Our Greatest Fear

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us
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 does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that otherpeople won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory ofGod 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.

—Marianne Williamson


[Often said to have been quoted in a speech by Nelson Mandela. The source is Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, Harper Collins, 1992. —Peter McLaughlin]