Why this site was Created
Dreams--Let your light shine
Journey of Hearts
A Healing Place in CyberSpaceTM

Let your Light Shine
Nelson Mandela 1994 Inaugural Speech
(a.k.a. Our Deepest Fear)

Although this speech is frequently attributed to Nelson Mandela, for his Inaugural address in 1994,  the original text was written by Marianne Williamson and appeared in her book A Return To Love. I prefer the title, "Let you Light Shine" to the more pessimistic version of "Our Deepest Fear."
 
 

Our Deepest Fear
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 is nothing enlightened about shrinking 
so that other people won't feel insecure about you. 

We were born to 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.

 ...let your light shine...

 

About the Author:
Return to Love by Marianne Williamson Published by HarperCollins Publishers, Incorporated, March 1996

From The Publisher:
A Return to Love is based on "A Course in Miracles;" this self-study program teaches the practice of love as an answer to life's daily problems and fears. The book takes some of the Course's basic principles and relates them to various issues that affect our daily lives. It is about the practice of love, as a strength and not a weakness, as a daily answer to the problems that confront us. This book is written as a guide to the miraculous application of love as a balm on every wound. Whether our psychic pain is in the area of relationships, health, career, or elsewhere, love is a potent force, the cure, the "Answer". Marianne Williamson shows us how by practicing love we can make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more peaceful and loving world for our children.
For more information on Marianne Williamson, visit her official website at http://www.marianne.com




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