The famous Speech, never given
May 8, 2008A friend of a friend of mine passed away this week. In their closing days, they came to peace with God and were comforted by a famous quote by Nelson Mandela, given during his inaugural speech in 1994. Only he never said it. No one knows why he was said to have spoken these words. But they were actually written by Maryanne Williamson in her book A Return to Love, in 1992. The source however does not matter. There is only one source. And as Maryanne observed, this mistaken attribution has given it exposure it never would have had. Including the comfort this woman received. Love always finds a way.
“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 frightens us most.
We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’
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 people won’t feel insecure around you.
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 all of us.
And when 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.”
The explanation:
http://www.aetw.org/mandela.htm
I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, It’s never easy when we lose someone special in our lives.
The poem is beautiful. Maryanne Williamson is such a great writer.
I like the part “And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
We do inspire others, don’t we?
Yes. In the 10th and last chat with Oprah, Eckhart talked about this. When we are present in whatever we do, that spills over into everything around us.
[...] In 2 Deep observations on the road home… « Inclusive Understanding the Opposite Sex August 19, 2008 Marianne Williamson is a well known author and speaker who’s work is based on A Course in Miracles. For myself, I like some of her work, but I’m not a big fan of ACIM. (see below) As I mentioned prior, one of the better known quotes by Nelson Mandela was actually Marianne. [...]