Browse Items (6 total)

Thurman begins this lecture by telling a story of a man with a bitter heart learning to forgive with the guidance of an angel and God. The angel strips him of all outward attributes and circumstances, which allows for the man to see everything and fully understand himself and God. After this, Thurman states how he wants to think with the audience in terms of his own journey in this lecture. Compromise is the first topic that Thurman discusses. He states that no man lives in a society that he…

Thurman reflects on the inner turmoil and moral confusion that arises from actions taken in fear, desperation, and judgment, questioning the role of compassion, forgiveness, and divine understanding in the face of human suffering and sin. He acknowledges the complexities of human motives and the need for spiritual guidance and collective strength, emphasizing the importance of finding peace and hope in the presence of God and community.

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

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reads from his text, Deep is the Hunger, speaking to his understanding of love. He defines love as "the experience of being dealt with at a point in one's self that is beyond all good and evil." Embedded in this definition are notions of trust and forgiveness. He indicates that love is the antithesis of isolation, with isolation being the very essence of having a lack of access to another person.

In the first of this two-part lecture, Thurman defines peace as a sense of “inner togetherness.” Experiences of peace are diverse and unfold through manifestations of innocence, exhaustion, reconciliation, conformity, and triumph. Here, Thurman emphasizes peace associated with “trials.” He does so because only tranquility on these terms persist within when external conditions do not change. This, he says, is the peace that passes all understanding.

In this seventh lecture in the Discipline of the Spirit series, Thurman uses Matthew 5:39 as a framework for discipline as it relates to our decision to act. Thurman reminds listeners of the responsibility to act or react in integrity centered around core values as we are responsible for the actions we initiate as well as the reactions we initiate in other people. One must always be careful when deciding to act lest our deeds are out of character with our core beliefs.