2 10 72 https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/7867dae6512bb667ae04a0ce6e6fbcc4.pdf 9fa7d845433cfb0ce44f913092918b5e PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-801.mp3 This is tape number ET64 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two meditations by Howard Thurman-- this is side one entitled, "Sing Your Own Song." Pitts Theology Library Emory University Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer. I'm very glad to be back in Boston again and to do this first broadcast since my return. I wish to express my appreciation to all of you who have sent cards and letters expressing your appreciation for the weekly broadcasts during the period of my absence today I'm reading as a background from the "Blue Cat of Castle Town." Once in a blue moon, there comes a cat that is blue singing the river's song seeking for you. The blue kitten was born under blue moon on a warm nest of dry clover, Queen Anne's lace, and chicory, which his mother had made for him at the foot of a forgotten Haycock in a Vermont meadow. It was the end of the first third of the 19th century and more than 100 years ago, which is a very long time indeed. The mother cat had been quite upset when she first saw the blue kitten. She had looked fearfully, then, toward the river. For, like all cats, she had heard that a blue kitten could learn the river's song. Any kitten has a hard enough time to find a home for himself, for every kitten must find a hearth to fit his song. But a kitten who listens to the river and learns the river's song has the hardest time of all. Not only must the kitten who sings the river's song find a hearth to fit that song, but he must teach the keeper of that hearth to sing the same song. The river's song is very old and mortals who have ears to hear and hearts to sing are fewer than few. The blue kitten curled his blue tail respectfully around him and sat facing the river. It had been dusk when he left the comfort of the familiar Haycock and set forth, but it was almost dark when he came through the reeds and by the wire ducks nest to the edge of the river. He heard the heavy flapping of wings as a startled duck whirled upward. He wiggled the tools of his front paws wistfully. He did so want to turn about and go home, but he didn't. He only made his homesick toes be still, sat a little straighter, curled his tail a little closer, and waited. Both his ears were bent forward to listen, but the river was paying no attention whatever to the blue kitten. It gurgled and hissed and splattered all along over the stone-- splattered and hissed and gurgled. Not until the blue moon began to peer over the mountain did the river hush gradually into quiet. Only when, like a great cat's eye, the moon was clear of the mountain and its light reflected all along the water the river began to sing a song the kitten had never heard. And the kitten, a little dark shadow in the moonlight, felt the song slipping into his ears, along his backbone, and tingling even the tips of his four paws and the end of his tail. And yet, this was strange, for the song itself was as simple and wonderful as life in a meadow-- beauty and peace and content were everywhere. And the glory flooding over like the light of the blue moon shining around the blue kitten. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Sing your own song, said the river. Sing your own song. Out of yesterday, song comes, it goes into tomorrow, sing your own song. With your life, fashion, beauty, this, too, is the song. Riches will pass and power. Beauty remains. Sing your own song. All that is worth doing, do well, said the river. Sing your own song. Certain and round be the measure-- every line be graceful and true. Time is the mold. Time, the weaver, the carver-- time and the workman together. Sing your own song. Sing well, said the river, sing well. It is very difficult to sing one's own song-- to listen to the melody of one's own spirit and find a way by which this deep inner melody can become the music that comes from one's life, from one's living. To hear the sound of one's own heart and spirit-- this is what is meant here. And this is difficult because, all along as we develop from childhood to maturity, much of our time is spent on trying to find out the songs that others are singing and to see if we cannot sing their song in order that, in turn, we may become like them. For they are external to ourselves. They are the other than self reference. And they are observable. And we can see how they are and from them, sometimes, we are tempted to get the image for ourselves and try to be as we seem to think they are, or to be as they are seen as being by us. But to sing one's own song, to find one's own melody-- this is hard to do, but it is the only way by which the music which you are capable of making can be made. I remember hearing a children's story one day when we were attending a church in Australia. And the story, as I remember it, is something like this. There was a puppy who had forgotten how to bark. He didn't know what the bark sound was like, so he went to a cow and he said, I have forgotten how to make my own sound, perhaps you can help me? And the cow said, I don't know, but does your sound go like this-- moo. And the puppy said, oh that's a lovely sound, but it isn't my sound. And then he went to a lamb or a sheep and he said, I have forgotten how to make my sound. Perhaps you can help me. And the sheep said, bah. He said, no that's not-- it's a lovely sound, but it's not my sound. And then, presently, he saw a dog who looked just like him running across the street. And just in front of the dog, there was a cat. And when the cat disappeared over the fence, the dog barked. And the hero of the story said, ah, that's my sound. All the other sounds were good sounds. They were wonderful. They performed their sound function. They were true to the cow, they were true to the sheep, but they were not true to the puppy. And this is the point-- have you found your own sound? Have you found your own song, or are you singing a song that is beautiful, wonderful, that says all kinds of wonderful things, but somehow it is not your song? Now, your sound may be simple. It may be commonplace. And, from your point of view, it may seem so ordinary that it isn't worth sounding. But it is all the sound that you have, and when you make that sound, then you can be unanimous within yourself so that what you see yourself as being, you not only are, but you can, in another dimension, become. Sing your own song, said the river. Sing your own song. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Out of yesterday, song comes. It goes into tomorrow. Sing your own song. With your life, fashion, beauty, this, too, is the song. Riches will pass and power-- beauty remains. Sing your own song. All that is worth doing, do well, said the river. Sing your own song. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Certain and round be the measure-- every line be graceful and true. Time is the mold, time the weaver, the carver. Time and the workman, you, together, sing your own song. Sing well, said the river. Sing well. And, if you sing your song, then God, who is the creator of life and all the living substances, will be able to sing his song through you. Do not default. Do not betray the integrity of your own sound. Sing your own song, says the river. Sing truly, sing true. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. This program was prerecorded. This is tape number ET64 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side two entitled, "A Way of Life Worth Living." Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer. I'm beginning today by reading from "Deep is the Hunger." He had buried 60 American sailors who had lost their lives in the fearful bombing his ship had been given in the early afternoon. As the chaplain and this group of men started toward the landing crafts, one of the sailors said, sir, there is another body over there-- a Jap. The chaplain looked awhile saying, just a slight tone of irritation in his spirit, what, another one? He was tired, nauseated, and exhausted in body and in spirit. The men were all for throwing the dead man in the bush, as they had become accustomed to doing. The chaplain bent over to examine the body to discover that he was the pilot whose ship had done so much damage to their outfit. It was a moment of great searching of hearts. His mind was made up. He called his men together and addressed them as follows. Men, we must find the right thing to do this afternoon-- the right thing to do in the light of eternity. Of course, I know you say that he is a suicide because his orders were to dive his plane into our ship. But, in a sense, I am the same kind of suicide. I have a genuine admiration for this man. Too, he is a human being. I find no hatred in my heart for him, and if you search your own hearts, you may not find hatred for him either. I ask you to help, not because of any future that you and I may have together, but I do want you to know that, in a god forsaken island in the Pacific, you and your chaplain, faced with the naked challenge to the essential humaneness of mankind, sought a level of rightness that transcends the vicissitudes both of fortune and of circumstances. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu I shall not give him a Christian burial, because that would profane his own religious faith that differs from our own. But this we will do-- let us kneel and pray to our own God in the presence of this dead man as an act of reverence in our own hearts. This act will unite us beyond all conflict and beyond all madness. Pitts Theology Library Emory University When this is done, we will bury him with a headstone that bears no name, because we do not know his name-- but with the simple inscription, "Japanese pilot" and the date. Perhaps this act of reverence is an expression of the right thing in the eyes of eternity. For a long time, I sat in silence as the words, the terrible words would not be still. The right thing-- the right thing-- do the right thing this day-- the right thing in the eyes of eternity. Each one of us is, in one way or another, deeply concerned about finding for himself a way of life that is worth living-- to find something that will give to the ordinary round of living and functioning a sense of meaning that transcends the particular vicissitudes under which one may be living that transcends even a particular series of events by which one's life is surrounded. A way of life that is worth living can be found, I think, only when an individual has discovered what, for him, is a radical test for his life-- a sense of something being at stake in the daily round. One of the very interesting contributions made during the last Worlds War was made in a rather unexpected way. You may recall that there was a rather universal registration of all male adults up to certain ages. There was also something else that involved every individual in the country-- it was the registration of the intent to consume goods-- sugar, to use gasoline, tires, meats, fats, butter, and so forth. In other words, every citizen had to register specifically and concretely his name and indicate his intent. Now, this very simple thing-- whatever may be one's private attitude towards the whole notion or concept of conscription or proscription with reference to matters of that sort-- the basic fact that to which I call your attention is this-- that every individual in the country had a sense of being involved in something that was at stake, that included his life, even with reference to the cup of coffee that he drank in the morning. So that every time he used this teaspoonful of sugar, every time he used in his car a gallon of gasoline, he registered a certain sense of involvement, which meant that the great national life itself-- the integrity of the nation, the whole dream which is a part of the common heritage of all citizens was at stake at the level of the simple deed of the ordinary person. Now this is an indication of the sort of thing that's in my mind. We find a way of life that is worth living when, in the daily round, we have a sense of being critically and crucially involved in terms of the meaning of the decisions that we make and the deeds that we do. Now, this suggests, then, that a way of life that is worth living is available to a person who has a basis for all of his integrated action-- a point of referral for his life-- in the light of which he is able to define the meaning of the things that he is doing, or even the meaning of right and wrong. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now, each one of us is born with a basic sense of value. This is structural in personality. Now, the content of the sense of value-- the specific meaning a deed in terms of whether it is right or wrong is something that is the result of training, of one's social heritage, of one's religious orientation-- a whole combination of things enter into the meaning of a particular deed in terms of whether it is right or wrong. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, this value content is something for which the individual has a specific responsibility. Now, it is this that provides the point of referral for the particular deed. I ask you, then-- is your life flabby? Do you have any sense of values by which you can determine for yourself the meaning of a particular deed? Or must you always find the meaning of your deed in the opinion, the judgment, the attitude of someone else? Now, you cannot find a way of life that is worth living unless you have discovered a basis of action for your life. And this means that, at the center of your life, there must be a hard core of purpose-- something that decides for you the things against which you will stand with your life, and the things for which you will stand with your life. Now, if you have made such a discovery, then the deeds that you do, the decisions that you make-- in fact, the kind of human being that you are or that you may become-- will be set for you within a rather tight circle of meaning, which is, for you, your hard core of purpose. This means, then, that there will always be available to you close at hand judgment that is swift and meaningful so that in the living of your life, something vital will be at stake in every decision that you make and all of the important deeds by which your life is characterized. And, on the basis of this thing that is vital, you will know whether or not you have found for yourself a way of life that is worth living. Do what you do with the full consciousness that what you do means something in terms of eternity and in terms of tomorrow and today. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-801.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Sing Your Own Song (1964-03-06); A Way of Life Worth Living (ET-64; GC 12-7-71), 1971 Dec 7 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1960s 1950s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-801 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Sing Your Own Song (1964-03-06); The Right Thing This Day (1958-05-23) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964-03-06 1958-05-23 Description An account of the resource In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman speaks to what it means to live a life that is truly one's own. Drawing from Catherine Coblentz' "Blue Cat of Castle Town," and a story of a dog who has lost its bark, Thurman challenges the listener to discern what their true voice is, how one comes to singing their own song. Thurman agrees that the process of finding one's own song is difficult; however, Thurman maintains that finding your own song is one of the most integrous journeys that one can take. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reflects upon an excerpt from his own writing, Deep is the Hunger. He reads a story of sailors and a chaplain stumbling upon the dead body of an enemy, and collectively discerning what they are to do with the said body. Drawing from this story, Thurman invites the listener to discern what is at stake when considering what it means to live a good life, which is followed by the discovery of what Thurman calls a "basis for action." Thurman explains that this form of discernment is something that is at the center of our being, and is worth deep exploration. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Dustin Mailman actualized potential blue kitten circle of meaning core deep is the hunger discernment dog identity individualism integrity purpose river song voice https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/eb7e5c99fd57afe966e057dbfb419c63.pdf 7f8a951481e9f20a377c8d3bdfd90e5a PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-800.mp3 This is tape number ET60 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side 1 entitled "The Moment of Truth." Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC] I'm beginning today by reading two paragraphs, which a Canadian friend of mine sent to me several years ago. "Eight-year-old Johnny was very serious when I called him into the hospital and explained how he could save the life of his little sister. Mary, age six, 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 ask, 'would you like to give your blood for Mary?' He hesitated for a moment, his lower lip trembling, but I have seen many people older than Johnny who were 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 pulsed 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, 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 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 of truth, he made his great decision." When a man becomes aware of the essential or the intrinsic or authentic meaning of an act or a person or a situation or an event and the bearing of that act or situation, person, or event upon his private life, he experiences a moment of truth. When he becomes aware of the authentic or intrinsic meaning of something and the bearing that that meaning has upon his private life, he experiences a moment of truth. There are several elements that are to be remembered here. The first is that it is always a personal and private and solitary experience. We spend so much of our time associating with other people, we are so involved in the human situation and the human predicament that we forget that fundamentally, so much of a man's life is lived in solitariness in all of the great moments of life, whether it is at the moment of his birth or the moment of his dying, whether it 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu has to do with some great significant step that he is about to take when deep within himself he makes the decision of commitment. Pitts Theology Library Emory University All of these are intimate and personal and primary and solitary. And the moment of truth takes on this character. It is as if you and the experience alone existed in the world. It's like trying to explain something to a little child. You will explain it, and then the child will say, but why, continue asking the same question. And then you explain it again, and the child will say, but why? And then you try to find a way by which you can find the proper words that will fit into the context of meaning of the child and then utter these words so that the child understands. And when the child looks into your face and says, oh, I understand, it is as if the child and the moment alone existed in all the universe. It is a private opening of the life to a meaning which is personal, yes, but at the same time, which expands out into a context of all the meaning that there is. Now, the moment of truth then has in it the element that is solitary, that is personal and private. And it also has in it a certain element of commitment, a certain element of involvement. I guess that's the best way to put it. I am reminded of one of the experiences in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, when in the early part of his career, it seemed as if he had air conditioning against leprosy. He could abide almost anything else except leprosy. This was so loathsome to him that he felt always as if he should move in the other direction or put as much space between him and the leper as possible. Shortly after his great commitment of his life, the story goes that he was riding along on a horse or walking. I don't remember that detail. But around the bend in the road, he encountered a leper, and for him it was a moment of truth because all the meaning of the disease as it expressed itself through the loathsome body of this man and the bearing that this disease had upon the sensitivity of Saint Francis, all of this converged in one swirling moment of encounter. And Francis drew back, turned, and started to flee in the opposite direction. And then he heard the voice, always the voice, reminding him of his commitment, that his commitment was something that was absolute, that he had given up in his commitment the initiative over his own life. Therefore, any sensitivity and all of these things were luxuries, which his life could no longer afford. And he turned around, embraced the leper, and the story goes that he went with the leper back to the place where the leper lived, and he stayed there for several days administering to his need. The moment of truth is the moment when the intrinsic, authentic, significant meaning of an event or a person or a situation is sensed clearly and directly by an individual and the bearing that this meaning has on the man's life. Now, the moment of truth then carries with it always the element of commitment. For when I experience the moment of truth, it is a total involvement, a total encounter so that my life, not some phase of my life, some dimension of my life, some aspect of my life, but my life in some 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu total sense is affected, is altered, shifts, changes, moves, makes some kind of adjustment to the fact that I have had such an encounter. It is solitary. It is personal. It involves the total commitment of the life in a direction contrary, perhaps, to the way one had been going before. Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC] This is tape number ET60 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side 2 entitled "Pearl Without Price." [MUSIC] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC] I'm reading from Meditations of the Heart, "The Pressure of Crisis." "When Lloyd George, the British statesman, was a boy, one of his family responsibilities was to collect firewood for warmth and for cooking. He discovered early that always after a very terrific storm, with high winds and driving rain, he had very little difficulty in finding as much and more wood than he needed at the time." "When the days were beautiful, sunny, and the skies untroubled, the firewood was at a premium. Despite the fact that the sunny days were happy ones for him, providing him with long hours to fill his heart with delight, nevertheless, in terms of other needs, which were his specific responsibilities, they were his most difficult times." "Many years after, he realized what had been happening. During the times of heavy rains and driving winds, many of the dead limbs were broken off, and many rotten trees were toppled over. The living things were separated from the dead things. But when the sun was shining and the weather was clear and beautiful, the dead and the not dead were undistinguishable." "The experience of Lloyd George is common to us all. When all is well with our world, there is often no necessity to separate the dead from the not dead in our lives. Under the pressure of crisis, when we need all available vitality, we are apt to discover that much in us is of no account and valueless." When our tree is rocked by mighty winds, all the limbs that do not have free and easy access to what sustains the trunk are torn away. There is nothing to hold them fast. It is good to know what 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu there is in us that is strong and solidly rooted. It is good to have the assurance that can only come from having ridden the storm and remained intact." Pitts Theology Library Emory University "Far beside the point is the why of the storm. Beside the point too, maybe the interpretation of the storm that makes it an active agent of redemption. Given the storm, the fact of it, it is wisdom to know that when it come, the things that are firmly held by the vitality of life are apt to remain chastened but confirmed, while other things that are dead, sterile, or lifeless are apt to be torn away." "The wheat and tares grow up together, but when the time of harvest comes, only wheat is revealed as wheat and tares remain what they have been all along-- tares." It is a very simple remark that again and again, when life seems to be running smoothly, when all things seem to fall into line and we are sure that, for us, this is the good time, the time of a sudden kind of psychic or spiritual or actual physical prosperity. And during such times, there is no necessity, no felt necessity for assessing our equipment for life, our strengths, our needs. In our own country, for instance, one of the most critical problems that faces religion, that faces organized religion, that faces the church or the synagogue is, what does religion say to a people who are fat? Who have everything? Who are so surfeited with good food and rich food that they must spend millions of dollars in trying to get rid of the logic of the good food that they're eating? Is there any word that can be addressed to a man who has everything and to whom the world, in a sense, is his oyster? This is the point here. At such times, we are apt to live life rather casually, to raise no fundamental question about its meaning, about our own sense of direction, about what our point is. Because our situation does not force us to raise the critical and the crucial question. But if the time comes, as it does come to everyone, when the normal pattern of general at easeness begins to disintegrate and break down and it is necessary for us to assess life, to think about what life means, to raise the far-reaching personal question, what is it that I am meaning by all the things that I am doing. What is my point? Where in the totality of my experience? Is there provided for me as a person some radical test in the light of which and on the basis of which I will be able to define what it is that I am trying to do, where it is that I am headed? For it is only the radical test, the moments which seem to be unmanageable. It is only at a time when everything seems to be falling apart that a man discovers of what is his substance? What is his strength? What is there in him that is ultimately dependable? Where in him may be found the resources that he needs in order to do his thing now in a hard circumstance, in a difficult moment? For if life is easy and if life is indulgent, then despite all of the comfort that it may bring, the most important question that we most want to know about ourselves, we cannot know. And that question is, what, after all, ultimately, do I'd amount to? How much can I take? How much can I stand and not give, not yield, not buckle under? 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Am I a real man so that when I take my stand, I can absorb whatever it is that life has to offer? And then I get something that is the pearl beyond price. I live with the confidence-- and this is of overwhelming importance. I live with the confidence and the strength that I can stand anything that life can do to me. Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC] 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-800.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Moment of Truth; Pearl without Price (ET-60; GC 12-4-71), 1971 Dec 4 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1960s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-800 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Moment of Truth (1963-04-19); Pearl without Price (1971-12-4) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1963-04-19 1962-03-23 Description An account of the resource 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 sense of courage, responsibility, creativity, and sacrifice. Embedded into this moment of truth is a reaction that comes from the tension between one's personal and public life. Thurman invites the listener to discern what their "moment of truth" is and challenges the listen to what their "moment of truth" is calling them to do. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads from his book, "Meditations of the Heart." In this reflection, Thurman reflects upon what it means to look at life critically. When things are going well, the difficult and the not-difficult aspects of life blend together; however, when one is in desperation, one is able to critique and names the parts of life that are difficult. This conversation speaks to Thurman's wider work concerning the tension goodness and innocence. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Dustin Mailman commitment decision dichotomy encounter experience goodness innocence Lloyd George meditations of the heart moment of truth pearl responsibility sacrifice solitary spiral St. Francis test truth https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/1fe7dfd82fae1bd61623d453b06e818e.pdf 7bdb1ac983cf02432d45e73308db2391 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-799.mp3 This is tape number ET67 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, two meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side 1 entitled "The Blind Man." Pitts Theology Library Emory University [CHURCH BELLS RINGING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words out of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] We are continuing today our thinking together about certain of the important insights from the rather ancient but very revealing sorrow songs or spirituals that were a part of the common life of our land many years ago. This morning, the song is built around a very familiar experience to those persons who are acquainted with the New Testament. "The blind man stood on the way and cried, cried that he may receive his sight." This is the theme of the melody. The song goes through many stanzas dealing with intimate nuances of desiring and aspiration, moving from the heart and the hopes of the blind man, thinking always that perhaps he might receive his sight. The setting is simple. The blind man, who has always longed for his sight, hears the coming of Jesus and his disciples. The word has reached him that this man, this Jewish teacher, is a great healer, in fact that he has healed men who were sick. So all of the hopes of the blind man center around each footstep as the little company approached him. When they were within hearing distance, the blind man shouted that he might be healed. He wanted help, and he was sure that help was available. He was ready for this moment. All of his life he had been preparing for this great moment, and now it was upon him. And in this story as found in the New Testament, the blind man receives his sight. It is a rather interesting and exciting thing to be ready for your great moment when it comes. Sara Teasdale has a poem about this. She describes how a man-- a lady was climbing a hill. And she was sure that if she could get to the top of the hill, she would get a view in many directions. She would be able to get her lungs full of fresh air. She could stand on top of the world, as it were, taking in the landscape in many, many directions. But, Sara Teasdale says, the briers were always pulling in her gown. And then she suddenly realized that she had crossed over the crest of the hill and didn't know it. The briers were always pulling on her gown. And now, she says, all of the rest of the way will be only going down. Her moment had come, and she was so involved in other things that the moment had passed without any fulfillment. This is a part of the picture that is given here in this simple story of 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu healing as found in the New Testament. But these early singers did a rather extraordinary thing with this song. You may recall that in the story, the blind man receives his sight. But in the song, the blind man does not receive his sight. The song begins with a cry that he might receive his sight, and it ends with the same cry. Pitts Theology Library Emory University This suggests something that is very meaningful for us. What does one do with frustrations for which there seems to be no answer in the environment? This was the experience of the people who first sung this song. They had longed for freedom, but freedom hadn't come. Their lives were long nightmares of pain, and frustration, and disorder, and longing. They wanted something with all of their passionate endeavor. They needed it. All of their life screamed, as it were, for it. But it did not come. What does one do with frustration under one's own circumstance in the light of one's own tragic fact? This was the problem. Now, there are many options here. One is that sometimes a person who wrestles with frustration in this dimension becomes deeply embittered by life. He broods until, at last, all of his bitterness becomes something that causes him to strike out blindly, as it were, against everything in his environment. As a boy living in Florida, one of the cautions which we observed during the month of August, for instance, was to be very careful as we moved around in the woods picking huckleberries, or doing other things that boys would do in the woods, because the rattlesnakes during that particular month were changing their skins. They would find a quiet place under a bush, perhaps even under a huckleberry bush. And as the old skin peeled away and the new skin was being formed, they were very vulnerable, and anything that touched them excited them. And they would strike out-- so that black snakes, for instance, who seemed to have a running battle with the rattlesnakes, would run across the body of the rattlesnake very quickly. And the rattlesnake then would strike out in his blind fury, and puncture his own body with his poison fang, and kill himself. Now, this is the sort of thing that happens to us. If deep within ourselves we gather all the poison and then it embitters our life to the point that we strike out against everything and everybody, each person stands in candidacy to threaten us and to undermine us. We are embittered. This is how we deal with the frustration in our environment. We say that life has it against us, that all of the resources of life have conspired to trap us and to make our lives miserable. And therefore, we will not spare anyone else. Any person who comes within the ken of our environment is liable to our vindictiveness and our poison. We make everybody pay for what we think life has done to us. Now, this is one way by which we deal with the frustrations that seem to have no outlet and no release for us. There is a second way. We may retire, detach ourselves from all involvements as nearly as we can. We may let all of the light go out in our eyes, all of the quality of vitality and meaning. Even integrity exhausts itself. We will just become ciphers, as it were. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu There is a picture that comes to mind of Saint-Gaudens' statue in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington. It is a statue that Saint-Gauden built over the grave of the wife of Henry Adams. You may have seen it. It is a figure of a woman. Her whole body is draped in a kind of green bronze caul that covers her head and all her arms. She is resting her right arm on the right arm of the chair. Her face is-- chin is resting in her hands, and she looks out steadily in front of you. Pitts Theology Library Emory University As you sit on the circle bench about 20 feet away looking into her face, you see that her face is without emotion. Her eyes are open. But in a sense, they are unseeing. It seems as if all the tears of which she is capable she has already shed. She is living but not alive. She has exhausted herself in dealing with the problems of her life, and nothing is left but an echo of what she was before. We may do this with our frustrations. We may burn ourselves out so that nothing is left but the ember of what we were. Now, there is a third thing. And this is what was done with it in the song and, subsequently, in the lives of these people as they wrestled with the overwhelming aspects of their own environment. We may take the raw materials of our environment and bring to bear upon them the kind of creative vitality and power, hope, dream, aspiration, yearning, yea, even spiritual conviction, so that we can reduce our environment and the things that frustrate us to manageable units of control. We may, to use a phrase taken from the book of the man who is the founder of the Ethical Culture Society, "There is a peace that we can understand, the peace that comes when we are sick and get well, when we are hungry and get food to eat, or lonely and find a friend. But the peace that passes understanding is the peace that comes when the pain of life is not relieved. It is the peace that comes shimmering on the crest of a wave of pain. It is the spear of frustration transformed into a shaft of light." This is what these early singers did with the aspects of their environment that would not yield immediately to their demands and to their agencies. "The blind man stood on the way and cried, cried that he might receive his sight." And life's answer to him finally was yes, as it would be to you and to me. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in they sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is tape number ET67 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side 2 entitled "Heaven, Heaven." The words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in they sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Thinking this morning about another of the ancient songs. It is one that has been desecrated many times because of the syncopated character of its inherent rhythm. The song is "Heaven, Heaven," everybody talking about heaven and going there. This is a song which is rooted and deeply grounded in one of the oldest experiences of the human spirit. It suggests that no person lives in a society of which he does not or cannot approve without some measure of compromise. Pitts Theology Library Emory University The question, therefore, is not whether there is compromise inherent in the living experience. But the question is, rather, at what point is the line drawn? Now, fundamental to this notion or experience of compromise, of course, is the deeply lying and subtle experience with hypocrisy, with deception, with lying. Now, deception is an experience that is familiar to us all. It is one of the simple ways by which individuals who are weak undertake to deal with persons who are strong. A little child, for instance, knows that he cannot control his father's will, or power, or mind. He is weak. He is a little child. And the father is strong. The father represents, let us say, the power of the state in terms of control. So what does the little child do? He surrounds the father with little acts that are, in themselves, deceptive-- not in any moral sense, but the whole idea is so to operate upon the father's mind, emotions, that at last the father will do what the child wants as if the father thought of it himself. It's a very old technique. When I was a boy, very often in the woods I would see birds and their young ones grazing or eating bugs in the dried grass. And then there would be the shadow of a hawk on the grass. Without ever looking up, a signal would be given by-- in some way. And all of the birds suddenly would lie down as if they were dead, sometimes even taking dried grass in their claws and holding it. The hawk, riding high in the sky, blinks his eyes, makes a double take, thinking perhaps that he's had an optical delusion, and goes on his way to seek for birds who did not have enough sense to play dead. The cuttlefish does the same thing when he is attacked. He releases out of a sepia bag a fluid that makes all the water around him murky. And in that murky gloom, he disappears. And the enemy that seeks his life does not know where he is. It is a very old technique of the weak against the strong to surround the life with subtle deceptions, which deceptions cause the enemy to look otherwhere. Now, this is a very crucial ethical problem in human life. Is there a difference in the moral quality of deception when deception is used as a device for the saving of one's life as over against deception when it is used merely as a device of deception itself? It's a searching question because it goes to the very heart of the issue of compromise. If I compromise because what is at stake is something which, to me, is more significant and valuable than my integrity, then does this make a difference? What do you think about it? How do you deal with the compromises within the construct of your own life? 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, there are several options that are available to the human spirit. One is to recognize the fact that what you are up against, the situation with which you are dealing, is a situation which carries inherent in it so much that is destructive, so much that is annihilating, so much that is demonic that any device that you can use in order to frustrate that which is destructive, any device that you can use to frustrate that which is on evil bent or which is demonic is justifiable and has in it a quality of creative significance that honors the human spirit rather than despoils it. Now, this is one possible alternative. There is a line in the Old Testament in which one of the men of Israel, who happens to be an attendant on a king who is pagan, he has to go with the king everywhere, even into the temple of the king's god. And when he stands before the altar, the heathen alter as he thinks of it, with his king, and the king bows his head and genuflects his knee, the attendant, the Israelite who worships, from his point of view, the one true God, must bow his knee also before this heathen altar. And he says to his god, God, deal gently with me. Be gracious to me. Provide for me an extenuating circumstance because thou knowest that I am in a difficult place, and I have no live option but to compromise in deed. But my heart does not yield to this compromise. Now, that is one possibility. Another possibility is to recognize the fact that you are in a compromising situation and to seek always to keep the decision in an area that is not for you morally decisive. Now, this is very, very important. It involves a kind of juggling of the total context in which one is operating so that always the decisive issue will not have to be dealt with except on one's own terms. Now, the third is finally to come to a point at which you cannot compromise. You cannot go beyond this point. Now, when you arrive at such a position, then your only live option is to take your stand, even if it means the loss of one's own life. What would a man give in exchange for his soul? This is what the master says, and it is at this point that the question becomes even most crucial. Now, the final concept in this song is that in the presence of God, all limitations are broken down. The song says, "When I've got shoes, you've got shoes. All of God's children got shoes. When we get to heaven, we will put on our shoes and shout all over God's heaven," that in the presence of God there are no lines drawn, no limitations. But the human spirit, stripped to whatever there is in it that is literal and irreducible in the presence of God, is honored profoundly and deeply. This, after all, is the discovery of the ultimate basis of self-respect. And once a man has this experience, he knows that he can abide anything that life can do to him. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in they sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-799.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Blind Man; Heaven, Heaven (ET-67; GC 12-7-71), 1971 Dec 7 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-799 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Blind Man (1958-10-03); Heaven, Heaven (1958-11-21) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-10-03 1958-11-21 Description An account of the resource In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the spiritual, "The Blind Man Sat By the Way," which he calls a "sorrow song." When holding this song in tension with the biblical narrative of Jesus healing the blind man, Thurman comes to the conclusion that the blind man in the sorrow song was never healed. Drawing from the experience of people who were enslaved in America, Thurman reveals that there is no mentioning of the blind man being healed in the song because there was no healing upon the horizon for those who were singing the song. He continues by reflecting upon numerous stories from his life in order to further ask the question, "What do we do with frustrations when there is no freedom in sight?" In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon and attempts to reclaim the old spiritual song, "Heaven, Heaven." Thurman critiques popular conceptions of the song, stating that it overlooks the reality that every person has to navigate societal expectations with a level of compromise. The question he asks in light of compromise, however, is "At what point is the line drawn?" Here, Thurman considers the deeper question of compromise being a means of deception, and that the ethical dimension of compromise is housed in the tension between deception as a means of survival and deception as a means of ethics. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Dustin Mailman aspirations compromise cuttlefish deception desire discovery healing Hounds of Hell Huckleberry Bush hypocrisy New Testament Old Testament preparing rattlesnake Rock Street Cemetery self-respect shedding sight sorrow songs spirituals St Gauden https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/8acbe81e4411467b3b2ba2de31e02bde.pdf ae37bca0eda89c75a665dc9946d0f787 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-798.mp3 This is tape number ET66 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two Meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side 1, entitled Balm in Gilead, Part 1. Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] As a tribute to a very great world religious leader, Pope Pius the XII, who has passed, I am reading at the beginning of my period, the 23rd Psalm. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me and the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Continuing our thinking together about Satan of the basic and fundamental insights of the ancient songs, I'm thinking this morning about the spiritual, there is a balm in Gilead to make the spirit whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. The reference is taken from a text in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah had reached a very hard place in his life, a place that may be regarded as the Dead Sea place in his life. The national life was corrupt. And there were many, many aspects of it that were disillusioning. His private life, apparently, was increasingly bankrupt. He could not find the key to the solution of his private enterprise as a part of his overall commitment to Jehovah. And he raises a question, is there a balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? It is not a question that is addressed to anyone in particular. It is a question that the total predicament of Jeremiah raises about the meaning of life, and his part in that meaning. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? There must be a balm in Gilead. There must be a physician there. This is really what the prophet is saying. Now, the early singers did a rather extraordinary thing with this song. What is a question in the book of Jeremiah becomes an exclamation point and a word and note and utterance of triumph, they said. There is a balm in Gilead. This is a very interesting and significant interpretation of the meaning of optimism in a world in which the relentless pressures of life, by which the individuals were surrounded, would indicate that pessimism is the only rational answer to the human predicament. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University There are many times when the tragic fact of life would indicate that any note of optimism is unrealistic, unless-- unless-- the note of optimism is distilled out of the raw materials, out of the stuff of pessimism itself. It is suggested then, here, that one of the sound grounds for optimism, even in the midst of the most pessimistic experiences, or pessimistic moments, or pessimistic predicaments to which the individual would be exposed, is that life is its own restraint-- that there is a quality, what I may even call a built-in quality in life that contains, within itself, a very searching kind of logic. The logic is that life is its own restraint. And because life is its own restraint, life itself is bound in its inward parts by a relentless logic, by what may be called the swinging of the pendulum between antecedent and consequence, between reaping and sowing. There is an underground pulse beat that is rhythmic in character, that always insists that all who are involved in the context of life-- all who are living, forever may be the nature of their pretentions or predicaments-- ideas, concepts, experiences, or philosophy, or faiths-- all are bound by what may be called the operation of moral law. This is the fact that men do reap what they sow. This is another way of stating the fact that life is its own restraint. Now there is something very disturbing and yet very inspiring about this idea, this notion, this aspect of experience. For it says that there is no way by which the individual can juggle life at the point that he lives it, so as to defeat his involvement in the logic of the moral law. Now, sometimes, individuals feel that they are so strong, they are so secure, they are so welleducated, or they are so powerful in times that are economic, or political, or what have you-- that they, themselves, are not involved in the kind of logic about which I am talking and thinking. You may very easily feel that there is something so utterly unique about you and about your own life, that what involves other people who may not be as fortunate as you are, or as privileged as you are, what involves them does not touch you at all-- that life somehow stacks itself on your side because of some particular or special advantage or privilege, which incidentally, may be yours at a particular moment in time. Now this is a delusion, for the total experience of man indicates that no one escapes. Soon, or late, the doer and the deed meet and sit down together and face each other. This is what is meant here, that life is its own restraint. Sometimes, we are so situated in our common life, or in our national life-- for instance, it is one of our perils as a nation just in passing to comment on this-- we are advantaged. And we are privileged. And we are wealthy. And we are well-fed and overweight, while vast multitude of human beings scattered all over the world are hungry and are broken, like sheep without shepherds. And it is entirely possible for us in our smugness to feel that we are privileged because we are exceptions to the rule, that we are not bound by the kind of moral law that binds people who are hungry, and people who are weak, and people who are destitute. But the concept that is at work here is that life is its own restraint. And that any person who feels that his life is an exception to the rule is doomed to destruction by the relentless logic of life itself. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. And what is that balm? The recognition, in the first place, that life is its own restraint, and no one escapes. We shall begin at this point next Friday. [MUSIC PLAYING] Pitts Theology Library Emory University Let the words out of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is tape number ET 66 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side 2, entitled Balm in Gilead Part 2. [MUSIC PLAYING] Words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm beginning this morning at the point at which I left off last week, discussing the insight from the old song, "There is a Balm in Gilead." To make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. It was pointed out that this song was built on an insight as found in the prophet Jeremiah, in which he raises the question at a moment of great despair and pessimism, is there a balm in Gilead? Is no physician there, he cries out? This insight suggests, in the first place, that life is its own restraint. It is this notion that was developed last week. Today, we go on to suggest the second insight that comes from this song, and that is that life not only is its own restraint, but also that the contradictions of life are not final and ultimate. This, I think, is the striking difference between pessimism and optimism. For a man fundamentally believes, with reference to the structure of life itself, that life is fixed, is finished, is completed, is unyielding. Or, that life is unfinished. Life is dynamic. Life is growing. Life is open-end. Now, if a man's position is that that life is fixed and finished, then deep within himself-whatever his professions may be-- deep within himself, he is sure that in the last analysis, there isn't anything that any man can do about anything. Life is readymade. It is frozen. And whatever may be a man's particular position, status, location, this is his, as long as he lives. He is the prisoner of the event, the prisoner of the circumstance. Now this robs the life of all alternatives and options. If, however, his position is that life is dynamic, is open end, then one of its most persistent characteristics is an ever-effective sense of options and alternatives. This means, in practical terms, that whatever may confront a man at any particular moment-- whatever may be his predicament at any particular moment-- he always has 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu a sense of alternative, a sense of option, so that he can bring to bear-- upon the gritty facts of his experience-- a live option which may alter the circumstance, which may change the picture, which may give to him, a sense of meaning and significance that spills over-- goes beyond the event by which he may be temporarily caught. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, this is what is meant by the fact that the contradictions of life are not final contradictions. Now this is very important, for it says that there is always available to the individual, some additional resource-- some additional insight, some additional strength-- that goes beyond whatever he may be experiencing at a particular moment. Now we see this in simple circumstances again and again. Sometimes, when you are involved in something that seems to be more than you can manage-- it seems to be overwhelming, and you have exhausted all of your resources, all of the strength which seems to be available to you is taxed-- then again and again, we experience a second wind-- a new release of energy and strength that enables us to go beyond the thing which we may be experiencing at a particular time. This is noted particularly in the life of a man like Abraham Lincoln in connection with his struggling to bring peace to the country and the emancipation of the slaves. He speaks in some of his letters and in some of his other utterances, about the way in which his life is like the life of a hound dog who has been running on a trail. And the trail is cold. And he doesn't give up the scent. He exhausts himself in the effort. And finally, he discovers that a new increment of energy is his. Even though he says, to quote him directly, "I can't go on. Yet, I must go on." Now this is noted as the sound and authentic basis for optimism. For optimism suggests that there is more available of energy and strength than the individual may be using at a particular moment. This says that the characteristic of all life and all living experience is what may be called the growing edge, the peripheral element of vitality that creeps along the outer edges of what seems to be that which has exhausted itself, that which is dead. This is the ground of hope at times when there seems to be no sound basis for hope. We see this operative, for instance, with reference to the way men think and feel about peace. There never has been a time when peace among men was complete, was whole, was the total experience of the race. But nevertheless, there has been on the horizon of man, this riding hope-this goal, this upward thrust of faith and optimism-- that the normal relationship between man is one of trust and peace. This, despite the fact that as a complete experience, the race has never experienced peace. Therefore, it is not surprising to discover that it is precisely during the times of war, times when the whole nation is caught in the agonizing grapple of struggle for its survival. And violence as an instrument of protection is the order of the day. Precisely, at such moments, what happens? There always stirs, deep within the soul of a people, a dream and a hope for peace. Even though, at the time, men are caught in a life and death struggle summarized by the word that we call war. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now, this suggest something further, that there is a notion-- more than a notion-- a conviction that because the contradictions of life are not final, because the struggle between good and evil or between that which makes for turbulence and that which makes for tranquility is not a final struggle, that there is present in what we call goodness-- an element of triumph-- goodness as distinguished from innocence. Pitts Theology Library Emory University A child, for instance, is innocent. But a man is not innocent. A man may be good, but he is never innocent. For goodness suggests an element of triumph that means that a man has been able to distill out the evil of life, to winnow out of the tempests and struggles and turbulences of life, a quality of wholeness and a quality of tranquility. There's something triumphant about goodness. And what is that something? It says always, that the contradictions of life are not final contradictions, that the ultimate destiny of man is a good destiny. And a man holds to this as a point of constant and persistent referral, while he struggles with the agonizing dimensions of testing and tempest by which his life is surrounded. There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord. My rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-798.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Balm in Gilead: Parts 1 and 2 (ET-66; GC 12-7-71), 1971 Dec 7 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-798 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Balm in Gilead, Part 1 (1958-10-10); Balm in Gilead, Part 2 (1958-10-17) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-10-10 1958-10-17 Description An account of the resource In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon the negro spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead." Rather than echoing the moan of the prophet Jeremiah, this song provides an answer to the prophet's cries. Rather than asking," Is there a balm in Gilead," Thurman notes that the early singers of this spiritual are affirming that there is indeed a balm in Gilead. From Thurman's perspective, this balm is the moral law which rests within all of humanity. Moral law is the restraint one has in themselves to take the raw material of pessimism and transform it into optimism. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman builds upon his previous reflection upon the negro spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead." Here, he echoes the words from his professor and mentor, George Cross, when he remarks, "The contradictions in life are not final and ultimate." Here, Thurman is asserting that when one conceptualizes life as static, one is imprisoning oneself; however, when one conceptualizes life as dynamic, one is pursuing a life of freedom and fullness. Thurman explains to the listener that in this dynamistic perspective, one finds the energy and strength that is associated with optimism; thus, one is able to find tools to heal. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dustin Mailman Abraham Lincoln actualization contradictions dynamic energy experience fluidity George Cross healing Jeremiah moral law optimism pessimism Pope Pius XII privilege Psalm 23 raw material restraint Satan spirituals strength There is a Balm in Gilead https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/08a032ab7f8c2eea3dda2e260e9da674.pdf 00ec6aeb6e4e1222cfc7d105c424ceff PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-796.mp3 This is tape number ET 58 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two Meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side one entitled, The Light in One's Path. Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thou sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. Perceivest thou not how the God is thine on house that thou wondrous from forest to forest so listlessly. In thy home is the truth. Go where thou wilt to Benares or to Mathura. If thy soul is a stranger to thee, the whole world is unhomely. These are the words of the ancient Hindu mystic Kabir. They lift into focus and experience so common to all men that it belongs to all men. Our days are surrounded by the persistent tendency to seek meaning and significance for our private lives in those places or situations in which others seem to be finding meaning and significance. Deep and convulsive is the sigh of the human race as it longs for what is out of reach, as it quivers with yearning for the thing that belongs to another's peace. The lesson is hard to learn that the point of initial contact for all meaning is close at hand. The reason for this is not far to seek. A man is the private custodian of the values which are precious to him. He must keep the tryst with those things by which he lives and by which his life is sustained. If at this crucial point he defaults, then he is in no position to assess values anywhere else. This is not to say that all the values that are available to him he possesses at any given time. But it is to say that he must make his private personal piece in terms of loyalty to what to him is true. Sometimes we seek to escape the responsibility for what we recognize as being valuable to and for us. Such responsibility involves a quality of personal commitment out of which all moral character takes its rice. It is much, much easier to cast a longing eye other where than to come to grips with what is already established within ourselves as the truthful and the significant. To seek escape from this is to try to run away from ourselves. This no man can do even though he may try to do so all the days of his life. I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. In thy home is the truth. If thy soul is a stranger to thee, the whole world is unhomely. At the railway station in Washington DC on the outside in one of the large plaques against the upper wall, there is a quotation which reads something like this. "He who seeks the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." This common place garden variety notion that the thing that a man seeks roaming up and down the land trying to lay hold upon. The clue to that is not in the regions of his search, but the clue to that is within himself. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu There's an old story that appeared for the first time I think in America and a book written by an Indian whose name I believe was [INAUDIBLE]. It is called My Brother's Face. And in this book, there is the story of the musk deer. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And it says that in the springtime the musk deer is haunted by the odor of musk. It drives him to madness almost. He runs over hills and valleys jumping streams and rivulets exploring every new path that turns up seeking always to find this thing that is haunting him, this thing that is in his blood. And then finally with his nostrils dilating and his heart pounding, he falls in exhaustion with his little head resting on his still more tiny paw to discover that the odor of musk is in his own skin. The idea that the clue to the outside world, the clue to all the meaning that I am trying to find is within myself, this causes man to recognize in the most striking way sometimes that if he acts in ways that are destructive to his inner life that tends to cause his inward parts to disintegrate, then the outside meaning of life, the interpretation that a man gives to the outer world begins to disintegrate. It begins to collapse. It is this notion that we are the custodian of our inward parts, and that it is from within ourselves that we get the clue for all the meaning that we can ever find. In my office at the University I have a painting a friend gave me many years ago, and it is of a lonely figure on a rather dark landscape. And the heavens, the skies are full of light. But at the foot, moving right out from the foot of the solitary figure, there is a very bright shaft of light. And the artist is saying that it doesn't matter how much light there is in your sky and all around you. The only light that you really see is the light that falls on your own path. Therefore, if I act in ways that make it difficult for me to keep alive within myself a sense of meaning, then I can't find meaning anywhere. It is this discovery that is brought out in one of Shakespeare's dramas. And Macbeth, you remember Macbeth was sure that he was going to be a great man. The witches had said so, and he told his wife so. And together he and his wife swam across Scotland and seas of blood tying laurels on their brows with other people's lives and other people's heart strings until at last Macbeth was the first man of the land and Lady Macbeth was the first lady. Their friends were liquidated. Their enemies multiplied, and then Lady Macbeth became diseased as to her mind always trying to wash blood from our hands that was not on her hands but was in her spirit. And then one day she died, and the attendant came to Macbeth to tell him that his wife was dead. And Macbeth said, she should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in the petty pace from day to day down to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools their way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle. Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Now why was life a tale told by a fool having no meaning to Macbeth? Because he had overlooked this very simple insight which is a burden of our thought that each man is the custodian of a world of values and meaning, which he must hold intact for this is the clue to all the meaning and all the 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu values which he will discover in the outer world. What a man seeks in the out side world is what he is finding already within. I laugh when you say that a fish in the water is thirsty. [MUSIC PLAYING] Pitts Theology Library Emory University Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is tape number ET 58 from the Library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side two entitled, The Light in One's Path part two. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm reading from Meditation of the Heart. The problem of the religious man's attitude toward the world is persistent and perennial. One reaches a conclusion about it only to discover that it becomes unresolved again. Perhaps, the most direct attempt toward a solution is to seek withdrawal from the world. The world is too much with us is the common feeling. When one seeks withdrawal from the world, it admission that the world is fundamentally and completely other than that which is congenial to the things of the spirit. Or the individual who seeks withdrawal is convinced that for his highest spiritual growth he must not be involved in the entanglements which are the common lot. If it is the former, the inescapable conclusion is that the contradictions of experience are in themselves final and binding. There is ever a recognition of the necessity of temporary withdrawal from the world and its insistences. This is a part of the very rhythm of life. We live by alternations. The religious man is no exception. He withdraws from the world, and then he attacks the world. He retreats and he advances. Or the religious man may summarize all that the world means in terms of negations into one single manifestation. He may decide, for instance, that all evil is reduced to a single entity. It may be alcohol or tobacco or war or greed. If such is his conclusion, then it follows that all energies must be bent toward a single end. Such a solution to the problems of the world is, perhaps, a radical oversimplification. It says that from within the confines of a particular manifestation of the world, the total solution to the problem of life must be sought and may be found. Obviously, such a solution is inadequate. Both religion and life are too complex, and personality is indeed. Or the religious man may recognize that all the world is made up of raw materials which stand in immediate 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu candidacy for the realization of the kingdom, the rule of God. This is a very far reaching insight with profound radical implications. Pitts Theology Library Emory University The idea is inherent in the suggestion to Peter and the acts of the apostles that nothing that God made should be regarded as unclean. If God is the creator of life in its totality, then all things are in candidacy for the achievement of the high and holy end. This is not to say that evil has no meaning. But it is to say that once the evilness evil is removed, resolved, uprooted, then the total character is thoroughly altered. The religious man who takes this position is never afraid of life, nor does heat shrink from the vicissitudes of life. He seeks at every point the emergence of the will and the mind of God from within himself and from within the stuff of life itself. What is revealed in life is one with that which transcends life. It is a very common place judgment to say or to assume that all evil can be summarized in one single direct comprehensive category. A perfect illustration of what I have in mind is found in Herman Melville's Moby Dick you may remember. Ahab set out to conquer the white whale who in a previous encounter had bitten off his leg. He organizes a Motley crew, and they go forth to sea. As far as Ahab is concerned, the white whale is not merely the embodiment of all evil, but it is the essence of all evil. And if he could conquer the white whale, then all evil everywhere would be conquered. He goes out. He has this encounter. And one of the striking scenes from the book he is standing on the deck of his ship with his wooden leg rooted in the floor of the deck. There's a storm at sea. The vessel is rising and falling with the wind and the waves. Ahab's brow is disheveled. His eyes are bloodshot. And he says something like this, let the winds blow till they destroy the vessel, until they dry up the bowels of the sea. I can still affirm my bitterness and my hatred of the white whale. Now in your life or in my life, there is often one thing which seems to us to be the embodiment of all that is evil. And if we can conquer it, then it means that everything else falls into place. This is an awful simplification of one's experience, and I think it is not-- it is not based upon any realistic understanding either of the nature of life or the nature of personality. Sometimes just the reverse is true. A man decides that one kind of goodness is the goodness. It may be, he says to himself, that I know that I am a good man, because I go to church or because I pay my debts or because I keep my word or because I pray three times a day or I fast, whatever it may be. And if all the world did as I am doing, then the world would be a good world. Now this is a delusion. For it says you see that all goodness can be summarized in a single act. Well, we know that this is not true. For instance, in your life or in my life if we tried to select one expression of our lives which seem to us to embody everything that we mean by what we are, to embody all of our intents in one created synthesis as soon as we settle upon what this thing is, we are sure that there are aspects of our lives that cannot quite be included in this one judgment. So 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu that it seems then that life is far more complex than any general rule, any specific illustration of life. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Therefore in the living of our lives, it is wise to take into account that as long as we live, we ourselves are learning how to live and that the deeper is our experience, the more comprehensive is the view, the wider is the spectrum of our experience, the more inclusive must be whatever our judgments are relative to that which is good and that which is evil. So that when we say that to withdraw from the world and find a place of retreat where there is no tension, where there is nothing that pulls us away from our goal, what we forget is that when we are in the place of retreat we bring to it all of the things that are with us when we are not in retreat. As it is said in Milton's Paradise Lost, the Satan suggests that the mind is its own place and in itself can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell, that the mind, that the spirit is in itself so involved, so complex, so much a part of the complexities of the stuff of life that no single notion, no single view, no single clue is sufficient. But here and there as we live we do discover important clues which if we followed to the end will bring us into a larger area of meaning and comprehension. I believe profoundly that any ray of light however small and meager if it is followed with all of one's passionate endeavor will bring one to the source of all light. For it doesn't matter how much light there may be in your sky, the only light that you ever really see is the light that falls across your path. And if you're true to that, then it will lead you into the source of all light. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words out of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This program was prerecorded. [MUSIC PLAYING] 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-796.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Light In One's Path: Parts 1 and 2 (ET-58; GC 12-3-71), 1971 Dec 3 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1970s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-796 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Light In One's Path: Parts 1 and 2 (1971-12-3), 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1971-12-3 Description An account of the resource 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 seeking the truth, Thurman challenges the listener to seek their own truth within themselves, as there is no other source of truth. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reads from his text, Meditations of the Heart. In this recording, he reflects upon the ways in which humanity makes meaning of existence and evil. He problematizes notions of one singular account of evil, noting that when the "evilness of evil is removed, then the total character is totally altered." He continues, that it is only in the following of one's own truth, that one can distinguish the raw materials to which the Kingdom of God can be built. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dustin Mailman Acts of the Apostles Ahab disintegrate evil evilness Herman Melville inner life Kabil light Macbeth meditations of the heart Moby Dick musk deer My Brother's Face painting Paradise Lost personality Peter religious man search seeking thirsty transcendence truth https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/af3b6749b20f8e7bf301fae4d8d30154.pdf 13ba7e50866cb1e35363a97860a223be PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-795.mp3 This is tape number ET 57, from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side one, entitled The Integrity of the Word. Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm reading from meditations of the heart. One of the most incisive stories told by Jesus concerned a man who had two sons. To the first he said, son, go work today in the vineyard. Very quickly, the son responded by saying that he would not do it. Then Jesus adds, but afterwards, he repented and went. To the other son, he made the same request. Immediately, he responded by saying that he would oblige his father, but did not do so. The point of the story expressed in the gospel is that the son who said no but changed his mind did the will of his father. It is a very interesting picture presented here, concerning one whose immediate reaction to any request is negative. It does not matter how simple the request is or how complicated. The spontaneous reply is in the negative. A very commonplace adage descriptive of such a personality is, his bark is worse than his bite. Such persons are never so negative as their words would indicate. This may be a matter of temperament. Once this particular characteristic is understood, it is easy to depend upon their carrying through in positive terms, the things to which they had reacted negatively. Sometimes, such persons start a trend in the wrong direction when their first words influence others who will abide by the negative judgment. The function of such an attitude may be to screen all proposals first by challenging their validity and their claims, and denial may quickly lay bare the integrity of the proposal. Such may be a time saver in the end. I don't know, but I wonder. The other boy may be characterized as Mr. Facing Both Ways, one of the figures in Pilgrim's Progress, you remember. His attitude seems to be to give no offense, to agree, but to reverse for oneself the true intent. For some such persons, it is an inability to say no. The result is that such a boy may be pushed by anything, anytime, anywhere, with no moral integrity to bottom the argument. Here is a character weakness, because it places at a discount the value of the word. The word is the symbol, the communication symbol of meaning of intended purpose. If the symbol is fundamentally unreliable, then the basis of relations becomes at once chaotic, and often immoral. At another place in the gospels, the words of Jesus are of a different sort. Let your words be yes, yes, and no, no. Simple, but terribly difficult. Quite possible, but searching. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Much can be said about the integrity of the word. I'm constantly amazed and-- what is the word? Even excited in a muted manner when I reflect upon what must have been the beginning of language, of the spoken word. At some far off time in the past, when out of all the sounds of various kind in the world of nature, certain sounds were, as it were, imprisoned and given a particular meaning. Pitts Theology Library Emory University So that whenever that combination of sounds was heard, then the meaning that had become associated with that particular combination of sounds was communicated or conveyed. Suppose, for instance, that some far off time in the past, the sound of the-- for the word that gives along that danger is coming had been agreed upon. And then someone used another word, a word that he thought of at the moment when he saw the danger. And he uttered this word to warn the others. But there was no apperceptive mass that could receive this word. No, the sound of the word had no meaning history. And therefore no integrity and no ability to communicate. The integrity of the word cannot be overemphasized. When a man is able to say what it is that he means, and to use words that are symbolic of this dimension of intention and integrity, then the hearer knows that when he hears the word, that the word that he hears is a symbol of the meaning. And a symbol is a form through which meaning leaps, as it were. And if the symbol is wobbly, if the symbol is not secure, then the meaning leaks. Now, there are many words in our vocabularies like that. A man uses the word love, for instance. And the word, as a symbol, has had such a wide variety of meanings. It has been so-- without seeming facetious-- so manhandled, that it leaks. And when it is used, we aren't quite sure whether it is a tight symbol through which meaning moves. Sometimes with children who are growing up, very often it is difficult to understand them, because they are trying on words for size. They are trying to find how words feel when they use them. And what the words are capable of inspiring in others. And until we understand this and are able to tutor the child in his wide meeting experience, he may grow up with a completely undependable and chaotic use of meaningful symbols. When I was a boy, I earned money occasionally by answering the door for my two aunts, who were young women. And certain nights in of the week when their callers came, my job was to answer the doors. So if the wrong man came, I would know what to say. Well, When I was beginning this, someone came up the steps and knocked at the door. And my aunt stood at the window and pulled the sheet back just a little, and she saw who it was, and she said, Howard, tell him that I am not here. So I went to the door and I said, my aunt says she isn't here. Well, this is what she did say. But-and it was literal, but all of the overtones that come with-- how should I say it-- that come with what we call maturity, means that we learn how to use words to obscure meaning. To use words to protect ourselves from exposing what is really going on. And therefore, it is very difficult to orient oneself into any thoroughgoing use of the integrity of the word. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Among your friends, for instance, if you told your friends the truth, you are afraid that you would not have many friends long. And why is this? Because there is a weakness here. We have lost the magic of the integrity of the word. It is not an accident that in the great religions-- and religion like Christianity, that that so much is made up of the statement that the word became flesh. And this is, what we mean, we say, and what we say, we do. Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This program was pre-recorded. This is tape number ET 57 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side two, entitled Man's Equity in Life. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] The sense of self is fully known when a man can say, I did it. Such triumph who can claim? In every deed are many streams whose sources lie beyond all dreams, or sleep within the womb of ancient myths. The words in his tongue wander us all, finding in man a short spanned place. They are never his alone. Oh, what a way they've come, through countless years and every land, through crucibles of every mood, words now familiar in their place have made their own the marks of many minds. How dare a man say I, I speak? Free-flowing thoughts from living minds are big with residues of other times, forced from their place by inner law, compelled to rest in little spells. A man may never say, this thought is mine. An equity in thoughts is his. The rest belongs to every man. Fierce, private, intimate, unique feelings spring from deep within, a boundless inner world as old as life. They come without command. The feeling tone, the pointed shape carries the image of the man. To this, he gives his own life's plan. No more than this is his to claim. All knowledge in whatever form maintains its place, secure. It knows no lord, no single mind. Its harvest ripens as it will. Its secret is its own to give, in part to share with other minds. To say I know is always false, however sure the words may seem. Before the echo fades, the lights go out. The man is held by fear, by doubt. To seek, to find, to seek again. This is man's journey. This is man's way. It is very often said that there are no exclusive rights that a man has, 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu even in the ideas that are a familiar part of his frame of reference, or a familiar part of the way he communicates with other human beings. Pitts Theology Library Emory University The sound of the words that he uses, the accent that he gives to these words, the meaning that the particular word has in a given context, all of these are part of his heritage, are a part of his inheritance. But when the word passes through the man and becomes one of his private tools of communication, he gives to the word his personal flavor, his Tang, his accent, his emphasis. And thereby, and in that way only, does the word become his word. There are words that are very, very universal in their meaning. And when we use such words, we must do something to them, tamper with them in some way, so that the hearer will know that we mean something very personal, and very private, and very intimate in the use of the word. We'll take the word love, for instance. It is a universally used word, a word that is used universally, rather. But when, under certain circumstances, a man uses the word, along with the word is a quality in the voice, the timber of the voice, the look in the eye, something on the countenance that says to the listener, now this universal word becomes flesh, becomes particularized. Now, this is true with the use of words. It is true in terms of all of the habit patterns of our lives. It is true in the simple matters of decorum, and it is true in simple matters of dress. We are always confirming our solidarity with human life. Now and then, an individual feels that he must becomes utterly separate from all of the rest of the human family. He becomes full of idiosyncrasies. He acts in ways that are, to him, so very unique that he will not be identified with the herd, with the mass. But even the way in which he does the erratic thing, he confirms his belonging to all of life. And this is true in a more profound way. It is true, for instance, with reference to our bodies. I remember many, many years ago when I lived in San Francisco, one Sunday morning I dedicated a little baby. And then when I held him in my arms for the ceremony, I noticed that he had a dimple, what seemed to me to be a dimple, in his neck. And when I went to see his parents a few days after that, I remarked rather facetiously, that it's too bad that David had a dimple on his neck, and in time it would be covered by his collar, and he could not use it to any psychological advantage, and the way that he could use it if it were a dimple on his cheek. And his mother said, oh, that will not last. The pediatrician says that really isn't a dimple, but it is the vestigial remains of a gill. And the time will come when this will be absorbed, or a very simple operation will remove it. And then my mind went back to that far off moment in human history when the waters are receding and when our forebears were learning how to take their air and eat without benefit of water. And then I remember that there is, in the human body, the whole story of man's journey, from his forebears and before them to the slimy oozes of some primeval ocean bed. There is a sense in which each man belongs to life, and the sense in which life belongs to each man. But when the 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu life movement, the ebb and flow, the throb, the heartbeat of existence, takes form in a particular human being, then he has an equity in the wide expanse of the rhythm of life. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And it is operating within this equity that he feels that he has something that belongs to him. When I say, I know, I feel, I understand, I must, in using those words, recognize the fact that I am simply saluting life and claiming just a moment of equity that is mine and mine alone. This makes me live with humility and with great reverence, that all of life is mine, and I belong to all of life. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-795.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Integrity of Life; Man's Equity in Life (ET-57; GC 12-3-71), 1971 Dec 3 Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-795 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource The Integrity of the Word (1964-01-31); Man's Equity in Life (1971-12-3) 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> Description An account of the resource 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 series; Howard Thurman reflects upon what it means when those on the journey of life believe that they "did it." He continues, noting that any sense of achieving knowledge is false, as knowledge is dynamic in nature, rendering language as a mere symbol to make sense of knowledge. Rather than framing the pursuit of life as the pursuit of knowledge, Thurman suggests that equity is the actual pursuit that humanity should participate in. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dustin Mailman body denial identity inner-being integrity Jesus journey linguistics Matthew 21:29-31 meditations of the heart money origin Parables pedantic pilgrim's progress residue self symbol womb https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/dfa5f1fb3468e0e982aa3426441ca050.pdf 8efd2ffaa99bbea6c8e38a77ebfa3a02 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-794.mp3 [MUSIC PLAYING] Pitts Theology Library Emory University This is tape number ET-54 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two Meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side 1, entitled "Boundaries of the Self." Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm Dean Thurman, Dean of Marsh Chapel, Boston University. James Lane Allen's "The Choir Invisible" has a paragraph which reads as follows. "There are people in the world-- some of us may have discovered them in the sweep of our experience-- to whom the joy and the sorrow come alike with quietness. For them there is neither the cry of sudden delight, nor the cry of sudden anguish. Gazing deep into their eyes, we are reminded of the light of dim churches. Hearing their voices, we dream of some minstrel whose murmurs reach us imperfectly through his fortress wall. Beholding the sweetness of their faces, we are touched as by the appeal of mute flowers. Merely meeting them in the street, we recall the long vanished image of the divine goodness. For many of us, there is such a preoccupation with ourselves, our problems, our dreams, our hopes, that there is little or no margin available for the awareness of those whom we encounter in the way. For such any demand that pulls away from the central self-regard is a personal assault or an impertinent invasion." Many years ago, I sought to interest a mother and working with a committee of women who were helping to pilot unfortunate girls into safe havens of rehabilitation and redemption. She heard me all the way to the end, then she said, "It takes all of my time to be a good mother to my own children. And if every mother did the same thing there would be no such girls. I'm sorry but that is my answer." We are surrounded by people, some of whom we know only casually. Others we know quite intimately, but we are not aware of them except at the points of their relevancy to our purposes and our friends. The cultivation of the spirit of discernment as we share in the common life about us is to rekindle in ourselves the image of the divine goodness. It is to become alive to those about us. It is not only to know when and how to give the crucial lift to another, but it is also to gather into ourselves that which is necessary to our own peace. This is a goal worthy of us all. It is a very insistent aspect of our common experience to be so concerned, so bothered as it were, about ourselves, our problems, our needs, our own lives, our responsibilities, our interests, that we can very easily become unmindful of the fact that we are a part of the whole human family. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu That we ourselves have certain acknowledged and unacknowledged responsibilities, not only to life, but to those who walk the way with us. Pitts Theology Library Emory University I remember some years ago visiting with a friend who showed me a series of pictures which he had taken on a trip around the world. For instance, he said, "Here am I, standing in front of the Sphinx." Or, "Here am I, in front of the Parthenon." Or, "Here am I, in front of St. Peter's." Always, these tremendous monuments of art, these expressions of the magic of man's genius and imagination, served merely as backgrounds for his own egocentric interests, his own egocentric concerns. This idea of being preoccupied with one's self and one's needs can very easily be a full time preoccupation. For it is true that one's needs are always pressing. One's responsibilities seem always to be on the increase, that there is always something that needs to be done that involves the full-orbed exercise of the self-regarding impulse. But this is not all of life. There is around us all kinds of magic that is available to us if we are sensitive to it. Some years ago, I was doing a series of addresses on a certain state college campus. And every day at the chapel time, a crippled man came in and sat on the front seats at the end of about four days, the end of my series. He came up on the platform and he said to me, "When are you leaving, Mr. Thurman?" I said, "I'm leaving tonight." He said, "Well, will you come by my cottage before you go? Because I have something I want to give to you. You've been very kind to me during these days." Meanwhile, I asked some of the fellows about the man, and no one of them even knew his name. They called him Crip. And he ran a little cobbler shop on the edge of the campus and earned his living by half-soling shoes and repairing heels for the college fellows. So that night when I rapped at his door, he told me to come in. And he was standing, supporting himself by the back of a chair. His crutches were down on the floor. And he pointed me to a seat. And then he said, "Mr. Thurman, do you like Shakespeare?" And I said, "Oh, yes I do." "What is your favorite play?" I said, "Hamlet." And you know what he did? He read to me from memory the whole first act of Hamlet. And then at my dictation he went through tragedy after tragedy of Shakespeare's, reading with feeling and interpretation, and all from memory. He had garnered all of this through the years. Now he was just an elderly crippled man swinging his way through life suspended on two huge crutches. And as far as these students were concerned, he was just that and nothing more. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu But instead of just being this, he was literally full of magic. And we are reminded of those striking lines of outward noise. "There is magic all around us, in the rocks, in the trees, in the minds of men. Deep, hidden springs of magic. And he who strikes the rock aright may find them where he will." Pitts Theology Library Emory University Not this suggests, you see, that it doesn't matter how commonplace, how drab, how ordinary is one's own life. Or how monumental may seem to be the demands that close in upon one, so that it seems as if it is necessary to give all of one's powers to one's own interest. If one can push the boundaries beyond one's self, then one will discover all the magic from all of these other manysided exposures and expressions of life that will feed one's own concerns and give to one a sense of strength and creativity and ability in dealing with one's own problem. "There is magic all around us, in the rocks, in the trees, and in the minds of men. Deep, hidden springs of magic. And he who strikes the rock aright may find them where he will." [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words out of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is tape number ET-54 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side 2, entitled "Confidence in God." [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in They sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is the final service that I shall be taking for the rest of the summer. But in the fall, I shall return and begin the series over again. During the summer months, there are three guests who will be carrying the program as associates of Marsh Chapel of Boston University. Dr. Lavely, Professor of Philosophy, and the congregational minister Dr. Edwin Prince Booth, who is a Professor of Historical Christianity and School of Theology at Boston University. And Dr. Sam Headrick, who is a Professor of Practical Theology in the Graduate School of Theology at Boston University. These three gentlemen will take the full responsibility for the Friday broadcasts until early in September. I wish to say also my simple appreciation to all of you who have been kind enough to write letters and postal cards, and to make telephone calls expressing your appreciation for the services which began last November. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu One of the most searching statements in the Old Testament was written many years ago by the prophet Jeremiah. And this is the statement. Pitts Theology Library Emory University "A curse on him who relies on man, who depends upon mere human aid. For he is like some desert scrub that never thrives, set in a salt solitary place in the steppes. But happy is he who relies on God, who has God for his confidence. For he is like a tree planted beside a stream, sending his roots down to the water. He has no fear of scorching heat. His leaves are always green. He goes on bearing fruit when all around him is barren. And he looks out on life with quiet eyes." It is a very sobering thought, when we reflect upon it, that things seem to be more permanent than people. Long after I am no longer living, the possibilities are that my watch will be carrying on. It will be used. It will remain. There is something about the tangibleness of things which seems to indicate that there is a quality of permanence in them, that there is a substantial element that transcends all of the moods and the passing aspects of life. I think this is a reason why we tend, again and again, to try to identify ourselves with things, try to put our imprimatur or our face or our stamp on things. Because we sense this quality which seems to be very real, very authentic, very true. Sometimes we say to ourselves, if we can find a memorial that will remain after we are no longer living, this then would be a constant, tangible, practical for-instance of all that our life meant and all that we were trying to accomplish or say in the living of our days. thought, however, reveals that there is an element in our lives that is not contingent upon things. There is a dimension of us which cannot ever be satisfied by anything that is material, anything that has to do with the demands of our lives as creatures. There are hungers of the heart and the mind and the spirit that cannot ever be satisfied by things, of whatever importance these things may be. Perhaps you had relationships with other human beings in which the thing that you most wanted from them was understanding and sympathy, a kind of warmth of heart that could reaffirm your spirit and give a dimension of meaning to your inner life and to your whole, to the total structure of your purposes. And what you received was gifts of one kind or another, tangible things, things that were useful in their place, that were very important, that were valuable in terms of money. But things that were irrelevant, really, in terms of what you were seeking most deeply and what you felt that you needed most deeply. I think this is what the prophet has in mind when he says that a man is not blessed who places confidence in man, in the sense that confidence and the things that man is able to give, or confidence in the more tangible expressions of life. Now this is not to suggest that life is not practical and that it is not down to Earth. But it is to say that there must be a full-orbed recognition of the practical demands of life, the practical and tangible needs that men have. But the bias, the accent, the emphasis of a man's life must not be placed upon these things that, after all, cannot address themselves to the deepest needs of the spirit, of the deepest needs of the 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University mind. Therefore he suggests that if a man places his confidence in God, in that which transcends all of the passing aspects of life, that which transcends even the vicissitudes of life. That which is, in a sense, involved in the struggle of life, but also is beyond the struggle. A man must have something to which he can refer that will give a meaning to his life and a validation to his aspirations and his hopes in a manner that transcends whatever may be the particular moment in which he is living. And this, after all, is what we are seeking. And the prophet says that this is what God gives to human life. I remember many years ago reading in an old copy of the "National Geographic" magazine an article about the Sahara Desert. Here, the article described how once upon a time many, many, many years ago, what is now the Sahara Desert was a great, dank, damp, fertile jungle growth with huge primeval trees growing there. Some of these trees, said the article, sent their roots so far down into the bowels of the Earth that they made primary contact with the underground rivers flowing there, rivers in which there were large concentrates of minerals and all of the other things needful for the sustaining of the tree. So that when the weather changed, when the whole climate picture shifted, and the vegetation began to dry up and disintegrate, and finally the only thing that was left was a desert waste, parched sands, here and there a vestigial reminder of the far-off time in the past when the desert were different, as expressed in oases. But something else remained. Here and there may be found giant trees standing out in the desert surrounded by no oasis. These trees have their roots so far down into the heart of the earth that their roots are in primary contact with the underground rivers sustaining and keeping them. So that despite the temperature by which they are surrounded, despite all of the external conditions of climate and what have you, the leaves remain green. Now this is the thing. It seems to me that the individual has to find for himself. Send his roots down so deep into the heart of life that he makes primary contact with that which sustains and gives ultimate meaning to life. Thus the prophet says, a curse on a man who depends upon things, upon man, who relies upon mere human aid. For he is like some desert scrub that never thrives, set and a salt solitary place in the steppes. But happy is he who relies on God, who has God for his confidence. For he is like a tree planted beside a stream, sending his roots down to the water. His leaves are always green. He goes on bearing fruit when all around him is barren. And in the midst of all vicissitudes of life, he looks out upon life with quiet eyes. This is my wish for you as well as for me. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-794.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Boundaries of the Self; Confidence in God (ET-54; GC 12-3-71), 1971 Dec 3 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1960s 1950s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-794 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Boundaries of the Self (1961-11-24); Confidence in God (1958-06-13) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1961-11-24 1958-06-13 Description An account of the resource In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from James Cane Allen's "The Choir Invisible," in order to reflect upon the ways in which one can come to understand community. He notes that in one's own quest for identity, that relationships can become utilitarian, only being aware of community "at points of relevancy to our purposes." What Thurman is insisting in this recording, is that when one pushes past the superficial boundaries of separateness, that one can find the "deep, hidden springs of magic" which informs one's understanding of the divine. In this recording within the We Believe series: Howard Thurman reflects upon a passage from the prophet Jeremiah. From the reading, Thurman ponders what it means to have complete confidence in God. He notes that there are longings of the heart that are much deeper than any desire for material possessions. For Thurman, it is in the places of "the deepest needs of the spirit," that one discovers what it can mean for one to understand these needs of the spirit. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dustin Mailman community curse ecology ego existentialism experience heart interconnectivity James Cane Allen Jeremiah magic materiality National Geographic oasis parthenon permanence redemption responsibility Sahara Desert sphinx temporality The Choir Invisible https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/f687bd39c36f89fc0a14b0167b62edec.pdf 733451a71bd5de23c109aad11e591573 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-793.mp3 This is tape number ET52 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Two meditations by Howard Thurman-- this is side one, entitled, "Response to Life." Pitts Theology Library Emory University Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer. I'm continuing how thinking together on certain aspects of the 139th Psalm. And today, how precious are thy thoughts unto me oh, god? How precious are thy thoughts? The worth of life abounds in all I see. The kernel of the seed holds in its place a swinging door, through which the boundless energy of living substance flows, forming itself in root and stalk, in branch and fruit. The germ in the egg awaits the fulfilling moment. A gentle tug, a brooding urge, and unhurried push to full creation-- then living form of chick or bird or child. A whisper in the mind like a voice floating in the hills calls to itself kindred thoughts from far off places. Ideas take shape and form, forming within their vital wall their strange insistence. They pull, they push, they drive, command until, at last, they are the master in the house and the whole course of a man's life is channeled into regions he does not know, nor scarcely understand. How precious are thy thoughts unto me, oh, God? The response to goodness, the urge to minister, the quickened willingness to bless, the deep rejection of the evil deed revealed, the pull of the clear thought and the honest desire, an all-embracing tenderness cradling the kindly act, the far flung hope comprising myriad strands of all man's dreaming, the hard rebuff to all that mocks and scorns, the whole surrender of the center of consent to lose life only to find it again. How precious are thy thoughts unto me, oh, God? How great is the sum of them? To be able to think is a miracle. Ideas, invisible things, take their shape in many ways, and many ages, many climbs, and then they land in your mind. And, in your mind, they began to work, grow, develop, until at last, they spill out in acts and deeds. Ideas are very strange things. They come from afar. They are born within. They take possession of the mind and order the body to behave in certain ways. Now, when an idea comes into the mind, it orders all things to be its servant-- if it be a central idea. If it be what is called a hard idea. And, very often, we get these ideas that influence the life in ways that are not deliberate. You may remember in "Faust" when Foust is about to drink the poison potion because he feels that he has exhausted all learning. As he lifts the goblet to his lips, he hears through an open window the songs coming from a chapel hard by. These songs-- or this song, this music is like the music which crept into his mind and spirit when he was a child. He was scarcely aware of the fact that he was exposed to this early music, that it had embedded itself in his mind and spirit, but here it was. And, as soon as he hears the voices singing, a whole flood of memories of earlier experiences-- everything in his past that was related in quality and tone to the insight and the impact of this early music upon him is now activated. And these 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu things stand over against that which is working in his mind causing him to commit suicide. And he drops the goblet and goes on with his life. Pitts Theology Library Emory University How precious, also, are thy thoughts unto me oh, God? What kind of thoughts, what kinds of images are you storing up in your mind? What kind of idea bank do you have? Are they ideas which have to do with the things in life that have irritated you, that have made life difficult-- all the negative experiences that you have had with other human beings-- have you kept a carefully accumulated body of this kind of data so that the things which you store up through the years are all the things that you dislike as you have lived your life? If that is the case, then, it is these things that you have stored up in terms of ideas and images and pictures as you have lived through the years. It is these things that create the inner climate of your life. It is these things that provide the atmosphere through which you look out upon the world. And, if this is the case, then the kind of structuring, ordering of your response to life in general is determined by the quality of these kinds of things which you have accumulated and held fast at the central place in your mind. And this means, you see, that what you think, then, of people-- what you think of situations which you contemplate is not just the result of the particular idea on your mind or the situation on your mind, but it is the quality of all of the atmosphere that has been generated through years of the accumulation of a certain kind of thoughts, a certain body of ideas. Now, if you have made a habit of gathering unto yourself things upon which you may feed with meaning and significance-- great ideas, great and breathless moments of beauty that have been visited upon the human scene through the gifted minds and tongues and pens of poets and dreamers and prophets-- if these are the things upon which you feed, then a climate of that kind is is generated and it is through this kind of climate that you look out upon the world. This is one of the great reasons why, whether a person believes in a daily life of devotion, whether you are a person who believes in prayer as a form of religious experience and expression or not-- if you want to live a full and healthy life so that your outlook will be fresh and full of the distilled wisdom of all the ages, each day of your life you will set aside some moment, some time when you will expose yourself to some of the great images, the great pictures, the great thoughts that have blessed the minds of other men. I will fly in the greatness of God as the Martian flies, filling all the space twixt the marsh and the skies. By so many roots as the marsh grass sends in the sod, behold, I will lay me a hold on the greatness of God. Some such idea as that, and there are many others. Gather unto yourselves those ideas that inspire, that breathe wisdom and tenderness and kindness and love. And these, then, will create in you a climate and an atmosphere through which you will look out upon the world and interpret the things that come into your life from day to day. How precious are thy thoughts unto me, oh, God? Let the words out of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu This is tape number ET52 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side two entitled, "Responsibility for Action." Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer. Pitts Theology Library Emory University In the morning's mail, I received a Gaelic blessing, which I will share with you before I begin the regular part of the program. May the roads rise with you and the wind be always at your back. And may the Lord hold you in the hollow of his hand. This morning, we come to the end of our consideration of the 139th Psalm. We are thinking together about the last stanza. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Judgment seems far removed from act and deed. Trumpets from the past sound warning notes. The day of judgment-- prepare to meet that God. Beyond the gates of modern life, ancient myths couched in dogmas old mold and rot in silent gloom. The end of time-- god on his throne to judge mankind and the man alone stands before the judgment seat. The sky, a canopy above, heavenly hosts, angels, archangels in ceaseless flight bathed forever in eternal light blazing forth from the throne of God-- such is the ancient myth. No man is free to live unmindful of an impending doom-- or so it seems. There is a timeless warning in the far off world. The bitter truth returns in many forms. No deed, no act stands by itself alone. In born and blood and nerve and cell, in all the imagery of mind-- in sound of voice, in wrinkled brow, standing, sitting, waking, sleeping, laughter or tears-- the imprint of thought, the registry of deed remain for all man's days. There is a tight circle in which man moves. Nothing escapes. Soon or late, somewhere some when, the doer and the deed together sit. The ancient myth renews its truth, and the man stands alone before the judgment seat. Try me, oh, God, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me. The idea that life is a pilgrimage in responsibility is an old idea. The notion that to live is to be responsible is a notion that is deeply ingrained in man's experience of life. And yet, there is always the tendency to seek ever devious ways by which one may escape the responsibility for one's own action. This is elemental responsibility. This is primary responsibility. And, in a sense, it is absolute responsibility. I am responsible for my own deeds and, yet, there is something that is so full of awe about the fact that I am always trying to find ways to circumvent the relentless logic of the fact. When I was a boy, I had two sisters-- one was older, one was younger. I was fortunately placed because whenever I was being held accountable for something that I had done, I could always say that I did it because I came to the rescue of my little sister and it really wasn't my fault or responsibility, but hers. Or, I could say that I was acting under the influence of my older sister and, therefore, it was not my responsibility but hers. Always, there is this tendency to shrink from taking responsibility for one's own actions. But it is a mark of maturity, a mark of growth to be willing to do what, in the last analysis, one has no 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu live option except to do-- namely to take responsibility for one's own actions. Now this is a psychological thing. It's a nice phrase to use to describe it, but it is also written in the organism, it is written in the body. The nervous system itself registers the moment by moment encounter of man with the living texture of his experience. Pitts Theology Library Emory University For instance, if you became emotionally disturbed and you went to see a psychiatrist or an analyst, one of the things inherent in the procedures that are used is something which has to do with taking you back very slowly over the whole history of your life. Every single incident as nearly as you are able to sense it is reproduced, because somewhere in the story of your life is the source of the thing which, in the present, is giving you the difficulty or the trouble. This suggests, you see, that in the unfolding of life, in the growing of individuals, everything counts. Nothing walks with aimless feet. As Tennyson places upon the lips of Ulysses-- I am a part of all that I have met, yet all experience is an arch where through gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades forever and forever when I move. This is a fact of life. And, translated in terms of religious significance, it says that life is a responsibility, and that the living of life is a responsible act. It is a small wonder, then, that a man like Conrad says it was always a serious thing to live and to live life seriously-- to live it responsibly. And this is radically different from taking life seriously. Taking life seriously may result in brooding and all kinds of internal congestions and disorder. But to live life seriously is to be involved at each critical step in the responsibility for what that step initiated in you or what that step set going in the world. Now, there is still another dimension here. Man does not only live his life responsibly. Not only are we responsible for our own actions, but something that is again and again overlooked, and that is that man is responsible for his reactions to life. Now this is different, you see-- the first is a man is responsible for his actions. He must pick up the tab for his action. Or, as the prose poem suggests, there comes a time when the doer and the deed together sit. But there is something more-- man is responsible for his reactions to the experiences and to the events of his life. Now, it is true that again and again, a man may encounter experiences which are not responsive to his will-- however good that will may be. We are always surrounded by forces that seem to be impersonal in character-- forces that mold us and shape us but are not responsive to our will. Forces that do not seem to be quite sensitive enough or capable enough of taking this into account. But, nevertheless, they involve us, they make their impact upon us, and we are responsible for our reactions to the events of our lives. I cannot determine what will befall me. I am a creature of life, I am a creature of my time, I'm a creature of my period. I am involved in processes that do not arise within me and are not responsible to me. But, nevertheless, there is a measure of autonomy that I have-- a margin of integrity. And that is what I shall do with the events of my life-- how I shall react to the raw materials of my experience. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And, as I react to them, this reaction goes into the making of my life. Search me, oh, God, says the Psalmist, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-793.html" ></iframe> Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Response to Life; Responsibility for Action (ET-52; GC 12-2-71), 1971 Dec 2 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1960s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-793 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource "How Precious Are Thy Thoughts..." (1961-01-13); Try Me and Know My Thoughts (1961-03-17) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1961-01-13 1961-03-17 Description An account of the resource In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon the line "How precious are thy thoughts, O God," found within Psalm 139. Thurman uses this verse in order to poetically wax the miracle that is having a mind. In this recording, Thurman suggests that because the mind orders the body, that it is significant to discern what the mind of God consists of. It is in the discerning of God's mind that one finds the content of devotional posturing: wisdom, tenderness, and love. In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from a Gaelic Blessing, and the concluding stanza in Psalm 139, attempting to make sense of the content of a faithful human existence. He uses these reflections in order to emphasize his understanding of the interrelatedness of life, and the ways in which action and reaction are essential to both human flourishing and human suffering. Here, Thurman places great emphasis on responsibility, indicating that to live a life is to participate in a responsible act. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dustin Mailman action birth Conrad ecology egg experience fact of life Faust freedom germ imagination interconnectivity Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe judgement memory mind myth new life Psalm 139 psychiatrist reaction responsibility salvation Tennyson Ulysses wind https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/8bfe74981df868383dcf1efa3f5df496.pdf ae4bd3dc236b42b3830ce26b5524b87c PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-792.mp3 This is tape number ET51 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, two meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side one, entitled "Prayers." Pitts Theology Library Emory University Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. This is my final broadcast for the academic year during the summer there will be guest persons who will take this 15 minute period I expect to return in September I wish to express my personal appreciation to all of the many listeners who have telephoned or written to express their appreciation for this period. Today, I'm reading two prayers, as the heart of what I wish to do for this time. We have turned aside from the paths, the duties, and the responsibilities, which involve us from time to time, to feel ourselves into thy presence with as much confidence and faith as we can muster. It is our simple trust that before thee, in the great quietness of this waiting moment, we may find the measure of deep and central peace, without which the enterprises of our private life cannot be fulfilled. We spread before thee all the meaning that we have been able to garner out of the days of our living. We see, as if by a flash of blinding light, the meaning of some things which we have done since last we were in thy presence, the hasty word, the careless utterance, the deliberate act by which another was injured or confused, the decision to do what even at the time of the decision, we knew was neither the right thing, nor the thing which we were willing to back with our lives. All of these things push their way to the center of our thought that we may be exercised in sincerity, uttering before thee what is honest and clear. Sitting in the midst of so much within us that is not good, even by our paltry standards, there begins just as a great burning in our depths, the vast urgency for forgiveness, forgiveness for the sin, forgiveness for the wrong act, forgiveness for the bad deed. We do not know all together what it is that we need beyond this. We see our lives, the goals which we have set for ourselves, the goals, these dreams are weighted and held in tender balance before thy scrutiny and thy caring. We see them now in a new light and a fresh way. We trust that somehow as we move into the tasks that await us, the radiance which we sense now will cast a long glow to guide us in tomorrow's darkness. We are mindful of needs beyond our little world and its demands. Some needs close at hand have not been able to get beyond the outer gate of our vital concern. We have dealt with them casually out of the richness of our own sense of surplus. There are those other needs that which we have not dared to look, because we fear what our response to them would make us do or make us become. They might upset all the careful plans of our days, and the goals upon which we have set our spirits may be thrown out of focus or cast aside. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Oh God, we cannot look into the depths of sudden anguish and find our way into our own happiness and peace again. This seems too costly for us, and we are afraid. And yet as we are stilled before thee, these needs moved before us. We hear the cry and the anguish of the destitute, of the hungry, of the hopeless, the despairing, and we cannot be deaf. But often, we do not know what to do. We do not know how to give and not destroy ourselves. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Gentle father, deal with our disorder with redemptive tenderness, so that we, as we live today and tomorrow and tomorrow, may not be shamed by thy grace that has made our lives move in such tranquil places. These are all the words we have. Take them, our father, and permit them to say to thee, the content of our hearts and our spirit. And the other is one of the great prayers of all religious literature. And it is found in the book of Psalms. Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought, a far off. Thou compasses my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue. But lo, oh Lord, thou knowest it all together. Thou has beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Wither shall I go from thy spirit? Or wither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in Hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand hold me. And thy right hand shall steady me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light above me. The darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee, for thou hast possessed my reigns. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. In thy book, all my members are written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet, there was none of them. How precious, how precious are thy thoughts unto me, oh God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh hen flies, filling all the space twixt the marsh and the skies by so many roots as the marsh grass, sands in the sod. Behold, I will lay me a hold on the greatness of God. Amen. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu This is tape number ET51 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side two entitled, "Relatedness of All Life." Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Pitts Theology Library Emory University I'm very happy to be back after an absence of six weeks, and I want to express my personal appreciation to those men who have served on Fridays during my absence, and also a word of appreciation to those of you who have written in and/or telephoned to express your own concern and good wishes. I pick up the threads of our interpretation of the 139th Psalm. When I awake, I am still with thee. In all the waking hours, the tentacles of time give channel to each living thing. The bird on wing, the mole moving in darkness underground, the cricket chanting its evening song, the primeval wails sporting in chilly seas, or floating noiselessly in turbulent waters, in mountain crevice or sprawling meadow, the delicate beauty of color stained flower of fragile leaf, high beyond the timber line, the sprig of green dares wind and the snow, in the barren parched of desert waste, the juiceless shrub and water logged cactus, high in the tree top, the green pearled fruit of olive mistletoe, and the soft gray stillness of creeping moss, the infant, the growing child, the stumbling adolescent, the young adult, the man full blown, or stooped with years. The tentacles of time give channel to each living thing. And beyond this, thoughts that move with grace of being, light thoughts that dance and sing, untouched by gloom or shadow or the dark, weighty thoughts that press down upon the road with tracks that blossom into dreams, or shape themselves and plan and scheme, thoughts that whisper, thoughts that shout, thoughts that wonder without rest, seeking, seeking, always seeking, thoughts that challenge, thoughts that soothe. The tentacles of time give channel to each living thing. Out from the house of life all things come. And into it, each returns again for rest. When I awake, I am still with thee. The idea that man is not alone is an ancient idea. It is not only rooted in what he thinks and believes or affirms about the meaning of life, but it is also rooted in his organism, in his very body. For a man is a child of nature, and as a child of nature, he is a part of all of the automatic devices-- using automatic in a very loose sense-- automatic devices by which his life is restored and maintained. The things that he uses to nourish his body, minerals, various things that come from the world outside of him, the way in which all of the intricate processes of his organism work together in creative harmony and creative synthesis, getting nourishment from matter, distilling out of matter the nourishment that it needs, and then dispensing with that which is useless. This grounding of the life of man in nature is a fundamental physiological assurance that man is not alone. He is not an [? isolated ?] expression of life, but he is a part of the ebb and flow of life. He is a part of the respiration of existence, in this sense, so that as a creature, man is not alone. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University He is not alone, also, because he is not cut off from those other people who have lived before him or who are living as a part of his contemporary world. The ideas of his mind, for instance, are not ideas that are born for the first time in his mind, but the ideas which he has come out of a vast continuum of ideas, thoughts, that men through hundreds of years and hundreds of generations have been feeling and thinking, each man adding a tiny increment to what has gone before, so that in any idea that any man has, there is an affirmation of the continuity of all of man's conscious life. And even more intimately than this, whenever we find ourselves related, primarily to other human beings, whenever we enter into a deliberate and conscious sense of relatedness with others, as expressed, for instance in love or in our affection, whenever we do this, the thing that is meaningful to us is the fact that the [? isolation, ?] which we tend to sense and to feel sometimes is spurious. It is not rooted in fact, because literally, we are a part of each other. And in terms of all levels of our consciousness, and I think at a level that is even more profound than this. For instance, when you try to communicate with the person whose language you do not understand, with whose tongue you are not familiar, so that the words that he says, the symbols that he uses to give expression to the ideas that in his mind are symbols that bounce off your mind without grappling or taking hold anywhere. But nevertheless, there is a way by which you can enter into a sense of communion with this person. There is a sense of feeling, tone, a certain kind of understanding that you gather from the look in his eyes or from the aspect of his countenance to which you are exposed. The same sort of thing happens to revert to the idea of how we are consciously related to each other. When you have a friend, for a long period in your relationship, all of your communication is across the board communication, words, symbols, ideas, concepts, notions, these things you share. They're pooled together, and you share them out to a common vat, as it were. And then there comes a time when words are unnecessary, when you sit in the presence of another person, and instead of communicating across this way, through the use of symbols, you seem to go down this way and come up inside the other person, so that even as you are yourself remaining, you feel his feeling. You think his thought. You become one with his understanding. Now, I think finally, that there is a sense in which we also are not alone, because we are a part of God. And this I believe for, in my thought, God is the creator of all existence and the creator of all the time, space expressions of life, and therefore, we as expressions of God's creation are expressive of him, and he is a part of us and we are part of him. And perhaps it is true that he can never be what he is destined to be in the world of his creation until we are what we ought to be. So the Hindu, medieval mystic poet writes that-- using these words-- I laugh when you say that a fish in the water is thirsty. Do you seek the real, the true? Go where you will from [? binaries ?] to [? mathura. ?] If you have not found your own soul, the world is unreal to you. Now, this is the Hindus' way of saying, that when a man has come to an 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu awareness of that which is deepest in him, most central and fundamental, he has come into the presence of the God of life and the God of creation. Pitts Theology Library Emory University When I awake, whatever may be my predicament, whatever it may be the limitations of the distortions of my life, when I awake, I am still with thee, and I rejoice and give thanks that this is so. Left the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-792.html" ></iframe> Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 7/29 Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Prayers; Relatedness of All Life (ET-51; GC 12-2-71), 1971 Dec 2 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1960s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-792 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Prayers (1962-06-01); When I Awake (1961-03-03) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1962-06-01 1961-03-03 Description An account of the resource This recording has two parts. In "Prayers," Thurman reads two prayers. The first is about responsibilities, needs, and our desire to help others without knowing how. The second is Psalm 139. In "When I Awake," he discusses the relatedness of all humans to other humans, past and present. He suggests that we are never alone because of these connections and because we are all part of God. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Spencer Roberts https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/6612d5112de903fa06acf5b474999e53.pdf 3dd41a5bc6111a0e4f77694ff6b9894c PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-791.mp3 This is tape number ET50 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. This is side 2, entitled "Presence of God." Pitts Theology Library Emory University [CHURCH BELLS RINGING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm beginning again our discussion of certain overtones from Psalm 139. And the verse that we're considering today is, if I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there. I am reading a prose poem as a prologue to our meditation this morning. If I ascend up into heaven Thou art there. When my joy overflows and no words can contain it, when the thing I sought was lost only to reappear within the hollow of my hand. When the day seems interminable, but at eventide, the burdens lift, and weariness is a far off memory. When there opens before the vista of my mind the wonder of new regions, far off places. When the gentle touch of a loved one makes music heard only by the listening heart. When the doctor's word is the final word, and deep within the hidden places of the life, healing waters stir, bringing wholeness in their wake. When the wanderer comes home, and the wayward finds peace in the ancient fireside. When from the ashes of old dreams the fires of a new life are kindled, Thou are there. If I make my bed inhale hell, behold, when night remains night, and darkness deepens. When the evilness of evil is unrelieved, and utter desolation makes mockery of all that was true and good. When the open door of refuge closes in my face, and to turn back is of no avail. When the firm grip of sanity trembles, and all balances tilt, leaving the mind tortured and crazed. When all around [? whirls, ?] crash, and the winds blow hot and torrid over the parched and wasted places of my spirit. When sin multiplies itself, until at last, all goodness seems swallowed up and devoured. When the chuckle of death is the only sound to be heard in the land, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, if I ascend up into heaven, behold, Thou art there. There is something to be said for the sense of isolation and solitude, out of which all of the deep and profound issues of the human spirit emerge. It is at this depth of intimate privacy that the great and crucial decisions by which a man's life is governed are fashioned, are hammered out, and are projected into the world of men and things and affairs and responsibilities. And yet, there is a sense in which isolation, solitude, solitariness seemed to be the negation of all that is dynamic and creative and meaningful in the life. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University There is a sense, of course, in which the human spirit cannot abide utter Isolation, cannot abide being cut off. And what the Psalmist is insisting upon is a tremendously overwhelming insight, and namely that the God who is the creator of life and the creator of the living substance, the creator of existence itself, is the God of the light as well as the darkness. The God, to use the figure in the verse that we are considering, the God of heaven and the God of hell. That there is no place, there is no condition, there is no state of being in which the individual can be said to be cut off, isolated, from God. Now, it may be that the individual may seem to himself to be isolated, to be cut off, and this, of course, creates panic in the spirit. For we cannot abide a sense of isolation, a sense of being, being cut off from all primary contacts with life and with other people, for that matter. I remember, many years ago, when our older daughter was just a baby, a young girl, maybe two years old, something of that sort, able to talk and walk around. She decided one day that she would fight my sister in a sort of temper tantrum. I don't quite remember the details, except that she fought my sister in all the ways at the disposal of a little girl. My sister simply looked at her, absorbed it, said nothing, reacted in no way to what was going on. In other words, she completely ignored my daughter, and then my daughter with mounting panic, with a sense of great concern, screamed literally calling my sister by name, why don't you fight me back? In other words, she was saying, fight me back. Take the strength that you have and overwhelm me, even flatten me out, but do not ignore me. For to be ignored means to say to oneself concerning oneself that one is of no account. Now, the darkness in which we move, the darkness precipitated by the problems of our lives, sometimes by sickness, by tragedy, by the disasters of the spirit in which in a fit of temper or rage or sulk, we do violence to the tender and intimate relationship by which we are intimately bound to another human being. There are many reasons why the darkness comes. But when it comes, when it descends upon us, the thing that is so threatening about it is it seems as if we are cut off from everything. Not only cut off from individuals to whom we have responded and who have responded to us, not only cut off from the meaning of life and the meaning of our own experiences, but we seem to be cut off from everything that is ultimate. And if we are religious, we seem to be to be cut off from God himself. The master experienced this on the cross. Those of you who are familiar with the story of the record of the life of Jesus as found in the gospels, there was a moment in the excruciating pain and agony of the cross in which he cries out, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? This sense of utter isolation, of being cut off, being hidden in a darkness that is so, so deep and utter that the eyes of God, the sense of God, cannot penetrate. Now, the Psalmist says that God, who is the creator of life and all of the living substance, God is the creator of the light in the darkness. The darkness and the light are both alike due to Thee. This is what he says, and he said, if I ascend into heaven, if I'm full of joy and delight and ecstasy, if life is so full of meaning that it bursts out in a thousand different ways with [? paeans ?] of praise and glory and wonder and magic, if this is my experience of life, God is there. He is in the midst of the joy and in the midst of the delight, in the midst of the ecstasy. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu But if my experience of life is just the reverse, if I descend into hell, if as a result of my own weakness, of my own sin, or my own stupidity I am involved in moving in a tunnel in which there is no light, only the awareness of my own heart beat and my own presence, Thou art there. God is the God of the light. God is the God of the darkness. If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. Pitts Theology Library Emory University There is no way by which I can escape the presence of God. This is the essence of what the Psalmist says. And if it is true, then whether it is in the darkness or the light, in heaven or hell, if I opened up my spirit, I'd become aware of his presence. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is tape number ET50 from the library of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, two meditations by Howard Thurman. This is side 1, entitled "The Patience of the Unanswered Prayer." [CHURCH BELLS RINGING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy in sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. [MUSIC PLAYING] If you are interested in receiving copies of the radio or the television talks, I should be very glad to send them to you, if you address the postal card or a letter to me in care of either the university or this station. As a background for our period this morning, I am reading from Meditations of the Heart. Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer is a line of the familiar hymn. It opens up before mind the wide intensity of unfulfilled hopes, broken dreams, and anguished denials. Who is there that has not carried at a central place in his concerns the persistent hunger, sometimes dull and quiet, sometimes feverish and angry, for something that has not come to pass? The hunger moves in the background of all the days, like the rumble of distant thunder or the far off roar of the sea. Sometimes, it is so close that all of life seems summarized in its urgency and its denial. The general overtones of anguish created by the unfulfilled need often send the soul searching for some clue, some key, to unlock the door of the treasure house. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University All sorts of things are tried. Often, there is the searching of one's own way of life, to see if in the intricacies of the personal behavior pattern may not stand revealed the reason for the unmet need. Often, there is a subtle intimation of some weakness in the character that takes no overt form but turns up as limitations and understanding or blind spots in perception. Often, there is the sure knowledge that one has been hurt, crippled by the actions of others, and no care was exercised in the healing process, with the result that growth was out of line and twisted. But despite all of the meaning of all of the possible clues, the persistent hunger works away deep within. It remains unfulfilled and unmet. Slowly, it may dawn upon the spirit that there is a special ministry of unfulfillment. It may be that the persistent hunger is an angel of light carrying out a particular assignment in life. With the coming of this possibility into consideration, slowly tensions are relaxed, and the center of emphasis is shifted from the hunger itself to what it is meant to deal with the hunger through all the years. Slowly, at first, the words are shaped and the pattern of them shows itself. At last, a man may say, I know now that there is present in my life a quality that is only mine, because the hunger is mine. Thus, at last, I come to the door and seek entrance where is gathered the great community, and I know the [? past ?] word. Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer. What do you do with the frustrations of your own life? Or how do you manage to reduce the frustrations of your life to manageable units? So that they will become to you something that makes an important and significant contribution to the meaning and the strength of your life, rather than something that corrodes and disintegrates and finally corrupts the whole structure of your being. One of the simple suggestions in this regard is we must accept life. That is, we must accept life in general first as a living experience in which we are involved until we die. There is no option with reference to this fact. Here, we are. Here, we must remain until the end of our days. Therefore, we must learn how to negotiate meaningfully the interval that exists between the time where we are functioning now and the length and breadth of the rest of our days. This is obvious. But the second thing is perhaps a little more difficult, because it involves more discipline of the mind and the spirit. We must accept ourselves. Now, it is true, as Abraham Lincoln suggested long ago, that God-- with reference to himself that is-- he said, God could have made a betterlooking man. He could have made a man with more gifts and more talents and more power, but he didn't do it. He is stuck with himself, and he has no choice but to live with himself for the rest of his days. We must accept our fact. That's the important thing about accepting oneself. Now, our fact is different from our neighbors fact. And if we spend our time and our energy in wishing and longing and drooling, as it were, over our neighbor's fact, this means that we will permit all kinds of negative things. All kinds of things which are destructive to our life, to establish squatter's rights over our life, while we are absent trying to find some other person's life and appropriate that life and bring it into our own. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu This we cannot do. The old adage that the fields in the distance are always greener than our own is irrelevant to the idea that I have here. We must accept our fact. This means that we must look at ourselves, take into total account what we are-- the good points, the bad points, the things in us that we love, and the things in us that we despise. All of this is ourselves. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And we cannot do anything with the problems of our own lives, with the frustrations of our own lives, or even with the living of our own life, until this basic thing is done. We must give to our fact the nerve center of our consent. Now, this means that we will not call the good things in us bad or the bad things in us good. We will be realistic with reference to our inward parts. I remember, many years ago when I when I was in India, a young Indian friend and I were walking along the shores of a river in Allahabad. The river was the [? Juna ?] river. We noticed in the distance a tall holy man. His body was covered with white holy ash. His hair was long and matted. He was unclothed except a loin cloth around his waist, but this was not the attractive thing about him. The attractive thing was the fact that he was leading along with him a lion. This lion walked beside him as a big dog, and then he stopped. The lion squatted on his haunches, and the holy man delivered a little speech. I stood with my friend at a respectful distance while my friend translated, and this is what the holy man said. Behold this lion. I found him in the foothills of the Himalayas, some time ago. I've lived with him. He's lived with me. I have taught this lion how to restrain all of the unrestrained animal impulses of his nature, so that now he is as gentle as a dog. Even a little child may come up and pull him on the mane without any bodily harm. And then he stopped, and his eyes literally crawled on the faces of all the people who stood in the semicircle around him. And then he said, you go, and do likewise with all of the unrestrained animal impulses of your own nature. This is what is meant by the discipline of the self that grows out of the acceptance of the fact which is you or the fact which is I. Now, when we do this, then we are able to put at the disposal of the improvements of our lives, the enrichment of our lives, the doing of the creative things with our lives, the full length and breadth and depth of our powers. For if we do not accept ourselves, then this ties up all of the resources of the personality in trying to deal with something which we reject. But if we accept it, then with our understanding of this acceptance there comes a sense of peace and a sense of tranquility and a sense of power to work at doing all the things that can be done to make us become the kind of human being that we would become. Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer. This means, teach me the courage to accept myself and to work within the limitations of that, putting all of the resources of my life and the resources of God at the disposal of this great and overwhelming demand. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University [MUSIC PLAYING] 6 � 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 We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965) Description An account of the resource <em>We Believe</em> was a color television program that aired on WHDH-TV, Channel 5, in Boston on weekday mornings at 11:15. From 1958 to 1965, while Howard Thurman was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University, he was the host of the Friday morning show. Each message has a brief introductory section with bells and music before Thurman delivers his short meditation. Some recordings have been edited to remove the intro. In some cases, the Howard Thurman Educational Trust produced tapes with two messages on one recording.<br /><br />"These meditations are no longer than 15 minutes, but highly representative of his style, influence, and search for common ground." - <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman">the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.</a><br /><br /> <p style="text-align: right;"><em>We Believe</em> program listing in the TV Guide, March 29, 1958</p> <img src="http://pittsviva.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/webelieve-whdh-boston.png" style="float: right;" alt="webelieve-whdh-boston.png" /> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Descriptions by Dustin Mailman 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/394-791.html" ></iframe> Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 7/29 Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette The Patience of Unanswered Prayer; Presence of God (ET-50; GC 12-3-71), 1971 Dec 3 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1960s 1950s Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts 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 394-791 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource If I Ascend Up to Heaven (1961-01-06); The Patience of Unanswered Prayer (1958-04-11) 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1961-01-06 1958-04-11 Description An account of the resource This recording has two parts. In "If I Ascend Up to Heaven," Thurman explores the idea that God is present in the joys of life and the darkest of times. He also dwells on the idea that we often feel isolated from others, but that no one is isolated from God. In "The Patience of Unanswered Prayer," Thurman explores the value of learning the patience of unanswered prayer. He suggests that this patience can lead away from a focus on the hunger for something that has not come to pass. Instead, we can focus on what it can mean to deal with that hunger and how it can help us understand ourselves. He then offers a number of ways in which we can help answer the question, “What do you do with the frustrations of your own life?” Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Spencer Roberts