Howard Thurman was a pastor, theologian, and mystic. As a civil rights leader and the co-founder of the first racially integrated church in the country, he knew what it meant to have real enemies and real friends; he knew both hatred and love. He learned the practice of non-violence from Gandhi and was very influential as a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. who took a copy of Thurman's book, Jesus and the Disinherited, with him when he traveled.
This found poem, assembled from Howard Thurman's writings, examines the potential and limits of both hatred and love. We used it to open a worship gathering centered on Jesus' command to "love your enemies."
Howard Said
Howard said,
there is a conspiracy of silence
about hatred
but love,
as critical as it is,
must possess a deep understanding
of hatred
penetrating, incisive, cold
understanding
hatred expresses itself
in the active functioning
of ill will
and this is what hate does
sometimes
even to one whose back is against the wall
when all resources are cut off
when there is a complete and radical denial of your persona
when the integrity of your existence begins to disintegrate
when you feel that the moment of annihilation is at hand
affirm the integrity of your life
by striking out blindly
by asserting your right to be
when your back is
against the wall
hatred can be:
a device for rebuilding
step by perilous step, the foundation
for individual significance.
but
hatred
destroys finally
the core of the life
of the hater
while it lasts,
burning in white heat
its effect seems positive and dynamic
but at last it turns to ash
for it guarantees a final isolation
from one’s fellows
blinds the individual to all values of worth
even as they apply to yourself and your friends
hatred bears deadly and bitter fruit
hate is the great insulator
making it possible for one to deny
the existence
of another or will
their nonexistence
hatred dries up the springs of creative thought
the urgent needs of the personality
for creative expression are starved
to death.
but love
is the experience of dealing
with a person
at a point
that is beyond
all faults
and all virtues
love means to deal totally with a person
and you can’t do this without
a disciplined and sensitized
imagination
love a person from the other side
meet them where they are,
mean, distorted,
sometimes vicious
full of hate
and deal with them there
so as to free them
and yourself
as well as others
affected by hate
I can’t do this of myself
regardless of my best intentions
and if I think that I can
I deceive myself
and yet
the experience of love is either
a necessity or a luxury
if it be a luxury
it is expendable
if it be a necessity
then to deny it is
to perish
so simple is the reality,
and so terrifying,
Howard said.
Comments