There was no doubt in my mind that the only thing I was interested in was searching for answers to the BIG questions in life.
My mother liked that I wanted to be a writer, but she thought my interest in spirituality wasn’t literary enough. I had to wrestle with that voice in my own head for a long time.
The ancient Greeks believed that the roots of one’s soul are in the heavens, and the human grows downward into life. The little child enters the world as a stranger from above, and his or her task is to grow down into this world, to get comfortable here, and then, after being nurtured, to offer the gift.
We have mistaken celebrity and power and money for what the real gift is.
Best advice I have to give: Don’t expect of others what you yourself are unable to do. Change the world by example. But try to change the world!
Hardest lesson: Being the best I can be does not take space away from anyone else.
Best advice given to me: Howard Thurman, the great African American theologian said, “Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
‘Relax into the mystery’ are the words I try my best to live by.
I try to peer as fearlessly as I can into my state of mind and to make friends with whatever I find. The Buddhists call it “unconditional friendliness”. Not to fight any feeling, but instead to be curious about it, to ask what it wants, to discover its message.
When I was able to match up my love of the word with my love of all things spiritual and psychological, that’s when I figured out what to do with my gift.
The variety of my jobs is as much of a dream as the jobs themselves.
A former midwife, Elizabeth Lesser has long helped care for the unseen creation not quite of this world. Today, she continues to usher into the world awakened spirits and new levels of consciousness through her work as a best-selling author, a regular Oprah collaborator and Super Soul Sunday guest, and as co-founder of the Omega Institute (a spiritual education centre). To learn more about Elizabeth Lesser and her incredible offerings, please visit: ElizabethLesser.org.
Elizabeth, thank you for agreeing to this interview so long ago. Your words are needed now more than ever. Most of all? Thank you for changing the world by your example.