As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.

This line comes from Marianne Williamson’s reflections on fear, self-expression, and spiritual purpose in the early 1990s, a period when she was emerging as a prominent teacher of “A Course in Miracles”-influenced spirituality. It appears in her book *A Return to Love*, where she argues that personal transformation is not merely private: when one person stops shrinking and lives more openly, it changes the emotional “permission structure” of a group. The passage is often circulated independently (and sometimes misattributed in popular culture), but its original setting is Williamson’s broader exhortation to choose love over fear and to accept one’s capacity to contribute.

Williamson frames courage and authenticity as socially contagious. “Let our light shine” suggests embracing one’s gifts and visibility rather than hiding out of fear of judgment or inadequacy. The claim that this “gives other people permission” emphasizes an interpersonal dynamic: people often calibrate their own self-expression to what seems acceptable in their community, so one person’s openness can lower the perceived risk for others. The final sentence extends the idea from inspiration to liberation: overcoming internal fear changes how one “shows up,” and that presence—confident, unguarded, loving—can make others feel safer to do the same. The quote thus links inner work to collective change.

1) “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
2) “As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”