THURMAN’S CORNER
Howard Washington Thurman (1899-1981) was a towering spiritual giant on the social and religious scene of the twentieth century. Theologian, Mystic, Philosopher and Spiritual Director, he led the movement for engendering social change from a deeply spiritual and affirming place. He was nurtured in an empowering, protective, inspiring social and family milieu. Through his inherited parental values and Christian faith, he received a sense of personal somebodiness that prepared him for the work of social transformation. This solid foundation empowered him to rise above the limiting racial divide to speak truth to a generation and to work for community formation across the decades of extraordinary social upheavals in America. Many of the Civil Rights movement’s leaders were advised, encouraged and inspired by this generous human spirit. His voice speaks loudly to issues of the twenty first century and the challenges of our day.
A Sense of Presence
To bring to the place where you live only the best and most beautiful – what a plan for one’s life! This is well within the reach of everyone … it is well within the mark to say that the oft-quoted words of Jesus, about laying up for yourself treasures in heaven, deal with this same basic idea. The place where you live is where your treasures are. Where your treasures are is where your heart is. Where your heart is, is where your God is.
From his book, “Deep is the Hunger”
Archived Quotes
A Sense of Presence
Cultivate the mood to linger. If you do not know how to start, or if the conditions under which you live make it difficult, try getting up earlier on Sunday morning and establishing a meditation period. Who knows? God may whisper to you in the quietness what He has been trying to say to you, oh, for so long a time.
From his book, “Deep is the Hunger”
“There is a universal urgency for both personal and social stability. This urgency can find fulfillment along several lines. A fresh sense of history must be developed. All the events of our world must be placed in a context of incident that reveals their profound interrelatedness. History on this planet must be regarded not as individual happenings unrelated to social processes, but, instead, as overlapping patterns of group behavior brought into play by a wide variety of creative personal and impersonal forces at work in the world. History is not irrational; it has a deep logic and consistency. God is the God of history. He does not stand apart as some mighty spectator but is in the process and the facts, ever shaping them (in ways that we can understand and in ways beyond our powers to grasp) to ends that fulfill a great and good destiny for men [people]. This is no idle or pious wish. Examine the past and behold the unfolding of living process.”
From his book, “Deep is the Hunger”
THURMAN’S CORNER – 9/20/21
A Sense of Presence
Do I believe in God? Again and again, I ask myself the question. It is a searching query and one that cannot be answered by a “snap” reply, whether it be negative or positive. A belief is a thing upon which a man may stake his life and practice, to the extent that the object of one’s belief has to do with that which is central to one’s life.
Deep is the Hunger
THURMAN’S CORNER – 9/13/21
An Answer of the Whole Person
It is either short-sighted or vainglorious to assume that self-expression as such is the supreme goal of prayer. The supreme goal of prayer is to express God, to discover the self in relation to God.
Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism
THURMAN’S CORNER – 8/23/21
A Sense of Self
Prayer grows out of an imperative urgency, sometimes pointed, sometimes diffused. It enables one to keep fresh and focused in spirit the dedication to which one’s life is given. Again and again, it creates a profound sense of power deep within the mind, expressing itself in strange new courage and purposefulness. The first manifestation of this courage is the attack that it makes on the basis of one’s external fears of people and of circumstance. Prayer often yields a buoyancy and joyousness of spirit as the overtone of a relaxed confidence in God. It helps to clarify the conflicting issues that naturally arise out of any form of action, so that, against the darkness of the age, I can see the illumined finger of God guiding me in the way that I should go; so that, high above the clash of arms in the conflict for position, for rights, for status, for security, I can hear speaking, distinctly and clearly to my own spirit, the still, small voice of God.
From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”
THURMAN’S CORNER – 8/16/21
A Sense of Self
No life is complete that does not make provision for the place and significance of ceremonials. They are the moments of pause, of tarrying over meanings, of high celebration. We cannot escape the need for those experiences which summarize for us the inner meaning of the commonplace. In the last analysis, if a ceremonial is authentic, its inner meaning is universal.
From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”
THURMAN’S CORNER – 8/08/21
A Sense of Self
Are you a member of Self-Righteousness Anonymous? It is an organization without structure, without form, without location, and without offices. Every person who belongs to it holds all the offices at one and the same time, for each member is the organization. All of us are candidates for Self-Righteousness Anonymous. One of the sure results of self-examination in the light of the Highest is an immediate humility and a canceling of one’s membership in Self-Righteousness Anonymous.
From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”
THURMAN’S CORNER – 8/01/21
A Sense of Self
It is a matter of amazing significance that the Creator of life assumes that human beings are able to absorb most of the negative and destructive things that happen to them without disintegration and collapse … It is the greatest tribute to personality that the Creator of life assumes that each manifestation of life will have enough inner strength to fight its battles with such simple tools as may be at its disposal. A part of the business of living is to get better tools and to increase the tool-technique, but the fundamental assumption remains.
From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”
THURMAN’S CORNER – 7/25/21
A Sense of Self
What a priceless gift is memory! We have the amazing power to carry along with us, moment by moment, a vast accumulation of things done, of experiences lived through, of skills and techniques that have long since been learned by heart and put aside to be brought promptly into play on demand … The next time you feel that life is mean or completely evil and that there is no good in it for you or anyone else, try this: make a list of some of the beautiful things you have seen, the breathlessly kind things people have done for you without obligation, the gracious moments that have turned up in the week’s encounters. Memory is one of God’s great gifts to the human spirit without which neither life nor experience could have any meaning. Moreover, without it we could not be human beings.
From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”
THURMAN’S CORNER – 7/18/21
A Sense of Self
It is a great temptation to try to escape responsibility not only for one’s own actions but also for one’s own privileges. Responsibility means, essentially, standing up to be counted. It means the ability to look things squarely in the face and pay the price for what one does.
From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”