The basic word I-You can only be spoken with one’s whole being. The basic word I-It can never be spoken with one’s whole being. - Martin Buber

The basic word I-You can only be spoken with one’s whole being.

The only possible relationship with God is to address him and to be addressed by him, here and now — or, as Buber puts it, in the present.

Here the You appeared to man out of a deeper mystery, addressed him out of the dark, and he responded with his life. Here the word has become life, and this life, whether it fulfilled or broke the law -both are required on occasion lest the spirit die on earth- is teaching. Thus it stands for posterity in order to teach it, not what is and not what ought to be, but how one lives in the spirit, in the countenance of the You. And that means: it stands ready to become a You for them at any time, opening up the You-world; no, it does not stand ready, it always comes toward them and touches them.

"Every person born into the world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique....If there had been someone like her in the world, there would have been no need for her to be born." — Martin Buber as quoted in Narrative Means for Sober Ends, by Jon Diamond, p.78