'Our Greatest Fear' from A Return to Love – Reflections on the Principles of a course in miracles by Marianne Williamson and used by Nelson Mandela in his inauguration speech in 1994)
'Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, 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 won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.'
Extract from The Practice of Yoga by Erich Schiffman
'The purpose of yoga is to facilitate the profound inner relaxation that accompanies fearlessness. The release from fear is what finally precipitates the fullness of inner peace. In this state you will love what you see in others and others will love you, for having been seen. This is the softened perception of the world that yoga promotes.
Yoga will make you sensitive to the stillness, the presence, the hush, the peace within. This deep inner stillness is the core of your being, it is the ground, the ground joy of your being. The radiant peace you'll experience is what happens naturally when the creative energy within is allowed to flow through you unobstructed.'
THE LITTLE BIRD THAT KNEW
'Yesterday I
watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak
tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened
next, though I can tell you it remained inside.
I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a
speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose
to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible
to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical
and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.
Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does
instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the
same?
That little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how
things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details
would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found.
In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree
first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the
ground.
Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor
instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.'
Tallyho,
The Universe (www.tut.com)