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.
Everything in life is just for a while.
Realization is not knowledge about the universe, but the living experience of the nature of the universe. Until we have such living experience, we remain dependent on examples, and subject to their limits.
We are part of the whole which we call the universe, but it is an optical delusion of our mind that we think we are separate. This separateness is like a prison for us. Our job is to widen the circle of our compassion so we feel connected with all people and situations.
If there be a God and one has never sought him, it will be small consolation to remember that one could not get proof of his existence.
Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool, But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is not a poet.
When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.
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