Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson is the author of A Return to Love . She is also perhaps one of the most outspoken and well-known students of A Course In Miracles.

A certain passage from her book is possibly one of the most widely misquoted passages in modern history. This passage has been erroneously attributed to have been used by Nelson Mandela in one of his own speeches. The fact that this is untrue can be verified quite easily by doing a matching word search in the database of all of President Mandela's speeches kept on the website of the African National Congress.

Regardless of this popular, yet erroneous misquote, the passage is still quite memorable, and some would say that it is indeed a pity that Mandela never actually used it. This passage goes as follows:

"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 is not just in some of us; it is 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." (from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3)

Related Links

A Course In Miracles

External references and links

• Williamson, Marianne (1996). A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060927488. Widely-read adaptation of ACIM principles.