A Return to Love

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are all powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightened us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening 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 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, 1992, "A Return To Love"