a badly scarred body so that’s obviously a reminder, although I must say after 40 years it’s just part of who I am. I think that it’s really important for us to accept who we are and embrace it. It took me a long while to deal with that but eventually I asked myself, “Am I going to hide the rest of my life or live it?” One day I was on a beach in Hawaii, totally covered, and I thought, “It’s time.” I threw down the sarong and walked across the beach. Some people stared but most people don’t care. It was a very empowering moment.

Gun control has always been a very personal issue for you. Would you contextualize what’s going on in DC in this regard?

You mean what’s not going on? It’s really criminal that the National Rifle Association still has as much clout as it does and that simple bills like comprehensive background checks can’t get passed. I think the day of reckoning is coming. I think there’s going to come a time in the not too distant future when the sane people in this country rise up and say, “This is crazy.” Then we’ll get some laws on the books. Why would we want to give a felon or domestic violence abuser the right to buy a gun online and not be -subject to the check that would prevent them from getting the gun if they went to a licensed gun dealer?

As a legislator you’re known as a champion of the underdog, defending women’s rights, LGBT rights, victims of wage discrimination, survivors of sexual misconduct in the military—the list goes on. Can you talk about the causes and reforms that are dear to you?

This just happened. It will be in the National Defense Authorization Act this year and it’s why I do the work I do. Earlier this year a 14-year Green Beret named Richard Stayskal came and saw me, as I chair the Military Personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. He had gone to a military base hospital with a horrible cough that wasn’t going away. They took a CAT scan and found he had a lesion—but they didn’t tell him! They made note of it and said he’d be referred to oncology—but nothing happened. Six months later he comes back coughing blood, asking to see a physician not on base. He immediately discovered he’s got stage 4 lung cancer. There is this 70-year-old Supreme Court decision called the Feres Doctrine that basically prevents service members from suing the government in a non-combat situation. Now, it makes sense under certain circumstances, but it doesn’t make sense for medical malpractice.

An inmate in a federal prison who gets bad healthcare can sue the federal government, but a service member can’t! So I introduced a bill to change that and it just won a court decision. So in the National Defense Authorization Act, $400 million will be made available over ten years for medical malpractice for service members who are not in theater, who are in a non-combat setting. I named the bill after Richard, and I can’t tell you how thrilling it was to call him to say his family will be cared for. This was a case that simply set off what I call my “outrage meter” so I did something.

There are so many, but what else would you like to highlight?

Reproductive health is an area I’ve spent a lot of time on since I was in the state legislature. When second trimester abortion became a huge issue, I talked on the House floor about one of my pregnancies and my abortion. This gave women around the country the ability to recognize that it’s nothing to be ashamed about. I mean if it threatens the mother’s life and the fetus isn’t going to be viable outside the womb, it’s an appropriate medical procedure—a decision that should be made between a woman and her physician and not government legislating in our wombs.

Sexual harassment and MeToo-style legislation is another one, no? Weren’t you personally a victim of sexual misconduct?

I was but it happened once. It wasn’t like so many of these situations where you have a woman who is constantly being harassed. The typical setting is where you have one person in control and others dependent on them—with
their livelihoods impacted. I did a lot of legislation on violence against women when I was in the state legislature and I got the Rules Committee to require a sexual harassment training every year for members of the state legislature.

When the MeToo movement took off I thought, “This is an opportunity to try to fix the system.” Now if a Congressmember sexually harasses a staff member and there’s a settlement it’s not going to be the taxpayers picking
up the tab—it’s going to be the member. I am glad we were able to change the law in Congress. [laughs] It may be the best way for them to keep their zippers zipped.

[laughs] You’ve surely seen some interesting things in your career.

I have, that’s for sure.

Your book mentions a paternal grandfather having molested you. Are you comfortable talking about that?

I almost didn’t write about that because I had done a really good job compartmentalizing it. Later as I was trying to understand why I spent
so much of my career on issues around violence against women it finally clicked—it was because my grandfather had abused me.

I just didn’t want to have women treated like that. I decided to write about it for two reasons. Part of the problem is that it’s much more widespread than we talk about—20 percent of children are sexually violated by a family member. And then I decided this would not become another issue I hid from—another example of how we can overcome a lot.

It is said that politicians are either totally corrupt or squeaky clean. You’ve a rare reputation for being fastidious. I’m wondering how you witness corruption in politics.

Actually, I think most members are squeaky clean. Because you have a Duncan Hunter or a Chris Smith then there’s this expectation that they are all on the take. Donald Trump is on the take, using the position and office to benefit personally.

I witness corruption when I hear members say, “I really want to vote for that but I can’t because of what they’ll do to me in my district.” So many times I have seen circumstances where a member is basically bought off for a couple thousand contribution dollars. It’s pathetic.

When I was dealing with the issue of payday lenders and the predatory interest rates they charge—like 400 percent! How you can ever get out from under those circumstances? They prey on people in low-income areas—there were two Congressmen representing low income areas who wouldn’t vote to lower the interest rates because they had gotten money from payday lenders. But most members aren’t subject to that kind of corruption. Of course, we’d all do a much better job if we just went to public financing of elections.

What kind of political leadership do you predict for our children’s generation?

There were a lot of very talented newly elected Millennials in 2018. I’m very optimistic they’ll tackle issues we can’t seem to deal with, like gun violence, gun safety measures, and climate change. I think we have to get rid of the Electoral College. We should limit the length of time that you can run for an office. And we really have to have public financing of campaigns. We have a Supreme Court decision that now gives gay couples the ability to marry, but if you tried to pass that in the House right now you couldn’t.

After you survived Jonestown, life retested you with a series of personal tragedies. Can you describe those?

Everyone focuses on Jonestown because it was so dramatic, but the biggest test of my life was when my husband was killed in an automobile accident. I was pregnant with our second child, a high-risk pregnancy. I had thought
I never would get pregnant again, and I did. Then my husband gets killed! It was the most grotesque nightmare. I couldn’t fathom what was happening to me.

Shaking your fists at the heavens saying, “God, I can’t take this anymore.”

I thought, “Why are you doing this to me? Why am I being tested?” Everyone goes through those kinds of experiences and then something
wonderful happens. You know, there’s always another day. What got me through is the three Fs: family, friends, faith.

Let’s talk about those, starting with family.

I would not have made it through that crisis without family and without friends and without faith. My family has always been there for me. Now both my parents are dead, but they were absolute rocks and I could always count on them. I want to pay it forward and be that for my children as well.

You have lifelong friendships with women that you’ve cherished over the decades, including a group known as “the yoga girls.” What can you teach young women about friendship?

It doesn’t just happen by having a Starbucks or two. It’s like tending a garden. You have to till the soil, pull the weeds. You can’t ignore it. You have to constantly be tending it, watering it, adding fertilizer. That’s true with friendships too.

For me it was important to stay grounded and not forget my roots. That was measured by whether the friends I had before I got into politics were still my friends throughout my life. I’ve friends from long before I was in politics, friends I’ve acquired through trauma, such as the Merry Widows Club, the Yoga Girls. They’re extraordinary sources of support if you are willing to put in the time and effort—the value redeemed is priceless.

I picture your Bay women friends in Congress fist bumping in the halls—Nancy [Pelosi], Anna [Eshoo], Dianne [Feinstein], Kamala [Harris], Barbara [Lee], Zoe [Lofgren]. It must be exciting.

It’s not what you think, actually. I mean we’re all really busy and we’re all supportive of each other, but it’s not like that. I do spend time with Anna. We’ll celebrate her birthday next weekend at our house. Mike Thompson and I are very close. I’m certainly good friends with all the members from Northern California in particular, but everyone is so busy when they’re back in DC that it’s frankly hard to find the time.

I presume the opposite is true, that Trump supporters despise you. Isn’t there a group called Women Who Support Trump?

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t read bots and I don’t read my Twitter account very much. My staff could tell you there are people out there who are not fond of me but that goes with the territory.

What’s the vibe between opposing members on the Intelligence Committee? How do you get along with Devin Nunes, for example?

He’s not a good example because he’s so polarizing and so pugnacious. The more outrageous his comments the more campaign contributions he receives. So he is motivated by a strange set of principles. I have warm relationships with a number of Republican colleagues—not so much on HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] because it’s become a very difficult committee.

But for the MeToo Congress Act that passed I give 50 percent of the credit to my very conservative Republican colleague from Alabama, Bradley Byrne. We worked very closely.

Can you talk about how faith has played a role in your life?

I’m a devout Catholic. I go to Mass every Sunday. I’m a lector at my parish. As a youngster I would go to Mass on Sunday even when my parents didn’t. I was so proud that I had a missal before I was technically old enough to have one. I was just born with this faith. It’s been an extraordinary gift and not everyone has it but I’ve been very lucky.

What about it hooks you so sweetly?

I don’t know. I went to a Catholic girls’ high school by choice, not by parental pressure. It was something I wanted. I contemplated becoming a nun, spent a weekend at the convent. It really fills my soul and my heart. I’m always grateful for that hour I spend every week just contemplating goodness and trying to reflect on the past week and how I could’ve been a better Christian—and [laughs] perhaps looked at some of my opponents differently than I did.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by sex scandals. Have these shaken your faith at all?

I can’t begin to tell you how pained I am by it, but it also speaks to a church that hasn’t kept up with the 20th and 21st centuries. I think priests should be able to marry. I think women should be able to be priests. But my faith is stronger than what a particular man who happens to be a pope says about Catholic dogma. That said, Pope Francis has been a breath of fresh air. He inspired me actually to go spend the night in a homeless shelter as he too did that after becoming pope. I thought, “If the pope can do that I certainly can.” I learned a great deal.

You practice yoga. I’m wondering if you’re equally drawn to its Eastern spiritual philosophy?

I’d like to learn more about Eastern philosophies because I respect all religions. I’m drawn to the Jewish faith. I’m actually one-quarter Jewish, and whenever I go to a synagogue and participate in the service I feel like I’m home as well. I’d like to know more about Buddhism and there’s something to be gleaned from the Muslim faith. Unfortunately, schools do not put as much emphasis on world religions as I think there should be. We would all become better human beings by studying religions.

Do you have a final message for young people, particularly young women aspiring to activism and public service?

Don’t wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder. Don’t wait your turn. You can be extremely effective at any age—really. One reason I wrote the book was to give young women a road map for how to survive anything. There isn’t a straight path to success and happiness. We are tested many times in our lifetime, and you can get over a great deal of angst and pain and frustration by just continuing to move forward. Don’t allow yourself to sit around and wallow.

Any final message for Common Ground readers, many of whom are constituents?

Resilience. My story is about resilience. I think we grow up thinking that life will take a certain path if we just do these three or four things, and yet we get knocked down and we struggle to get up again. In my experience we all have the resilience to overcome whatever trouble comes. Whether it’s in elective office or activism, people do make a difference. I find myself quoting Margaret Mead frequently: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” A small group of people can do a great deal. Be good. Be kind.

Rob Sidon is publisher and editor-in-chief of Common Ground.

THEO is a self-described collective group of 12 archangelic beings that have channeled via Sheila Gillette since she had a near-death experience in 1969. The idea dawned to have an experience of conversing with Sheila-THEO to ask predictions for 2020—a personal first for this interviewer. Sheila and her husband Marcus called from their Arizona home. Some normal introductions ensued, followed by Sheila invoking THEO. Then her voice timber and syntax made a startling change to something sci-fi robotic but esoterically peaceful. With prediction questions ranging from the presidential elections and impeachment hearings to climate change, the responses were consistently educative and optimistic—presumably boding well for the new decade. We shall see.

Common Ground: Wow! This is an unusual and unprecedented Q&A but here goes. What does it mean to communicate with angelic entities? With whom are we speaking?

THEO: You are speaking to a collective group of 12 archangelic beings, collectively known as THEO. We do not identify singularly, for it is the message that is of impor, not the messenger.

Moments ago I was speaking with Sheila, now it is a completely different voice and energy.

Yes. By agreement we utilize this physicality to bring a message forth of the consciousness shift that is occurring on planet Earth now. So, by this agreement, by The Sheila, we are utilizing her vocal chords to have the ability to speak and to share that message.

What do you say to cynical readers who may roll their eyes about such a premise?

They have not experienced it for themselves. Understand this—all beings are connected to higher self, Source… and even those who think there is nothing more than human experience would be quite surprised when they leave their bodies, for it is to understand that there is far more connectivity energetically around your world than you can imagine. And it is here that we are mentors, guides, supporters for the human experience. That is why we have come.

What significant changes or trends do you foresee in 2020?

We have been speaking about these changes for more than four decades. The 5th dimensionary energy fully in place about the earth now has been evolving at a frequency level for over a hundred years, fully culminated and aligned energetically in the year 2012. Now moving into 2020, what is predicted, as you are asking, is this chaos that is seen in the world will come to completion. Political changes are coming rapidly throughout the world, not only in the country where you live, and economic changes, a global connectivity…The frequency and vibrations are so high that the consciousness is shifting to meet it.

A good time for collective spiritual growth?

Yes, that is what it is all about, for you do not put your soul in your closet before you go to work. Everything that you do is spiritual.

Yet there is so much apprehension, a gathering storm, divisiveness and war.

That is correct. That is how it has been and that has been the paradigm of human experience, hasn’t it? If you are paying attention to the different areas of the world, people are standing up and saying, “No, there is going to be change.” The old paradigm of being in the world is up-leveling and changing by the demands of the people.

Do we have free will or is it all predestined?

You have free will. Your will is the most powerful thing you have. That is your soul’s essence. For you are deciding everything for your life, nothing else is. You choose to be incarnate. Nobody forced you to get in a body. In fact, it is miraculous that you are in one. It is a gift, ultimately. So, the soul decides. Know that the law of attraction or manifestation is always working. It is energy. It is around you all the time. Thoughts are things. Words are things. So be mindful of how you think and speak of yourself and about yourself, for this can change what you have in your life. For what you have been thinking now has drawn energetically to you.

The quantum field has no decision or discernment about what you are thinking, that what you want is good or bad. It is just acting energetically. It is like the energy of electricity or the law of electricity. It is all around you. It has always been there. It took an innovative mind to know how to harness it and make it useful but know it has always existed. It is around you now as we speak. That energy of manifestation is the same. It is energy that is always working.

How do you project 2020 in terms of the fight against global warming?

It will win. This war against global warming will win because of education and knowledge and action, but it is important to know what is happening in the world. That is why we are saying, ”Do not sit on the side.” Be as active as you can. If each person did what they could do, large or small, changes would be significant. It is not to ignore it or to say, “They will take care of it.” No. It is consciousness. It is education. It is knowledge. Recognize the goodness that is coming into the world, the changes of industry that are coming in a positive way for this world. There are many things: New jobs. Things that people can innovate and bring forward.

Are you saying that polarization has hit a peak and going to a better direction?

It will, but understand this—you have the power to make this change. All of you do. Standing at the sidelines and complaining about it does not assist and does not make change. Take the action you can take, for that is important. Speak your voice. If that is in a vote, do it that way. Do not let others decide for you. If you give your power away, then there is no excuse. Is there? You are much more powerful than you think you are.

Of course, the question on everybody’s lips is, “Who is going to win the U.S. presidential election?”

You are asking for that prediction. In the last one, we predicted the woman, Clinton, and she did win the majority of votes, did she not? It is the structure politically that skewed who won. This must be changed if all votes are to be counted. This is in the country where you live. Other countries have their own problems. But you ask that your voices be heard and do away with antiquated systems that no longer work for the goodness of all. So we will not predict, but we see a change that will happen governmentally that is necessary in your country.

Can you predict the outcome of the impeachment hearings?

We see there will be removal; however, each person must pay attention to what is going on. Many say they do not want to hear it and put their heads in the sand, but you are an integral part if you are living in the country. It is like living with the family. It is true in your cities, your countries, your world. So, it is important to note that yes, with the impeachment there have been things that have been done publicly, but just because they are done publicly does not mean they are right. There is much that has been undermined in your government and your rules, and without rules there is an upheaval, and that is what you are beginning to experience in this division between you. You are one people of the world. Stand for each and every one of you in that sense of love and non-judgment. You know not what the heart is of another or their lessons to learn or what is happening in their lives, or they you. So, to sit in judgment of each other is improper. It is against each other. You are collaborative, not competitive.

What recommendations can you give to readers?

Yes. Do not sit on the sidelines of life. Be a participant. Whatever you do, say, “My voice was heard. I used my energy in the direction of what is right for my family and my brothers and sisters in humanity.” Trust your knowing. You all know the truth. You all have a resonance with core values. What are yours? Be aware of your core values. What is important to you? For that is what drives your life and your experiences and what manifests in your life. Pay attention to how you think. It is good to think all the good thoughts, but what is the second thought? Most often, it is a thought that you are not worthy of the dream and desire you just thought of. Change that ay of thinking and you change your world and you change the world for others in a positive way.

Thank you.

You are complete with your asking. We are appreciative of the opportunity to be of assistance. We are complete for this moment. God’s love unto you.

Rob Sidon is publisher and editor-in-chief of
Common Ground.

Michelle Leopold grew up in Alameda and graduated from UCLA. After a marketing and advertising career in San Francisco she teamed up with her husband, Jeff, to operate a small family chain of local hardware stores.

On November 17, 2019, their elder son, Trevor, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his dorm at Sonoma State University. He was 18. Their younger boy, Parker, is a 17-yearold high school student.

Michelle, a lifelong volunteer currently battling breast cancer with chemotherapy, is deeply committed to drug and gun violence education and the 12-step programs related to addiction. We sat with Michelle, surrounded by Jeff and their two big dogs, Maverick and Bowzer, and many family photos, for a poignant conversation in their living room.

Common Ground: Just before Thanksgiving, I witnessed you at a burial ceremony lowering Trevor into the ground, something I will never forget. I can’t imagine what you were feeling.

Michelle Leopold: Disbelief. Heartbreak, agony, pain. Just so much heartache. It’s inconceivable still, two weeks later.

What happened to Trevor?

The toxicology report from the coroner’s office revealed that he had ingested Xanax laced with fentanyl, a street drug he purchased from a dealer.

The irony is that we were sitting next to each other this summer at a service for another local boy who died from an inadvertent fentanyl overdose. It happened on his 19th birthday. He was just having a night of partying.

You would think that Trevor would’ve learned a lesson from that, and we’ve heard that multiple friends warned him not to buy street drugs, especially after the other boy’s death.

Until Prince died from fentanyl I’d not really heard of it. What’s your take?

It’s an epidemic. Ten thousand people in the Bay Area have died from overdoses, mostly because of the fentanyl addition happening in black market drugs. [Starting to cry] It’s horrific and something needs to be done. It’s pervasive and being added without people’s knowledge to black market drugs. A lot of it is found on the so-called dark web. Who knows how people are getting it. Just a couple of pieces of fentanyl the size of a sugar granule can kill you.

We all knew Trevor. He certainly didn’t have a death wish.

That is what we truly believe, that it was not intended.

What was Trevor like growing up?

Full of heart, a nature lover. He was in Little League, he was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout. He did a huge [crying] fundraiser for the Humane Society for his bar mitzvah. He had a big heart and since his passing, several girls, especially, have come to us saying he was such a good listener, helping his friends help each other out of their problems. He was a bright boy. When he applied himself he could do amazing things.

You’re simultaneously battling cancer, undergoing chemotherapy. It’s an absurd question but how are you holding up?

I don’t really have any idea how I’m standing.

I know you and Jeff have a hardware store business, but it appears that your life purpose is educating people about the drug epidemic—and gun violence.

I am a serial volunteer, always have been, particularly with the kids’ schools and for things like Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. When I got breast cancer, I offhandedly mentioned to my best friends, “Breast cancer’s not gonna be my thing.” They all started laughing, saying, “No, you’re not going to be vice-president of the Susan G. Komen Foundation!” I’ll help other women get through cancer, but I have had the privilege of working five years with gun violence prevention and have a lot of friends that have gone through horrific experiences, losing their own children and loved ones. I’ve seen their strength and ability to persevere through adversity. I am doing my best to emulate these role models. Some moms lost their babies to gun violence. Some were killed in shootings like Las Vegas. Such amazing women [starting to cry]—that’s where I’m going, okay! They’re doing it. I must be able to figure out something. The day Trevor died I turned to a friend and I said, “This is my thing.” I had been protecting Trevor’s story as it was his to tell. Now it’s become our story to tell.

Everyone knows that when you’re fighting cancer the best antidote is a stress free life.

[Loud laughter from Michelle] Ha! Tomorrow’s my last chemo. Then I have three more weeks of shitty side effects, but I am going to survive cancer. Yes, it’s horrific that my son died at 18 and I don’t get to watch him fall in love and maybe have children, but this is our new life and we can’t change that. I choose to move forward, even though it’s really stressful.

Trevor had a Jewish service, so I assume that’s how you were raised. How does faith help at this time?

Jeff was raised Jewish. I was raised in multiple different Protestant churches but at but at 16 I decided I was agnostic and have been ever since. I consider myself spiritual with a strong belief in a higher power because of my 12-step work. Before we got married, we went to an interfaith counseling group to create a path together. I decided not to convert though our boys were raised Jewish. The congregation has been a huge support for us, and especially Jeff.

How does spirituality look for you?

I’ve a 17-year yoga practice and have a daily gratitude meditation practice. I am very big on the Serenity Prayer. I believe in a higher power and that I don’t have a lot of control over my own life—that if I turn my ways over to that higher power or whatever you want to call it—that life will unfold the way it’s supposed to. I get a lot of indications and coincidental sightings since Trevor passed. These are comforting. I like to think that Trevor’s spirit is trying to say, “Hey, I’m here. I haven’t gone very far.” I’m just trusting that there is a reason, a path in all of this. I’ve been practicing asking for help, which is a really hard if you’ve been a control freak and a perfectionist. [laughs] I’ve been practicing “Letting go and letting God.” It’s one of the things they say in 12-step groups.

What about how they say “God will never give you more than you can handle”?

[Loud] Oh, that’s such bullshit! What’s the other one they say? “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.” Bullshit. Those are just things people say to make you feel better. You could quote me on that.

Everyone knows you did everything in your power to help Trevor steer away from addiction. You must take solace in that.

Trevor knew every single day of his life that I loved him unconditionally, whether we were going to rehab or juvenile hall. I’ve no regrets for everything I have done as a mom and that gives me peace.

What’s your message to parents?

Love your children, number one. Trevor knew we loved him. And even though that didn’t prevent him from dying at least I don’t have any regrets. Parents need to get educated and make sure their kids are educated. With this epidemic getting bigger there’s going to be more emphasis in the schools. And parents need to be educated about marijuana, which I strongly believe is a gateway drug. A few years ago I started a website, MyKidSmokesPot.com, to create a research resource. Now it needs to be updated, but parents need to know that the pot out there is not like the stuff we had in high school or college, which was 2-4% THC. The crazy good stuff then, like Maui Wowie, was 6%. Street pot is now closer to 25-30% and the concentrates and dabs approach 90%.

Personally I think that legalizing pot is bullshit. On Trevor’s 18th birthday he got a medical marijuana card from a doctor in Malibu. The form said, “I have seen Trevor in person, and I do believe he needs medical marijuana.” Well, Trevor was not in Malibu on his 18th birthday, but apparently if you go on FaceTime with the doctor that counts. There are lots of issues! And there are good resources out there. Parents should not act like ostriches. Parents need to know their kids’ friends’ parents.

The weaker pot we smoked in our day maybe created some psychological dependence, but it seems these high concentrations are creating actual chemical dependence.

The human brain is not fully formed until you’re 25, so the more you load up those pleasure-seeking pathways, the more your brain is going to say, “I want more of that.” With greater access to this pleasure and stronger concentrations it becomes a neurological issue. And then there’s the social stigma of mental health issues and the normal teen challenges of fitting in. Trevor would use marijuana or drugs perhaps to self-medicate instead of going with the diagnoses and recommendations of medical professionals. That can lead to buying a pill laced with fentanyl.

You’re making a correlation between mental illness and the
drug crisis?

I’m not an expert but that’s my experience. Our country needs to destigmatize mental health issues. Trevor had anxiety but had difficulty owning it or saying, “I’ve huge anxiety and it makes me really uncomfortable.” And we’ve a very open, loving, and supportive household. Still, what are people going to say? He surely didn’t understand what was going on inside his own head and self-medicated instead—leading to addiction.

If we had been able to identify solutions for his mental health issues he might never have become addicted to marijuana and whatever else that followed. In this country when you’re dealing with health insurance and mental health it is an upward battle. Later on, when he was also diagnosed with Asperger’s, that diagnosis just about killed him when he heard it. He didn’t want to accept it. I think he struggled with that to the day he passed away.

Oh god! The destructive power of stigma.

Thank you for not sweeping this under the rug. We were likening this drug epidemic to the early AIDS crisis when people were dying and people were saying, “Those people deserved it.” We’re at the same level of history with people saying, “They deserved it; they were drug addicts.”

It just breaks my heart. What message do you have for teens?

Don’t break your mom’s heart. Don’t do this to your family. Know what you’re putting in your body. Don’t keep your feelings bottled up.

There are resources out there.

Rob Sidon is publisher and editor-in-chief of
Common Ground.

“But life is just a party,
and parties weren’t
meant to last.”
–Prince, 1999

New beginnings.

We at Common Ground sincerely pray that all beings on all planes—be happy.

“In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want.”
—Irish Toast

“Awakening is not changing who you are, but discarding who you are not.“
—Deepak Chopra

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.“
—Abraham Lincoln

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
—Seneca

“Somehow, a scrubbed house spells a fresh start.”
—Sheherazade Goldsmith

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”
–Oprah Winfrey

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.”
—Brad Paisley

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”
–T.S. Eliot

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.”
–G. K. Chesterton

“For a new year to bring you something new, make a move, like a butterfly tearing its cocoon! Make a move!”
–Mehmet Murat Ildan

“The merry year is born. Like the bright berry from the naked thorn.”
–Hartley Coleridge

“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.”
–John Burroughs

“Maybe this year, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives not looking for flaws, but looking for potential.”
–Ellen Goodman

“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”
—Eckhart Tolle

“There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires.‘”
—Buddha

“In this New Year we need to ask ourselves ‘Am I being steady in my spiritual discipline or have I lost my way?’ Secondly, ’Am I living for myself alone or, every day, am I able to do something—anything—selflessly for others?‘”
–Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)

The First (Out of the Closet) Yogi to Run for U.S. President

Born in Houston in 1952, Marianne Williamson was raised in the Judaic tradition of tikkun olam, whose basic tenet is “Repair the world.” With a voracious appetite for spiritual understanding, she studied comparative religion and philosophy. Her discovery of A Course in Miracles, a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy, led to a successful 35-year counseling and writing career. In 1992, with Oprah Winfrey’s support, her first book, A Return to Love, became the fifth most-sold book in the United States.

A long time spiritual-political activist, Williamson deeply trusts God’s unlimited capacity to solve social problems. In 1983 she created Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels service that has since served 11 million homebound people with AIDS. Compelled in part by the sad recognition that government has devolved into little more than a system of legalized bribery, she decided to run for the highest office. Her courageous candidacy has garnered mass attention as she is the first yogi-of-sorts to speak to the political establishment—a watershed moment in the eyes of many, including Common Ground readers who similarly resonate with such plain spiritual philosophy.

We spoke with Marianne for our Women issue to discover that her fundamental values—Take care of the babies, take care of our home—are the core building blocks of her political agenda. In her quest to speak simple truth to power she learned up close that presidential politics is not for the faint of heart. Nevertheless, she perseveres on internationally televised debate stages and rallies. Her legacy, we predict, is that she has forever broken a barrier and thus engaged an often apolitical swath of society. More importantly we predict that she’s paved a new acceptance of such commonsense idealism—something that will inspire a future cadre of awakened political leaders.

Common Ground: Six years ago we spoke and got the scoop about your run for Congress. Now you’re running for president of the United States. What prompted this decision?

Marianne Williamson: I can’t say I know what prompted it, except in a larger sense. Donald Trump’s election changed everything, not just for me but for many people. None of the decisions that any of us made once he was elected came without that reference. Millions of people consciously or unconsciously were asking “How can I help?”

Many in our so-called yoga tribe are elated to witness someone actually espousing their values on a national platform. It had seemed impossible, so congratulations on breaking the barrier. What’s it been like for you in the trenches?

It’s part exhilarating, part brutal. After the second debate I was getting a lot of attention and clearly somebody didn’t like that. Three days after the debate some vicious smears started appearing. That’s been pretty rough. I’ve had a dignified career for the last 35 years. To see myself viciously mischaracterized has been difficult but hey, this is serious business, running for president. I didn’t think it was going to be a walk in the park. At a certain point, you simply cross the Rubicon and you deal with whatever. When people are supporting you, spending their energy and their money and their time, you owe it to them not to indulge yourself emotionally any more than you have to. So yes, there have been some difficult moments—but attitudinally I just throw water on my face, tell myself to stop whining, get over myself, get up, and keep on doing what I’m doing.

Takes courage. Is it your faith that makes you fearless—like being on a mission from God?

Let’s put things in perspective. There are women in this world who, if they were to criticize their government in a fraction of the way I criticize mine, would be put in prison, possibly tortured, possibly killed. We have a very low bar in our culture when talking about courage and fearlessness. I’m very aware of how fortunate I am to live in a country where I’m able to run for office, to say whatever I want. Yes, I might be mocked. But in other countries it would be far worse. One of the reasons I’m doing this is because I love freedom. I know that sounds like a cliché but it’s true. I know how
important it is to the world, that there’s a place where we even try to allow people to soar. So no, I don’t think of myself as courageous or brave, I just think of myself as unwilling to be silent at such a time as this.

Like all of us you’re following your spiritual path, but did you hear a voice that said, “Go! Enter the viper pit of presidential politics”?

If you have an internal decision-making process, it’s the same process no matter what the decision. You take in all the data but then your gut, your heart, your God is the decider.

Spiritual audiences are typically apolitical. Why? Do you feel your mission is partly to push people to be externally focused and politically aware?

I am Jewish and Jews are not apolitical. Tikkun olam is a basic tenet of Judaism; it means “to repair the world.” Jews know all too well how politics affects our lives. So I’ve never been comfortable with this cultural spiritual niche that has trended so apolitical. For one thing, it’s not very spiritual. There’s no serious spiritual or religious path that gives anyone a pass on addressing the suffering of other sentient beings. All this “false positivism” stuff isn’t spiritual at all, really. There’s a difference between transcendence and denial.

Hasn’t there been a longstanding schism between marchers and meditators, so to speak—two different camps?

Not for my generation. When I was in college, we read Alan Watts and Ram Dass in the morning and went to Vietnam antiwar protests in the afternoon. There weren’t two separate groups then. The cultural and political and spiritual and sexual fervors of the ’60s and ’70s were all mixed together. It was only after that time that the two camps separated. I grew up at a time when there was a very easy, amicable marriage between what we’d now call the meditators and the marchers. And even today, don’t kid yourself; there were a lot of meditators at that Women’s March on Washington. For me personally, the marriage of the two has always been my sweet spot. I taught A Course in Miracles and I founded peace organizations; I wrote books about spirituality and I founded AIDS organizations. The two never were separate for me. I simply think you have to try to practice what you preach, or what does it all mean?

What was it like growing up Jewish in Houston in the ’50s and ’60s? I imagine a discrimination that taught lifelong lessons…

No. The kind of anti-Semitism my parents’ generation had experienced had pretty much passed by the time I was growing up. I came from a large family and there was a strong Jewish community in Houston, so I didn’t experience anti-Semitism growing up. I knew about it, I heard about it, I was aware of it…but I wasn’t personally affected by it. I knew about World War II and the Holocaust, but most of the stories I heard were things of the past. But then I grew older, and with my name being Marianne Williamson, I would hear people say things around me that I don’t think they would have said if my name had been Schwartz or Steinberg. So yeah, I began to understand things more deeply as I got older.

[laughs] Funny how that works!

No kidding.

Was religion important in your family?

God was certainly important. Not to be questioned. But Judaism is more than a religion—it’s a people. You’re born a Jew, you die a Jew. It’s your ethnic identity. So yes, I would say that my Jewish identity was very important when I was growing up. It’s an essential identity, like being Black or being Latino or being anything else.

Could you briefly explain A Course in Miracles and how you migrated there?

A Course in Miracles is a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy. It’s not a religion. It refers to itself as a psychological mind training—a self-study course in forgiveness. It’s a psychological training in giving up a fear-based way of looking at the world and replacing it with love.

It’s not difficult, really, but it’s very different. What’s difficult is getting over our resistance to doing it. What’s difficult is giving up the judgmental attack thoughts that dominate so much of our thinking. The consciousness that dominates the world is so full of fear, and the thinking of love is opposite of that. It’s like training your mental muscles to see the world in a different way, to think that everything that’s not love is a call for love, to think that love is real and that everything else is a product of the mind that doesn’t need to stand forever.

Were such views pooh-poohed in politics?

Not if you understand history! The two most powerful political movements in the 20th century were Gandhi and the Indian Independence movement, and Martin Luther King Jr. and the American civil rights movement. Both were based on the philosophy of non-violence as first articulated by Gandhi: that self-purification precedes the most powerful political activism, and love heals political relationships as much as it heals personal ones.

What kind of insults have you borne, specifically?

I don’t think the point is what kind of insults I have borne. The point is that politics can be a dirty business. It’s not about me. Politics is rough. I didn’t go into it thinking it was going to be a walk in the park and it hasn’t been, but none of that is important. “She’s a crystal lady… she’s woo-woo… she’s anti-science… she’s a lightweight thinker.” Give me a break.

What’s important is what I’m saying to the American people. What’s important is that we have lost a sense of public morality. What’s important is that our public policy is dangerously divergent from the goodness in our hearts. What’s important is that one percent of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent, leaving millions and millions of people in daily, chronic economic anxiety. What’s important is that millions of American children live with chronic trauma. What’s important is that our national security agenda is based more on short-term profits for defense contractors than on a plan for a peaceful planet. What’s important is that we have 12 years to reverse climate change. What’s important is that we must address racial healing at a deeper level.

What’s important is not what kinds of insults have been aimed at me. That is profoundly unimportant in the larger sense of things.

In the larger metaphysical picture how do you frame the Trump phenomenon?

Trump didn’t create our biggest problems; Trump was created by our biggest problems. Once we started turning the businessman into a god, it was probably inevitable that the most perverted, distorted image of one would appear among us.

For decades, we’ve allowed an amoral economic system to take precedence over a proactive demand for democracy and humanitarian principles. So why should we be surprised that the exact embodiment of such a worldview would emerge?

If you don’t tend to your marriage you have no good reason to be shocked if your spouse leaves you. If you don’t tend to your health, you have no reason to be shocked later if you get diagnosed with an illness. If you don’t tend to your business, you have no reason to be shocked if the business goes under. We have not tended to our democracy. We have not proactively cultivated democracy—not to even mention ethics and goodness and love and mercy and compassion—at the center of our political functioning and our collective behavior. We thought, what exactly, that those things are a done deal and would drive themselves? That was very naïve of us. And Trump has certainly been an awakening.

Every time somebody says “Oh, I’m not political…” I say, “Everything is political.” If you say, “I’m not political” and you didn’t vote because you’re “not political”— you sure did vote. You voted for the people who are absolutely thrilled that you didn’t vote. If you’re not proactively casting the light, then you are partly responsible for the darkness. If you don’t wake up in the morning and dedicate your life to love and service, then that same energy will be dedicated to neurosis and pathology. The mental energy is going to go somewhere. That’s true in our personal lives and it’s true in
our collective experience.

With all the dirty backbiting, how can you blame a sensitive spiritual aspirant from running far away?

Oh, please. Let’s not use sensitivity or spirituality to justify laziness, brand protection, and lack of courage.

I’m dumbfounded at how our society not only condones but actually rewards narcissistic behavior.

We are in a de-evolutionary period. We’ve been devolving in some of the ways you just described. But a lot of people are now looking around saying “Oh, my God, what have we wrought?” That’s a good thing. There’s a healthy horror that people are feeling today. We have to face that horror to find the inspiration to change the conditions that produced it.

In our bubble there’s evidence to suggest that we are evolving at light-speed. What might precipitate a mass wake up?

If Trump being president doesn’t wake you up, then you took some wicked sleeping pill.

I’m sensitive to the bubble we inhabit and try to be especially open-minded with everybody, including Trump supporters. But when leaders such as Brazilian president Bolsonaro direct their unconsciousness on Mother Earth, my heart breaks. The line is crossed.

Well, I have some bad news for you. If you think things are bad now, give this president a second term. The prospects are chilling.

Let’s use the environment to start talking specifically about some of the platforms of a would-be President Williamson.

We need a World War II level mass mobilization to reverse climate change. We have to do that, because the alternative is nothing short of existentially threatening. This isn’t a left versus right issue; it’s a survival versus mass extinction issue. We’re talking here the prospect of social collapse such as we have not seen in the modern era. Everything from mass starvation and food shortages to economic crises, huge swaths of land uninhabitable because of the heat, inability to grow food, and millions and millions of global climate refugees. We. Must. Not. Let. This. Happen.

We need to shift from a dirty economy to a clean economy, sequester carbon, reforest, develop alternative sustainable systems of energy and transportation, deal with animal factory farming. Pass a Green New Deal. All of those things are critically urgent. They are the only path to a survivable future. It goes so far beyond something like just rejoining the Paris Accords, which of course we need to do. It goes beyond making sure a world class environmental scientist is the head of the EPA, which of course we need to do. We need to enroll the American people. This is the reason I believe someone like myself should be president—because the job entails enrolling more than 300 million people in an effort that we cannot accomplish if we are opposed to one another.

We didn’t fight World War II as Democrats or Republicans; we fought it as Americans. Everybody understood who the enemy was, and it wasn’t each other. We have a common enemy here: an ever- accelerating climate crisis. We can deal with this. We can lead the world in dealing with this. But we need a shift in our collective consciousness to do it.

Could you describe what your proposal is for a Department of Peace?

Right now we spend 760 billion dollars or more on our military budget. We spend 40 billion dollars on our State Department. The State Department’s mission is diplomacy, development, and mediation. Within the State Department budget there’s 17 billion that goes to USAID (United States Agency for International Development)—for long-term development and humanitarian assistance.

Also, within that 40 billion, less than one billion is spent on peace-building agencies. Peace-building is a very interesting concept because peace-building skills are every bit as sophisticated and represent every bit as much expertise and courage as do military skills.

There are four factors which when statistically present indicate there will be a greater presence of peace and a diminished incidence of conflict. Those our things are 1) expanded economic opportunities for women, 2) expanded educational opportunities for children, 3) reduced violence against women, and 4) the amelioration of unnecessary human suffering. Those things could be likened to preventative medicine within the body politic.

Yet right now our national security agenda is like an old allopathic model of healing the body. You don’t cultivate health, you just wait till symptoms arise and then you seek external remedies to eradicate or suppress the symptoms. We’ve moved past that in how we look at the body and we should also look past that in how we see society. Sickness is the absence of health; health isn’t the absence of sickness. And war is the absence of peace; peace isn’t the absence of war. We need an integrative politics now, to best understand how we should move forward.

Our national security agenda is based primarily on endless preparation for war, which has nothing to do with a proactive agenda for peace. You can’t just back yourself up into peace. My plan for a Department of Peace means bolstering the already existing peacebuilding efforts and agencies within the government, to the point where they are equal partners with the military. And just like we have war games, if I am president we will also have peace games. We will declare peace, domestically and internationally. That is one of the pillars of the campaign. And just like we have a military academy we will have a peace academy, where people actually graduate from a four-year curriculum in peace studies.

This being our Women issue, how does your being a woman bear on your political messaging?

Simple. Take care of the babies, take care of our home. Take care of the babies, take care of our home. Take care of the babies, take care of our home.

In your platform you propose a Department of Children and Youth.

Our country ranks at or near the bottom on almost every indicator regarding governmental policies toward children. Far too many children fall through the cracks; 13 million are hungry, and millions go to school in classrooms that don’t even have adequate supplies to teach a child to read. When children cannot read by the age of eight their chances of high school graduation are drastically diminished and their chances of incarceration are increased. In the richest country in the world, withholding education from a child is a passive form of oppression. It’s absurd the way we base
our educational funding on property taxes! That means that if a child comes from a well-to-do neighborhood, then his or her chances of a very fine public school education are excellent. But if not? Then not.

Millions of our children are traumatized by violence in their homes, their neighborhoods, and their schools. Millions live with chronic trauma and PTSD rivaling that of war veterans. And all of that must change. We need a massive realignment of investment in the direction of our children. I want a US Department of Children and Youth to co-ordinate all programs involving children, providing everything from community wraparound services to trauma-informed education to nutritional services to mindfulness in the schools. Every school in America should be a palace of learning, culture, and the arts. We should have a whole-student approach to education, aimed at preparing students not only for the skills and jobs of the 21st century but also for 21st century democracy. Children deserve to thrive, and we’re responsible for helping them do that.

As a woman how did you experience the Hillary Clinton candidacy?

I was a Bernie supporter, not because I had anything against Hillary but just because my politics were more like Bernie’s. After the primaries were over I certainly switched over and supported her. I think people are having a delayed reaction to the misogyny in that campaign. I remember watching the debate where Trump walked so menacingly behind Hillary and I remember remarking to someone, “That’s violence against women right there!” I still can hardly believe that any woman could have watched that and not recognized the subtle violence for what it was.

How do you view some of the other female Democratic candidates? We can name them, starting with Tulsi Gabbard.

I love Tulsi. I’ve gotten to know her a bit. She’s great. Kirsten Gillibrand was also very nice to me when she was on the campaign. And I adore Elizabeth Warren.

Amy Klobuchar?

I don’t know Amy or Kamala [Harris].

There’s optimism in our circles about Senator Warren.

I love Elizabeth. She’s great.

Let’s talk about some of the other platforms, like your reparations plan for example.

Whether you’re a country or an individual, you can’t have the future you want if you’re not willing to clean up the past. Racism is America’s original character defect, and both reparations for slavery and some kind of reparations for Native American justice are necessary if we’re to have the future we wish. We need a season of moral repair, and that will not be accomplished with just an economic policy here or a climate policy there. We need a much more fundamental pattern disruption, a more integrative politics that speaks to many levels of our dysfunction. That’s why reparations are different from simply race-based policies.

Race-based policies can be a continuation of the same paternalism that got us here. “I messed with you and now I’m going tell you how I’m going to fix it.” Reparations are more than that; they carry moral force. They go beyond economic restitution. They carry an inherent mea culpa—an acknowledgement of a wrong that has been done, a debt that is owed, and the willingness on the part of a people to pay it. That accomplishes more than just economic restitution; it accomplishes a psychological, emotional, and spiritual change as well.

I know Oprah Winfrey is a big Marianne Williamson fan. What role has she played in your life?

Oprah was very generous to me in the beginning of my career and I’ll always be extremely grateful to her.

If you don’t become president of the United States what do you hope will be the legacy of your candidacy? What would you have achieved?

We’re having conversations no one else is having, about children and race and peace and more. A presidential campaign is a field of energy like no other, and many people are hearing us. The more people share in a conversation, the more people share an idea, the stronger it becomes. So whether the American people wish to turn those ideas into public policy remains to be seen, but as long as I’m running then they have the option. As long as my heart leads me to share these ideas, as long as people keep showing up to hear me and support the campaign, then I’m here.

Besides becoming president, what’s your greatest personal, spiritual aspiration?

I just pray to become the woman that I’m capable of being—and to be happy. Those are actually the same thing of course. I’m too old to think that circumstances determine our happiness, so I’m past dreaming that this or that circumstance would make too much difference.

How do you define consciousness and how does this consciousness become the operating system in your life?

The consciousness that matters most is love. In fact, it’s the only Real consciousness. Everything else is maya—illusion. I struggle just like everyone else with the constant temptation to perceive without love. I assure you: A presidential campaign gives you plenty of opportunity, plenty of temptation to perceive without love! It calls for a lot of psychological and emotional discipline not to be triggered by pretty much everything that goes on.

Do you still think about the goal of becoming enlightened?

I think that’s what we’re doing here on this earth. It’s all that’s going on.

What are some of your great joys?

My great joys have been and are love.

What particularly ticks you off?

The things that cause me outrage and heartbreak are the same things that cause everyone else outrage and heartbreak. How are we letting children starve? What are we doing to the earth? How do we cast each other out of our hearts so easily?

What do you make of Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president? Has his Teflon run sheer with this one?

I’ve made a statement in support of the impeachment inquiry. It gives me no joy to note the danger that he poses to our democracy.

Who’ve been some of the big heroes?

My father. And my mother. Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi. Jefferson, Lincoln. Susan B. Anthony.

Gloria Steinem?

I don’t know if I’d call her a hero. But I greatly admire her. She’s been a role model to me, that’s for sure.

What women do you consider exemplary in the area of love?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Might you share a message to younger readers, particularly young women?

I feel such anguish for young women who haven’t had their babies yet, who worry about the drinking water and the condition of the soil, the future of the earth, the sale of pesticides. I understand their fear and I have great respect for those who are awake, participating in the revolutionary impulse that will turn all this around.

Can you share a final message to Common Ground readers, many of whom are longstanding fans?

There are so many more of us who love than who hate in this country, but the lovers have got to step up now. We need the visionaries, the lovers, the artists, the yogis, the scientists, the teachers, the healers to enter the political fray now. We can’t just stand on the sidelines. It’s time. Rehearsal is over.

I’m very grateful to all the people supporting my campaign—and to those who are considering supporting it. That support is everything. Money is unfortunately everything in a political campaign because it pays for the infrastructure without which it can’t happen. Money in politics is the cancer underlying all the cancers in our country today, and public funding for federal campaigns is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. Until that happens though, financial support is essential.

There are a lot of good people running. I don’t think of myself as running against anyone—I’m running with the others. But if people look at Marianne2020.com, hear me speak, and come to believe that the things I’m saying are the things that need to be said, I hope they’ll step up and join us. To those who think the things I’m proposing need to be done—I hope you will shout it from the mountaintops and do what you can to take this all the way. This is a critical moment in our country’s history, and we need to rise to the occasion. There is an old rabbinical saying that says volumes: “You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you permitted to abandon it.” That was said ages ago, but it was said for us.

Rob Sidon is publisher and editor-in-chief of Common Ground.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ARTISTS LAYLA LOVE, ALES PRIKRYL AND ELENA RAY.

“A strong woman is one who feels deeply and loves fiercely. Her tears flow as abundantly as her laughter. A strong woman is both soft and powerful, she is both practical and spiritual. A strong woman in her essence is a gift to the world.”
—Native American Saying

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint—and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”
–Oprah Winfrey

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
–Anaïs Nin

“Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.”
–Eleanor Roosevelt

“You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess. Even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to your children.”
—Greta Thunberg

“I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.”
–Frida Kahlo

“The principle of motherhood is as vast and powerful as the universe. With the power of motherhood within her, a mother can influence the entire world”
–Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi)

“Every social justice movement that I know of has come out of people sitting in small groups, telling their life stories, and discovering that other people have shared similar experiences.”
–Gloria Steinem

“Once you figure out what respect tastes like, it tastes better than attention.”
–Pink

“If you’re going to change things, you have to be with the people who hold the levers.”
–Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“Whatever you do, be different—that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out.”
–Anita Roddick

”Don’t talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddamn rules.”
–Maria Callas

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”
–Maya Angelou

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”
–Mother Teresa

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
–Rosa Parks

“When your intuition is telling you that the time has come to leave behind your moderation, do it!”
—Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot)

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”
–Katharine Hepburn

“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no
further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is
likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.”
–Albert Einstein

Ram Dass is a longtime friend of Common Ground. We learned that his health is failing and in recent days he has come very close to leaving the body. We begged his closest aides to let us connect with him for one short final conversation—and our wish was granted.

Ram Dass is the subject of a terrific new documentary, Becoming Nobody, that will premiere in September. Jamie Catto directed and co-produced, along with Raghu Mitchell.

Common Ground: You could leave the body any day. What does this feel like, this waiting game?

Ram Dass: I am not waiting or looking forward or back—I am simply inhabiting each moment in its fullness. The concept of Be Here Now that I have been speaking about in different ways over these last many years turns out to be the most relevant game in town, at any age.

Do you ever feel scared or apprehensive?

I feel in concert with Ramakrishna, who when he was initiated into the non-dual state shouted out, “I want to worship the Mother!” He was interested only in the Divine dance of two—the essence of the Bhakti path. So I am not scared but I am working on my preference of being in the Bhakti relationship.

Are you still learning, or just applying what you’ve already learned?

Of course every day is part of the curriculum. Every encounter with humans or nature—every thought that takes one away from the truth—is a learning experience and it goes on through the transition to the next incarnation.

How is your relationship with Maharaji (Neem Karoli Baba) felt at this stage?

He is my constant companion. He is living proof of our potential to tell the truth and love everyone, which is what he told me to do when we were in India together. This teaching continues to reveal itself more and more to me each day.

I attended the world preview of Becoming Nobody. Terrific. Can you explain the title? How is this documentary different from the many that preceded it?

Everyone wants to be a somebody in order to keep their identities and roles safe and sound. We have so many protective shells, so many defensive patterns; when we drop all of that we can begin to move from ego to soul—and then eventually all of our motives begin to come from a place of compassion where we say, “What can I do for others?” not, “What do I want? What do I need?”

How would you characterize your remaining attachments to this earthly plane?

My attachments are to all the loving people who I see day to day, either in person or virtually. Maharaji said, “Love goes two ways—I am attached to you as you are attached to me.”

After the publication of Be Here Now you were catapulted into fame as a spiritual teacher. What has been the general arc of your spiritual maturation as a teacher over the past 50 years?

As my disembodied friend Emmanuel said to me once, “Ram Dass, don’t you see that life is a curriculum? Why don’t you get on with the program?” And the arc has always been through my dayto-day relationship with my guru.

On the Do-Be-Do spectrum, you historically advocated for BE. Can you reflect on the Do-Be paradigm from your current vantage point?

Whenever we are a doer then we are living from separateness—we can’t make much of a dent in our social action if we are using only our minds to change things. Our hearts need to be open and more kind, loving, and compassionate. Then we can live on a plane of consciousness that is based in being love, being truth—radiating from our core.

You were the earliest pioneer of the psychedelic movement, which has blossomed many times over since you and Tim Leary were fired from Harvard. What are your reflections about the contemporary surge of psychedelic acceptance today? What advice might you provide to spiritual aspirants, especially young people, experimenting with entheogens along the Path?

I don’t think my view has changed. Maybe Maharaji changed things a little for me. He said the psychedelics can take you into the room with Christ for a short period of time and then you have to leave. And I found that Maharaji takes you into that room eternally.

“What a long strange trip it’s been…” That Grateful Dead lyric might just sum it up. Any parting reflections on the long strange trip?

The trip has been rich and full of both sweet and bittersweet moments but has always been full of grace. And through it all the embracing of fellow travelers on the path—that connection with sat-sang—has been and remains to this day a milestone for sharing our deepest hearts in love.

My deepest pranams to you, fellow voyager. This is weepy, but please share a final message to Common Ground readers, many whom have followed you for the distance.

“Loving awareness” is a wonderful mantra to repeat and it allows you to move your perspective from ego/mind to spiritual heart/soul in the center of your chest. “I am loving awareness…I am loving awareness…I am loving awareness…”

Safe journey, dear friend.

Ram Ram.

Rob Sidon is publisher and editor-in-chief of
Common Ground.

Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez was born in Puerto Rico in 1962 and moved to San Francisco to study art in 1985. While earning her living as an advertising freelancer and later as a teacher, she privately pursued her passion for portraiture. After Hurricane María devastated her homeland, she put together a Kickstarter campaign, raising $8,000, so she could fly to the island to capture portraits, which are currently on display (until Aug. 15) at the Sanchez Contemporary in Oakland. SanchezContemporary.com

Her hope is that the show will get viewers to examine the politics of representation and redefine the “pobrecito” victim narrative. The models hailed mostly from her home, the San Juan region, but also from Manatí, Loíza, and Caguas. She selected from a crosssection of sitters, many from the LGBTQ community. “Yes, the models were awaiting disability, but these portraits aim to show the strength and dignity of my people.” Rebeca lives in Richmond with her wife, Sarah. Garcia-Gonzalez.com