In this sermon on commitment, Thurman suggests that the destiny of an individual is built upon one central assumption: either life is open and dynamic, or life is closed off and finished with no sense of choice and alternatives. Commitment, at its core, is about choice. It is one's capacity to give over their self-conscious will to something. Thurman describes this self-giving as a response to something that grips us. In commitment we experience a "singleness of mind" that synthesize our usually scattered intentions. Our commitments come to guide the morality of our actions. Thurman ends saying that all are capable of such commitment, and that it need not be a grand vision. Rather, one must simply reach out for what is most near and capable of inspiring.

Part of the Collection, NA

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Commitment: Spiritual Awareness, 1951 January 28,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/917.