{"id":18179,"date":"2019-07-22T08:55:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18179"},"modified":"2019-07-22T09:16:47","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T13:16:47","slug":"mystic-howard-thurman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18179","title":{"rendered":"Mystic: Howard Thurman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Meaning of Life<\/strong><br>Sunday, July 21, 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fhS83a5Ky84\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In spite of all seeming evidence to the contrary, mystics know that God is love, and this love is both our source and our goal. I\u2019d like you to recognize that it\u2019s not just me saying these things. There are a great many theologians, saints, and laypeople who have conveyed this reality much better than I. I\u2019ve previously written about some of the Christian mystics who have had a profound impact on me, such as Francis and Clare of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, John of the Cross, and Teresa of \u00c1vila. [1] This week I\u2019d like to reflect on a more contemporary mystic, Reverend Howard Thurman (1900\u20131981).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an insightful description of how Thurman\u2019s significant influence was built upon his commitment to contemplation and action:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>The Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman contributed much to the incorporation of the contemplative in social\/racial justice efforts. An African American theologian and mystic, Thurman was reared in an African American Baptist Church, . . . [and] served as spiritual advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and thus played a critical role as a \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d leader in the development of an alternative to violence in the dismantling of racial injustice in America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Thurman chose to engage in work that would serve all people and to use the contemplative experience as a path to peace, joy, and power. . . . [He] had the prophetic ability to make a connection between the silence and scrutiny of one\u2019s inner life and the work for social justice. [2]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This week I\u2019ll share Thurman\u2019s own writings with very little introduction or explanation. His words speak for themselves. Read with your heart wide open:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal of life is God! The source of life is God! That out of which life comes is that into which life goes. . . . God is the guarantor of all [our] values, the ultimate meaning\u2014the timeless frame of reference. That which sustains the flower of the field, the circling series of stars in the heavens, the structure of dependability in the world of nature everywhere, the stirring of the will of man to action, the dream of humanity, developed and free, for which myriad men, sometimes in solitariness in lonely places or in great throngs milling in crowded squares\u2014all this and infinitely more in richness and variety and value is God. Men may be thrown from their courses\u2014they may wander for a million years in desert and waste land, through sin and degradation, war and pestilence, hate and love\u2014at last they must find their rest in Him. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The source of life is God. The mystic applies this to human life when he says that there is in man an uncreated element; or in the Book of Job where it is written that his mark is in their foreheads. . . . To deal with men on any other basis, to treat them as if there were not vibrant and vital in each one the very life of the very God, is the great blasphemy; it is the judgment that is leveled with such relentless severity on modern man. \u201cThou hast made us for thyself and our souls are restless till they find their rest in thee,\u201d says Augustine. Life is like a river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Deep River, my home is over Jordan\u2014<br>Deep River, I want to cross over into camp ground. [3]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Opening the Doors of My Being<\/strong><br>Monday, July 22, 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This week we\u2019re reflecting on the writings of Howard Thurman. (<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkhdyky-yhltihduht-r\/\">See Sunday\u2019s meditation for my introduction.<\/a>) Today Thurman explores how prayer is not a transaction, nor is it about changing God. It\u2019s about opening our hearts, minds, and bodies to be receptive to God\u2019s already and always presence:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The place and significance of spiritual disciplines and exercises cannot be overemphasized. It is important, however, to understand what that significance is. There is no&nbsp;<em>necessitous<\/em>&nbsp;relationship between the disciplines and the awareness of God\u2019s presence. All disciplines of this character are meant to \u201cready\u201d the mind, the emotions, the spirit. They are no guarantor of Presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the miracle, the heights and depths of wonder and awe. God reveals His Presence out of the mystery of Being. With all of my passionate endeavor, I cannot command that He obey. All of my prayers, my meditation, my&nbsp;<em>vast<\/em>&nbsp;and compelling urgency or need cannot order, woo or beg God into the revealing of His Presence. Even my need and my desperation cannot command Him. There is an overwhelming autonomy here;&nbsp;&nbsp;God does move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. But He is so full of such wonderful and heartening surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the total religious experience we learn how to wait; we learn how to ready the mind and the spirit. It is in the waiting, brooding, lingering, tarrying timeless moments that the essence of the religious experience becomes most fruitful. It is here that I learn to listen, to swing wide the very doors of my being, to clean out the corners and the crevices of my life\u2014so that when His Presence invades, I am free to enjoy His coming to Himself in me. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I work at preparing my mind, my spirit for the moment when God comes to Himself in me. When it happens, I experience His Presence. When this experience becomes an object of thought and reflection, it is then that my mind creates dogmas, creeds and doctrines. These are the creations of the mind and are therefore always&nbsp;<em>after<\/em>&nbsp;the fact of the religious experience.&nbsp;<em>But they are always out of date. The religious experience is always current, always fresh.<\/em>[Emphasis mine\u2014RR.] In it I hear His Voice in my own tongue and in accordance with the grain in my own wood. In that glorious and transcendent moment, it may easily seem to me that all there is, is God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Summary: Week Twenty-nine<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introduction to Christian Mysticism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>July 14&nbsp;&#8211; July 19, 2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A mystic is simply&nbsp;one who has moved from mere belief or belonging systems to actual inner experience&nbsp;of God.&nbsp;(<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkdtkiy-yhltihduht-r\/\">Sunday<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A mystic sees things in their wholeness, connection, and union, not only their particularity. Mystics get the whole&nbsp;<em>gestalt&nbsp;<\/em>in one picture, beyond the sequential and separated way of seeing. (<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkdtkiy-yhltihduht-y\/\">Monday<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Christian is one who can see Christ everywhere else and even in oneself. (<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkdtkiy-yhltihduht-j\/\">Tuesday<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to find God, then honor God within you, and you will always see God beyond you. For it is only God in you who knows where and how to look for God. (<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkdtkiy-yhltihduht-t\/\">Wednesday<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Saints embody&nbsp;<\/em>goodness<em>&nbsp;while mystics embody&nbsp;<\/em>love<em>.&nbsp;<\/em>\u2014Carl McColman(<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkdtkiy-yhltihduht-i\/\">Thursday<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The mystic is not a special kind of person; each person is a special kind of mystic.&nbsp;<\/em>\u2014William McNamara (<a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-pkdtkiy-yhltihduht-d\/\">Friday<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Practice:&nbsp;<strong>A Prayer of Gratitude<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves&nbsp;<em>are<\/em>&nbsp;an act of praise. Mature prayer always breaks into gratitude. This week\u2019s practice is a body prayer from Beverly Lanzetta. Adapt the movements to your body\u2019s needs so that you\u2019re comfortable. Focus simply on the feeling of gratitude and, as you are able, do the following as you read through the stanzas: bow, kneel, lie down, rise, put your hands over your heart, place your hands together, bow your head, and open your arms wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Earth, Holy Cosmos<\/em><em>,<\/em><br>I bow before you<br>With my whole being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Creatures, Holy Nature,<\/em><br>I kneel upon the earth<br>In honor and thanksgiving<br>Of your blessed bounty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Waters, Holy Mountains,<\/em><br>I lay my body on your temple<br>In gratefulness for nurturing<br>My tender soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Passion, Holy Longing,<\/em><br>I rise up before you<br>A devotee of truth,<br>Following wherever you lead me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Silence, Holy Solitude,<\/em><br>I place my hands over my heart<br>Breathing in serenity,<br>Breathing out your peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Sorrow, Holy Suffering,<\/em><br>I close my hands in prayer<br>May I bear every wound<br>With compassion and nonharm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Humility, Holy Emptiness,<\/em><br>I bow my head before you<br>I have become open,<br>For your All to shine in my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Holy Freedom, Holy Rejoicing,<\/em><br>I open my heart to the world<br>Offering myself to this day,<br>In joyfulness and gratitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Amen.&nbsp;<\/em>[1]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Meaning of LifeSunday, July 21, 2019 In spite of all seeming evidence to the contrary, mystics know that God is love, and this love is both our source and our goal. I\u2019d like you to recognize that it\u2019s not just me saying these things. There are a great many theologians, saints, and laypeople who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18181,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18179\/revisions\/18181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}