Hello Befinity blog bunch. Do any of you know the difference between Harold Thurman Whitman and Howard Thurman? Don’t bother to do the google thing – let me just tell you, it might save you some confusion. Actually, it seems that they’re the same person. Well, not really.... the connection lies in the following quote:
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
If you google this quote, you’ll find it being attributed to both Harold Thurman Whitman and Howard Thurman. According to Wiki, the explanation lies in the fact that Harold Thurman Whitman is a fictional name. Where it came from appears to be something of a mystery.
The non-fictional character, Howard Thurman (1899 – 1981), was an influential African American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. And he was clearly a very wise and loving man. Here’s another of his quotes, one that I think is worth mulling over for a while:
"In the conflicts between man and man, between group and group, between nation and nation, the loneliness of the seeker for community is sometimes unendurable. The radical tension between good and evil, as man sees it and feels it, does not have the last word about the meaning of life and the nature of existence. There is a spirit in man and in the world working always against the thing that destroys and lays waste. Always he must know that the contradictions of life are not final or ultimate; he must distinguish between failure and a many-sided awareness so that he will not mistake conformity for harmony, uniformity for synthesis. He will know that for all men to be alike is the death of life in man, and yet perceive harmony that transcends all diversities and in which diversity finds its richness and significance."
Love and blessings to you all. And spend some time thinking – really thinking – about the first quote. There are few more important questions that we can ask ourselves. Don’t resign yourself to the ‘life of quiet desperation’. Allow yourself to believe for more – much, much more.
