The Inward Sea

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

We are grateful to Akshita for offering this hand-made painting for this reading.

There is in every person an inward sea

And in that sea, there is an island

And on that island is an altar

And standing guard before that altar

is the angel with the flaming sword.

Nothing can get by that angel to be placed upon that altar

unless it has the mark of your inner authority.

Nothing passes the angel with the flaming sword

to be placed upon your altar

unless it be a part of the fluid area of your consent.

This is your crucial link with THE ETERNAL.

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“Hailed by Life magazine as one the great preachers of the twentieth century; a spiritual leader to Martin Luther King, Jr., Sherwood Eddy, James Farmer, A. J. Muste, and Pauli Murray; the first black dean at a white university; cofounder of the first interracially pastored, intercultural church in the United States; Howard Thurman (1899–1981) was a man of penetrating foresight and astonishing charisma. His vision of the world was one of a democratic camaraderie born of faith, and in light of today’s global community, one of particular importance.”