Browse Items (20 total)

Thurman reflects on the ongoing tension between individual freedom and the state's authority, drawing parallels with early Christian practices and the challenges of asserting one's identity under societal pressures. He explores how personal experiences, particularly related to race, religion, and authority, shape an individual's understanding of their role within a larger system, stressing the importance of knowing where to draw the line when confronting power structures.

Thurman grapples with the tension between personal freedom and the surrender of identity in the pursuit of love and connection, exploring the paradox of wanting to maintain autonomy while needing others to define who they are. He sees the struggle lying in balancing responsibility for oneself with the desire to yield to a greater presence, such as God, without losing one's individuality, as well as the fear of becoming anonymous or losing oneself in the process of giving fully to others.

Thurman reflects on the struggle to bend the will of God to personal urgency, expressing a desire to find a way to pull God into their life. He contrasts two types of mysticism: one where an individual feels they can compel God's presence through purification, and another that emphasizes waiting for God's arrival, understanding that the power to control divine will is beyond human capacity.

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Thurman explores what it means to live one's life with a robust sense of responsibility and…

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

This recording is the second lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman notes that innate within the human identity are the categorizations of "Space Binder" and "Time Binder." Space Binder speaks to…

Freedom is the will and ability to act at any moment, Thurman says, “as to influence” or “determine the future.” For him, the experience of freedom relies on one’s ability to create options. Without options, there can be no sense of self. To keep the possibility of choice alive, a person must take responsibility for her life so that one resist becoming a prisoner to the will of others and life events.

Freedom is the will and ability to act at any moment, Thurman says, “as to influence” or “determine the future.” For him, the experience of freedom relies on one’s ability to create options. Without options, there can be no sense of self. To keep the possibility of choice alive, a person must take responsibility for her life so that one resist becoming a prisoner to the will of others and life events.

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

Thurman explains that freedom is the “capacity to determine the future by action.” He sees the possibility of death as the guarantor of the experience of freedom because that possibility is always open to the person. The fact that this option is available rather than accepting any present conditions is only to suggest that this means one can imaginatively project oneself into another possibility. For Thurman, grappling with one’s final option opens the door for pushing back the frontier of…