Our Greatest Fear

An old friend from South Africa recently got in touch with me and sent me the following quotation in response to post on Heroic Leadership. It's from a woman named Marianne Williamson but is often attributed erroneously to Nelson Mandela. When I first saw it it had Mandela's name attached, so every time I think of it, it's Mandela's voice delivering the lines in my head.

I really like the quotation and I think it certainly has Ignatian overtones. It reminds me of St. Irenaus' saying that the "Glory of God is man fully alive." I'm a little suspicious of the rest of this woman's oeuvre. (It has that "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" vibe that drives me nuts.) Anyway, the quotation:

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, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were 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.

Thanks, Craig!