"OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS THAT WE ARE POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE"

Last week on Wrights Lane I wrote about the human tendency to identify oneself with the question "Who am I?"

Something I ran across in my ongoing study recently has prompted me to elaborate just little further. 

Everyone has something they're naturally good at, something they're passionate about. But somewhere along the way of our busy lives, we may have lost track of our sense of direction and purpose. Our priorities and interests may have shifted over time, and we feel stuck with the uncomfortable feeling that things are "out of control". We are left wondering who we really are, where we are going, and what we might be missing out on.

It doesn't have to be that way. We always have a choice. The choice to see a situation from a different perspective. And more often than not, we have the capability to actually influence and shape our reality. It all starts with self-awareness, determination, and a courageous first step.

Not to stray from my topic, but almost daily were hear and read quotations in the form of pronouncements by the sages and philosophers of ancient times as if they continue to have the corner on all wisdom and things spiritual, leading me to ask what made those thinkers of 2,000 years ago more knowledgable and insightful than the creative and articulate thinkers of today?  Answer: That's a difficult one to answer since we don't have any points of reference which we can use to compare IQ across millennia. Having said that, the predominant theory is that intelligence, as opposed to IQ, hasn't changed greatly over the last few thousand years. This is not to be confused with the application of intelligence, which has of course been increasing exponentially, as evidence -- the following.

We have great thinkers today...We do not have to delve into the past for sage advice and wisdom. I quote the wonderfully profound words of Marianne Willimson who I would rank among the greatest minds of our time, particularly as it applies to how we think about ourselves:

"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? Your 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." 

How powerful are those words!

Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is a modern-day spiritual teacher, author and lecturer. She has published 11 books, including four New York Times number one bestsellers. She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area, and the co-founder of The Peace Alliance, a grassroots campaign supporting legislation to establish a United States Department of Peace. She serves on the Board of Directors of the RESULTS organization, which works to end poverty in the United States and around the world. Williamson also produces the Sister Giant Conferences, highlighting the intersection of spirituality and politics.

She has been taken up by those seeking a relationship with God that is not strictly tethered to Christianity." Williamson bases her teaching and writing on a set of books called A Course in Miracles, a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy, based on universal spiritual themes.
Books.  Labelled recently as a "self-help guru", she has sold more than three million books.

The above-mentioned quote from her book A Return to Love, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure," is one of the most oft-quoted passages of our time.

As an aside, it is also curious that newly-elected South African President Nelson Mandela used Williamson's full quote without due acknowledgement in his inaugural address two decades ago.  It goes without saying that we'll be hearing more from this remarkable woman, in fact she will still be quoted centuries from now, I'm sure.

I totally accept Williamson's philosophy. The outer world is a reflection of the consciousness that we hold. It is all the situations, circumstances, relationships, experiences, and what we have and what we do not have in our lives.

And the good news is that when you shift into oneness with your inner self, the Divine within you, the more the outer world will reflect the shift. It will be easier to move forward, and to know your path.

There is a lot of negative energy and craziness in this world, but we can all learn to live with inner peace. If your intention is strong and comes from the deepest part of you, it will happen. Outwardly, nothing changes; peace comes from making changes inside you.

Is inner peace within reach in my 80th year?  Trust me, I'm working hard on it because I believe deep within me that it is possible. I'm almost there...If only circumstances of life would stop interrupting me as the clock continues to click away and the days dwindle down........