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 warns those learning with him of the dangers of setting a distinction between the outer life and the inner life, the profane and the sacred. Drawing upon his experience in India, and tales of his daughter becoming literate, Thurman explains that the outer life influences the inner, and vice-a-versa, designating one's life as synchronous rather than disintegrated.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: arrogance, behavior patters, Calcutta, California, Carmel Valley, conditioning, conformity, Doug Steele, duality, dynamism, ethics, fluid area of consent, heart, hell, India, inner life, Jesus, Lincoln Milton, manifestations of life, mystery, outer life, Paradise Lost, psychology, sacred, San Francisco, secret, secular, soul, speech, spiritual intimacies, Toronto

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 5 and 6, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/301.