In the contemplation of the earth, I know that I am surrounded by the love of God. — Howard Thurman1
Howard Thurman (1899-1981) was a theologian, mystic and visionary who mentored Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. His writing is lyrical, elegant, and imbued deeply with a compassionate contemplative way of seeing into the heart of things.
When I started my “Mystical Journey” Substack newsletter, my first post, on All Saints’ Day 2024, featured this quotation from Howard Thurman. At the time, I didn’t write a reflection on it — I simply let the quote speak for itself. Recently, I decided I needed to revisit this particular nugget of wisdom, and what better day to do this than Juneteenth?
It comes from Thurman’s luminous book of meditations, Meditations of the Heart, which were originally written for the benefit of his congregation at The Fellowship Church in San Francisco (one of the few fully integrated Christian communities in the USA at that time). The meditations are deceptively simple, accessible to everyone — but underneath a sheen of ordinary religious piety is a deep, beautiful, contemplative view. This particular line comes from a meditation called “Surrounded by the Love of God,” where Thurman considers the earth, the events of ordinary days, and the “edge of hope” as but three examples of ways he could know what it means to be immersed in the splendor of Divine Love.
Thurman wrote this meditation some 75 years ago. Today we struggle with political division, profound wealth inequality, and a planet that is suffering under the consequences of human consumption. The temptation to cynicism is great. It’s important to remember that for Howard Thurman, living under the shadow of Jim Crow was an equally great (if not greater) temptation to despair. And yet Thurman, like so many others, found even in the face of grave injustice repeated evidence of the ubiquity of God’s love — which of course also means, the ever-present reality of the call to justice and peacemaking.
May we all join Howard Thurman in refusing cynicism and despair, contemplating the sacred earth, and finding empowerment in Divine Love to work for the greater good of all.
Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart, Part V, #49, “Surrounded by the love of God.”