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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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�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
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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
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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
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394-794
Creator
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Thurman, Howard
Title
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Boundaries of the Self (1961-11-24); Confidence in God (1958-06-13)
Source
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<a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a>
Format
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audio
Publisher
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<a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a>
Date
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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