From the recording Acoustic Remedy
Music by Johnny Schaefer
tradtional chant combined with a prayer by Marianne Williamson, used by permisson
Lyrics
Track 9: Closer than you Think
Track 9: Closer than You Think feat. Marianne Williamson
Closer Thank You THink
You've reached a time of questioning
What is the true meaning of this thing called love?
You think we've reached an obstacle
One that's so big and tall
We'll never rise above
Well you can get past all your fears
Soon it's all be clear
Listen inside and trust
Well, so we made a few mistakes
Runnin' the human race
There's nothin' wrong with us
No, i'm you
You're me
There's more to what we see
Can't break this link
We're closer than you think
(Closer) than you think
Marianne, say the prayer...
Marianne Williamson says a relationship prayer:
Dear God,
We call to mind people with whom we are in relationship.
We recognize now that any thoughts we have
About how they should be
About how we want them to be
and what we want them to do in order that we might be happy
and what we think they owe to us
whatever this kind of thinking is that we have
we recognize in this moment that these thoughts are thoughts of attack on our brother
and we recognize in this moment that those thoughts will not help this relationship
we recognize in this moment that these thoughts are an effort to bind our brother,
to control our brother,
to imprison him.
and we recognize in this moment that this is not love
and so as we call to mind this person or these people who now occur to us
We're closer than you think
(closer) than you think.
We now, at this moment in our mind, set them free
We accept them exactly as they are
Our only desire is that they be at peace
our only desire is that they be happy
and we completely relinquish any claim that we might have
to what that should look like
and we say, in this moment, "Dear God, hey, whatever form the relationship is supposed to take,
that's fine. If for them to be a certain way or to do a certain thing would mean they wouldn't be as
close to us that's OK
because our desire is not to, to imprison our brother
our desire is to accept his as he is
We love our brother so much that our only desire is that he be happy
"Go, be where you have to be,
do what you have to do,
be about what you need to be about
my desire in this moment is to see your beauty
to love your beauty
and to thus be a space in which you're closer to the realization yourself
of how beautiful you are
my desire is not to make you feel worse about yourself
my desire is to make you feel better about yourself
we allow our minds to be healed
as we now release our brother
and ask you dear God
to show us their innocence, their beauty,
that they might see it more clearly themselves.
Thank you very much.
Together, we all say "Amen"
(And so it is)
Johnny:
We're Closer than you Think
(Closer) than you think
Well, you can leave the atmosphere
Or you can stay right here
Love will go anywhere
Anywhere...
I'm you
You're me
There's more to what we see
Can't break this link
We're closer than you think
(Closer) than you think...
Marianne makes some closing comments
©2013 Johnny Schaefer, Auditory Verve Music, ASCAP
Marianne Williamson recordings and material used with gratitude by permission and are the sole property of Ms. Williamson
©1983, 2013 Marianne Williamson, all rights reserved worldwide
I attended a lecture by Marianne Wiliamson in the 1980s in which Marianne Williamson said this prayer. It became an invaluable resource for me over the years as I navigated life and relationships with others. I learned more from this prayer than any other thing in my life. This song came from that and I am forever grateful to Ms. Williamson for allowing me to use it in this recording of the song.