I and Thou January 15 > Likes and Comments

For discussion of Martin Buber's I and Thou on January 15. See next post for information regarding the different translators that may influence which edition you buy or borrow.

There are two available translations of I and Thou in the English language.

The better known is by Walter Kaufman. Amazon carries many editions of his translation, which is quite popular. Kaufman did not like Buber's use of "Thou", which he considered archaic, and therefore use the terminology "I and You".

However, according to Buber, the I-Thou connection in many ways is one of communion and often reverence, elevating it about our normal daily interactions. The word "Thou" somewhat implies this.

Since "you" is such an ordinary word, some people (including myself) may prefer the transliation by Ronald Gregor Smith which uses "Thou".

That translation is also popular. Fewer editions of it are listed on Amazon, but it is readily available, and in fact a current search for "I and Thou" at Amazon lists that translation first.

The picture and listing of this Ronald Gregor Smith translation do not indicate the translator, But the recent edition is a black book with a somewhat bizarre (in my opinion, totally irrelevant) picture on the cover of a naked man of color apparently knocking down a tower. That edition (at least the one that I have), indicates Martino Publishing and and Charles Scribner 's Sons as the publisher(s).

Which edition should you get? It really doesn't matter. But you might want to consider what I wrote above, and whether you prefer "You" or "Thou" in regard to Buber's discussion of "I/Thou" communion and our normal "I/It approach to people and our world.

from a google search:

"The two main English translations of Martin Buber's
I and Thou (Ich und Du) are the 1937 translation by Ronald Gregor Smith and the 1970 translation by Walter Kaufmann.

Smith's translation was prepared with Buber's input and is considered the definitive version by some, while Kaufmann's version offers a new translation with extensive notes and prologue that address ambiguities in the earlier translation and the use of the archaic "thou."

"Kaufmann's version is noted for providing valuable context for readers who may not be familiar with Buber's work, while Smith's translation benefited directly from Buber's direct input during the translation process."

A comment by someone who prefers the use of "You" (note: the title is the same in both translations): "Thou immediately brings to mind God; Du (you) does not. And the God of whom it makes us think is not the God to whom one might be connecting or crying out."

My additional comment: Although I prefer the choice of "Thou", I am thoroughly familiar with Buber's thought - in fact did an independent study on him more than 50 years ago, in college - and am not struggling with understanding what he's saying.

Maybe the Kaufman edition with its clarifications might be the easier read for those of you unfamiliar with Buber's thought. Buber is not easy to read; his writing style make his very straightforward concepts seem more complicated than they are.

But either edition is fine. Or like me, you can use both!

As I begin to turn my mind toward reading for January, the information about the two primary translations and the more modern change to I and You as clanged a bit in my thoughts.

Though I am comfortable with the modernization of language used in sacred spaces to reflect the current vernacular, there is a special vibe to retaining the "Thou". I think, for me at least, because "Thou" continues to encapsulate an added reverence which opens us to the divine, the idea of I and Thou encourages a similatr reverence of the divine in one another as we begin to consider the work of Buber.

Interfaithers –
I and Thou is a very difficult book to read, even though it's short. It deserves at least a month, which we no longer have. We meet January 15th.

In my opinion, Buber makes his explanation of “I and Thou” far more complicated that it needs to be. Some of his sentences still stump scholars today. And we’re dealing with translations from the German.

My suggestions which I really hope you will follow:
a) As I said in this Goodreads forum, the the Smith version (which I favor) translates the German as "I and Thou" (which some people don't like because it sounds archaic, though reverential). The Kaufman version (which some say is easier to understand, which was published much later and which has a decent introduction) translates it as "I and You". I'll be referring to "I and Thou" but you can read either version.

b) Read at least two of the articles in the links I'll provide in my next post FIRST. Seriously, this is one time in which you want to learn ABOUT what you're reading before you read it. These articles will help you understand Buber's difficult language.

c) You could carefully read one sentence at a time in the book, and slowly digest it but that would take a year. Frankly, I think you're best off only stopping to slowly ponder some of what he wrote, but to just keep moving past the lines you don't understand.

His I and Thou/I-It conceptualization is not meant to be an intellectual exercise - far from it. He is attempting to use language to evoke what occurs in a completely nonverbal true encounter, and he is not a lyrical poet!

My hope is that you'll find the nuggets that resonate in you. Don't focus on trying to "understand" Buber in a left brain way. Focus on how he speaks to you.

I recently wrote this tanka (five lines of 5-7-5-7-7), triggered by a comment I wrote in the margins when rereading I and Thou.

TANKA by Tracy Marks
Some books are sparklers.
Reading, I pay attention
to each of the sparks
at least as much as the book.
All of the sparks are in me.

d) If you don't have the time (or patience) to read the whole book, just read part one. That's only about 35 pages and is key to understanding the rest.

Part two focuses on our relationship to society and part three (believed to be the least comprehensible) our relationship to God or the Eternal Thou. But if you read some of the articles I'm linking to and part one, you'll be in fine shape for our discussion.

Meanwhile, may the early days of 2026 for you be enriched by one or more true I-Thou encounters.

Here are the articles. I suggest reading at least TWO before tackling the book itself since Buber's writing is so unwieldy.

"Martin Buber’s I and Thou"
Ronald Gregor Smith (translator)
https://static1.squarespace.com/stati...

"Martin Buber – I and Thou (Notes)"
https://jennymackness.wordpress.com/2...

"I and Thou" edited by Pam Weintraub
https://aeon.co/essays/all-real-livin...

"Philosopher Martin Buber on How Learning to Look at Trees Teaches Us to See Each Other More Clearly" by Maria Popova
https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/0...
(She has written a number of articles on I and Thou, but mostly quotes from the book)

Tracy, I have indeed concluded that I am not going to understand this book so am admitting to having assigned myself a certain number of pages per day (approximate, as I am stopping each time at a stopping place) but have been very "skippy" in my reading. Yet I have found a few "glimmers" that shone for me and have bookmarked these in my Kindle book.

Thank you for the articles, will read them this coming week and they may clarify things a little and sound quite helpful.

This lecture by Professor Eric Dodson on part one of I and Thou is fairly good and an excellent accompaniment to your reading
I AND THOU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MIEh...

He also has a part two on the I/It world, but I suspect that you all don't need his clarification about the I/It world. I doubt if you would have joined Interfaith if you hadn't at least touched the essence of I/Thou.

My experience with I and Thou --

I am reading the book for the second time, having read it the first time way back in 1968 during freshman orientation week at Tufts, when it was the book my orientation group was reading. What a challenge for incoming freshman.

At the time I was living in my mind, and considering majoring in philosophy (I actually switched to English and then religion), so I actually didn't have as much difficulty with Buber's writing style as I do now. I was a bit of a haughty intellectual at the time.

I also hadn't experienced I/Thou in personal relationships; my family and social milieu were totally immersed in I/It. But I had significant I/Thou encounters with nature and the creative process (I wish Buber had written more about the latter, which have been of incredible importance in my life and in regard to my spiritual orientation) though those encounters were somewhat distorted by my lack of groundedness in true encounter.

Reading the book at the time totally validated my own incomplete awareness of I/Thou (also at the time, unfortunately, confirming my own uniqueness since I was the only one in our group that claimed to "get" Buber -- ha!)

Now, rereading it over 57 years later, I am very frustrated with the book and wishing that I hadn't recommended it to our Interfaith book selection group. What a shame that Buber's convoluted abstract esoteric style is so at odds with the I/Thou experience he was trying to convey.

I can only hope that despite your struggle reading the book, that some of you are also finding a few essential nuggets that resonate with you, and help you clarify the role of I/Thou and I/It in your own life.

Maybe I'm deluding myself when I say this --- but I don't think that Buber's message is complicated at all. But what is difficult is conveying the basically nonverbal essence of I/Thou in our I/It words. Some poets have been far better in doing so than philosophical Buber.

I suggested that you all just read part one, if you can't read the whole book. I'll add to that you try also to read the last ten pages of the book, which has some (understandable!) lines which are likely to speak to you.

I've been writing down my favorite quotations initially with the aim of choosing about 15 of them to read as part of the meditation to follow our discussion. Given that you may not read the ending, I'll quote here the passages I copied from part three, mostly from the ending (with regret that Buber, like men of his time, used patriarchal language, relying on "men" and "him"):

From the Smith translation:

"Every particular Thou is a glimpse through to the eternal Thou."

"The I is indispensable, since relation is only possible between I and Thou. It is not the I that is given up, but the false, self-asserting instinct."

"Feelings are a mere accompaniment to the relation."

"Man desires to possess God... Due to man's thirst for continuity, God becomes an object of faith [and belief]."

"The revelation seizes his whole elemental being in all its particular nature and fuses with it."

"A man does not pass from the moment of supreme meeting the same being as he who entered into it. In that moment of meeting, something happens to the man. Something more has grown in him which he did not know before."

"We receive what we did not hitherto have, and receive it in such a way that we know it has been given to us... We receive not a specific "content" but a Presence.... a Presence that makes life heavier with meaning. There is the inexpressible confirmation of meaning."

"We have come near to God. With the Thou on our lips, we leave it and return to the world....Man can do justice to the relation with God in which he has come to share only if he realizes God anew in the world each day."

"Meeting with God does not come to man in order that he may concern himself with God, but in order that he may confirm meaning through his life in the world."

"God remains present to you when you have been sent forth; he who goes on a mission has always God before him."

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1. What gold or silver nuggets of wisdom do you uncover in (the dense pages of) I and Thou ? What did Buber clarify for you?

2a. How have you let the demands and distractions of I-It keep you from being open to I-Thou encounters? Or from bringing your I-Thou-infused self into the world?
2b. How can you become more receptive to I-Thou communions or more capable of express Thou in your I-It life?

3. Buber refers to the interpersonal I-Thou encounter as being mutual and reciprocal. But sadly, many people today may not be able to meet as Thou; they have closed hearts and may have become buried in I-It (IT!) reality. How then do we relate to them?

4. When we open our hearts, we may feel an actual opening, expansion and spaciousness in our chests (which may be our physical gateway to elevated feeling and spirituality). Yet deep-seated pain, anger, fear and especially trauma can lead people to close their hearts. Some may rely entirely on drugs, alcohol or compulsive sex as their only means to feel alive - or escape from difficult feelings.

Buber does not address people's emotional capacity to connect to Thou, but he wrote a century ago when psychology was still in its early stages. What is your take on this?

5. Buber discusses I-Thou as relationship with human beings and God, and very briefly refers to I-Thou with nature, with animals, and through the creative process. How have any of these modalities – or any other – led to I-Thou communions for you?

6. As a Jewish philosopher, Buber remains true to the Jewish tradition of bringing God into the world through our actions. Personal salvation and the afterlife are not concerns of Judaism. Instead, what counts is not only our personal relationship with God, but also our sense of mission to contribute meaningfully to the world.

Many Jews speak of the importance of tikkun olam - their call to action to improve or repair the world so that the sparks of Divine light might return to it. How does this speak to you?

I sent the following article to Valerie, Laurie and Smith but think that everyone could benefit from reading it. It places Buber's writing in a larger context - of Judaism, Christianity, the Holocaust, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It's also very understandable!

Modernity, Faith, and Martin Buber>
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

The theologian’s attempts to arrive at a new conception of Judaism made him influential to thinkers of other faiths.
By Adam Kirsch April 29, 2019
Buber’s conception of Judaism was mistrusted by Jewish thinkers but influential among Protestant theologians.

The suggestion to approach the book as if it were poetry and not try to understand it was a good one. I feel as I do when reading books about the mystic experience. I know that in these situations the authors can be attempting to explain the unexplainable. it reminds me in a way about when you have a powerful dream and feel it strongly but when you try to put words to it... you can't.