To look away from the world, or to stare at it, does not help a man to reach God; but he who sees the world in Him stands in His presence.
Interpretation
Understanding the divine involves seeing the world through a spiritual lens rather than simply ignoring it.
In this quote, Martin Buber emphasizes the importance of perceiving the divine presence in the world around us. He suggests that merely avoiding worldly distractions or obsessively focusing on them does not bring one closer to God; rather, it is through recognizing the spiritual significance embedded within the world that one can truly experience the divine presence.
In practice
During a philosophical discussion about spirituality and existence.
When I confront a human being as my Thou and speak the basic word I-Thou to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition to be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is Thou and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but everything else lives in his light.
Play is the exultation of the possible.
There is no room for God in him who is full of himself.
Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.
It is usual to think of good and evil as two poles, two opposite directions, the antithesis of one another...We must begin by doing away with this convention.
God dwells wherever man lets Him in.
This is the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God, and toexpect temptation to his last breath.
The significance of man is that he is insignificant and is aware of it.
The great home of the soul is the open road.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Some foreign investors accuse us of being unfair to shareholders by using our resources for community development. Yes, this is money that could have made for dividend payouts, but it also is money that's uplifting and improving the quality of life of people in the rural areas where we operate and work. We owe them that.
Day to day and doing the work and getting to that honest point - that, for me, is always about - and always will be as long as I do this - refining and refining and refining and refining the truth... constantly being as truthful and honest and raw and real as you can be.
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