Browse Items (35 total)

In this third installment of “What Shall I do With My Life”, Thurman addressed the experience of community from the fluidity of consciousness. The line of delineation between life and death, love and hate, war and forgiveness are all discussed with regards to our own self-consciousness. Our experience of community is one with the unity of life and the aliveness of life. Still, it is the desire of man to stabilize those things that we need to guarantee our physical existence. Since the…

Here Thurman uses Matthew 4:1-11 as a framework to discuss the practical world against the possibility of reality. The fluidity of natural order or lack thereof is also discussed as it relates to logic, time, and exceptions to the rules of the natural order.

Here Thurman highlights the spiritual experience of freedom. The implications of freedom as it relates to the manifestation of God and the awareness of God realized in the individual are also discussed. Just as there is a responsibility in freedom for our actions that determine, shape, and influence the future; there is also a responsibility for one’s reactions to life’s experiences. The most authentic expression of freedom is the endless possibilities of choice. Freedom is the power to accept…

In this second installment of The Search for Meaning, Howard Thurman uses the demon-possessed man from the synoptic gospels as the framework for this lecture on defining the experience of self. The awareness of self is essential to determining who we are at our core. This includes our personal, spiritual, and ethical awareness. Understanding who we are, what we want, and how we propose to get is critical to outlining and protecting our inner network of values the govern our lives and our…

This fourth lecture in The Search for Meaning series is the first part of Howard Thurman’s talk on the experience of love. Here Thurman defines love as the ability to deal with another person at a point in that person that is beyond all of his faults and all of his virtues. To be loved is to have a sense of being totally dealt with, totally held, so that you can dare to be free enough in your spirit just to run the risk of being you. Howard Thurman also uses several anecdotes to demonstrate love…

In this second part of Howard Thurman’s lecture on the Experience of Love, Thurman continues his discussion on the acceptance of others in their totality. John 8:1-11 is used to highlight the importance of meeting others where they are while treating them as though they are where they should be. We do not find Refuge in material possessions; we find refuge in the heart of those who love us.

In this third lecture in the Search for Meaning, Howard Thurman discusses freedom as it relates to personal accountability. Thurman defines freedom as the ability to stand in the present that ultimately determines the future. Freedom is also defined as having a sense of option and alternative. It is the freedom of choice that keeps our soul alive. Additionally, it is our desire and ability to take responsibility for our deeds despite extenuating circumstances that give us true liberation.

In this first installment of The Search for Meaning, Howard Thurman uses the temptation of Jesus in the synoptic gospels as a framework for a conversation about those things we choose to devote our lives and energy to. Like Christ, we are no exceptions to the rule of God’s order and God’s will because of who or what we are or decide to be. Spiritual duality and internal conflict as it relates to the demands of state and country are also discussed.

In this first sermon, Thurman sets out to explore the meaning of religious experience, and the religious experience of Jesus specifically. For Thurman, religious experience is a private and intimate experience, and yet it also seems to involve everything that is. Religious experience is not static, but rather a dynamic experiencing that our minds cannot capture totally. Nevertheless, the mind tries to freeze it into doctrine, dogma, and theology – the language of rationality. But Thurman says…

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…