If you live long enough, you find you’ve misquoted somebody at some time, and if you are willing to laugh with yourself, you’ll never cease to be entertained.
For years, I’ve been attributing a quote to Nelson Mandela; “Human beings can’t bear the burden of their own inherent greatness.” I even created a slide in my Enneagram presentations to quote him. Then, through the help of my sister, who said she couldn’t find the quote attributed to him, I started saying it was Mandela-ish. Now, I have discovered the path to my misquoting.
I think it began with the feeling I got from Nelson Mandela’s Rules* where he names “inherent dignity” took the path to the scripture “partakers of a divine nature” tracked parallel with the passage about being “chosen” from before the foundation of the world, at the Greek word for chosen “eklectos,” meaning “a spoken forth word of God.” From there, I hung out with Teresa of Ávila’s idea that “one finds God in oneself, and one finds oneself in God.” Finally, I remembered Dad’s central guidepost to “remember who you are” and arrived at the “human beings can’t bear the burden of their own inherent greatness.”
Live long enough, and you’ll think you’re quoting someone else and you’re quoting yourself-ish.
With joy,
Clare
PS This weekend begins the 2024-2025 Spiritual Direction School Cohort. You will be the first students with a correct-ish slide!
Click to access Nelson Mandela Rules E-Book
