Buber, Between Man And Man (In) Bb.pdf - PolkFolk

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between man and man
their subjects combine in all their multiplicity, completing and
confirming one another, to form the one polyphony of the
person’s existence.
In such a way, out of the givers of the signs, the speakers of
the words in lived life, out of the moment Gods there arises for
us with a single identity the Lord of the voice, the One.
Above and below
Above and below are bound to one another. The word of him
who wishes to speak with men without speaking with God is
not fulfilled; but the word of him who wishes to speak with God
without speaking with men goes astray.
There is a tale that a man inspired by God once went out from
the creaturely realms into the vast waste. There he wandered till
he came to the gates of the mystery. He knocked. From within
came the cry: “What do you want here?” He said, “I have proclaimed
your praise in the ears of mortals, but they were deaf to
me. So I come to you that you yourself may hear me and reply.”
“Turn back,” came the cry from within. “Here is no ear for you.
I have sunk my hearing in the deafness of mortals.”
True address from God directs man into the place of lived
speech, where the voices of the creatures grope past one another,
and in their very missing of one another succeed in reaching the
eternal partner.
Responsibility
The idea of responsibility is to be brought back from the province
of specialized ethics, of an “ought” that swings free in the
air, into that of lived life. Genuine responsibility exists only
where there is real responding.
Responding to what?
To what happens to one, to what is to be seen and heard and