1 10 4 https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/0145e76d1b3eb46fff0ffd293070112a.pdf c34a3f30ded49896fa7b72297d6a0c03 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-557_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University We have been thinking together for weeks now about the meaning of religion and particularly the religion of Jesus to the disinherited peoples of the earth. And one of insights that has come from our thinking together our hope is that the insights of religion, if they be valid and for the disinherited, the same insights must be invalid for all other peoples. Which is another way of suggesting through a rather laborious series of thinkings together that the truths of religion are true because they are universally true and not because they appear merely in religion. As a background for our thinking this morning, I want to read a little from the Book of Micah, that "in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the [AUDIO OUT]" the first president of the United States by a small community of Jewish people who wanted him to know how deeply committed they were out of the vast historical experience of their lives to the ideals for which this country stood. And in his reply he said to them that he hoped that the time would never come when it would not be possible for every man to worship under his own vine and fig tree and no man need be afraid. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. That's as far as we will go this morning. I mean, I'm not sitting down. I don't mean that, but that's not so good. That all men are created equal. We want to deal with the question of equality. The best single [AUDIO OUT] Character, a character in which these objects do not have. Color, warmth, or coldness are qualities which we the observer give to these various objects. So, he says, that these qualities are the result of their impact upon us and our reaction to them. Now, the meaning of that in terms of our problem is that what he calls the mental substance-- which is a part of the characteristic of mind, the thing that makes me give these things a certain quality-- is independent of the objects of nature. It is, in a sense, private and personal and unique, and it cannot be invaded by anything outside. Now, every human being has that characteristic in common. Every human being starts out then, he goes on, as a kind of blank sheet on which is written as he grows and develops the impressions of all the things around him. Now, when Thomas Jefferson, who was the sire of the Declaration of Independence as far as writing it down is concerned or perhaps as far as getting ideas pooled. When he says that we hold these truths to be self-evident, he is appealing to man's general experience with nature and the world and with each other. A general assumption that it is obvious that men are equal in their relationships to the world of nature and so forth and so on. And then he isn't content-- and I'll get back to that in a minute-- he isn't content to rest his case on the fact that these truths are self-evident, but he has to make an appeal to something more than that which is obvious to the rational mind. He says, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. That's an appeal to the dogma. That's an appeal to the Bible. That is an appeal to the historic religion of the culture of the civilization. And the root of the notion that men are created equal and therefore are equal is to be found primarily in the profound and significant insights of the prophets of Israel. And it is their 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu contribution through the [INAUDIBLE] of religion, that is, as it emerges in Western civilization that makes the case for the fact that men are created equal. Now, how do they do it? Just a word about that, and then I'll get to the one, two, three points. Pitts Theology Library Emory University The prophet Ezekiel, for instance, you remember when we were talking about it and we were discussing the whole question of loyalty? The prophet Ezekiel insisted that the group was not responsible merely for the individual but that the individual was responsible himself. That I cannot say that my group is responsible for what I do. The Israelite cannot say, the Judite I cannot say that Israel is responsible for the individual's behavior. But the prophet Ezekiel insisted that every man is responsible for his own behavior. That the ultimate fact about human experience is the fact of personal responsibility for what one does. And it's amazing how hundreds, thousands of years after, that notion appears in contemporary psychology primarily and Adlerian psychology, that the individual is responsible for his own actions. And one of the problems of modern life is to insist that individual must be responsible for their own actions rather than their cousins responsible or their father was responsible or their mother was responsible. Now, this takes a very simple form in the development of Israel in a thing called a temple tax. And I call attention to it, because I think that we cannot believe deeply and function effectively on behalf of the democratic ideal if somehow the structure of the thing is not grasped and understood by the mind. So these, the Israelites, felt that the temple tax provided the one radical and simple illustration of the fact that all of the Israelites were created equal. The temple tax was a small amount that every Jew everywhere had to pay, whether he lived in Palestine and was a part of the temple of worship, or whether he was scattered to the ends of the earth, and the amount was the same. And there was a movement on the part of some of the more well-to-do people who felt that why should we not just give an endowment and let them [? down ?] and keep alive the public worship of God? And it was the pharisees who insisted that that could not be true. Because if a small group of people guaranteed the public worship of God, then that meant that the average, limited individual who was only able to give just a little bit would be cut off from participation in the form of active, public worship. So they maintained that the temple tax that everybody had to pay wherever he was small enough to be within reach of everybody, that that meant that each person paid a symbolic tribute to the fact that in the presence of God he was as good as any other man or equal to any other man. And then it appears in various other ways that I need not develop. Now, when Thomas Jefferson was working trying to get this declaration developed, get it accepted, he wanted to put into the Declaration of Independence that slavery was something that the colonists were not responsible for, something that the British had brought with them. And there's a very stormy argument about it, and the argument resulted in the fact that it doesn't appear. No reference to slavery appears in the declaration, because the feeling, the political feeling, was we're having a hard enough time to make our case for independence from Britain. Now, if we drag into that the whole question of slavery, then it means that we will never get free, which was a fairly interesting observation. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. Created equal, you believe that? I don't want to hurry through this. I want you to think, just feel along. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Equality as to what? All men do not have the same talents. All men do not have the same gifts. It is very interesting that the philosopher thought that all men are created equal as to capacity, and at the same time, he recognized the fact that men varied in abilities to do this or that or the other. But you see, with the notion that the body is a material substance in which the mental substance is resident, then if there is any limitation placed on the expression of the mental substance, the limitation is not in the quality of the men of substance but is in the material substance-- the body, some organic basis for limited capacity which is a very interesting idea as the thinking went. Equal as to looks? Equal as to fate? Let's examine that a little. Let's pursue that, equal as to fate. Now, of course, it is a commonplace remark that everybody dies. One by one the duties end, one by one the lights go out, but is that a basis for equality? Would you rest your case on that, equality as to fate? Or do we mean when we say equality as to fate equality as to the-- I don't know how to say this-- equality as to the structure of events that take place in an individual's life. All men are involved in joy and in sorrow, in happiness and unhappiness, in sickness, in reverses, in gains and losses. And perhaps it is true that if I am ever able to stand within the context of my own joy and become aware of you in the context of your joy. Then the equality that exists between us is an equality that transcends the mathematical thing but becomes an equality of experience. What about that? When I say that suffering unites people, that suffering bottoms this judgment that man are equal, is that valid for you? What do you think? Would you have said once that there are some people who do not suffer in quite the way that I suffer? Do you ever say that? And I know that you are having a hard time, but you don't know anything about a hard time. You see? I may say that, and I always feel that there's something unique about my kind of hard time that separates me from you. And whenever you talk to me about mine, I say, well, that's all right for you to say, but you don't stand where I stand. You don't sit where I sit. You don't know what this is. Well, what do you think of that? Equality of infinite unworthiness, what about that? A whole theological dogmas has been built on that. All men are sinners. All men stand in the immediate need of the grace of God. All men are involved in that which in some of its characteristics must of necessity be diabolical and demonic, and that we are bound together by sin. I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. But the curious thing about the doctrine of equality based upon a notion of infinite unworthiness or infinite depravity or total depravity is the fact that always under all circumstances the individual who is involved in the mire that involves us all is in many ways and some important ways trying to get out of it. He is trying to clean himself up. He's trying to get saved in other words. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, the logic of that is that if I get saved, then at once I break this thing of equality that binds me to all men as a result of my depravity. I become something else lifted out of that class, and the moment then I decide that I can't be lifted out of that class by myself. But I can only be lifted out of that class by an act of God, by the divine nod, by an act of grace, by an act of election, as Calvin puts it. Then, it means that in some inscrutable manner I have been elected, and you haven't. I didn't choose to be elected. God nodded to me and made me one of the elect, and God sees therefore something of merit in me that is infinitely superior to anything in you. And therefore, that kind of doctrine can become at once the basis of all kinds of cults of inequality and doctrines of racial supremacy rooted in a theology that binds all men together in total depravity. But there's comfort in the fact that everybody is down there with you. There's comfort in the fact. Now, what then do we mean by equality? What do you think? That's-- somebody said that all men are created equal. We mean something very special and very general and very universal. Have you ever seen little children argue and sometimes fight, and one of them has said to the other, I'm just as good as you. Have you heard a child say that? Just as good as you, not as good looking as you are, not as economically secure as you are, not as privileged in this way or that way as you are, but I'm just as good as you. What is he talking about? What does he mean? What do you mean when you say that? What do you mean? Are you talking in terms of ethics or morality, or are you talking in terms another kind of value? It is very curious to me, and I mustn't take this on at all. It is very curious to me how again and again the human mind tends to seize upon one particular thing as either the solution of all problems or the cause of all difficulties. So this is very interesting how we do that. In Moby Dick, Ahab is trying to catch the white whale. If he can catch the white whale, then when he destroys a white whale, he will destroy all evil. We don't have to go all the way back to Ahab. That's what we are doing now. Isn't it? We say, if we can get rid of communism in the world, then we'll destroy all evil in the world-- one evil, one solution. Now, when we begin to think in terms of the meaning of equality, personally, personally, one thing we're sure of, and that is that we are never willing to accept any other man's judgment of that which shall be the decisive basis for determining whether we are equal. It was a long sentence. Let me say it again. We are never willing to accept any other man's judgment for what is to be the basis of equality. You remember the fable of the lion and the hunter. They came through the forest, and then they came to the edge. They were arguing about who's the king or who's great or something. And the man said, of course, I'm the greatest thing on earth, and the lion said, of course, I am, and they argued. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And then they came to the edge of the clearing. There was a statute dedicated to some hunter. And here it was, a dead lion and a man standing with his foot on his head leaning on his gun. And the man said, see, I told you, and the lion in the fable said, but you see, a man made the statue. Do you see? Pitts Theology Library Emory University I am never willing-- I'm never willing to accept your appraisal of what is meant by my equality. You see? You see? Therefore, it seems that ultimately the only basis for equality is the equality of infinite [INAUDIBLE] as seen by me, the individual of infinite [INAUDIBLE]. When I say that I'm as good as you, what I'm really saying is that my life is rooted-- and this may sound mystical, as some of you have said to me when we talk. That what I really mean is that my life is rooted in a kind of awareness of my meaning that does not arise from your interpretation of my significance. That nothing, that no judgment that you impose upon me, no order of society into which you seek to have me regimented, can sever my roots from the dimension of awareness that gives to me my inner significance. Now, that may sound to you as if it is nothing. You know? But that's what you mean when you say you are as good as anybody else. As soon as you look around you, if you mean qualities, possessions, talents, gifts, if you mean all those things, all you need to do is look around you, and you see that from where you sit you can't make your case. So what do you do? You do not deny the validity of your relationships, but you bring to your relationships the integrity of self-awareness that is grounded in something that is far more important to you than whether you live or die. Than whether life lives or dies, than whether your civilization lives or dies, whether your country lives or dies. And that is why the religious man insists that the ultimate meaning of equality is to be found in man's spiritual ground. [INAUDIBLE] 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 Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource <p>In this series, Howard Thurman discusses the Declaration of Independence along four key ideas: Created Equal, Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. Each of the four sermons explores one of these ideas.</p> <p>These sermons are also available at <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/results?query=declaration+of+independence&amp;Submit1=Search"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-07-19/1951-08-26 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/394-557_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 6/30 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s 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 394-557_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Declaration of Independence: Created Equal, 1951 July 29 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 1951-07-29 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource <p>"Thurman roots the idea of American equality in the historical and religious teaching of old Israel. He examines the temple tax as a symbolic tribute to all men being equal in the eyes of God before returning to the Declaration of Independence. He discusses how equality is weighted by each individual based on their understanding of their own worth."</p> <p>Description from <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/detail?id=334462"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/f32b650b3075167651e6decc841db1ac.pdf a58c440c3c9b2d9285682736f04eb6f4 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-558_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University Till all our strivings cease, take from our souls the strain and the stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace. We are so harassed and buffeted by stress and strain, some of it created by our own stupidity, some created by the deep inner confusions and conflicts of our mind and spirit, some of it created by vast conflicts and stresses and strains in which the life of modern man is involved. And on the shore where we as individuals live, great tidal waves move in to destroy our little homes, our little gardens, our little private hopes and cherished wishes for fulfillment. Stress and strain, how much we know about it. And therefore, it is well that we sit to think and feel each other's presence in the quietness and gather what strength we may from each other's fortitude and each other's courage. To have our common mood of quiet bound together by an overshadowing presence that is closer to us than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, and against the background of the quietness created by that presence, we, each one of us, may find new sources of strength, new grounds for hope, fresh lift to our spirits. God our Father who has involved us so deeply in Thy love that we cannot escape Thy Spirit, we thank Thee, we thank Thee that despite all of the evidence, which seems to point towards our being stranded and alone in the struggle of life, Thou dost open up within us quiet outlets of Thy Spirit and Thy reassurance to the end that we are not alone. We cannot abide any complete and final isolation, and we give Thee thanks that it is so. Simple thanks. Ordinary thanks. Quiet, peaceful, joyous thanks, oh God our Father, in whose love we take refuge, and whose strength is our hope. Amen. We come now to the fourth in our series of five sessions together on the spiritual foundation of the Declaration of Independence. Once again I'd like to read a paragraph from Stephen Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body." The paragraph, the significance of it you will understand as we move along, it is a quotation of Abraham Lincoln, from the lips of Abraham Lincoln. "Therefore, I utterly lift up my hands to You," referring to God, "and here and now beseech Your aid. I have held back when others tugged me on. I have gone on when others pulled moved back, striving to read Your will, striving to find the justice and expedience of this case, hunting an arrow down the chilly airs until my eyes are blind with the great wind, and my heart sick with running after peace. And now I stand and tremble on the last edge of the last blue cliff, a hound beat out, tail down, and belly flattened to the ground. My lungs are breathless and my legs are whipped. Everything in me is whipped, except my will. I can't go on, and yet I must go on." "And endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these rights life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Last Sunday, like today, we should think for a little while about liberty. Liberty. Freedom. It was a matter of very great significance to me that the philosophical forebear of the Declaration of Independence, namely Mr. Locke the English philosopher, insisted that the purpose of the function of government is to provide a vehicle for the protection of personal property. That men voluntarily enter into agreement, certain formal agreements, under which the economic and social and political life would operate in order that their property may be protected. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now it is instructive to point out at the very beginning that in the philosopher's mind property did not merely include things that I possess. But in a rather searching manner, property included one's body, as we pointed out in an analysis of the meaning of life. That my body is a part of my personal and private property, and therefore, it is within the compass of the notion that the philosopher has about government that included in those things that are protected, those properties that are protected, would be my body. And therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the logic of that is that there must be included in the protection of what is meant by the protection of my body those things which will make for the survival of my body, those arrangements that will give me an equal chance at physical survival. All of that is included in this notion of the preservation of property as the reason for the development of government. Now, however, the philosopher insisted-- and I'll be through with him in a few minutes, so don't be bothered-- the philosopher insists that fundamental to this idea of the reason for government in the first place is the deeper notion that man, that the spiritual, the middle all that is protected in the body is the thing that has to be free and equal. So that the notion of government, you see, even in the mind of Locke, is structured on a supposition that fundamental to the governmental process, fundamental to the political arrangement, or the social and economic arrangement, is the underlying thing that man is free and is equal. Now when this whole idea appears in the Declaration of Independence and subsequently in the Constitution and in the Bill of Rights and so forth, some very interesting things began to develop. You see, if the function of government is to provide protection for property rights, pure and simple and it isn't to do anything else, it's a protective device, then that defines the area in which any kind of initiative can take place. The logic of that is that the less government you have, the better, you see. Just the barest minimum to guarantee the preservation of property rights, so that it was very difficult then to introduce into the colonies a federal principal, you see? Now the Declaration of Independence had as one of its primary purposes to get rid of England, I mean, to get rid of the crown, to be free. But they were independent colonies, which put an end to this doctrine, this philosophical and political doctrine that had inspired the movement. But here they are, 13 independent colonies. How can you get them together to function as one integrated whole, one unit? Now a government, an overall government, would be looked upon with suspicion. Because a function of government, you see. Is to protect property rights. And have too much government, too centralized, and it starts to do away with things. And those other things would include encroaching upon the private, personal properties of the individual. And that is why Thomas Jefferson was a fan of the federal principle, and that, of course, is at once some insight into the struggle that went on between Jefferson and Hamilton and Jay and this whole matter of the federal principle. And Jefferson was much more on the side of states' rights, so can see the logic of states' rights. It stems directly from this dilemma that is inherent in the Lockean notion about the reason for government in the first place. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now so much for all of that by way of background that you may hold in mind or you may dismiss. Then there remains a zealous insistence upon freedom as one of their rights. Freedom, as a distinct derivative from the concept of equality of person. And you may recall that when were talking about equality, we insisted that that equality ultimately meant that men are equal, equal in their ultimate way, in the limitless, boundless, potential of significance, which at long last a man attaches to himself. But as a unit that is alive, he is in touch with a vast, meaningful continuum that sustains and supports and breathes through his life. And that his relationship with that continuum is a private, personal, irrevocable relationship, and no man has a prior prerogative that will infringe upon that equality in that sense. Now from that notion of equality there arises a very interesting sense of freedom and liberty. What is liberty? When you say that you are free, what do you mean? Of course you don't say that. When you say that you want to be free, what do you mean? Do you mean that you want to do as you wish, when you wish it, without regard to anything other than your wish? Is it an insistence upon personally the ultimate character of your own autonomy? Is that what you mean by freedom? Under what circumstances are you willing to yield areas of your freedom? Before what kind of demand will you relax your insistence upon the carrying out of the logic of your primary desires? Will you give up your will to freedom if by giving up your will to freedom you can be assured that you will have food to eat, and the job, that the grounds of your economic life will be sustained and guaranteed? If to be free means that you must give expression to your opinions, for instance, and yet you allow that if you give expression to your opinions, that you lose your job? So on behalf of your job, you relax your insistence on this expression of your freedom in order that the economic security of your life will not be disturbed? Or do you have another name for that? Not giving up freedom, making an adjustment to an inevitable set of circumstances. Or to be reasonable rather than unreasonable. Seeing the other fellow's point of view. The other fellow happens to be the one who's responsible for your job, so you see his point of view and you salute it. What do you mean by freedom? Have you thought out is what trying to get at, have you thought out the lines along which you must function in order to be free? Which lines are for you so fundamental to the integrity of your person that you're unwilling to arrest your insistence upon those, whatever the cost may be. Is there anything like that in your life? Or is the center of your interest in freedom a vacuum, a vacuum, so that it doesn't matter what the demand is, you adjust yourself to that demand quickly. Because there's nothing informing the character of your concern for freedom except not to be disturbed. Is that it? Is that it? This is all so important for us that we have a name for it. We say this individual is an opportunist, that he rides with every wind. Because the center of his concern for freedom is a vacuum. And it was a vacuum then, it welcomes into the citadel of control, whatever happens to be the prestige-bearing and significant insistence of the moment. So, if the insistence is prestige- 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu bearing enough, at any particular moment it will rise in the central place and becomes a control. What about it? What about it? Pitts Theology Library Emory University The other side of that dilemma is just as cruel, but it may be you see that you have at the center of your control, at the center of the core of your agency towards freedom something that is so fixed, so hard, so definitive, rigid that you can only define your freedom in terms of the fulfillment of this particular thing, the fulfillment of this particular set of categories, leaving only your sense of freedom at it's core, let us say, be a citizen of the United States, as case in point. That's a good thing to have there. But with that thing riding saddle, as the thing along which your sense of freedom is structured, then the most blessed thing that you can give to all the people in the world who happen not to be Americans is to make them Americans. Now let your minds, for the rest of the week, you've been doing it already, I'm sure, but let your minds the rest of the week, go along this area and see where you are. Look at yourself, define yourself. Now I'd like to go on to the third phase of the meaning of freedom. Then I'm through. What does freedom mean? I'd like to make two or three suggestions. The first thing that I suggest is that freedom means a sense of option, a sense of alternative. It may not mean alternatives. It may not mean options, but it always leaves a sense of option, a sense of alternative. [AUTO OUT] Because you could crawl under the benches and you could play all up there, do all sorts of things. And you're perfectly contented to stay here for three hours while your mother was having coffee downstairs. But if in going out of the door when your mother was leaving you here she said, now Jack, you can only stay in this room. You can't go out in the hall. That's forbidden. Don't go out in the hall. You must stay in here with the chairs and the benches and the rest of it. Now before she said that, you wondered how long she was going to stay up here talking with you. You wanted her to get on about her business so you could get on with your enjoyment of the room. But after she said that, then you knew that the only way by which you could enjoy this room would be to be sure that you could go out the door if you wanted to. Now freedom in its essence means this sense of alternative. It may not be an alternative that I embrace, you see. But the essence of freedom means the intimate, primary insistent prerogative that I will not yield unless I have found something so tremendous that whether I go in the room or out of the room somehow seems strangely irrelevant and inconsequential. And that's why death is so important in human life. Because you have this final alternative. You can stand just so much, and then all the lights go out. But that's why faulting has so created a room in the enrichment of the personality. Because when the point of endurance reaches whatever the word you use for the ultimate thing, then-- poof! Which means that I cash in on my alternative. That I stand and stand and stand and stand as long as I can, acting as I stand as if the only alternative I have is to endure. And finally, the threads of my endurance are exhausted, and there emerges on the horizon another alternative. Blacking out, as we say. And when I black out, in the doing I affirm the grounds of my freedom. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now one of the things that has made possible much of the march of human progress through the centuries is this quality of endurance that men sometimes voluntarily precipitate the exercise of the option by doing the things that will take their lives. They become martyrs, because you can always die, you see. That's one vote you can always cast. And the casting of that vote is a symbol of your freedom, you see. And that's the thing that bottoms all of the sense of freedom that you exercise on the more superficial levels or bases. But there's one problem that is created by it. In the hands of vicious men, in the hands of men who understand, who with their cunning have moved in to the quiet recesses of the movement and respiration of the human spirit until they understand the nature of the mechanism and can let that understanding inform the intimate character of their brutality, such men have worked out devices by which they will not let you cast that final vote. And that is a part of the whole diabolic character of torture in modern life. Men will be right up to a certain point when with all of their passion and all of their historic background in life and in living, they say, at last I will exercise the great and crowning act of my personality by choosing the moment when I cast my final vote with my life. And that thing for which I could not live I gladly die. Something wonderful about that, isn't there? But when you're in the hands of people won't let you die, who will just torture you up to a certain point and then they slide back down the hill, and then come up around the other side, and they don't ever get to that line so you can't ever cast that vote, you see, then your freedom becomes something else. It becomes the exercise of another kind of alternative, which does not take into account the fact that the guarantee of your freedom is in the casting of this final vote. Now I can't pursue that further this morning, but I will. What happens when the alternatives of that character are denied you? What happens to your spirit? What happens to your mind? Well, when you're not permitted to die, even though to die would be to exercise this final option that will give you a sense of freedom. Now freedom means, and I'm stopping. Freedom means something else, too. It means that there is at the core of this experience, this motion, this push a very strange contradiction. Discipline. And the notion of freedom stands over against the notion of discipline, you see. That's why if freedom were absolute, if you had that absolute freedom, if you could do as you please, if you could give full expression to that which you desired, if there are no limitations, then you would be a slave. Think about it before you disagree with me. Absolute freedom. Absolute freedom with no limitations is the most terrifying kind of tyranny. It is with reference to the relation between the movable and that which seems at the moment to be immovable that I get the sense of play, which is freedom. Remove that-- Have you ever seen a little child? I keep coming back to that, to little children this morning for some reason. A little child who had a gun? I mean, one of these playthings. And drums, and a bicycle, and everything that his heart could wish? Santa Claus brought him, and he sits down Christmas morning in the midst of everything, every conceivable desire that his little heart could muster, and bursts out crying with desolation. 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu He plays with his drum, he blows his horn, he eats candy, cracks nuts, takes a ride on his scooter, he rides on his bicycle-- We can't take it. There must be at the core of freedom that which advances the dignity of the human spirit. And what is that dignity? That dignity is that it has a prior right to live and function with discrimination. And where that right is put off because it is servitude, then the human spirit languishes and dies. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Therefore, your greatest moment of freedom comes when you have faced what for you is the most radical and thoroughgoing test for your life, in the light of which the real character of your self is revealed. And once you have had that kind of stripping, it is then that your sense of self becomes operative and you function as a free person. Because at last you know what it is for which you will live with your life, and [INAUDIBLE] that you live with your life. And your freedom is found in the intimate relation between the judgment that is yours when you can make that kind of a choice. And I ask you finally then, if your freedom is measured in terms of the clarity with which you know for what it is you will live with your life and against what it is you will live with your life, if that is yours, then you are free. You're free in the most searching way that freedom comes. It's very interesting, and very terrifying, because you can always be mistaken. 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 Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource <p>In this series, Howard Thurman discusses the Declaration of Independence along four key ideas: Created Equal, Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. Each of the four sermons explores one of these ideas.</p> <p>These sermons are also available at <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/results?query=declaration+of+independence&amp;Submit1=Search"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-07-19/1951-08-26 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/394-558_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s 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 394-558_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Declaration of Independence: Liberty, 1951 August 19 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-08-19 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource <p>"Thurman examines the Declaration of Independence and the significance of Locke's thinking that government is linked to all people being free and equal. This spiritual equality and liberty help government exist. Freedom means having a sense of alternative to the options in one's life. "</p> <p>Description from <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/detail?id=341530"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/66a7557ae85db023feb4eae91c8385b3.pdf 294f93042ab375fd75187fae7cc02221 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-557_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University Third in our series on the spiritual basis or foundation of the Declaration of Independence. To read as a background, a comparatively short statement, called The First Robin by Heywood Broun-- the spirit of the insight here is a thing to which I am calling our attention, especially. And you will find the insight. I will not point it out. And that is much better. York, Pennsylvania. With the temperature at 10 degrees below zero, the first robin of the year was seen in York today. It was found dead on Penn Common. That's the end of the quotation. Call me an old sentimentalist, if you will. But this seems to me, the most tragic news note of the cold wave. I like people better than Robins. And that has been widespread, and agonizing suffering. But, you see, this was the first robin. He was by all odds, the pioneer of his clan. He flew up from the south, days, weeks, and months before any reasonable robin weather was to be expected. Without doubt, the rest tried to discourage him. They spoke of the best recorded experience of bird kind. "Rome wasn't built in a day," some other robin told him. And no doubt, he was advised that if he insisted on such precipited action, he would split the group. And no good could come of it. Somehow I seem to hear him say, "If 10 will follow me, I'd call that an army. Are there two who will join up, or maybe one?" But the robins all recoiled and clung to that little patches of sun under the southern skies. "Later, maybe," they told him. "Not now. First, there must be a campaign of education." "Well," replied the robin, who was all for going to York, Pennsylvania without waiting for feathery reinforcement, "I know one who will try it. I'm done with arguments. And here I go." He was so full of high hopes and dedication that he rose almost with the roar of a partridge. For a few seconds, he was a fast moving speck up about the palm trees. And then you couldn't spot him, even with field glasses. He was lost in the blue, and flying for dear life. "Impetuous, I call it," said one of the elder statesmen, while someone took him a worm. "He always did want to show off," announced another. And everybody agreed that no good would come of it. As it turned out, maybe they were right. It's pretty hard to prove that anything has been gained when a robin freezes to death on Penn Common. However, I imagine that he died with a certain sense of elation. None of the rest thought he could get there, and he did. The break in weather turned out to be against him. He just guessed wrong in that one respect. And so I wouldn't think of calling him a complete failure. The news gets back home to the robins who didn't go, I rather expect that they'll make him a hero. The elder statesmen will figure that since he is dead, his ideas can't longer be dangerous. And they cannot deny the lift and the swing of his venture. After all, he was the first robin. He looked for the spring, and it failed him. Now he belongs to that noble army of first robins. Many great names are included. The honors of office, and public acclaim of ribbons and medals, the 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu keys of the city-- these are seldom the perquisite of man or birds in the first flight. These go to fifth, sixth, and even twentieth robins. Pitts Theology Library Emory University It is almost a rule that the first robin must die alone on some bleak common before mankind will agree that he was a hero. And sometimes it takes 50 years, and often 100 years. John Brown, Galileo, and those who sought goals before the world was quite ready, are in good standing. The man who says that would be swell but of course you can't do it, is generally as right as rain. But who wants to get up and cheer for frustration? In the long haul, the first robin is more right than any. It was his idea he softened the way for others. And with him, even failure is his own kind of triumph. He not the victim of dry rot or caution or doomed eye strain. "Here I go," he cries. And I wouldn't be surprised to be told that the first minute of flight is reward enough, no matter what follows. And so, in a metaphorical way of speaking, I bare my head and bow low in the general direction of ice covered plane which is known as Penn Common. And I think that the brief address should bear the statement, "You are the first. And after you will come others. They will inherit the grubs and the nests and the comfort. But yours is the glory. You are the first robin." And endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, and among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Just one of those this morning, for a few minutes. And among those are life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Life as an inalienable right-- life as a natural right-- life as a universal right-- it's very interesting that life appears in the context of the Declaration of Independence as one of the rights. The right to life. And the Declaration of Independence has a very-- it starts out with a very simple meaning for life. But as the significance of the concept begins to work its way as leaven through the body of the Constitution, the concept of life widens and deepens. The two aspects with which I want-concerning which I want you to think this morning, the first is the initial idea in the Declaration of Independence, which has to do with the relationship between-- the intimate relationship between what Locke calls the mind and the spirit, and between the body that houses the mind and the spirit. And the body is regarded-- you may recall it was pointed out that the body is regarded as a property-- as the property right, the property possession of the mind and the spirit that that body houses or covers or protects, so that that life is that delicate, balanced relationship that obtains when the mind, the spirit remain accommodated in the body. Now when, for some reason, that intimate primary relationship is broken up and the houses vacated, then in its most elemental sense, life discontinues. So that the interest in the person, the interest in the body as expressed in the Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence, is an interest that is rooted in the primacy of the relationship between this body, this property, and that which this body, this property protects. Namely, the mind, the spirit, the life. Now let's look at that for a little. Life seems to me, sometimes to be something that is separate and distinct from me. I don't know if it seems that way to you. Does it sometimes? That life is 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu apart from me, that I reflect upon it. I watch its movement, its manifestations, I mean. But I seem to be an observer of life. And yet, there's a lesser sense in which life seems to be-- seems to be a part of the fabric of my nature. Pitts Theology Library Emory University I remember when I took a-- if you pardon a personal reference. I took a basal once. And I was curious to find out from the doctor, what does this mean? What is a basal? Now, of course, what I'm going to say to you now is what has happened to his explanation after he gave it to me. So he is not responsible. [LAUGHTER] But this is the way it seems. Now as I think about it, he said that a basal is our attempt to find out as nearly as possible what is your rate of living, your rate of living. He said that's why you rest all night and you do these other things. And then you dramatize a kind of slow motion picture movement to get from your house down to the doctor's office. And then when you get there, he lets you lie down for another half hour and rest. And then you put this thing on. [LAUGHTER] Now it is an effort to find out as nearly as possible the amount of oxygen that is consumed when you are just pulsing. And that is your rate of living. Now we-- there is something very fierce, and very tough, and very rugged about the way in which whatever life is infuses the organism and keeps it raw life, that seems to gather within its limited house. Wherever may be the type or the shape of the organism, a vast resourcefulness. And it yields inch by inch, unless something so fundamental has taken place in the mind-organism, that this urgency is relaxed, subsides, refuses to cooperate. And out it goes. Now life, in that sense, is rooted in the kind of resourcefulness that fights for its continuation, for its persistence without particular reference to the thoughts that are going on in the mind, without particular reference to the desires, to the dreams and hopes that may be operating in the spirit. My reason may be completely dethroned, so that as far as any of the reflective processes of my mind and spirit are concerned, they have been reduced to a vanishing point. Yay, they equal zero. And yet I will eat and digest my food. I may sink back into the arms of an elemental respiration that will keep me going long after the house is dark, and all the windows have been sealed and the curtains pulled. Life, in that sense-- and it is because of the awesome character of this apparently everlasting pulsation that is not under the specific control of any individual or mind, that does not seem to be uniquely conditioned by the flavor of a character, of my willing and my thinking. It is this-- it is this universal urgency-- I can't get the words that I want to give you the feel of what this is. But you are alive. You know what I'm-[LAUGHTER] 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu --what I'm trying to say. But it is this urgency, this universal push and rhythm and respiration, I think, that has caused men to feel that even though you can't kill it ultimately, but that you may kill its manifestation at a particular point in time and space. And a person that has caused the mind to react to this life thing, as with awe and with a certain sense of mystery and a certain kind of reverence-- Pitts Theology Library Emory University And it is this gross sense of reverence that is metaphysical in character-- I mean, technically metaphysical, not the new kind of metaphysical. But technically metaphysical-- it is this-- the metaphysical character of this that causes men, again and again, to have reverence for life. But we don't care anything about how they treat life. Reverence for life. But no regard for life. Do you see the paradox? Because it is the urgency, the universal character, the mass push of life itself that carries with it the mood of reverence. And yet at the same time, that causes the individual who is aware of that reverence to recognize the fact that he can't destroy life. And he can only make your little life disappear, but it will come up over there. So why be bothered much about killing a man, you know? And that's the logic of that, unless it happens to be you. [LAUGHTER] Then, that's not so good. [LAUGHS] You see? Now so that there appears then, in the laws always, provisions for protecting this basic thing. And it is very interesting that the only conditions-- the most persistent condition under which it is lawful for you to take an individual's life is the condition that obtains when that individual is trying to take your life. Self-defense, we call it. So if I can show that you're trying to kill me, trying to-- then in my effort to keep you from doing that, if incidentally I kill you then I am without guilt in the statute. It's very interesting, isn't it? But if an agreement can be worked out under which we decide that if human beings behave in this way or that way or the other way, then we have the right to take their lives, then we may kill them without guilt. You see? And that is why always, wherever nations fight, it is very necessary that some kind of philosophy, some kind of meta-physic be worked out. So that in the fulfillment of the demands of a national destiny, they will not at the same time create, personally and collectively, the kind of guilt that will destroy the integrity of the civilization. And that is why. That is why it is necessary. But there is another sense in which I want you to look at life. And I'll stop in a few minutes. Under what circumstances-- under what circumstances would you gladly give up your life? Let's not hurry over that. [LAUGHTER] Under what circumstances would you? It is comparatively simple, you see, to-- not only of the ease of it-- comparatively simple to give up your life once, to die once. You see? But when you 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu think about the circumstance under which you would give up your life, you-- every person who is seated here before me this morning has died many times. Many times. Not once, many times. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And each time you yielded something, you did it on behalf of something which to you, was more. What was it? What was it? Under what circumstances is the continuation of your physical existence trivial? Under what circumstances? With what kind of issue must you be faced? What must be at stake for the preservation of which you will, with enthusiasm, lay down your life? Anything? Or is your physical existence so precious to you, that regardless to the challenge and the demand you will choose to keep on breathing, and let the values go, let the other things go? What about it? What about it? And it is not academic, my friends. Because we deal with it every moment, all the time. We are involved in this sort of process. Many of you are doing now, deliberately-- on the basis of clear eyed planning and conviction, you are doing the things which the doing of which will mean the destruction of your physical existence. And you know it, and yet you do it with a kind of joy and enthusiasm, and a kind of inspiration. Because it is better that your physical existence shall finally disappear, and that this thing on behalf of which you laid down will continue to live. And if you're not involved in that kind of process, you are already dead, dead, dead. And if you are involved in that process, then you are defining life in terms that transcend this elemental push in which your organism is involved. Now just let me push it just one more step. I know it's time to stop. But if you'd just let me do this-- In the whole development of the idea of evolution, one of the problems that's created for morality and for ethics and for the sensitive religious spirit, is a problem that arises because it seems as if that in the development of life on this planet, the important thing has been to place a premium upon that particular expression of life that is most-- that is the most perfect manifestation at that particular level. The important thing, for instance, is that the healthiest cat in the development of cats-- the healthiest cat is the one that should be the connecting link to carry the torch of life. And that the cats that aren't so healthy, the torch of life is having a hard time to sort of stay burning. Don't waste any time on them. Just let them be eliminated. But concentrate on the most perfect expression of the life urge at that level, in order that that which is transmitted will be the clearest channel, the largest opening. That life may not perish, but that life will continue on the most creative and significant level. Now when you introduce an ethic into that, and particularly when you introduce the ethic that is a part of our own religious tradition and faith-- an ethic which caught our attention to the significance of the individual, and that the greater the need of the individual, the more dilapidated the individual is, the more the more edges he has that are raw and exposed, the greater is the urgency to put at the disposal of the sick individual the health that is yours, in order that that which is vital may continue to be. 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University Then in doing that, you see, you seem, we seem to be acting contrary to the very process by which life has persisted on the planet. But when we look into it a little more deeply, we may discover that when I give up my life because it is better that beauty remain than ugliness-- if I give up my life because in order to do what I know I must do to guarantee the authentic character of integrity, that I may not, by my act, betray the dream of mankind. It is better that I die than do that. And then when I do, when I give up my life, it is because I am persuaded that that which is transmitted, that which will go on to the next generation must be the fullest, the clearest, the most definitive, the most authentic expression of the dreams and the hopes of the human spirit, rather than that which has transmitted the weak and the broken down. And here again on this upper level of the creative venturing of the human spirit, that which seems to be true on the basic biological level gets its validation in an amazing and fascinating and exciting manner. Therefore, when I say that life is a right, I mean more than the continuation of my physical existence. It may not be important whether I live or die. But it is important that the dreams that have disturbed my mind and quickened my spirit, that the values to which I most myself I have yielded with enthusiasm and conviction-- it is better that I shall do that than that I shall continue living, eating, sleeping, breathing. And until I am ready to make that kind of choice-- until I am willing to live my life in that dimension, I will spend my energies trying to keep my body alive. And if you want-- if you can put enough threat on the security that guarantees the continuation of my body, I will sell anything. Now if that-- if I am unwilling to live my life in this creative dimension, then my other question that I ask myself over and over again in season and out of season-- what would I give in exchange for my life? Which is the more real to me, my physical life or the life of my spirit? 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 Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource <p>In this series, Howard Thurman discusses the Declaration of Independence along four key ideas: Created Equal, Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. Each of the four sermons explores one of these ideas.</p> <p>These sermons are also available at <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/results?query=declaration+of+independence&amp;Submit1=Search"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-07-19/1951-08-26 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/394-557_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s 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 394-557_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource Declaration of Independence: Life, 1951 August 12 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-08-12 Description An account of the resource <p>"For Thurman, life, as a natural and universal right, is a combination of the mind and spirit balanced together in the body. He discusses protecting life thru self-defense and the rationalizing that occurs in times of war. He states that the sacrifice of one's own life, done to aid wrongs and help others, ensures spirit and life continue to the next generation. As long as that spirit continues, the soul continues to exist even though physical life ends."</p> <p>Description from <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/detail?id=341529"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/57aa951e74c69c56d96fc97813a74b64.pdf 3f537ef4d1ab80ca12cca25f311cacdc PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-558_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University Very easy to lose our sense of direction, to drift without knowing that we are drifting, or to drift with the awareness that our drifting paralyzes us so that we cannot do anything about our drifting. It is so hard to draw a line between the confusion within and the confusion without-deep uncertainties within, vast uncertainties without. And all of this makes for bewilderment of mind and a troubling disturbance of spirit. And we turn to the quiet time, always with some measure of hope that, within us, the miracle will take place, that we shall experience the balm for hurt minds, the invasion of redemption that will save us from our sins. Always our spirits turn in anticipation-- but this time, it may happen. That what we think we shall find-- that our hunger shall be satisfied. Again and again and again, we knock at the same door. And yet there's something very wonderful about it-- this urge ever to seek, this belief in the validity of peace within and without, this naive awareness that we are not alone, the childlike confidence that fertilizes the roots of our maturity, that keeps the leaves of our trees green and all around us is barren. O God, our Father, we would not seek Thee if we had not already found Thee. We would not reach out for Thy light if Thy light was not already burning within us. O God, our Father, accept our thanks, the Quiet thanks of our hearts, the nameless feeling of well-being. And this is enough for us. This is enough for us, O God, our Father. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] On the spiritual foundation or the religious foundation of the Declaration of Independence-- as a background, I aim to read a few lines from a poem by Richard Dixon. That ground [INAUDIBLE] the section, which has to do today with the pursuit of happiness. There is one way for thee, but one. Inform thyself of it and pursue it. One way each soul hath by which the infinite in each lies within them. And seek and ye shall find. To each the way is plain. That way the wind turns out the trees alone. That we run down large silver streams, that we pour on and on a thousand headlands with their cataracts of toppling flowers. That way, the sun enacts his tribe. And then the moon and then the stars soar. And the tides move transit. Nothing bars a man who goes the way that he should go. The rays along the strand lighten beyond his eyes. The trees tossed back show him the sky. Or are heaped upon his trunk in a black room when heat put on [INAUDIBLE] his one run way. Oh, joy, joy. To fill the day with [INAUDIBLE], go [INAUDIBLE] tings say. Thou hast thy way to go. Thou hast thy day to live. Thou hast thy need of thee to make in the hearts of arrows. Do thy thing, yes. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And be thou assured of this-- no other can do for thee that appointed thee of god. Not any light shall shine upon thy road forever eyes. Thee the angels calls as he calls those. And thy life to thee is precious as the greatest life can be to him. So, live thy life and go thy way. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And I'll close, that is-- that's enough to say. And you may decide at the end of the minutes that it might have been very much better if well enough had been let alone. We've been thinking together about certain aspects of the Declaration of Independence. The broad assumptions out of which it arose [INAUDIBLE] assumptions, feeling torn, desires, desperateness and turmoil, chaos, hope-- just a great mixture. It insisted men are created equal and that all men are endowed by God with certain rights, rights that are given, rights that are part of a very raw and [INAUDIBLE] of living, a part of the texture of experiencing, and the breakdown in the Declaration of Independence of these rights-- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We thought then about life and how life means not only gross basic physical existence. But life also means the outreach of the human spirit in terms of values and rules that may be so significant that on behalf of the values and meanings one may gladly give up one's physical existence. We thought together about liberty, freedom, and what it means in terms of the fulfillment of life. And now we come to the last of the spelling out on the part of the Declaration-- the pursuit of happiness. Everybody's interested in happiness. And I think we are more interested in happiness today than you've ever been forever because everybody's so tired. If anything, if you stood where I stood, of course, if I sat where you sat, to look at the exhausted to appearance of-[LAUGHTER] I'm not being personal now, but I [INAUDIBLE] and raw and beat down. [LAUGHTER] And I said, [INAUDIBLE] you. It's a part of where we are. Everybody's tired and weary. They're looking for happiness. And how are they going to find this. The pursuit of happiness. Why-- what happened in Thomas Jefferson's mind made him do this amazing thing? You remember we've been talking about the fact that Thomas Jefferson was deeply influenced by Locke and his whole concept. And Locke's trilogy is life, liberty, and property. Those are the rights, you see. And Thomas Jefferson must have had quite a battle, I can imagine. Yearnings with life, liberty, and property. That doesn't sound right. Or is it right? Life, liberty, and property. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Of course, yes, it is a right for me to have my property. Life, liberty, and property. Life, liberty, property. Life, liberty, property. Life, liberty, property. Life, liberty, property. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Life, liberty, and then we want to round it out. How can I say that would take the heart of [INAUDIBLE] and the heart of liberty and put it into one creative synthesis of meaning for the human spirit? Life, liberty, and happiness. No? That isn't it. Life, liberty, and happiness. But that says something that Jefferson couldn't assert and that nobody can assert-- life, liberty, and happiness. But life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is more realistic, isn't it? Or is it? Do you think so? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not life, liberty, and happiness. But life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness-- pursuit of happiness. Now the first presupposition, which is very important here, is that there's there can be no guarantee for happiness-- no guarantee-- no guarantee. No combination of things if put together will automatically net happiness. Now if there can be no psychological guarantee for happiness, then of course it is obvious that there can be no legislative guarantee for happiness. So the Declaration of Independence recognizes the pursuit of happiness as one of the rights. That is, that if I have a sense of infinite, that is, a sense of self that is grounded in this feeling, this continuum of value with which I must always maintain primary contact with my life to have meaning, if I am regarded as an equal, if I regard myself as an equal of every other man, and if from within the full all awareness of that sense of equality, I can move around in my mind and spirit without being barred. But given those two things, the kind of environment should be created that will make it possible for it to be a reasonable thing for men to pursue happiness. And therefore, in the Declaration of Independence, and in the Bill of Rights, and in various aspects of the Constitution, there are all these efforts [INAUDIBLE]. If you give your prescription, how would it read? Would it have to do with things-- clothes, for instance-- not clothes in general, but clothes in particular. Would it have to do with that? Would it have to do with food? Would it have to do with a certain kind of prestige? What is your prescription? Does it have to do with a certain kind of association? If you were able to have this kind of association, you would be happy? Does it have to do with place so that it's unthinkable that you could ever be happy in San Francisco, whether it's [INAUDIBLE] bound here, you can't go anywhere else. Or what? Does it have to do with place? Is it located there? 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And if it is in terms of position, if it is in terms of money, of economic power, if it is in terms of clothes, or of possessions of one kind of another or place, you don't really mean that, that if you had the money, you could be happy, or if you have the clothes you could be happy, or if you have the kind of food you wanted you could be happy. Pitts Theology Library Emory University But what you mean is that if you had the clothes, or the economic power, or the place-- the location-- then it would be reasonable for you to pursue happiness. [INAUDIBLE]. See, it's very simple to be quite iconoclastic about it and say that modern man wants money, that's his God-- that wants this and this and this. Those things won't make you happy. The things that you're sure that if you had you would be happy. [INAUDIBLE] What the person hoped that if he could get enough of it, the law of averages would finally bring one load that had the precious ingredient in it. Now, that should be general [INAUDIBLE] caught in your own private [INAUDIBLE]. Is that happiness always assumes that the individual has been able to work out an increasingly satisfactory relationship between his inner life and his outer life. That's why I can't conceive [INAUDIBLE]. But I can't conceive of a person's finding or experiencing the sense of spiritual enlargement-that's what happens [INAUDIBLE]-- the sense of spiritual enlargement. I can't conceive of a person experiencing that who doesn't spend some time by himself [INAUDIBLE]. For you see, we must work out-- each person for himself-- a satisfying relationship between his inner world and his outer world. And so much of modern life is outer life. When have you had a good satisfying conversation with somebody-- your just good, good talk? Not discussing something that brought you together, an issue, or trying to get some decision, but when you share a sense of spiritual enlargement as you touched the fringes of meaning and significance in another person's life, as you tarried? When has that happened? [INAUDIBLE]. You and long-playing records. [LAUGHTER] This will have a chance. Outer. It is so much a part-- the outer emphasis is so much a part of our lives that if we can't keep talking, we are embarrassed. So we just talk. Now why are we afraid of the inner? And we can never be happy until to relate those two. We can't pursue happiness until we can integrate these two. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu It is a part of a long dramatic history of the race that whenever the spirit of man persists in denying the right, the urgency of his inner life of withdrawal that he dies. He dies. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And every man or woman who has had his imagination kindled and his perhaps even inspired diabolically has included in the springs of his validity retreat, withdrawal, time for sinking the shafts of one's spirit down into low waters. Hitler would have been destroyed long before the collapse of [INAUDIBLE]-- meaning for you. Have you worked out some integration between your outer and inner? Do you ever withdraw? Or are you always involved in the demands of your externals? And you run from one external to the other external, always hoping that you'll find it? Inner and outer. And you can only work out some integration between those by spending time exploring the inner until at last you discover that the clue to the outer is the inner. [THUMPING] And what I seek way out there, I seek it because of what I'm finding in here. And you don't have to be a long-haired mystic or some curious somebody. But if you just want to be a decent human being, you've got to get those two things together. And the Declaration of Independence felt that if all the obvious things were taken care of-- such as protecting your home, and your person, and your right to live here and there-- if all those things that are expressed in the amendments to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, if all those things were taken care of, then it would be possible, a normal expectation, that human beings would make this creative discovery and this creative connection. And now there's one final word. Happiness-- the pursuit of happiness-- can never be at the expense of somebody else's. Pursuit of happiness cannot be at the expense of my neighbor's happiness. Isn't it interesting-- let me pause for a moment-- the thing that is happening all over the world while we sit here? India is not coming to the peace treaty, while the millions of people of China will not be part of the peace treaty, the whole Arab world in complete and terrifying revolt. Think of how much happiness the colonial policy of Western civilization has provided for so many generations to so many people. And at what price? The collective unhappiness of so many millions of people. And now when there is a change of mind and heart in various ways-- not altogether, but in various ways-- on the part of the representatives of Western culture and Western civilization, there is nobody in that part of the world who can hear what they're saying. 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Because for so many years Western civilization pursued happiness by lining its coffers with the vitals of the colonies. And now today nobody trusts the heirs of those people who found their happiness at the expense of so much sufferings of other people. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And we want to be loved. We want to trust and be trusted. We want peace in the world. And every move we make sends us further away from the dream that instincts the heart. And why does it? Because we didn't realize this thing that I'm saying now. You can't pursue happiness on a private racetrack. For what you get is not a simple thing like unhappiness. But you get disintegration of soul that requires the kind of spiritual re-hauling and re-birthing, if I may put it that way, precisely at the moment when there is a minimum of confidence in the validity of the spiritual life. That's the tragedy. And that's the dilemma. Precisely at the moment that there is a minimum of confidence in the validity of the spiritual life, precisely at that moment he only thing that can rehabilitate us is spiritual rebirth. So from where we sit, then, let us not be so overwhelmed by the apparent collapse of the world around us that we don't do the things that are needful, that will redeem our own souls and perhaps set up a kind of creative and spiritual process that may save the world. The pursuit of happiness. 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 Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource <p>In this series, Howard Thurman discusses the Declaration of Independence along four key ideas: Created Equal, Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. Each of the four sermons explores one of these ideas.</p> <p>These sermons are also available at <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/results?query=declaration+of+independence&amp;Submit1=Search"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-07-19/1951-08-26 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/394-558_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s 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 394-558_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource Declaration of Independence: Pursuit of Happiness, 1951 August 26 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-08-26 Description An account of the resource <p>"Thurman examines the pursuit of happiness. Life is both existence as well as the outreach of our human spirit and values and meanings. This outreach is so important that, in some cases, we may sacrifice our own existence to protect others. Happiness is something everybody wants. Thurman examines the wording of "pursuit of happiness." Note: the recording ends abruptly. "</p> <p>Description from <a href="http://archives.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/virtual-listening-room/detail?id=341544"><em>Expanding Common Ground</em>, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University</a></p>