Samuel Rinnetmäki
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

My favourite quote (around 20 years ago) was attributed to Nelson Mandela:

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 will not 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 others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Well, it wasn’t written by a politician but a new-age author Marianne Williamson. And, attributed to Williamson, the passage seems a lot different than if it was written by a politician and a respected leader of a nation. Had those words actually been said by Mandela, they would carry much more weight than those of a “spiritual activist”.

The message that really meant a lot to me is the part until the “who are you not to be?” I still occasionally ask myself that question. The last sentence of the quote encourages me to answer correctly.

The misattribution made the quote viral (in the 1990's), it surely affected to how I felt about it, and perhaps to some extent affected to who I am today. But since I know the true source of the quote, I’m much less willing to spread it around. (Well, I wasn’t actually preaching the quote when I thought it was by Mandela. It has always been a personal thing. Something that existed just to touch a part of me.)

I raise my hat for you, Caelan, for staying true to your own standards. You pursue excellence by repeating a habit, and you choose to adhere the truth.

I must confess my own cowardice. I have not been brave enough to spread Williamson’s message after I found out the truth about it. I have tried to allow myself be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous. I’m not sure how much I have liberated others from their fears by just letting my own light shine.

It wasn’t someone else’s self-confidence that touched me long ago. It was the quote. I wish many people would read the quote, contemplate on it and ask themselves about their deepest fear.

With great power comes great responsibility. I feel responsible for spreading Williamson’s quote which empowered me twenty years ago.

I start with this comment.

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    Samuel Rinnetmäki

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