"People who always speak to me with unfailing consideration and the utmost respect regularly berate the synagogue secretaries mercilessly when they call for appointments." - - Rabbi Alan Lew This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared
Is the secretary being treated as an It or a Thou? Is the Rabbi being treated as an It or a Thou?
Both? Neither?
Is the secretary being treated as an It or a Thou? Is the Rabbi being treated as an It or a Thou?
Both? Neither?
How Buber Describes I Thou and I-It
I Thou can only be spoken with the whole being
I It can never be spoken with the whole being
It has a substance and only exists through being bounded by others
Thou has no substance, and knows no bounds but takes a stand in relation
The world of experience belongs to I It
I Thou establishes the world of relation
How do we define God? Can God be limited? How does God's Oneness relate to Wholeness and Buber's idea of Whole Being?
I Thou can only be spoken with the whole being
I It can never be spoken with the whole being
It has a substance and only exists through being bounded by others
Thou has no substance, and knows no bounds but takes a stand in relation
The world of experience belongs to I It
I Thou establishes the world of relation
How do we define God? Can God be limited? How does God's Oneness relate to Wholeness and Buber's idea of Whole Being?
"If I face a human as my Thou, they are not a thing among things, and do not consist of things. Thus a human being is not a person bounded from every other person, able to be described, a loose bundle of named qualities. But with Thou and no neighbor, they fill the heavens.
I can describe them the color of their hair or their speech or their goodness, but when I do they cease to be a Thou.
I do not experience the person to whom I say Thou, I stand in relation to them."
- Adapted from Martin Buber I and Thou
In the liturgy, Who fills the heavens?
Can The Divine be limited, or described with a single metaphor?
I can describe them the color of their hair or their speech or their goodness, but when I do they cease to be a Thou.
I do not experience the person to whom I say Thou, I stand in relation to them."
- Adapted from Martin Buber I and Thou
In the liturgy, Who fills the heavens?
Can The Divine be limited, or described with a single metaphor?
Summary Quotes from I and Thou by Martin Buber
- I Thou can only be spoken with the whole being.
- All real living is meeting.
- The relation to Thou is direct [Just as the relation to the Divine must be direct. No intermediaries/idols are allowed]
- True community arises from living in mutual relation with one another.