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About this quote

What does it mean?
The divine is both overwhelming and intimately close, closer than one's own self.
In plain terms
God is scary but also very close to you.
What can you take from it?
Recognize the divine as both awe-inspiring and near.

Where it applies

  • spiritual experience
  • religious contemplation
  • existential reflection

Putting it to work

  • cultivate awe
  • acknowledge intimacy
  • embrace mystery

Questions to consider

  • How do you experience the divine?
  • What is nearer than your I?

Another view

It may confuse the emotional impact with ontological reality.

More from Martin Buber

  1. Eclipse of the light of heaven, eclipse of God- such indeed is the character of the historic hour through which the world is now passing

    Permalink to quote #15
  2. God wants man to fulfill his commands as a human being and with the quality peculiar to human beings.

    Permalink to quote #17
  3. All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

    Permalink to quote #14

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