There is a profound ground of unity that is more pertinent and authentic than all the unilateral dimensions of our lives. This, a man discovers when he is able to keep open the door to his heart.

This is one’s ultimate responsibility, and it is not dependent on whether the heart of another is kept open for him.

Here is a mystery: if sweeping through the door of my heart there moves continually a genuine love for you, it bypasses all your hate and all your indifference and gets through to you at your center. You are powerless to do anything about it. It is utterly impossible to keep another from loving you. The word that love is stronger than hate and goes beyond death is the great disclosure to one who has found that when he keeps open the door to the heart, it matters not how many doors are closed against him.

By Rev. Howard Thurman