Browse Items (72 total)

In this recording, Thurman reflects on the ways in which our needs are so often met by people we do not know and how we are indebted to those unknown benefactors. In turn, we must try to be generous with others even when there is no possibility of merit or recognition.

In this recording, Thurman discusses how timetables and schedules can affect us in negative and positive ways. Timetables can sometimes be oppressive, and so "we become busy." In other cases, they allow us to become more efficient and thus find more time to cultivate our inward part. Thurman ends by focusing on the importance of cultivating habits that "steel us within" so that we might find inner tranquility among the turmoil of life.

In this recording, Thurman explores the idea of order and logic in life through the lens of Psalm 139 and a prose poem based on the phrase, "Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off."

Thurman suggests that evidence of God having searched and known us is found in the details of our lives that demonstrate order and logic in our actions and experiences. Thurman concludes, "the whole context of my life has…

This recording has two parts.
In the first message, Howard Thurman describes human desire to "be relieved of the pressure of anxiety that comes from finding no escape from the things that make life hard." Quiet times of meditation can give us the space to take a long look at our own situation and "give wings to our longings." The peace we can experience during crisis is contained within the crisis itself, which means it must end, without us knowing whether the situation will be better or worse…

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads from a letter that his friend from Canada sends him. Within the letter, the listener hears of a young boy who makes the decision to participate in a blood transfusion for his sister. In agreeing to participate in the transfusion, the boy misunderstood, and assumed that he would have to die in order to save his younger sister's life. Thurman sees this boy's misunderstanding as a "moment of truth." The moment of truth speaks to one's…

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon a passage from 1 Corinthians to elaborate on his understanding of love. He defines love as "the experience of being dealt with at a point in oneself that is beyond all the good and beyond all the evil. He notes that the love of God functions as the exemplary love to which humanity should strive towards. Thurman's conception of love is not possessive nor transactional, rather, it is interdependent and comes from the…

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon a passage from 1 Corinthians to elaborate on his understanding of love. He defines love as "the experience of being dealt with at a point in oneself that is beyond all the good and beyond all the evil. He notes that the love of God functions as the exemplary love to which humanity should strive towards. Thurman's conception of love is not possessive nor transactional, rather, it is interdependent and comes from the…

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman draws from a quotation written by Kabir, who is a Hindu Mystic. The line Thurman repeats from the Kabir quotation throughout this reading is, "I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty," which is utilized as a way of speaking to our deepest longings resting within ourselves. Thurman notes that if one is seeking truth destructively, it will disintegrate one's inner life, and eventually, collapse one's outer life. While…

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses his text, "The Inward Journey," to discern what it means to live a life of intentionality. He holds up the orderly life and the life of crisis as the two ways one may live their life. He continues that regardless of one's life orientation, that one must wrestle with the reality of failure being embedded into the human experience. Thurman notes that life is a pattern that is continually unfolding, revealing a wider pattern, and…

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, Meditations of the Heart, which reflects on Matthew 21:29 and asks: "What does it mean to be a person of your word?" He responds to this question by discerning the function of language, and how language creates meaning. This deep reflection on the nature of linguistics makes the listener ask, what is it about our words that dictate whether or not one is integrous?

In this recording within the We Believe…