A checkup with Dr. Buber

Learning to say Thou to all things

If we set out to seek God, we will fail to find God, for God cannot be the object of a search. The discovery of God occurs as a “finding without seeking.” Turning aside from the ordinary course of life to look for God achieves nothing; even if we were to attain the highest wisdom of solitude, God would still elude us. Buber maintains that “there is no such thing as seeking God,” because there is no place where God is absent. The way, therefore, is simply to walk through life with reverence and openness, desiring that our path might itself be the way. Every genuine encounter with another being—every uttered Thou—offers a glimpse into the “consummating event.” When we enter the absolute relation, our heart does not turn away from the world; the eternal Thou becomes present within the sanctified life of the world.

Yet life cannot be hallowed if we regard the world merely as an object for our use. One cannot sustain an I–It relation to the world and an I–Thou relation to God at the same time, for human existence is undivided. Reality, for Buber, flows in one boundless movement—from the I toward the Thou. When we live only through manipulation and consumption, we estrange ourselves from God. The one who exploits the world for gain remains an exploiter toward God as well.

Life cannot be split between authentic relation with God and instrumental relation with things; one cannot truly pray to God while seeking profit from the world. Whoever treats the world as a means of self-advantage also treats God in the same way. Such prayer is a self-justifying act heard only by emptiness. This, says Buber, is the true godlessness…

Buber stresses the point that genuine human life in the world can never be godless; in the very effort to be truly human, we address God; the more human we become, the more open to God we become.

~ Donald Moore, Martin Buber