What does that mean? (week1)

“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.

marianne williamson (as famously quoted by Nelson Mandela)

I thought it would be appropriate to explain the name of my blog as the first blog entry.  I chose the title for my blog based on one of the philosophies of life that I live by: Never shrink back out of fear.

At first I wondered, how could the fear of succeeding and prospering make anyone fearful?  Then I re-read the poem and I stopped at the third line and digested the true depth of how “our light,”  our potential our depth our ideas our skills, can be shut down and quieted by simply by the fear of what will happen the split second after the “light” is given out. 

“With great power comes great responsibility” and if knowledge is power then those of us with ideas are in for it.