In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses his text, "The Inward Journey," to discern what it means to live a life of intentionality. He holds up the orderly life and the life of crisis as the two ways one may live their life. He continues that regardless of one's life orientation, that one must wrestle with the reality of failure being embedded into the human experience. Thurman notes that life is a pattern that is continually unfolding, revealing a wider pattern, and that one's recognition of this pattern comes from an intentionally lived life. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses Langston Hughes' poem, "Rivers," to speak to human experience. Thurman discusses the analogy of human life as a river flowing, flooding, and resting.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, agony, Augustine, Congo, contemplation, death, design, essence, experience, flood, goal, goals, integrity, inward journey, journey, Langston Hughes, life, meaning of life, Mississippi River, New Orleans, order, pattern, pilgrim's progress, responsibility, Rivers, soul, storm, tension, Thomas a Kempis, turbulence

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Intentional Life (1962-05-18); Life is a River (1961-03-24),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1232.