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Meditations of the Heart

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Meditations of the Heart is a beautiful collection of meditations and prayers by one of our greatest spiritual leaders. Howard Thurman, the great spiritualist and mystic, was renowned for the quiet beauty of his reflections on humanity and our relationship with God. This collection of fifty-four of his most well-known meditations features his thoughts on prayer, community, and the joys and rituals of life. Within this collection are words that sustain, elevate, and inspire. Thurman addresses those moments of trial and uncertainty and offers a message of hope and endurance for people of all faiths.

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

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About the author

Howard Thurman

67 books313 followers
Howard Washington Thurman was an author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the twentieth century.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
Profile Image for Raymond.
407 reviews298 followers
August 31, 2021
I started reading this book in February as part of a Lenten study and continued to read all of the meditations that Thurman wrote in this collection. It covers numerous topics such as: dreams, judgment, courage, pain of life, humor, enthusiasm, self sacrifice, goodness, and much more. My favorite meditation was titled "The Threads In My Hand". Not every meditation resonated with me. I also did not know this collection was Part 2 following Deep Is the Hunger.

"The Threads In My Hand": https://www.trinityruston.org/devotio...
Profile Image for robin friedman.
1,891 reviews340 followers
August 20, 2024
Meditations Of Howard Thurman

Howard Thurman (1899 -- 1981) was a mystic, preacher, civil rights leader, and philosopher. I have been learning a great deal from reading works by and about him. From 1944 -- 1952, Thurman served as pastor of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, the first ecumenical church in the United States. It welcomed people of all racial, cultural, economic, and religious backgrounds. Thurman published three volumes of short meditations and talks that he delivered during his years at the Fellowship Church, including this second volume "Meditations of the Heart". This is a moving at times difficult collection that shows a deep sincerity in the religious search and in the attempt to know God or the divine.

In a brief Foreword, Thurman writes that "there is no underlying theme" holding the various meditations together. Thurman tried to address his thoughts "to some of the deep and insistent needs of the human spirit, which needs know no age, clime, culture or group. They are needs that are universal and in which all men share. Their purpose is to focus the mind and the heart upon God as the Eternal Source and Goal of life."

The meditations are divided into five groups, titled "The Inward Sea","The Binding Ties", "Life is Alive", "The Moment of Celebration" and "Meditations of the Heart" with each group prefaced by a brief introduction. The meditations discuss solitude and introspection, life with one's fellows, and coming to realize the unity of one's self and all beings with God.

The meditations may be read through, but it is probably more useful to focus on a few of them at a time and to return to the meditations that the reader likes. As Thurman realizes, these meditations tend to be a mixed collection and each reader likely will find some that are particularly worthwhile.

An example of a meditation I liked is found in third section of the book, "Life is Alive" , no. 14 titled "We Are All One". (The meditation titles did not originate with Thurman). This meditation begins with a quote from the Greek philosopher Plotinus, a great influence on Thurman: "If we are in unity with the Spirit, we are in unity with each other, and so we are all one." Thurman finds that Plotinus, and other mystical thinkers, suggest the underlying unity of all life and the identity of the human Spirit with the Godhead. It is tempting for mystics to withdraw from every day life to contemplate God, but Thurman finds this sort of solitary contemplation important but insufficient. Rather, individuals need to live in community with each other and to find God in human fellowship and unity. Thurman writes:

"The pragmatic test of one's unity with the Spirit is found in the unity with one's fellows. We see what this means when we are involved in the experience of a broken relationship. When I have lost harmony with another, my whole life is thrown out of tune. God tends to be remote and far away when a desert and sea appear between me and another.......I cannot be at peace without God, and I cannot be truly aware of God if I am not at peace with my fellows. For the sake of my unity with God, I keep working on my relations with my fellows. This is ever the insistence of all ethical religions."

I learned from this meditation in its reference to Plotinus, in the discussion of the value of contemplation and the inner life, and in the insistence that the inner life needs to be combined with life in community to reach full human growth and understanding. There is much to be learned from these few words. Other readers may learn from other meditations in this collection.

These meditations should be read slowly and repeatedly, if possible, with each reader finding words that he or she finds important. Readers interested in mysticism and its relationship to an active life or in broad questions of spirituality will find much to learn from Thurman.

Robin Friedman
Profile Image for Margie.
644 reviews45 followers
July 1, 2011
These meditations are worth taking time over; this isn't a book to sit down and read through.
Although Thurman frequently goes in directions that don't quite resonate with me, I don't disagree with his theology. He talks of silence being an opening to God (which I agree with), though he then takes it to examination of our sin, so that we can reconcile. I'm not so much into the sin thing. I like the book as a jumping off point - a place to explore and consider ideas, rather than simply reinforcement of what I already believe.
July 28, 2013
When I trod a dark road, alone and barely holding on to my tattered faith, Howard Thurman comes and walks with me, cares for my soul, and gives me strength. I will always be "Reading" this book. I pick it up as I am moved so to do, when the noise of this sad world is too much. The words of Thurman lead me to a quiet place, and he has often been my companion in holy silence. Thurman, and no other, is my pastor.
Profile Image for Jessie Lowry.
142 reviews4 followers
September 22, 2012
One of my all-time favorite devotional books! He was the spiritual advisor to Dr. MLK and started one of the nation's first intentionally multiracial churches. We should all want to hear wisdom from someone like that. And he has this magnificent way of getting at justice through the back door with reflections about our innermost personal wrestlings in this life.
Profile Image for David.
Author 13 books93 followers
January 31, 2019
I'd come across Thurman intermittently across the years, quoted here, cited there.

Never had actually read him.

And so I figured I'd remedy that.

You always worry, when you go in with expectations of greatness, that you'll be disappointed.

My gracious. I needn't have worried. What an astounding soul, and an equally astounding mind. His influence on MLK is radiantly obvious. His prayers, moving, personal, and relevant. His mysticism, utterly accessible and...as with the best of the mystics...powerfully practical. He grasped the path to justice and reconciliation in ways that elude the outrage machine of our benighted culture.

Heck of a book, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with my congregation.
159 reviews3 followers
January 19, 2023
I first read Thurman's "Jesus and the Disinherited" a few years ago, and wanted to read more. Thurman was a mentor to MLK, a friend of his dad, and also is the most well-known American black Christian mystic. This book of short meditations was a good slow read, never more than a few meditations a day, that fed into my own prayer and journaling and what I talked to God about for the day. Similar to other mystics, he seems grounded in the mystery of God and yet his complete immanence/closeness of presence. A few pages in this book I've already re-read multiple times, and will be ear-marked in years to come.
Profile Image for Book2Dragon.
413 reviews168 followers
October 12, 2018
This book blew me away. It was one of the best spiritual books I have read. I came upon it by accident. Sometimes those are the best books. Highly recommended
48 reviews
March 30, 2019
Beautifully written. As you read each passage it makes you stop and think, re-read, and think some more.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
954 reviews
December 30, 2021
I read this because Howard Thurman’s name and quotations keep coming up in the Unitarian Universalist church, notably his poem The Work of Christmas, published in 1973. Thurman was a theologian (born in Florida in 1899) who in this book talked about God a lot but not much at all about Jesus. Most of these meditations, originally written for his congregation at Fellowship Church in San Francisco, did not speak to me, but some passages rang true:

p 25-26 #7. “The Pattern of Prayer. . . . the sharing of one’s desires and hopes for others, and one’s sense of need which the whole human family shares—the need for peace, for health, for justice and for decency. Once these are deeply shared with God, it becomes clear at what points one must share with God in the whole task of redeeming human life. It is never quite sufficient to place all the needs of mankind before God and leave them there. The efficacy of the prayer is often measured by the degree to which the individual is willing to become involved in actually working in the world to meet these needs. A [person] may share in [their] prayer [their] concern for peace in the world and yet, in [their] own little world, be unwilling to change [their] private attitude of antagonism or prejudice toward [their peers]. Obviously, such prayer would be meaningless." [I inserted the bracketed language to replace what the author likely meant (writing in 1953) as inclusive language, but which by today’s standards leaves out a lot of people.]

p82-83 #15. The Seed of the Jack Pine. The cones release their seeds following forest fires. Author draws parallel to “things deep within the human spirit that are firmly imbedded, dormant, latent and inactive. . . .there they remain until our lives are swept by the forest fire: It may be . . . some moment of agony in which the whole country or nation may be involved.”

p105 #3. Shall I be Good? about being good not for reward but because it is good - “the good life is in itself good.”

p115 #10. “Two Areas of Need. . . . There is also the need of being a part of the family, the human family, the human race. I am aware that all the race, in some very meaningful sense, breathes through me—that I am a part of the very pulsating rhythm of existence. I am not a thing apart, I am not a separate unit; I am deeply involved in the collective experience of aliveness and of human aliveness. . . . there is but one family under God and I am a member of it.”

p117-118 #12. All Life is One. . . . Often we say to ourselves that the only conditions under which it is possible for one person deliberately to injure another is for the injurer to be able to regard himself as being something other than, and perhaps more than, the injured one. . . . But when we begin with the basic idea that all life is one—that there is no such thing as an ultimate detachment of any part of life from the whole . . . .

References to such writers as George Fox, Albert Schweitzer, and Alfred Noyes, among others.
Profile Image for Will Waller.
512 reviews2 followers
May 19, 2021
Y'all know those chocolate cakes that are so rich you can't eat but a bite before you put the spoon down and say, "mmmmmmm?" This is that book. It is a book that if you rush through, you'll end up sick. I took each of his devotions one day at a time, before I gobbled up the final pages today. I did so so I could share this cake with my neighbor.

What is best about this book are the lyrics. Like a modern day David, Howard Thurman writes in a way that shows he's dancing with the Divine daily. He's in His arms and they're on the dance floor and it's God that is leading him.

If you're looking for someone that influenced someone none other than MLK Jr., this is the book. If you're looking for someone who lived 75 years ago and still could be your next door neighbor talking about her love of the Lord, this is your book.
Profile Image for Andreás Gonzales.
28 reviews14 followers
March 12, 2024
Howard Thurman’s thought provoking writings have forever rewired my mind and my heart. Being a Christian mystic and a key inspiration to MLK, I cannot speak more praise to Thurman. Meditations of the Heart is a contemplative read where you sit on passage at a time reflecting on the words you just read.

One of the passages that spoke out me the most,
“In my heart above all else, let Thy love and integrity envelop me until my love is perfected and the last vestige of my desiring is no longer in conflict with Thy spirit. Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.”

Simply put, I’ll be rereading this book again and again.
Profile Image for Michael.
13 reviews
January 26, 2021
It’s a five star book with 3 star rating ‘cause I had to rush though it. It’s not to be borrowed & rushed through. It’s to be put on your bookshelf & cherished over decades.
Profile Image for CrystalIsReading on Storygraph.
1,418 reviews58 followers
December 8, 2020
I've been meaning to read Meditations of the Heart, by Howard Thurman, for several years. I believe it was Kaitlin Curtice who recommended his writing in her first book, so I acquired a copy, and then as usual let it sit around on my shelves until the mood struck. Well, the pandemic struck first, and with extra time at home and extra worries on my mind, what better time to read some reflections on life and faith and belief from a man who'd lived through a few troubled times of his own and helped lead others to better lives through those times?

This isn't a book to gobble up in one setting. I read it over the course of several months, reading a section or two every day or so, when I was in the mood for reflection. Thurman's writing is gentle and relatable, but it is also slightly formal and old-fashioned, and I found myself having to read and reread passages sometimes to fully understand what Thurman was trying to say. This pandemic has really been terrible on my reading focus and comprehension, so perhaps reading this book was good for me in multiple ways, as reading practice as well as for spiritual reflections.

I can see how this book has been cherished for so long. Thurman writes with great insight and compassion about the nearly universal internal struggles in the hearts and minds of humans, especially humans who seek to faithfully observe Christianity. There were so many passages that I found very relatable--my copy is highlighted and bookmarked and dogeared, and I've shared multiple passages with friends. This year questions of doubt and fear and anxiety and faith and peace and calm seemed especially relevant, but there were other passages that spoke to me as well, reflections of mindfulness and thankfulness and kindness and forgiveness. The writing is challenging as much as it is comforting, and I feel like this is a book I both need and want to return to later, to absorb more of the wisdom and comfort Thurman shared with us. Pick this up if you need some gentle Christian comfort and counsel that you can read in small segments. Just be aware that the more formal academic language may require some extra concentration when you do so.
Profile Image for Ashley.
Author 1 book3 followers
April 1, 2019
I read this for a 6-week study for Sunday School, or as I called it during our Thurman study, Sunday Morning Book Club. Thurman's influence on MLK is clear, and his message of reconciliation, with some helpful how-to if you look for it, certainly applies to our current political climate.

This collection of meditations covers a host of topics, from death to self-examination to the joy of writing with a good pen. The meditations are meaty and give you more to ponder than you possibly can with a single reading. Highly recommended.
1 review4 followers
May 14, 2015
Never have I read such a book of man's struggles and accomplishments in the light of God than this. While sometimes repetitive, all is forgiven in the absolute perfectly poetic phrasings of the things we each hold dearest to our hearts.
Profile Image for Carrie.
156 reviews
March 21, 2014
Partway through section 3 the meditations started to change in tone and style and I lost interest, but up until then the book was full of beautiful insights.
Profile Image for Marcus Mosley.
6 reviews
June 30, 2015
I loved this book so much. There are some meditations struck closer to home than others, but this book helped and continues to help me through the trying times of life.
Profile Image for Chris Theule.
134 reviews3 followers
March 28, 2020
If you resonate with Henri Nouwen or Richard Rohr, check out Howard Thurman
Profile Image for heather.
233 reviews
June 28, 2021
4.5 I read this and then immediately picked it up again! My intention with the first reading was to read them in order, a couple meditations a day, to get a sense of his organization and development. While they move easily between ideas, there are some seemingly grouped where he goes a half step or so deeper each time. So there is a progression of thought regarding topics like silence or joy or hardship. Round two, I'm just reading different meditations each day without much method as a devotional. Some days are a balm, others a challenge, but all seem to beautifully create moments of the sacred and holy and important in a world that more often than not feels filled with the exact opposite. However, these meditations aren't meant to keep us sheltered, avoiding the mess, but engaged in it, carrying the internal out into the external. So good. P.S. FYI, if you haven't read his Jesus and the Disinherited, uh, go now! 😊
Profile Image for Carol Ghattas.
Author 7 books19 followers
August 8, 2021
I found much comfort and encouragement in this collection of meditations by pastor and theologian Howard Thurman. Gathered for his ministry with Fellowship Church during the 1950s, they continue to speak to our day as a strong, calm voice in the midst of a noisy, confusing world.

I was especially moved by his thoughts on order in life, where he wrote: "Moral cowardice makes us betray our birthright as human beings. The order which we deny in ourselves is forced upon us by the very structure of our bodies and minds. It is this knowledge that is at the basis of the recklessness with which we squander what we would preserve, and destroy what we would give our very lives to hold dear. This is the "body of death" of modern man. Who shall deliver us?"

The book concludes with a beautiful section of prayers, based on one or two lines from scripture. They are a wonderful resource for those seeking words to pray when known can be found.

A recommended read.
Profile Image for Brian Wilcox.
Author 1 book654 followers
September 24, 2020
The writings reflect the heart and mind of a wise, humble being who integrated silence and social activism in a remarkable unity. These short pieces can be read and meditated on one at a time. Beyond the man and his thought, Thurman was gifted at saying the obvious in an alluring craft of words; also, he placed himself among the common person - each of us - as having within both the heights and depths of humanity. Persons of varied religious or spiritual paths can find here inspiration and guidance on the Journey.
Profile Image for Nancy.
2,597 reviews59 followers
April 2, 2021
What an extraordinary thinker and writer! I started this book and immediately bought a copy for my sister who loved it so much she bought a copy for my Mama. So often he just totally hits the nail on the head. It took me a long time to finish this and I think I will probably pick it up and start at the beginning again. I'm delighted to have finally read Howard Thurman. I had heard him quoted often, now I know why. I'll be looking for more of his work.
Profile Image for Paul Womack.
548 reviews29 followers
January 11, 2022
This continues my readings of Thurman’s brief essays. While they speak to much of my human condition, they are also windows into his own heart. One senses the existential issues he dealt with- death, guillt, purpose and meaning, human relationships and the the reality of God. I find him very contemporary indeed.
Profile Image for Edward Gray.
123 reviews2 followers
December 31, 2023
Great Book ! I recommend this book as a daily read. Read it over and over! You will get something new out of it each time you read. For example, Thurman writes of his experience of realizing hearing. So take time to listen carefully, not for words, but sounds. In this simple exercise, you get in touch with your inner spirit, and through that, you are closer to God.
10 reviews
October 11, 2020
Practical Spirtuality

Howard Thurmans writings convey a humility that is deeply rooted in the presence of God. His insights are timeless and the books title is very fitting. Your heart will be inspired and stilled as you read these meditations.
Profile Image for Craig LeVasseur.
110 reviews1 follower
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May 2, 2023
I'm not sure how this book got in my queue, it's been too long since I added it. I thought maybe it would be possible to read this book in a non secular way, as sort of a universal appeal to spirituality, but that was definitely wrong. This book was a mistake for me.
September 24, 2024
Meditations of my heart…

Dr. Thurman shares personal, devotional meditations that could be appreciated on a daily basis for the seeker of God. He is speaking the inward language of the heart towards a closer relationship with the Lord. Sometimes deep and sometimes deeper…convincingly life-wise.
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