1 10 2 https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/6068daa2cfc9188695d4ca3e8ff9d52e.pdf 4d1d430cff32b516fdc67b47ffeeecfe PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-165_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University As we wait together, in the presence of God, sharing deeply in the meaning of this moment, our lives are spread before us. As we look at them, there is much that we do not recognize as belonging to us. There are those things which we may see clearly and distinctly for the first time. We see how the outer edges of our lives touch the outer edges of other lives. We sense a deeper kind of relationship that gives to us reassurance and strength, which we gather from those who walk the way with us. All of the predicaments and the problems and the issues of our lives pile in upon us, and we seek for some clue by which all of the things that involve us may fall into place and make sense to our minds and our spirits. We grapple with our hungers and our desires, with the fears and frustrations, and overriding anxieties with which we face tomorrow and the succeeding days. And we hope that as we wait in the quietness, some quality of stillness will invade us, that the foundations of our lives may become more secure, and the steps which we must take may be more certain and more fulfilling. And thus, our Father, without presuming to make suggestions to thee about what thou shouldst do in us and for us, we hold still, with all of our lives spread before us and before thee, with the simple trust that thou will bless us. Bless us, thou Father, with thy spirit, with thy wholeness, with thy benediction. Bless us, oh God. We wait unhurriedly for thy blessing, our father. We continue and conclude our discussion on the moment of truth. 8-year-old Johnny was very serious when I called him into my office at the hospital and explained how he could save the life of his little sister. Mary, age 6, was near death, a victim of a disease from which Johnny had made a miraculous recovery only two years earlier. Now, Mary's only chance was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, Johnny would be the ideal donor. "Johnny," I asked, "would you like to give your blood for Mary?" He hesitated a moment, his lower lip trembling. But I had seen many people older than Johnny who are a little frightened by the idea of giving blood, so I thought no more about it. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, Dr. Morris. I'll give my blood for my sister." The operating room was prepared and the children wheeled in, Mary pale and thin, Johnny robust and almost cherubic. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned broadly. As Johnny's blood siphoned into Mary's veins, her pale skin began to turn pink. There was complete silence as the operation proceeded. But then Johnny spoke in a brave little voice I will never forget. "Say, Dr. Morris," he said. "When do I die?" It was only then that I realized what that moment's hesitation, that almost imperceptible trembling of the lip had meant when I had talked to Johnny in my office. He thought that giving up his blood for his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he made his great decision. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University When I become aware of the authentic meaning of an idea, a concept, an event, a person, and the bearing of that meaning upon my own life, I experience the moment of truth. When I become aware of the authentic meaning of an idea, concept, person, event, and the bearing of that meaning upon my own life, I experience the moment of truth. There is, of course, in that moment elements that make for decision, elements that make for discovery, disclosure, revelation, understanding, insight, elements that make for dedication, for commitment, something that provides a structure in the light of which the life will be lived from that moment on. Now, this is really all that I know to say about this, but let us see what kind of light it casts. But in terms of the concept and the idea, this is all that I have to say. Now, when we have the experience and we experience our moment of truth in the light of this definition, it may mean for us the turning to face something from which we have been running perhaps all our lives. And when we turn to face it, we may be discovering that there is nothing in its depths or height that is capable of doing with us or to us that which all along we have dreaded. When Francis of Assisi, who was sure that he could abide almost anything, any dimension of human degradation, illness, demoralization, except the one malady, the one disease-- leprosy. And all of his life, he had expanded the distance between him and any primary, face-to-face contact with leprosy. This was the lurking fear in the shadows of his mind, always there, threatening, waiting to pounce and lay bare and perhaps destroy. He made his great commitment growing out of the moment of truth which he experienced in the little chapel that he was commanded to rebuild. And on his horse, riding away, he made a turn in the road, and there, he was face to face with a leper. And instinctively, he pulled the horse around and started galloping away in the opposite direction because he could not abide a primary exposure to this. Now then, he remembered through the peculiar experience of the voice that spoke deep within him about the quality and the meaning of his commitment, and he turned quickly around and went back and got off his horse and went with the leper to the place where the leper lived, bathed the body of the leper, spent hours and days with the leper until at last, there was nothing in the height and depths of the exposure of the experience of which he was afraid. And this gave to his life a timeless immunity against that with all of his life up to that time had threatened and put in jeopardy. He had to turn in and look, even if it killed him. And he discovered that it couldn't do what he thought it could. A friend of mine was telling me about the man who is the director of the reptile house in one of the zoos in a large city in the middle west. And as a boy, he often went in the woods hunting with his father. And he did it because he wanted to be what his father thought he should be. And every time his father said let's go into the woods, the little boy's heart panicked because he had a passionate fear of snakes. And he could not admit this to his father, lest his father would think that he was not worthy to be his son. And one day, says the person who told me about this, they were in the words. The father had gone on ahead, and the boy wandered along. And presently, he saw something about three inches 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu in diameter, long. It looked like an old limb of a tree, small in character. And as boys do, when you walk along, you stand upon things. You walk on the railing. If you're going on the railroad track, you jump up on this. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And he pounced upon this thing, and he felt the thing move a little under his feet. And he knew now that he was face to face with no live option. And in the moments of utter anxiety, panic, all of the things that go with it, he made a primary discovery. How, I don't know. I'm not wise enough to explain all the dynamics, how you shift in a moment from panic to courage. I don't know all about that. All I know is that in one moment he was panicky, frozen, frightened. In the next moment, he had discovered that there was nothing in this that could affect him. And he went on from that day to give his life to working with snakes. Pure. There is-- bear in mind, there must always be the meaning of the meaning upon your own life. There is a tradition which says that the original version of the Lord's Prayer was this. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And it ends there. And the tradition is that a copyist, a monk somewhere, was copying this. And he came to this part of the prayer, and he wrote this part of the Sermon on the Mount, and he wrote the prayer out, copying it. And he came to this, the last line, which said "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." And as a result of all of the mounting disclosure that the first words had built up in his heart, he from that dizzy height saw the meaning of all of this, and he exclaimed out of the depths of his spirit, "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen." And he wrote it on the margin. And another copyist, feeling that it had been left out by mistake as it belonged, wrote it into the text. When those of you who saw this, if I make a reference to something as mundane as television-those of you who saw some weeks ago, perhaps before Christmas, the very interesting dramatization of the development of the jury system in American law and American society. The narrator said just before the jury came in to render the verdict, he said, all of the pleadings are over. All of the facts have been arranged and interpreted in place before these men. Now is the moment of truth, when the meaning of all of this drama becomes relevant to the meaning of the life of the man who stands before the bar of justice. Now, you have experienced this, haven't you? Many of you who are students have experienced this. You have been studying. You have been reading piles and piles of words and pages. And then, you come to what you will be facing this week, if I may once again speak out of turn. And what you may discover is that in one question that appears in the examination, as you sit waiting- and if you can look into the meaning of the question, suddenly, all the reading, all the lectures, all the things you have heard will now fall into place. And you may not be able to write all the facts, but when the teacher reads your paper, he will know that this paper was written out of your experience of a moment of truth. Now, there is another dimension of this. When I experience my moment of truth or a moment of truth, it moves because it has meaning. It must have meaning to me. It moves to the very center 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu of the kind of estimates that I place upon the significance of my own life. And this is the only thing that ultimately, I think, can attack any feelings that you lack of self-confidence. If I may illustrate it, one day many years ago, in a conversation with Lincoln Stephens-- the name may be familiar to you-- his son rushed into the living room where we were seated, talking. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And we stopped, and Mr. Stephens introduced me to his son, whose name was Pete. And then, as Pete said hi and started out of the door, and his father called to him and said, no, no, Pete. It that on the level? And he said, oh, yes, he has a nice face, and went out of the door. And when he was gone, Mr. Stephens began talking to me about his son. He said, you see, one day, my son-- he said to me, Daddy, there isn't anything left for me to do. People come from all over the country to see you, to get you to write your name on a book or something. And you can write your name on a little piece of paper and I can take it down to the bank for you, and I can get money. You've taken everything. This is nothing left for me. I can only be the shadow of my father. There is no moment of truth, he meant, that can be my own because you have established squatter's rights for all of them-- for all of the Stephens. And then, his father, who at that time was about 70 years old, said to him, Pete, come with me into the front yard. I want to show you something. So they walked out down the steps into the yard, and they came to the gate. Now, their house was located on a corner, and the gate of entrance was about, oh, 50 yards from the corner. So Lincoln Stephens said to me, "I will race you from the corner to the gate, and the only condition is that you must keep running the distance until I've made it once." So they started out, and Pete was able to run from the gate to the corner seven times while his father, at this ripe age, was able to negotiate the distance only one time. And while his father was stretched out on the grass trying to recover, he called Pete to him and he said, "Pete, whatever else you may forget, however much you may be impressed by the knowledge and the prestige and the power and the influence of your father, remember that you can run from the gate to the corner seven times when I can do it only once. And you will never find a human being anywhere in the world with reference to whom in some dimension you will not be able to do this." So when all around you you are overwhelmed, remind yourself of your moment of truth. Which moment of truth gives to you an immunity against all the darkness by which you may be surrounded? Now put it all together. When I am able to get the authentic meaning of an event, a person, an idea, a concept, and to see the bearing of that meaning upon my own life, this is to experience the moment of truth. Now, there is an element that is given in this, you see, because I think that the moment of truth, in whatever dimension it may be operating-- the moment of truth is a part of the givens of God. It is the experience by which the mind and the spirit and yes, the soul of man gets a confirmation that enables him to live into the meaning of his life not only with a sense of responsibility, but with a dignity and a power. Now, this is why in our own faith, so much attention is given to the coming to God as one is with utter honesty without pretension so that all that one's life is in the midst of one's own utter context. Here, the person is able, when he faces the scrutiny of God, to find out what, at long 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu last, he ultimately amounts to. And once you have discovered this, then you can stand anything else that life can do to you. Pitts Theology Library Emory University I saw a man pursuing the horizon. Round and round they sped. I was disturbed at this. I accosted the man. I said, it is futile. You can never. "You lie," he cried, and ran on. Darkness can do many things, but one thing it cannot do-- it cannot put my candle out, nor yours. Walk beside us, our Father, on the way that we take. Leave us not alone in the arrogances of our minds and spirits, but bless us with thy companionship and the assurance of thy truth that what we do and think and become may give joy to thy heart and glory to thy spirit. [CHOIR SINGING] 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Moment of Truth (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA) Description An account of the resource In this series, Thurman discusses the solitary nature of the moment of truth. These moments that illuminate our lives and change the course of our realities are moments that must be experienced in solitude through our own eyes. Experiencing firsthand the light that shines into our darkness has the power to do what external pressure and punishment cannot. Ever-present in our moments of truth is revelation, conviction, and decision that guides our responses. He also discusses the moment of truth as it relates to God’s purpose for our lives. Discovering the authentic meaning of our lives helps us to uncover the bearing our experiences have on that meaning. It is the experience by which the mind and the spirit and yes, the soul of man gets a confirmation that enables him to live into the meaning of his life not only with a sense of responsibility but with dignity and power. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by ShaCarolyn Halyard AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-165_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette "The Moment of Truth" (Part 1 and 2) (Marsh Chapel), 1958 Jan 12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-165_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Moment of Truth, Part 2, 1958 January 19 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-01-19 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-7915565.7490374 5213612.6443988)) Description An account of the resource Here Thurman speaks to the moment of truth as it relates to God’s purpose for our lives. Discovering the authentic meaning of our lives helps us to uncover the bearing our experiences have on that meaning. It is the experience by which the mind and the spirit and yes, the soul of man gets a confirmation that enables him to live into the meaning of his life not only with a sense of responsibility but with dignity and power. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard meaning mind responsibility soul spirit https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/b5d40c7a6becfa18f7c5d63679bb7728.pdf e9fc94b95a55eaca47efbc70e9fd69f3 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-165_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University Of all the stories Jesus told, there is none more stark and terrifying in import and consequence than what he said about the man who came to the wedding feast without the proper dress. He placed an estimate far too low upon a single moment. Nameless and unattached, the moments come and go. The quiet monotony of the days lulls man into dullness and deadness. At long last, days are but days and nights are but delirious interludes before the grinding begins anew. And then one moment unlike all the rest bastes upon him. It comes unheralded, a part of a numberless series. But it bears his name. The one great opportunity to do that to which all his days have pointed, the one sure person of his dreams, with all things in readiness to receive him, the one great view from the heights that sent him on his climb long, long ago. There is no escape. He is not ready. The wedding feast is on. Down the long banquet hall the king appears. Under the awful scrutiny, man sees his careless dress, his disheveled hair. Tears are useless, alibis strangely irrelevant, curses or pleadings, desperate and pathetic, are of no avail. The great moment burns to exhaustion, then passes. And the rest, stark, utter despair amidst the gray ashes of desolation. It is comforting to know that it does not always happen that way. The moment of truth. There are many, many texts that crowd into the mind. "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," says the apostle. Jacob was alone as he wrestled in the darkness with a man. "And the voice said, 'Who will go for us? Whom shall we send?' An then said I, 'Here am I. Send me.'" The moment of truth. There are two or three preliminary things that must be placed before our minds and our hearts as we pursue this. The first is that the moment of truth is solitary. There is a dimension of solitariness that belongs to your life and to my life. We go along together with those who walk the way with us, bound to us by ties of affection, or responsibility, or duty, and sometimes destiny. But there comes a moment when I must take to my hill alone. It is for this reason, I believe, that Professor Whitehead suggests that religion is what a man does with his solitariness. There is an element of solitariness in all of living. But at no point is this element more pronounced than when a man is experiencing what for him is his moment of truth. It need not be some elaborate, and deep, and philosophic moment. It may be as simple as this. When you are explaining something to a child and the child asks you or says to you, I don't understand, or I don't know what this means, or he expresses his lack of understanding in a way that is mutually understood. And then you try again, and you draw upon your knowledge of the child's world and the things with which the child's mind is familiar. And you try to state it in a way that will be within his reach. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And then suddenly your child says to you, I understand. In the moment when the child says, I understand, it is as if that child and this insight alone existed in all the universe. There is a naked exposure of the mind to the idea, to the insight, whatever it may be. Pitts Theology Library Emory University It is for this reason, if we cannot ask questions about the things that we want to know, we ask questions about things that keep us from knowing what we want to know. So that when the question is answered, it means that the thing that stood between us and the truth that we sought has now been removed, so that once again the mind and the truth can leap together into one creative sense of wholeness. Now, that is the element of solitariness. And then it follows quite logically from this that one phrase must be characteristic always of man when he is experiencing his moment of truth, that he sees it with his own eyes, with his own eyes. When I was a boy-- I don't remember at what age, but it was sometime between one and 12-- I developed a very bad, I suppose, bad habit. I enjoyed being alive, and I could hardly resist the temptation to stop and play at least a half a game of croquet, or play a little ball, or shoot some marbles when I was being sent on an errand. I calculated the thing very carefully. I knew, I thought I knew the margin that was safe. 10 minutes longer, or 20 minutes. But often the enthusiasm of the experience simply because me to be less mindful, and when I returned my mother, depending upon various things, did various things. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] And this went on. But nothing that she did really affected me. I kept on, watching for my moment when I could get these few minutes off. Punishment didn't affect me, whether it was corporal or being denied the chance to do something in the afternoon, or something of that sort. Nothing really got over into where I was operating. And then, one night, after I'd gone to bed, apropos of no recent event, my mother walked quietly into our room and sat on my cot. I should always remember the moonlight as it broke into the room across her face, at her hands, and I was lying in the shadow. And she talked with me about what I was doing. She didn't condemn me. She didn't do anything, but something that was fraught with magic, because, like a flash of blinding light, I saw me in relation to the context of my life. And I didn't do that any more. What external pressure couldn't do, what punishment-- I had to see with my own eyes. It was necessary for me to experience my moment of truth and to react totally to that moment. Now, of course, there's a lot of error that can be involved in this. Olive Schreiner tells about a mother duck who brought her young ducklings down the site of what had been a pond. But since her last brood of ducklings was born, this thing that had been a pond was nothing now but baked mud. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu But the mother didn't know this. She stood on the banks, urging her ducklings to swim around and just put themselves in the water where there wasn't any water, to eat chickweed, and worms where there weren't any chickweed and worms. Pitts Theology Library Emory University While they, with their fresh young instincts, smelled the chickweed and heard the water way up the dam, and they left their mother beside her old pond to go in quest of other waters, perhaps to be lost on the way. And as they left, they said to their mother, mother, in your day and in the days of your other ducklings, this may have been good water, but if you and yours would swim again, it must be in other waters. Now, those of you who are very young, use that carefully. Now, the insight that is relevant here is that in my experiencing of my moment of truth, there is the element in which I, with my own eyes, must see. Or else my experience of truth in my moment of truth is secondary and not primary. Now, it may be that for a long time the only thing that I can manage and the thing that may be best for me is the secondary experience. But soon or late, if I am to be responsible, I must see it with my own eyes. And a part of the responsibility of those of us who tutor, and train, and brood over that they may develop and grow, a part of our responsibility is so to understand that it is possible for us to give to those for whom we are responsible and those who are young the kind of setting in which it is possible for them to see with their own eyes. Now, the third preliminary thing is that I may respond, I must always respond in my moment of truth. I must always respond in a manner that is positive. But it may be positive and creative, or it may be positive and destructive. It may be that when I see, I reject. Or it may be that, in my moment of truth, I look with the eyes of a prestige-bearing individual, and take the clue to act on what I see. It is very confusing. One of the illustrations that will point this up is a thing that [? Don ?] [? Marcus ?] describes in his play Dark Hours. You may recall it. It has to do with the Passion Week. After the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, he goes to collect his money. And the man who paid him asked him a very searching question. Tell me, now that this is all over, how did it happen that you came under the influence of this teacher? And Judas' reply was very striking. He said, I was walking down the road one day and I met Him. And when I looked at Him and He looked at me, meaning leaped between us, and I knew that He was a man to whom I was tied forever. And then, he said, I became one of his followers. And often this sort of thing happened. One day, as we were walking along, He said that, one of you will betray me. And when I looked up, He was looking right at me. Another time, He said that he who sups in the dish with me will betray me. And it happened that at that moment my hand and His hand met at the dish. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And then Judas says, it is because He has shown me to be a devil to myself that I acknowledge that there are devils in me, and they riot in the streets. Thee, he says to God, I cannot reach and strike. But this night, I will strike down Thy Son. I must even the score. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, solitariness, this seeing with your own eye, this total response. Now there is one other element. Always present in the moment of truth are three elements-- the element of revelation, the element of conviction, element of decision. Decision, conviction, revelation. It means that when I am faced with what I'm calling the moment of truth, I am aware in that facing that the question that is before me is a question of ultimate significance, a question that has bearing upon the kind of human being I am, the ultimate meaning of my life, the very grounds of my self-respect. What kind of person am I? And there is no way to run. When the prophet Isaiah heard that the king-- who was his idol, his great hero, King Josiah-- was dead, dead from the disease called leprosy, it was fair enough for the king to have died as just any man dies. But for him to be afflicted with the disease, the very existence of which in the body undermined a man's self-respect-The prophet went to the temple. And while he was in the temple, trying to put all of this together in some way, some moment that would illumine the darkness-- I don't want anyone to show me, but I want something that can illumine the darkness by which the vicissitudes of my life have surrounded me that I might see before me the way to go. This is a common experience. As he sat in the temple in his darkness, beholds a vision. The temple was filled with the glory of God, with the Shekhinah, the light, the uncreated light of God. And before God on His throne in this vision were all of the angels and archangels. The glory of God covered everything. Except the inside of Isaiah's heart. And the contrast between the inner darkness and the great illumination by which he was surrounded caused him to see the nature of his inner darkness for the first time. It is then that he said, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips. I come from a people of unclean lips," and so forth. And as the illumination began to invade his darkness, he made a decision. I will respond in like quality. I will put at the disposal of God my total dedication. Who will go? "I will go. Here I am. Send me." Now, as far as we can go this morning is this. If your life is surrounded by darkness, by indecision, by fog, by all of the things that have settled down upon your path, obscuring it, try turning aside from the traffic and probing the roots out of which you have come, looking at your life, seeing by perspective what have been the basic trends that have moved you in this direction or that direction. What did earlier moments of insight, of illumination, say to you at others times when the way was lost? And open up your life to the spirit. And if you are not a religious person, open up your life to the spirit of truth, of understanding, of wisdom, so that the accumulated light that generations of men have winnowed out of the raw materials of their livings and striving will cast 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu upon your path enough illumination that you may be able to see in what sense you are in the dark, that the light that surrounds you might invade you. And may you not be disobedient to what you see. It may be something that stood long ago and you have forgotten. Pitts Theology Library Emory University The man whose birthday anniversary in many parts of the world will be celebrated during this week, Albert Schweitzer, when he was a young man walking across the square and he saw the light play on the statute of the kneeling, suppliant African looking into the face of the man who could give to him light in his darkness, in that moment Albert Schweitzer experienced something which kept coming back through all of his genius and ability, through Bach, and through his metaphysics, and through his New Testament criticism, through his philosophy of religion and this philosophy of civilization. Always back this thing. And at last, he had to honor it. And in honoring it, he found salvation. And this is independent of what honoring it did to hundreds and hundreds of other people who were on the receiving end of his decision. If you are in the darkness within, light has played across your path. Find the moment. And then open yourself totally. And what you do, it is my deep conviction that God himself does through you that you may not betray yourself, that the deepest thing in you can say yes to the deepest thing in life. This is to experience truth. Teach us, O God, our Father, how we may so walk that our steps may be guided by a light which shines upon our path. In the way that we go, leave us not alone, but be with us to bless, and to inspire, and to judge. Forever and ever. [GENTLE MUSIC] (SINGING) Amen. Amen. Amen. 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Moment of Truth (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA) Description An account of the resource In this series, Thurman discusses the solitary nature of the moment of truth. These moments that illuminate our lives and change the course of our realities are moments that must be experienced in solitude through our own eyes. Experiencing firsthand the light that shines into our darkness has the power to do what external pressure and punishment cannot. Ever-present in our moments of truth is revelation, conviction, and decision that guides our responses. He also discusses the moment of truth as it relates to God’s purpose for our lives. Discovering the authentic meaning of our lives helps us to uncover the bearing our experiences have on that meaning. It is the experience by which the mind and the spirit and yes, the soul of man gets a confirmation that enables him to live into the meaning of his life not only with a sense of responsibility but with dignity and power. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by ShaCarolyn Halyard AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-165_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts Internal Notes Notes for project team Don Marcus? (made a play called Dark Hours) - GL 5/22/19 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette "The Moment of Truth" (Part 1 and 2) (Marsh Chapel), 1958 Jan 12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-165_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Moment of Truth, Part 1, 1958 January 12 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-01-12 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-7915565.7490374 5213612.6443988)) Description An account of the resource In this first installment, Thurman speaks about the solitary nature of the moment of truth. These moments that illuminate our lives and change the course of our realities are moments that must be experienced in solitude through our own eyes. Experiencing firsthand the light that shines into our darkness has the power to do what external pressure and punishment cannot. Ever-present in our moments of truth is revelation, conviction, and decision that guides our responses. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard conviction decision revelation