A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" QUOTES

1 " In the absence of love, we began slowly but surely to fall apart. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

2 " 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? "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

3 " 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'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. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

4 " We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

5 " The process of miraculous change is twofold. One: I see my error or dysfunctional pattern. Two: I ask God to take it from me. The first principle without the second is impotent. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, your best thinking got you here. You're the problem but you're not the answer. The second principle isn't enough to change us either. The Holy Spirit can't take from us what we will not release to him. He won't work without our consent. He cannot remove our character defects without our willingness, because that would be violating our free will. We chose those patterns, however mistakenly, and he will not force us to give them up. In asking God to heal us, we're committing to the choice to be healed. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

6 " The ego is our pain, but it is what we know and we resist moving out of it. The effort it takes to grow out of painful patterns often feels more uncomfortable than remaining within them. Personal growth can be so painful because it can make us ashamed and humiliated to face our own darkness. But the goal of personal growth is the journey out of dark emotional patterns which cause us pain to those which cause us peace. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

7 " The thought system which dominates our culture is laced with selfish values, and relinquishing those values is a lot easier said than done. The journey to a pure heart can be highly disorienting. For years, we may have worked for power, money or prestige. Now all of a sudden we've learned that these are just the values of a dying world. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

8 " It takes courage...to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

9 " Forgiveness is like the martial arts of consciousness. In aikido and other martial arts, we sidestep our attacker's force rather than resisting it. The energy of the attack then boomerangs back in the direction of the attacker. forgiveness works in the same way. When we attack back, and defense is a form of attack, we initiate a war which no one can win. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

10 " Whether we're forgiving our parents or someone else or ourselves, the laws of mind remain the same. As we love, we shall be released from pain and as we deny love, we shall remain in pain. Each of us have different fears and different manifestations of fear, but all of us are saved by the same technique: The call to God to save our lives by salvaging our minds. 'Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For love is the kingdom and love is the glory and love is the power, forever and forever. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

11 " In business as well as in everything else, you're in business to spread love. Your agency should spread love, your screenplay should spread love, your store should spread love, your life should spread love. The key to a successful career is realizing that it s not separate from the rest of your life, but is rather an extension of your most basic self and your most basic self is love. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

12 " We're hallucinating. And that's what this world is: a mass hallucination, where fear seems more real than love. Fear is an illusion. Our craziness, paranoia, anxiety and trauma are literally all imagined. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

13 " Achievement doesn't come from what we do, but from who we are. Our worldly power results from our personal power. Our career is an extension of our personality. People who profoundly achieve aren't necessarily people who do so much, they're people around whom things get done. Mahatma Gandhi and JFK were great examples of this. Their great achievements lay in all the energy they stirred in other people, the invisible forces they unleashed around them. By touching their own depths, they touched the depths within others. That kind of charisma, the power to affect what happens on the earth, from an invisible realm within is the natural right and function of the son of god. New frontiers are internal ones, the real stretch is always within us. Instead of expanding our ability or willingness to go out and get anything, we expand our ability to receive what is already here for us. Personal power emanates from someone who takes life seriously. The universe takes us as seriously as we take it. There is no greater seriousness than the full appreciation of the power and importance of love. Miracles flow from the recognition that love is the purpose of our career. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

14 " Healing occurs in the present, not the past. We're not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past, but by the love we'e not giving in the present. There's a lot of talk today about people growing up in dysfunctional homes, but who didn't grow up in a dysfunctional home? This world is a dysfunction. However, there's nothing we've been through or seen or done that cannot be used to make our lives more valuable now. We can grow from any experience, and we can transcend any experience. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

15 " A Course in Miracles says we think we're going to understand people in order to figure out whether or not they're worthy of our love, but that actually, until we love them, we can never understand them. What is not loved is not understood. We hold ourselves separate from people and wait for them to earn our love, but people deserve our love because of what God created them to be. As long as we're waiting for them to be anything better, we will constantly be disappointed. When we choose to join with them through approval and unconditional love, the miracle kicks in for both parties. This is the primary key, the ultimate miracle, in relationships. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

16 " You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

17 " A spiritual relationship is not necessarily one in which two people are smiling all the time. Spiritual means to be above all else, authentic. Real work can only occur in the presence of rigorous honesty We all long for that, but we're afraid of communicating honestly with another person because we think they'll leave us if they see who we really are. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

18 " Give all your gifts away in service to the world. If you want to paint, don't wait for a grant, paint a wall in your town that looks drab and uninviting. You never know who is going to see that wall. Whatever it is you want to do, give it away in service to your community. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

19 " Another miraculous transformation is the shift from a sales mentality to a service mentality. When we're motivated by the desire to sell, we're only looking out for ourselves. When we're motivated by the desire to serve, we're looking out for others. Since in the realm of consciousness, we only get to keep what we give away, a service mentality is a far more abundant attitude. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

20 " The return to love is hardly the end of life's adventure. It's the real beginning. A course in miracle says we think we have many different problems but we really only have one: denying love is the only problem and embracing it is the only answer. "

― Marianne Williamson , A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"